Page 27

PLANS MADE

E lizabeth groaned as she was shaken awake. “Go away!”

“I am afraid we cannot do that, Mrs Darcy,” Lady Matlock laughed.

Elizabeth rolled over and sat up, bleary-eyed.

Darcy chuckled and then introduced his wife to his aunt. “What is so important that you had to disturb our rest?” Darcy grew serious. “I’m sorry, aunt. It is not like you to barge into my room nor is it usual for you to disrupt my sleep. I just wondered what was happening.”

Catherine took up the story and related what Mark had read from the newspaper. Silence fell in the room as Catherine finished her story.

Elizabeth was embarrassed that she had been woken up, but she was further embarrassed that it was her family that had brought the scandal to their door. “I am sorry,” Elizabeth eventually whispered.

“What are you apologising for?” Lady Matlock asked.

“It is my father and my family that have caused this scandal,” she explained. “It is our family that is scandalous and a disgrace.” She turned to Darcy. “I’m sorry. I have brought such foul suspicions on you. We should never have married.”

Darcy pulled her into his arms. “Elizabeth, please do not think like that! I love you! We were right to marry. You are not the reason scandal has been brought to our door! That responsibility lies with your father and your father alone. Even Mark growing up as Mary comes back to your father!”

Lady Matlock watched the couple for a few moments before she answered, “Watching the two of you, it is no mistake that you married. Were you not married already, I would be arranging a triple wedding right now! Mrs Darcy, I know that this is delicate, but have you conceived yet?”

Tears filled Elizabeth’s eyes. “I. I don’t know. I don’t think so, but then I did get very dizzy earlier.”

Darcy felt her trembling and tightened the embrace. “Hush, Elizabeth. We have time for that.”

Lady Matlock wanted to ask a few more questions, but they would have to wait until Elizabeth was out of bed and they could discuss things away from Darcy. “I have a few more questions on that topic.”

“And that’s my cue to leave,” Darcy joked, not wishing to admit his embarrassment. The ladies had been far too open for his liking at Rosings. He did not need to repeat that experience.

Lady Matlock looked unimpressed at her nephew. “That’s the cavalier humour I get from my son! I do not need it from you ! It’s bad enough how similar you and Christopher are. You do not need to imitate his recklessness.” She narrowed her eyes. “Show me your right hand.”

Darcy raised his arm and waved his hand towards his aunt.

Lady Matlock exhaled. “Be careful, Mrs Darcy! He and my younger son love tricking people that they are each other. My sister-in-law took to making them drop their breeches to show their birthmarks.”

Darcy turned bright red. “That’s not fair, aunt! You know mama had other ways to tell us apart too!”

Lady Matlock laughed. “True, but most of those came later on. Besides those marks I referenced were the only ones that you two could not find a way to disguise.”

Darcy grinned. “It worked well!”

“You two were always destined to create a scandal with those antics. It’s a wonder that it’s taken this long for it to happen! I think it would have happened anyway the way you two went about things. I’m thankful that it’s happened in a way that our family will recover!” For the first time, Lady Matlock appeared to be furious.

Darcy shrugged. “I do not see how we can sort this out. I am not going to parade Elizabeth around as though she’s a prize heifer and show off all her physique.”

“You do not need to be so crude!” Lady Matlock snapped. “All we need is for a midwife to examine Elizabeth. It would be more natural were she expecting, but we will work out a reason for it. We must use one of our London physicians and midwives.”

“I will write and have our family physician come and examine her,” Darcy sullenly acquiesced.

Elizabeth grumpily asked, “Do I not get a say in when and how I am examined?”

“Of course you do, Elizabeth,” Darcy told her. “Nobody will examine you if you do not wish it.”

“Be reasonable, Mrs Darcy! It is to stop the mouths of the gossips, that I ask this of you. Someone discreet who we can trust to say that there is only the one boy in the family and that my son and your husband are not what the newspapers have said about them,” Lady Matlock huffed.

“I am not refusing your request, ” Elizabeth snapped. “I am merely asking to have this done in a manner I am comfortable with.”

“I understand! Tell me, do you think it is possible that you could be expecting?” She looked significantly at Darcy. “Have you had your courses since you married?”

Elizabeth blushed deeply. “I.” She stopped. She had been so concerned with her husband’s health that she had not given her courses any consideration. “I hardly know. I have not paid much mind to whether they arrived or not!”

