Darcy sat on the rear-facing seat while Elizabeth and Georgiana shared the forward-facing one. It was the second stage of their first day of travelling, and while they waited for the horses to be changed, Georgiana had enthusiastically invited Elizabeth to join her in the Darcy carriage: "It is so dull travelling with William when he is distracted. You must come and save me from boredom!" Elizabeth had not known how to refuse her friend, so had somewhat nervously agreed to change conveyances for the next leg of the journey. So there she was, sitting in front of him, however reluctantly.
"I must thank you, sir, for the trouble you are undertaking to help my family." Elizabeth's voice was uncharacteristically subdued.
Darcy was unsure what to make of her manner, but it seemed to confirm his fears: Elizabeth wanted to distance herself from the man who had failed to warn her and her sisters against the villain Wickham. Perhaps he ought to respect her decision, but his heart clamoured for him to win her back. He knew what life without her was like, and he would overcome any obstacles to convince her to forgive him. Speaking boldly had served him well at Pemberley. He would have to trust that it would do so again.
"Miss Elizabeth," he said, his voice gruff with emotion, "no thanks are necessary. Of course I will do whatever I can for a family I hope hereafter to call my own. But more than that, surely you must know that I cannot rest until I have brought a smile back to your face. Your happiness is my first concern."
Elizabeth felt as if a weight had been lifted and she could breathe freely again for the first time since reading Jane's letters. Fitzwilliam Darcy, it seemed, had no intention of withdrawing his suit. Was this merely the politeness of a gentleman's honour overriding his underlying distaste for the alliance? She could not think so: his earnest look, his meaning tone, everything spoke of his sincerity. He really did care for her happiness and think of her family as soon to be his own. She recalled Georgiana's words of the day before: "Whatever terrible thing you are both imagining, stop it at once!" Her worries had been for naught.
He had been solemn and withdrawn the evening before, quiet and anxious this morning, but whatever demons plagued him, it seemed that he had not yet learned to regret his choice. Still, she would not teach her heart to hope again until she knew he had really considered the consequences of Lydia's folly. Meeting Darcy's hopeful gaze, she took a deep breath and said, "I admit I am glad to hear it. But I cannot express how distressed I am to be the means of bringing that man back into your lives. I wish my sister had been more sensible, but she is very young, and we all know him to be most persuasive when he tries. But however it came about, the best we can now hope for is that Mr Wickham will soon be my brother. Is that really the family you wish hereafter to call your own? Will you not come to regret the connection? Please think carefully now, for I would rather we make a clean break immediately than to try to untangle my heartstrings from yours later when your present affections are eaten away by the daily reminders of his presence in your family."
Georgiana was clearly about to jump in with reassurances, but her brother silenced her with a stern glance. He recognised the seriousness of Elizabeth's concern, and despite the temptation to dismiss them out of hand, and perhaps distract her with a kiss to her hand, she deserved a considered answer. "I do not pretend to be delighted by the prospect of George Wickham as a brother. But this is not the first time I have had to carefully consider the consequences of having that man in my family: as you know, it is a prospect I have faced before. I decided then that had he succeeded in his scheme and married my sister, I would never shun her because of him. I could not give him that power over my life. I know who is dear to me, and they shall remain dear to me regardless of his machinations. I have thought carefully, Elizabeth, and I know beyond any shadow of a doubt that the only think I could come to regret would be letting you go. My heartstrings are already so closely bound with yours that if we are parted, I would take to bleeding internally, and would spend the remainder of my days in misery. You are my happiness, Elizabeth. Nothing can change that, and certainly not George Wickham!"
"Well then," she rewarded him with the smile he had wished for – perhaps not so wide and carefree as those of the afternoon before, but a smile nevertheless – "let us agree to do what constitutes our own happiness, without reference to any person so wholly unconnected with us." She was rewarded by seeing Darcy smile in return, and Georgiana clap her hands in delight.
Then, with a raised eyebrow, Elizabeth added "Is there any chance, do you think, that we may contrive to keep him unconnected to us? Is there any way to save Lydia from being trapped in wedlock with that man?"
Conversation turned for a time to what they might expect to find in London. In consideration of Georgiana's age, Darcy and Elizabeth tried to avoid discussion of whether or not Lydia might have lost her virtue, but Georgiana raised the subject herself, reminding them that she had nearly found herself in the same situation but a year before. "I know more than most girls my age about the consequences of an elopement, brother," she chided. "Don't pretend that you did not await news of my courses with bated breath after Ramsgate, even though I assured you he had not yet transgressed so far."
Darcy blushed, unused to discussing such matters with his much younger sister, let alone with the gentlewoman he was wooing. "I trusted your word, Georgie, truly I did. But I was haunted by the possibilities – by how much worse it could have been."
