Previously: Georgiana ran away
Friday, August 7, 1818
Darcy House, de Coverley Square, Mayfair
Mr. Darcy knocked on Elizabeth's chamber door. "Elizabeth let me in." There was no reply. He knocked again. Receiving no response, he opened the door and peeked in. Elizabeth was laying on the bed and sobbing. He sat beside her and started rubbing her back. He did not speak, waiting for her to regain her composure.
Elizabeth sat up and Mr. Darcy handed her his handkerchief. She rubbed at her eyes and stood up. "I suppose I had better go apologize to Georgie."
Mr. Darcy pulled her back down. "First, tell me what brought all that on."
Elizabeth leaned on him and told him how what Jane had said had angered her and Georgiana ended up bearing the brunt. Mr. Darcy continued rubbing her back until she calmed down and fell asleep.
Some time later there was a small knock at the door and there she was, the little devil herself.
Anne walked up to the bed and put her arms up to her mother to be picked up. When Elizabeth did, Anne asked "Mama, are you sad because Auntie Jane and Auntie Georgie have gone away?'
Elizabeth looked at Mr. Darcy and then said "What do you mean, sweetie?"
"This morning Auntie Jane came into the nursery and gave us all hugs and said she was going away and she loved us and we should all be good for you and then now Auntie Georgie came and said the same thing."
Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth both stood. Elizabeth put Anne down. "Please go back to the nursery, Miss Bethany is probably worried about you. We'll be in to see you later." They waited until Anne was out of sight and they headed to Georgiana's rooms.
They found those rooms empty. Elizabeth pulled the bell pull to summon Georgiana's maid. Five minutes later Sarah, the maid, appeared. She was dressed in her street clothes. She curtsied.
"Going somewhere?" asked Mr. Darcy. The maid nodded her head and mumbled something. She would not meet his gaze. He started to say something but Elizabeth touched his arm and shook her head.
"Sarah, we are not angry with you" Elizabeth said in a much gentler tone than the one Mr. Darcy had used. "We would just like to know what has become of Georgiana. Can you help us?"
Again, the maid nodded, but this time she dug a note out of her pocket and handed it to Elizabeth.
Elizabeth read the note to herself:
'Sarah, I've ran away to marry Mrs. Davidson, the gentleman I told you about. I would like you to still be my maid. If you are agreeable please pack your things and wait by the entrance to the mews and I will have some one come get you. Don't worry about your wages, Mr. Davidson will take care of them. Miss Darcy'
Elizabeth handed the note to Mr. Darcy and said "Sarah, would you please go wait in the hall while Mr. Darcy and I talk this over."
Sarah curtsied and fled the room.
Elizabeth looked at Mr. Darcy and said "Well?" She could feel the heat shimmering off of him.
"I could …I could just…" he said as he walked to the window and stared out.
"We both know that violence is not an option; and having seen Mr. Davidson dispatch Roger, I'm not sure you could take him."
He turned and glared at her. "This is not a laughing matter."
She glared back at him. "What do you want me to do? Cry about it? I don't know if you noticed but I'm all cried out."
He threw his hands up. "So, what do we do?"
"I suggest that we go back to Bingley House and see if we can talk to them."
Friday, August 7, 1818
Bingley House, Sator Square, Kensington
Bingley's butler showed the Darcys into the drawing room where Miss Davidson greeted them. "If you've come back for lunch, you're too late; and it's too early for supper, but perhaps I can offer you some tea."
"This is not a social call" growled Mr. Darcy.
"Tea it is then." Miss Davidson smiled as she directed the butler to have tea brought.
"I said this is not…" Mr. Darcy started but Miss Davidson cut him off.
"So far today you have maligned the reputation of Lady Bingley; affair indeed;" Miss Davidson sniffed, "had your man assault my brother; stormed out of this house after having accepted an invitation to lunch without so much as a by your leave; and struck your sister. Have I missed any other offence of yours?" Miss Davidson did not give Mr. Darcy a chance to reply. "No? Well then, you will either sit and enjoy a cup of tea like a civilized man or get out of my sight. Right now. Which is it to be?"
Mr. Darcy looked at Elizabeth. She shook her head at him and then nodded towards a chair. They both sat.
Mercifully Bingley's cook had been preparing tea for Miss Davidson anyway and it was but the work of a moment to cut a few more slices of cake and have a maid fetch two more place settings.
Miss Davidson waited until the Darcys each had had a few sips of tea (they had both refused cake) before she said "I imagine that you have come looking for Miss Darcy…"
"She's probably already on the road to Gretna Green with that cad" Mr. Darcy muttered.
