Page 50 of Lizzie’s Spirit

“You can be at no loss, Mr. Greenwood, to understand the reason I called you hither.” Darcy sat behind the low bench of the courtroom, which was adjacent to the villa on Bridge Street.

When not in session, this was his office, where he took interviews with both witnesses and the accused.

With its dark panelled walls, Elizabeth had called it intimidating—such was the purpose.

Greenwood looked at him with unaffected astonishment. “Indeed, you are mistaken, sir. I’ve not been at all able to account for your summons.”

“Then you must listen carefully.” Darcy indicated some papers lying before him. “Herewith are signed and notarised depositions that your wife, Mrs. Ann Greenwood, made slanderous statements about Mrs. Darcy: that she embezzled, is a bigamist, and is a seductress—what say you, sir?”

Greenwood’s eyes blinked rapidly, and his body became rigid. “They must be mistaken. It cannot be the case!”

“You pretend to be ignorant of such slander and malicious gossip? Can you declare that your wife is ignorant also?”

Greenwood looked desperately around the room. A solitary clerk was recording the interview. Was there no one to appeal to, no jury to persuade of his wife’s innocence, none other apart from the judge-advocate—prosecutor, jury, and judge combined in one man?

“No, Mr. Darcy, I cannot!” Greenwood slumped in his chair. “My wife had told me of the rumours; I said they couldn’t be true, yet she has a penchant for gossip. Such habits got us into much trouble before we left England.”

“And from whom did she gain the intelligence, for all gossip and rumour have a beginning?”

“This is difficult for me; I’m a recent settler with no standing in the colony and little fortune behind me.

“And even less, sir, if I were to have your wife in the stocks for a day.” Darcy had some sympathy for the man—clearly, his wife’s behaviour was the cause of their coming to New South Wales.

“I’ve ordered some women to be flogged, albeit they were convicts in gaol.

But I’m not averse to such punishment for a free man or woman. ”

Greenwood shook his head. “You have me, sir. My wife said that Mrs. O’Connell told her that Mrs. Darcy was all you’ve averred.”

Thus the final deposition. They all pointed towards Mary Bligh Putland O’Connell being the source of the slander against his dear Lizzie, who even now remained in their house, scarcely able to bear the shame of being so maligned.

Darcy would approach Macquarie with the depositions that proved the culpability of the woman.

But he, Darcy, would not allow his wife to bear the brunt of scandal when Mrs. O’Connell was bringing such disharmony to the colony and dishonouring his office of judge-advocate.

“I cannot expose her,” said Macquarie. “The scandal of the lieutenant governor’s wife being such a scourge could prove too much for my Office.

My apologies, but ‘tis a risk I cannot take. However, there’s much we can do.

I’ll ensure that O’Connell takes his wife in hand and have them remove to his estate at Riverston—there, they’ll be absent from Sydney society.

I’ve already written to Lord Bathurst asking for the withdrawal of the 73rd Regiment and O’Connell, their Commanding Officer, for the peace of the colony.

I suggest, through the agency of your influential father, that you do the same.

“In the meanwhile, Mrs. Macquarie and I will extend to Mrs. Darcy all the condescension and honour due to her station. She’s a paragon, much to be admired by all in the colony.”

With that, Darcy needed to be content. He would write immediately to his father and have the regiment leave the colony. That the 73rd was Macquarie’s own, and he was asking for its withdrawal, showed just how strongly he felt that Mrs. O’Connell had to go.

***

“Dear Lizzie, are you certain you’re well?”

“Oh, William, it’s now two months since the miscarriage.

I’m well enough, I suppose. And my courses have begun again, some two weeks past. There’s much to look forward to.

As I wrote to Jane ere I left Longbourn: Think only on the future, as its anticipation gives you pleasur e.

And here, with you, there’s much pleasure. ”

Tears misted her eyes, unformed but imminent if she were to let them. Had she told William how much she loved him, that she so wanted to carry his child?

“William, please hold me for a moment. The vile rumours of Mrs. O’Connell left me excessively disturbed, so much so that it overset my womb and caused it to miscarry.”

Darcy took Elizabeth in his arms. Who could deny her? It was his delight to hold her. She looked to him, her eyes gazing deep into his.

“There’s something I’ve forgotten to say; ‘tis most important.”

“Yes, my Lizzie, my attention is all yours.”

“As I’m yours, dear man. But let me tell you—I had forgot, because every day I felt the same, and it had become so ubiquitous, so commonplace, so normal but never mundane, so familiar but never banal.

I’ve not told you before, but I love you, William.

You are my heart. Not only do you make me safe, you make me happy, you make me complete. Without you, I’m but half a person.”

As Elizabeth searched his face, she saw how well the expression of heartfelt delight that diffused over his countenance became him.

He was the most handsome man and the dearest in the whole world.

Her lips searched for his, and their joining together was so intense in its passion there was naught else to do but for them to retire to their bed and enjoy the love of two persons intertwined, becoming one flesh in body, mind, heart, and soul.