Lady Matlock huffed. “As a married woman, you need to pay much closer attention to such matters. I understand that your husband has been sick so you would not necessarily pay a lot of attention, but you must know if you conceive or not.” Lady Matlock turned on Catherine. “Take note of what is being discussed here. I want you to be examined too. I believe that you are carrying my son’s child.”

Catherine’s face was aflame. “I. I am. Well… I think so,” she admitted. “It’s too early to know for sure.”

Lady Matlock almost collapsed. “Did your mother teach you girls nothing? The most sure way to know in the early stages is to miss your courses.”

Just then Mrs Bennet entered the room. “I did not get to have a proper talk with my daughters. Lizzy married in such haste that such a discussion was rendered moot and as for Kitty, she may be on the verge of marriage. Yet, with Fitzwilliam being unwell it seemed to be unnecessary to give her the talk just yet! As for my other girls, why would I give them the talk when they are not marrying yet.”

Lady Matlock shook her head. “The moment they became of marriageable age they should have had the talk!”

Mrs Bennet glared at the countess. “I do not know who you think you are, but I assure you that I have done my very best for my girls in difficult circumstances.”

Lady Matlock softened. “That is true. It must also have been difficult when your son matured.”

“I’m not really comfortable discussing that. Bringing Mark up as Mary was potentially the hardest thing I’ve done in my life,” Mrs Bennet admitted. “Besides, I do not know who you are. Why should a stranger be so intimately concerned in my family’s woes?”

Darcy intervened and introduced his aunt.

“Please forgive me,” Mrs Bennet asked once the introductions were over. “I did not know who I was talking to.”

“No apology necessary! You want to look after and protect your family. That is admirable. I too only wish to do the same. I would not be interfering, but I am afraid my family and yours are embroiled in the scandal that the newspaper has broken today!”

Mrs Bennet looked confused. “I do not understand.”

Catherine proceeded to inform her mother of the newspaper’s speculations and the scandal.

“Oh, Lord!” Mrs Bennet said looking for somewhere to sit down. “I never thought that protecting Mark would have such ramifications! I simply could not abide the thought that my husband would kill another of our children.”

“What do you mean?” Lady Matlock asked, guiding Mrs Bennet to one of the vacant armchairs.

Mrs Bennet shifted in her seat as she tried to compose herself. “My husband hates me! He always did. It was my father who wanted our marriage in return for some service or another that my husband needed him to provide. I was young… no… I was foolish. I believed I could make any man fall in love with me and was determined I would make my husband do so. The more I tried, the more he hated me. When I became pregnant with our first child, he beat me mercilessly and I eventually lost the child, a boy. With my second pregnancy I was told the child was stillborn, but I am sure the child cried as he was born. My husband was in the room at the birth. After that, he informed me that he would never allow a child of mine to live — especially if it was a boy. When I fell pregnant with Jane, I flew to my brother in London and stayed there until after Jane’s birth. The live birth of a girl was a relief and a torment. When I returned home, my husband claimed it to be an accident, but Jane was poisoned shortly after I arrived home. She lived, but she suffers the effects to this day. It has finally caught up with her and she will have to live her final days here at Netherfield.

“When Elizabeth was born, I thought he had relented. He seemed to make Lizzy his favourite and treated her almost as the heir that he did not have. However, his relenting was short-lived and during my confinement with Mark I had to flee to my brother Phillips to give birth. Mr Bennet was worse than ever and not only had put the entailment in place, but he made it abundantly clear that he would kill Mark should he be born male. Where he had failed with Jane he would succeed with Mark. I had no choice but to lie to my husband about the sex of our middle child. I knew if my lie was revealed too early then not only Mark, but I would also pay with our lives. I could not take that chance. I had to bribe the midwife and our vicar to keep the truth about Mark hidden. The vicar was not happy that I had to bribe him to christen Mark as Mary, though the child was registered in the church registry as Mark, by my brother. Even once I explained the necessity, the vicar wanted a very large payment for his troubles. A payment that my brother Phillips paid on my behalf. My husband found out about the bribe and thought the worst of my brother as my brother would not reveal why he had paid such a large sum. My husband threatened my brother to reveal this bribe should he give aid to my daughters recently. However, I am digressing. After Mark surprised me by coming a full month before he was expected I would go and stay with my brother in London for the births of Kitty and Lydia. My husband knew that he could not make it look like a natural death after they survived the birth. So he turned to being vicious about and to all of my children. They have all suffered so much at the hands of my husband.”