Miss Davidson stood. "If you can't keep a civil word in your mouth, I suggest that you wait outside in your carriage while I conclude this conversation with Mrs. Darcy."
Both Darcys stood. Elizabeth could see that Mr. Darcy was ready to explode and so she squeezed his arm and whispered to him "Go look out the window; I'll handle this." To Miss Davidson she said "Mr. Darcy is distraught over the events of the day and his emotions have gotten away from him. If you will allow him to stay in the room, I think that you and I can discuss things without any interference on his part."
Miss Davidson stared at Elizabeth for a moment and then said "Very well. Please take a chair."
The ladies sat while Mr. Darcy walked over to the window and looked out. Elizabeth could tell by her husband's rigid posture that he was listening.
Miss Davidson started "There's no elopement nor will there be. Miss Darcy will stay with me until I marry in October and thereafter with Lady Bingley. While we're in town my brother will stay at his club and when we go to Manchester he will stay with our aunt. The parties will court for at least three months and then, if Miss Darcy feels up to the task, banns will be read and the parties married in December. If you are worried about chaperonage I can assure you that my brother and your sister are presently in the company of my companion, Mrs. Grundy, who is not a believer in 'giving an inch'. The three of them are visiting Miss Darcy's companion, Mrs. Annesley, whom I understand has been visiting her sister, with a view to transferring her employment from your house to that of Sir Charles'. I am sure by now you have discerned I am not one to tolerate any mischief so you can rest assured that all the proprieties will be observed."
'As long as I don't rely on Sir Charles and his new bride, those two moonstruck lovers would be useless as chaperones' Miss Davidson thought but did not say. "Do you have any questions?"
"We were hoping that Miss Darcy would come home with us" Elizabeth said.
"I discussed that with her. Miss Darcy feels that a separation, with her at your estate, Pemberley, and my brother, by the necessary requirements of his trade, in Manchester, would not be conducive to a proper courtship." Miss Davidson paused and looked at Mr. Darcy. She looked back to Elizabeth and lowered her voice "There is also Mr. Darcy's objection to her marrying into trade, which appears to becoming increasingly violent."
Elizabeth gasped and Mr. Darcy turned away from the window and looked at her. She shook her head at him and he turned back. Elizabeth kept her reply low as well. "Mr. Darcy is not like that. He would never hurt Georgiana. It's just that he gets louder when he is angry."
"But the mark on her cheek…"
"That was me. I slapped her. I don't know why. Oh, I was angry at Jane for leaving and Georgiana was backtalking and I don't know… I think I'm with child and that always makes me more…" tears started to run down Elizabeth's cheek. "I'm so sorry. I want to see Georgiana and tell her how sorry I am."
Miss Davidson handed Elizabeth a handkerchief and she wiped her cheeks and blew her nose. Mr. Darcy turned around and she gave him an impatient wave to turn back which he did.
"I'm afraid that won't be possible for the foreseeable future. Miss Darcy was adamant that she should be free to decide her own future without..." Miss Davidson gestured with her head towards where Mr. Darcy stood "… any undue influence from any quarter. And a period of time may be beneficial to other people to allow them to cool their choler."
After giving Elizabeth a moment to consider that Miss Davidson continued "Now to practical matters. Miss Darcy asked her maid to leave Darcy House and join her here. But what about her clothes?"
Elizabeth looked at Mr. Darcy. Without turning his head, he nodded. She said "We will have them packed and delivered by tomorrow afternoon."
Miss Davidson said "Miss Darcy would also like her music…" At Elizabeth's nod, she said "As for jewellery she …" Here she could see Elizabeth watching Mr. Darcy so she turned to look at him as well. He seemed to be holding himself stiffly and his hands were clenched. Without turning back to Elizabeth, she said "Miss Darcy would only like that jewellery which was specifically given or left to her by either of her parents, or bought by or for her; you may retain any jewellery that is otherwise part of the Darcy collection for your own children." She could see Mr. Darcy relax and she heard Elizabeth agree.
Miss Davidson stood up. "I see no need to detain you further. Miss Darcy said you had an important dinner tonight." She saw Elizabeth startle. "Forgot, did you? Well you still have plenty of time to prepare."
Elizabeth stood and Mr. Darcy came to stand by her. "There is still the matter of the dowry. I do not have to pay it out until my sister is twenty-five."
Miss Davidson waved her hand in dismissal. "That bagatelle. Miss Darcy indicated to me that after the past few years you may need it more than she does. You may pay it whenever you can; in the meantime, my brother is more than able to take care of her."
