Elizabeth walked briskly up to the nursery where Georgiana hid from her brother and Mr. Bingley.
She became more and more nervous as she went up.
Would Georgiana be pleased or horrified to hear that Mr. Wickham was dead?
Elizabeth's marriage to Mr. Darcy had not yet even been announced or blessed by her father. Yet she knew it would be a terrible thing to her if she heard he was dead.
Would a marriage being unpleasant, undesirable, and terrifying cause a person to be happy that their husband was dead? After they had shared the marital intimacies?
Elizabeth's feet dragged.
She suddenly did not know how to tell Georgiana.
The nursery room only had Georgiana and the children in it. They sat around Georgiana as she read a story to them from Perrault, repeating each sentence in English and her impeccable French. She finished the page, and smiled at Elizabeth, "I thought you would still be at dinner — I only heard the bell a little ago."
"Where is Molly?"
"I sent her down to the kitchen to help, and get her own dinner," Georgiana replied, "I am happy to mind all the children."
Elizabeth sighed and sat down.
"What is it? Is it something Fitzwilliam said? — you didn't tell him? You promised."
Elizabeth shook her head.
Beth said, "Why were you hiding from Mr. Darcy this afternoon? He looks nice."
"He is very nice," Elizabeth said, making patterns in the carpet with her slipper. "Georgiana, I need to tell you something."
"Not again! I won't go this time," Beth exclaimed. "I won't!"
Georgiana laughed. "Dear, do you not think that when you are an adult you will wish to keep your own secrets?"
That thought made Beth screw up her face. And then she stamped her foot twice. "I won't!"
"What is it, Lizzy?" Georgiana said in a suddenly concerned voice. "Lizzy, you look quite worried. Must Beth and the other children go?"
At this Elizabeth shook herself. She looked around at them all, all of them staring at her.
She got up and put her arm around Georgiana's shoulder. "Mr. Wickham is dead."
Georgiana frowned at her, as though she did not understand.
"Mr. Wickham was shot by your old companion Mrs. Younge," Elizabeth elaborated. "After he had shot Mr. Younge in a fight."
Now Georgiana opened her eyes in surprise. "Mrs. Younge shot him! But they'd been engaged in a dalliance."
"They had?" Elizabeth replied in surprise. "Perhaps that is the real reason she took arsenic."
"Mrs. Younge is dead as well?" Georgiana's eyes grew wider, and she sank deeper into her chair.
Despite not knowing who any of these people were, Beth gave Georgiana a huge hug. "Your poor friends! Poor Georgiana."
"Not friends," Georgiana replied, and she hugged the girl back. "My worst enemies — Oh, mercy! All three dead? All three — is it certain?"
"Your cousin, Colonel Fitzwilliam, is in the dining room with the report. He personally saw at least Wickham, and I am sure the others as well."
"Really dead, all of them really dead?"
Elizabeth took Georgiana's hand and sat next to her. "Yes, all dead. Truly dead."
They all sat there for a while.
At last Beth squirmed around and demanded, "Who was Mr. Wickham?"
Georgiana looked at her. "He had been my husband."
"I thought you were Mrs. Georgiana — oh yes, that was your special name, with me, because we are such dear friends."
"To the point," Georgiana replied, and she smiled. "He is dead — no more fear. He can't kill me."
"And you now will have control of your fortune, and you can freely speak to your brother and tell him where you are without any worry that he will fight Wickham. It is… a sad thing, I am sure, but mainly—"
"No. I am so irreligious, so… vicious. I think it is unwomanly, but I am only happy that he is dead. He was not a purely bad man. He had his virtues, and he was charming. But—" Georgiana began to smile widely. "He is dead, and I am free. No husband! I think I'll never take another. Not at least if my child lives."
"I feared that you would be sad to hear the news." Elizabeth took Georgiana's hand. "Even if he was a terrible husband, it seems to me that to lose a husband is a serious matter."
"It is." Georgiana's smile was still wide. "It is, but I have been so scared — my life so constrained. There was a… contingency, temporariness to everything. Now. Now? I am myself. I can be simply myself."
"You are." Elizabeth squeezed her hand. "And what do you wish to do?"
Georgiana sat silent for a long time, playing with her hands. Beth climbed onto her knee and hugged her.
