Page 35 of Unwillingly Mrs. Darcy
Elizabeth nodded. Mr Darcy had told her about this when the two of them had dined together alone a few nights ago. She had been surprised that he would inform her of an upcoming large expenditure. The money, after all, was not hers, and therefore she should not be concerned. But he had insisted. She was his wife after all, and what was his was hers.
This she knew not to be true. Legally, nothing was hers, and everything was his. But she couldn’t help but feel pleased that he had included her in the decision.
“That is very kind of him,” Mary said looking at Elizabeth.
“Indeed, he is not half as bad a man as Elizabeth would have us believe,” Kitty said, and both her sisters stared at her.
“I never made him out to be horrid,” Elizabeth said defensively.
“You were so distraught about the possibility of marrying him, you might as well have said that he was Lucifer himself,” Kitty said, and Mary nodded with a solemn expression.
“I was perhaps wrong about the man, in some regards.”
“Do you mean because he was responsible for parting Jane and Mr Bingley?” Kitty said.
Elizabeth stared at her sister. “How do you know?”
“Georgiana told me,” Kitty replied, and then shrugged. “I suppose I should not have said anything. She overheard Mr Darcy and Mr Bingley talking about it after your wedding, in fact. He encouraged Mr Bingley to attempt to woo Jane back. And then he mentioned that he was wrong to advise Mr Bingleyto leave her in the first place. Georgiana said it did not sound as if it was the first time they had spoken on the matter.”
“Is it true?” Mary said, her eyes now wide. “Did you know about this? Is that why you were so opposed to marrying him?”
Elizabeth shrugged. “That and other reasons. Let us not talk about this behind his back. It would be most inappropriate. It is inappropriate that the two of you know.”
“Very well, but is that why you are sometimes hard on him?” Kitty asked.
“It is in part. Jane is our dear sister, and we all know how much she has suffered.”
“She has. But if Mr Darcy saw the error of his ways and is now trying to remedy it, is he not worthy of another chance?” Mary asked, pragmatic as ever.
“Indeed. We all misjudge people at one point or another. I recall when Mr Wickham visited us, and he spoke of the Darcys. He said that Georgiana was a bore and high in the instep. She is not like that at all.”
Elizabeth felt herself cornered—not just by her sisters’ sound arguments, but by the feelings she had harboured over the last few months, which had only grown. She knew now that Mr Darcy was not the terrible man she had thought him to be.
She understood that she had misjudged him just as he had misjudged Jane. And yet she couldn’t allow herself to—what? Reconsider?
For the longest time, she had counted the days until she could end the marriage and return home with her sisters. Butthese last few weeks she hadn’t thought about it once. As news from Longbourn was increasingly positive, she had felt lighter. In fact, she had even enjoyed dining with Mr Darcy and talking to him.
Was it possible that he was succeeding in his quest to show her that he was not the man she thought him to be? Or was he perhaps showing himself from his best side to somehow trick her into giving up on the idea of an annulment?
That was the problem. She did not trust him. No matter what he did or how kind he was, she could not trust him. Or did she not want to trust him?
She sighed, but then was drawn back to reality when her sisters’ voices penetrated her thoughts.
“Did he really?” Mary said.
Elizabeth looked up, aware that she had once again missed a good portion of the conversation. Kitty was speaking.
“Yes. Georgie said that the living was meant to be Mr Wickham’s if he wanted it, but he turned it down. He said he wanted to read the law instead.”
“What did you say?” Elizabeth asked, now paying close attention. For this—the sordid tale of how Mr Darcy had cheated poor Mr Wickham out of his living—was one of the reasons why she felt herself unable to trust him.
“But that is not how Mr Wickham told the story,” Mary said ignoring Elizabeth’s request. “He said Mr Darcy took it from him.”
“That is what he told me,” Elizabeth confirmed.
“Well, Georgiana said this isn’t true. She also said that when they were younger, Mr Darcy would often favour Mr Wickham and bestow upon him gifts, both financial and material, that Mr Darcy did not receive himself. He justified this by saying that Mr Wickham was a poor orphan and therefore deserving of assistance.”
“Well, there is nothing wrong with that,” Mary said. “If one is poor, one will take the affection and assistance one can get.”