His little sister, with a maturity and wisdom he still found surprising, patted his hand comfortingly and said, "I understand, William. Do not distress yourself. While we are supposed to remain all maidenly innocence, most girls learn at least the basics at about the same time our courses start. We don't talk about it in front of boys, of course, so as not to upset your delicate sensibilities, but women and girls have to deal with the evidence of our own fertility, and it is only natural that we are less squeamish about such matters than you menfolk. So yes, I do know what the consequences can be of laying with a man. I do know that if Miss Lydia has allowed Wickham such liberties it could not be hidden from any future husband, even if he has not got her with child. I do know that if Wickham does not marry her, her options will be very limited, and that unless her reputation is salvaged through wedlock, her sisters may also be tainted by association. So talk freely, please. Do not speak in riddles for the sake of my delicate ears!"
Elizabeth was delighted by her young friend's impudence, and enjoyed the look of dawning horror on Darcy's face as he listened to his little sister discuss such matters. "Georgiana, dear," she admonished, laughingly, "it is not polite to discuss such matters in mixed company."
"Of course I know that, Elizabeth. But we are not in mixed company now. It is only William, and if we are to be ready for the task ahead of us in London, we must be able to speak frankly. I just wanted to reassure him that I would not be shocked." Despite her confident words, Georgiana looked nervously at Darcy, clearly expecting a reprimand.
"You might not consider your brother to be mixed company, but I am afraid I do," Elizabeth pointed out. "But you have let the cat out of the bag now, I suppose, and he will no longer harbour any illusion that either of us is quite as demurely ignorant as gentlemen would have us be."
Darcy had somewhat recovered his equilibrium during this banter, and decided it was better to overturn his sister's expectations than to play the stern elder brother. After all, she was correct that everything would be easier if they could speak frankly. "I am pleasantly surprised by your revelation, Georgiana. It was my fear of speaking of such things openly with you that left you vulnerable to Wickham last year. I should have told you what a reprobate he was, rather than stupidly trying to protect your sensibilities. If I had known that young ladies already talk of such matters, I should have told you about the string of natural children he has left about the country, and certainly would have warned you of his gambling and drinking."
"Well, that is all water under the bridge," replied his sister, firmly. "We have another young lady to protect now, and we really must turn our minds to how best to meet the situation in London, whatever it may be by the time we arrive."
Darcy and Elizabeth both saw the sense of this, and they resumed their discussion of what circumstances they might expect to find Lydia in, this time with less circumlocution and greater openness about the risks and dangers that young lady would face. Eventually, Darcy summarised their various speculations as follows:
"If they have not married but have anticipated their vows, which is the most likely circumstance, then there are several possibilities. If she is with child, then she must either marry Wickham (if he can be convinced to do so) or find another man willing to take her. Or she could be sent somewhere out of the way until after the child is born, and it could be fostered out. That would give rise to speculation, of course, and she could never marry without revealing the truth to her future husband, but she might at least be able to return to her family eventually. She could, of course, choose to keep the child, passing herself off as a young widow, but not without a complete break from her former acquaintances, and not without resulting speculation and rumour haunting her sisters.
"If she is not with child, she might still marry Wickham, of course, but if she can be convinced to leave him, it might also be possible to maintain the fiction that she has simply been visiting your aunt and uncle. Once again, were she ever to consider marrying someone else, she would not be able to disguise the fact that she was no longer a maiden.
"If, by some miracle, they have not anticipated their vows, then it will simply be a matter of buying Wickham's silence and concocting a believable cover story for Miss Lydia's departure from Brighton.
"Of course, much depends on Miss Lydia's wishes, and on how the situation has been handled in Brighton and at Longbourn, and whether rumours of her elopement have already spread."
Georgiana and Elizabeth acknowledged the accuracy of this summary, and speculated for a while on whether there was anyone else who might be persuaded to marry Lydia who would offer her a better future than being tied to Wickham. Elizabeth thought that Captain Denny might once have been interested, but doubted his affections could have survived the blow of Lydia eloping with one of his fellow officers. She knew of no-one in the vicinity of Longbourn who was a likely candidate, nor who could be trusted to keep the secret. Georgiana's circle of male acquaintance was so small as to make her of little assistance in the conversation other than to offer polite murmurs of assent to Elizabeth's musings. Darcy kept his own counsel: though the conversation sparked some ideas about approaching Major Smithson and Lieutenant Gilchrist, men he had met through his military cousin and learned to respect and trust, to ask if they might know of any likely candidates – after all, Miss Lydia did like a man in uniform – but he was unwilling to raise Elizabeth's hopes on that front without better knowledge of whether they might be of any use.
Elizabeth added the last unknown factor in these various equations – one on which Darcy had deliberately remained silent: "and on whether Wickham can be brought up to scratch, or bought into silence. I suspect that between my father and my uncles, there will be a great gathering of resources as we speak, but I cannot think it just that such a man be rewarded for his perfidy!"
"No, indeed," was all that Darcy had to say on that subject. He had already determined to contribute whatever was needed, but did not wish to make Elizabeth uneasy on that account. "Let us wait and see what awaits us in London, then. I believe we have canvassed the possibilities to the best of our ability with the limited information available. But please remember, Elizabeth, that there are more ways of working upon that man than money. He is ever alert to his own interests, and we may be able to convince him that his silence serves his interests without calling too much on your family's resources.
"But until we find them, we cannot predict just how that might come about. So let us speak of other things." With a transparent attempt to divert his two companions from their sombre musings, he asked, smiling "What think you of books?"
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