“What exactly have they suffered at your husband’s hands?” Lady Matlock asked.

“May I, Elizabeth?” Darcy asked.

Blushing, Elizabeth nodded.

“Aunt, I do not know everything that my wife, her sisters, and their brother have suffered. However, Elizabeth is going to remove her nightgown. You will see for yourself what that man has done to her.” With that, Darcy tugged at the strings that held Elizabeth’s night gown together and the material slithered down Elizabeth’s back.

Tears flowed down the faces of everyone in the room. Elizabeth’s back was covered in scars. All livid and angry. Elizabeth turned and held her arms out so that her wrists were visible. Long livid scarring covered both wrists. Darcy pulled his wife’s nightgown back up and Elizabeth swiftly redressed.

“Forgive me, Lizzy, I did not know,” Mrs Bennet brokenly pleaded.

A small grin adorned Lady Matlock’s face. “Forgive my smiles, Mrs Darcy. However, I believe that your husband has just given us the key to why you should be seen by a physician and midwife while not necessarily expecting. You see, with mistreatment such as you have received, it would be natural for my nephew to desire to have his mind put at rest that you are capable of childbearing.”

“I do not doubt my wife’s capacity in that department, aunt,” Darcy fiercely growled.

“Nor am I saying that you should. I’m saying that is our excuse!” Lady Matlock huffed.

Darcy glared at his aunt. “I do not understand why my word or that of my wife is not good enough that she is fully woman.”

“Ordinarily it would be. However, the doubt has been cast as to whether or not my son and you are hiding certain proclivities making you attracted to gentlemen rather than ladies. In short, you and my son are a pair of gentlemen hiding your preferences for other gentlemen. Your word, though good, has to be backed by someone impartial and who has nothing to gain from telling the truth,” Lady Matlock informed him. “Despite what I have just seen, my word counts for nothing as I have the motive of protecting the family. The local apothecary and vicar have the motives of protecting their reputations. It has to be an outside independent person who can corroborate the truth. I wish Mrs Darcy were expecting already as her sister is. It would go far in aiding our cause.”

Tears slid down Elizabeth’s face. “I’m sorry I’m failing the family.”

“Failure?!” Mrs Bennet eventually screeched, after the shock wore off. “You are not a failure. Of all my girls, you are the most successful. The one girl already married and married well. The one who is most resilient and who will go the furthest to aid everyone around them. Do not speak nonsense.”

Elizabeth shook her head, tears flowing down her face. “I am a failure, mama. I failed to protect my sisters and I am failing to protect my husband’s good name. That is not to mention I’m failing in giving him an heir.”

Lady Matlock sat down on the side of the bed. “I’m sure Fitz is going to agree with me when I say none of this is your fault. It is not a sister’s place to protect her family. It is the place of the parents.”

“In which duty, I am the failure,” Mrs Bennet almost whispered.

Lady Matlock seemed to ignore Mrs Bennet. “The only person in this whole mess who has failed in their duty, is Mr Bennet, your father! Your mother had some very difficult decisions to make and while I do not know the full outcome of this situation, I do know that you are protecting your sisters. It is not unknown that you and Darcy have offered to take them in. Nor is it unknown the provisions that Darcy had already made for both you and your sisters. You have both gone beyond anything that could reasonably be expected of you. As for giving your husband an heir, that is in the hands of nature — as long as you two are trying for an heir.”

Elizabeth and Darcy blushed, neither one willing to give any details of that area of their marriage.

“No need to answer me on that one. I have no doubt that before your husband was shot you were trying and that you will do so again,” Lady Matlock teased her niece. “Now I have one other question. Why is my niece not here with you? I mean, of course, Darcy’s sister.”

Darcy explained about his sister’s behaviour and what steps he and Colonel Fitzwilliam had taken to attempt a correction. “I appear to have failed Georgiana in some way. I do not understand how she can be so wild.”