"I wish to play the piano. At last, I think I wish to do that. Not for anyone else this time, but for myself."
Elizabeth smiled brilliantly at her. "You might tonight."
"Oh no, I still do not want Fitzwilliam to see me."
"Why not? You had worried that he would fight Wickham. Wickham is dead. There is nothing to worry about in that respect."
"I—" Her mouth bubbled open, rather like a fish gasping for air. She burbled for a minute. And then she sighed.
"Darcy told me that he was utterly unsurprised by your refusal to seek his help. You believe you are now no longer a Darcy, and thus you should not seek his help. That is what he said. But you still are, and—"
"No! I am not."
"Georgie, just because you married imprudently, does not mean that you are not part of your family, Mr. Darcy certainly thinks—"
"I do not want to be! I do not want to be a Darcy! Not like my father. He always expected that I be the perfect Miss Darcy, and Fitzwilliam tried to raise me the same way — everything quiet, everything still, no joy. I want to be what I am now!" Georgiana embraced Beth. "I just wish to be Beth's governess, and when my child is born, I want to show her that I love her the way that I never was loved."
"I love you, Georgiana!" Beth offered.
Oh. Elizabeth began to understand her friend.
"I know you do, sweetling." Georgiana tightened her grip briefly on the child. "Lizzy, you have clearly become a friend of his — I am glad. You are a good friend of mine. Tell him, tell Fitzwilliam that… that I am grateful. That he need not worry. I am not only grateful, but I am also happy. Despite the worry, I've been happier in the past weeks than I ever was before in my life. Tell him that. Tell him that I still love him, but that I have chosen not to be a Darcy. That is my choice."
How odd. To hear Georgiana speak this way, right as she had just made the choice to become a Darcy.
"You ought to tell him yourself. You both ought to speak of your father, and what you remember of him."
"I can't."
"Georgiana, you are strong enough. You are strong enough to tell your brother that you have chosen to no longer be the sort of woman you were raised to be. You are strong enough to tell him directly. And he loves you, and he has changed."
There was a stubborn look on Georgiana's face. "He won't understand. Father's legacy is everything to him. The family name, and the honor of the family is what matters most to him."
"I tell you he has changed—" Elizabeth smiled and tapped Georgiana's nose to interrupt her response. "I have something to tell you that I suspect will surprise you exceedingly."
"Oh?" Despite her mood, a smile was spreading across Georgiana's face in reply to Elizabeth's cheeriness.
"You see, it would be extremely convenient for me if you were to tell Fitzwilliam exactly where you have been, and directly inform him of your plans, as the two of us became engaged to be married this afternoon."
"What!" Georgiana exclaimed. Her eyes went wide. "But he would never — you are in trade, or your uncle is. And you are no great heiress. He would not."
Elizabeth grinned at her friend. "I tell you, he has changed. I did need to refuse him once before to shake him out of his habits, to provide him sufficient motive."
Georgiana sat straighter and pushed Beth aside. She studied Elizabeth's eyes.
As she did, Beth now wrapped her arms around Elizabeth. "You are going to be married, Aunt Lizzy? Can I get a special dress with a print that has both flowers and dragons for the wedding?"
Elizbeth laughed. "We'll see if we can have such a print made for you — Mr. Darcy is very rich, you know, so he'll pay someone to make one."
"Yay!"
"You are serious," Georgiana said in a sort of awe. "You are wholly serious."
"I am."
Georgiana then laughed. "And you refused him once?" She giggled. "He must have been so shocked."
"That was the impression I gained from his behavior. It was at a ball at Mr. Bingley's estate, and he immediately retreated upstairs to his rooms."
This brought another giggle to Georgiana.
Elizabeth added contemplatively, "I on the other hand was required to remain and pretend all was well for another four hours as my family danced the night away. That was not a good evening."
"You really refused him? You did! — you are amazing, Lizzy! I think almost no one has ever refused him anything."
"And now we will see if you can refuse me."
Georgiana stared at Elizabeth for a long time.
Elizabeth added, "And you are with child. It would simply be wrong to not allow me to know my future niece or nephew."
At that Georgiana suddenly jumped up and threw her arms around Elizabeth, "We are to be sisters! Sisters!"
The two girls half danced together for a minute, while Beth clapped and cheered.
Then arm in arm they went downstairs to join the dinner.