Page 44 of Elizabeth and Caroline
“I shall call upon you, then,” said Elizabeth.
“Truly?” said Georgiana, so much hope in her worried little eyes that it struck Elizabeth like an arrow to her chest.
Elizabeth was angry with her husband when they got home. It didn’t make sense to her, truly it did not. She supposed she could see why he was so angry at Wickham and Georgiana… but if so, why was he so forgiving of her own foibles? Why could he not extend that same grace to his own sister?
“You’re right,” he sighed. “I shall do better. Poor thing. I have left her alone for far too long. I don’t think I realized how isolated she was.”
“You must never miss her birthday again,” said Elizabeth, shaking her head at him.
“It’s just… him,” said Mr. Darcy.
“Why?” she said. “What is it about Mr. Wickham?”
“Why are you taking up for him?” He glared at her.
“I’m not!” She was astonished. “There’s something you’re not telling me about him, isn’t there?”
“No,” said Mr. Darcy.
“Some other reason you’re jealous,” she said. “He did something, something else.”
Mr. Darcy shook his head.
“Another woman,” she said. “You fought over a woman.”
“No,” said Mr. Darcy with real venom. “I wish to leave this subject, Mrs. Darcy,” he said with finality.
So, she left the subject, but she was unsettled by it all.
The following day, she went to call on Caroline again, but told Caroline she must cut the visit short because she felt she must go to see Miss Darcy, who had been neglected for too long. She would invite Caroline along, but she could not bring her when she and Miss Darcy had not been introduced.
“I know Miss Darcy,” said Caroline.
“You do?”
“Since we were both younger,” said Caroline. “Ourbrothers were friends, you realize.”
“Oh, well, then,” said Elizabeth. “Would you like to come with me to see her, then? I have begun to think we must try to make a match for her as well.”
“She’s not even out in society,” said Caroline. “What gossip do you know? Why have you only just now met your husband’s sister? She’s ruined, isn’t she, and he’s hiding it.”
“No,” Elizabeth said, but she thought that conclusion was so close that others might make the same one. However, she supposed that her appearance was a convenient one. If people might wonder what had become of the Darcys and suspected anything untoward about Miss Darcy, the fact that Mr. Darcy had recently gotten married in a whirlwind marriage to a wholly inappropriate girl, well, it took all the attention away from Miss Darcy, didn’t it?
She knew her husband hadn’t done it on purpose.
Well, she knew that her husband truly cared for her, that he had married her because he was very much in love.
She did not know if he had been easily swayed to this ill-advised marriage because it had advantages for his sister’s unfortunate situation.
She and Caroline arrived in the mid-afternoon, and Georgiana received them with surprise and barely contained excitement. She seemed only slightly less jumpy that day, but she was clearly pleased.
“Miss Darcy could get used to visitors every day,” said Mrs. Stiles, when she was introduced to Caroline and Elizabeth. “Would you all mind very much if I took my leave of you for just a half an hour? I am happy to stay if you like.”
“No, no, we shall be all right on our own, Mrs. Stiles,” said Georgiana, practically shooing the other woman off. Once the woman was gone, she confessed, “She is with me constantly, sunrise to sunup. I know that my brother has told her to watch me intently, but we are both exhausted, her and me. She barely gets any time to herself, you know.”
“Why is that?” said Caroline, looking Georgiana over.
“Oh, I thought you knew,” said Miss Darcy. “I thoughteveryone knew. No?”