“It is not your fault — it is mine. I had never met Mrs Younge before you hired her. When I heard that was who you had hired for Georgiana, I thought it had to be a different woman to the one whose husband had eventually killed Lewis for his interference and work with young girls led into prostitution. I convinced myself it had to be a different woman when you told me that her references were excellent. In short, I knew who she was and should have warned you. Lewis included your parents and ourselves in attempting to aid the girls that they entrap. It will take a long time to reform Georgiana after being under that woman’s care. The lies that she will have put into Georgiana’s head will not be easy to undo! She will have told Georgiana that she will catch the eyes of the highest gentlemen in the land. The situation of our family will have made the trap easier to close on the impressionable young girl who lacks any kind of firm guidance.”

“I thought that my father and I had trained her better than that,” Darcy grumbled.

“Your father was a very good man, but he had one major weakness — your mother. There was nothing your mother could do or say that your father would not forgive her for! Whatever she asked of him he did without hesitation. It is true I did not wish for my sister-in-law to marry less than an earl or a duke, but I was a fool in that regard and lost many precious years with my sister that I should not have done. However, when your mother died, your father transferred that weak indulgence to his only surviving daughter. Georgiana is the image of her mother, but she learnt from an early age to use that to her advantage. Your father indulged her and so do you! She has learnt that she only has to look at you a certain way and she will get her way. You indulge her like that in the same way your father did, you have transferred the love for your mother to the one person in the world who looks and sounds like her. I do not say that it is a bad thing. Since Anne’s early death, you have both been left without guidance. You have fared well, because of the principles your parents instilled in you for so many years. You were already a young man entering the world when your mother passed, your sister has not been so fortunate. Christopher is weak-willed when it comes to women, so Georgiana has used his weakness to her advantage. The principles that you have instilled have been undermined by your weak indulgences of her. Mrs Younge will have taken advantage of that and will have warped the child’s mind into thinking that you do not care about her.” Lady Matlock sighed and looked at her hands. “It is our fault that woman has targeted your sister. Lewis discovered that young girls were disappearing from high society shortly after Catherine’s daughter was born. My husband was as sickened by Lewis’s discoveries as Lewis, himself, was. A network of ladies was soon created to create a way of hiding the few girls that we found and rescued. Lewis dangerously decided to make friends with the couple that ran the scandalous business. Lewis got too deeply involved. He learnt the methods and what opportunities they created. Your story about Georgiana is not unique to you. It has happened to hundreds of families. Mrs Younge becomes dismissed when the daughter runs away. The daughter then meets up with Mrs Younge in one of the seedier areas of London — Islington and Whitechapel being two of the more frequent areas. Mrs Younge then hosts the young girl for anything between two to four months, before telling the girl that to pay her way, the girl has to sleep with one of the gentlemen boarders of the house. The initially reluctant young girl, who usually has come from families such as ours, soon becomes blasé about what she is doing. Mr and Mrs Younge then have that young woman under their control for the rest of her life. Lewis took this knowledge and he used it against them. We have managed to rescue only a handful of those who have fallen into their trap. Despite how ineffectual we were at helping those unfortunates, Mr Younge took Lewis’s perceived betrayal seriously. He vowed to get revenge on us for destroying his business. In the end, Mr Younge became consumptive and deliberately infected Lewis, so that Lewis could no longer aid the girls. I can only pray that Georgiana is not too far gone.”

Darcy was stunned. He had heard the majority of the story from Lady Catherine, but this new piece of information did nothing to aid his peace of mind. He turned his head away from them, worry creasing his brow. “I’m useless stuck in this bed,” he grumbled.

“Not useless, my love,” Elizabeth told him.

“I’m dependent on everyone around me. What good can I do right now?” He angrily snapped.

“You can do a lot of good! You can recover for one,” Elizabeth angrily told him.

Darcy sighed. “I will do my best, Elizabeth.”

“Good! Now, Mrs Darcy, I need you to get up and dressed and meet us downstairs. Your husband needs to rest and we need to continue planning how to face this challenge to our family,” Lady Matlock ordered. “Kitty and I will find the rest of your family and gather them in the parlour.”

Lady Matlock, Mrs Bennet, and Catherine left the Darcys’ room.

Once the door closed behind them, Elizabeth did not immediately rise. Instead, cuddling into her husband’s side she began discussing the situation with him. The only thing they agreed on was that they did not know how to deal with the situation and that Lady Matlock’s plan appeared to be a very good one.