Friday, August 7, 1818
Matlock House, Avebury Circus, Mayfair
The season ending dinner hosted by the Earl and Countess of Matlock was a small affair, twenty-eight of their closest friends and associates, including one last minute addition to replace the missing Georgiana Darcy (an elderly, almost deaf, spinster cousin who became the dinner partner of a somewhat bemused young lordling whom the Matlocks were pushing as a possible husband for Miss Darcy) and Mr. and Mrs. Darcy.
In retrospect Mr. and Mrs. Darcy should not have attended. He was in no mood nor was she. They attended only through duty.
The Matlocks, Lord Matlock being a mossback Tory, practiced a strict adherence to precedence, and so, as the only guests without titles, the Darcys found themselves seated in the middle of the table, she diagonally across from him. Mr. Darcy was at his taciturn worst and his dinner partners to each side soon abandoned him. He toyed with his food, he had lost any appetite, and he had to make a conscious effort not to gulp down his wine and call for more. When he glanced at his wife, he could see that she was subdued as well. Usually she would not let the blather around her go unchallenged but tonight she was silent.
It had been quite a day. He had lost two sisters in one day. Lost them due to his aversion to trade. An aversion, not rooted in a general prejudice like that of his Fitzwilliam relatives; no, his aversion was specific to his guilt. Guilt over separating Bingley and Jane. Guilt over giving Jane to Fitzwilliam. His aversion was a means to escape that guilt: he had avoided those in trade (other than the Gardiners; he had pretended they were gentry, an easy pretence given their inherent gentility) in order to avoid Bingley. He had succeeded for only a short time, until Jane had come back from Portugal. She became his albatross. She never confronted him; never accused him; she did not have to. She just had to be there in Kympton, suffering in her quiet serenity; and every time the question of why she refused to visit Pemberley was raised the knife twisted just a little bit more. He had thought he had hid his torment from Elizabeth but today had proved she too was infected.
What to do? What to do? What could he do? Bingley was back and Jane was gone, Georgiana too. He could do nothing. He was frozen.
He looked around. There was an air of the end of school term about the table. There was much lip smacking and slurping, the Countess set a very good table, and the Earl's wine flowed freely; faces were red and sweaty and the conversation boisterous. Talk of politics, war and sport was forbidden at table and that left only gossip; and Lord knows, with the end of the season there was a surfeit of that. There was certainly nothing of substance, these people were parasites, the lot of them.
Mr. Darcy had just concluded that this must have been what dinners had been like in the last days of the Ancien Régime when he heard a tinkle of a spoon hitting a glass. He looked towards the head of the table. The Earl was trying to get everyone's attention.
"I have some excellent news I'd to share." The Earl slurred his words, he was well on the way to being well and truly foxed. "That fortune hunting chit who compromised my youngest son has found herself another victim, albeit in trade, and therefore can no longer parade around calling herself my daughter."
Mr. Darcy gaped at the Earl. Was he so drunk that he didn't realize the insult to Jane was also an insult to Elizabeth? He turned and looked at Elizabeth; she was white and seemed to be frozen in her seat. He continued turning his head and looked at the Countess sitting at the foot of the table. She gave him a sad smile and shook her head.
Mr. Darcy stood. Conversation stopped; he had everyone's undivided attention. He reached down and picked up his wine glass. He held it up in front of him.
"I would like to propose a toast. To the new Lady Bingley."
Elizabeth smiled at him and then she too stood up, wine glass in hand.
Mr. Darcy continued "Lady Bingley is indeed fortunate in her new husband, Sir Charles Bingley, especially as she was so unfortunate in her first husband, the dishonourable Richard Fitzwilliam, who compromised her."
Mr. Darcy reached his glass across the table towards Elizabeth. They clinked their glasses and drank.
They put their glasses down on the table. "Come my dear, I find the atmosphere here hot and oppressive" Mr. Darcy said.
There was an explosion of sound as the Earl tried to raise out of his chair and failed. He pointed his finger at Darcy. "How you dare you! To insult my son like that! I ought to call you out." By this time the Earl was gasping for air.
Mr. Darcy stopped. "Be careful old man before you suffer an apoplexy. Your son was a rake through and through." Mr. Darcy looked around the table. "He even kept a diary listing all his conquests." He thought he heard at least two women at the table gasp. "As for fighting me…" Mr. Darcy sniffed "I'm not afraid of you or anyone else in this room."
By this time Elizabeth had joined Mr. Darcy and took his arm, turning him towards the door. As they left the room they could hear the Earl yelling at them: "This is the end for you in the ton; everyone will cut you." Mr. Darcy just waved his hand behind his back then they were gone.
It was very early the next morning, about the time of the false dawn, before Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth were talked out and the tension drained away. Elizabeth, as was usually the case, had the last word: "You can say what you want about us Darcys, but we certainly know how to burn our bridges. Now turn over so I can snuggle up against your back."