The Very Essence of Love Read online

  At this point, Miss Darcy had tears in her eyes, and Elizabeth saw clearly that she was not accustomed to lying, her nature and her education had not taught her deceptiveness.

  “He promised he would tell me everything, the whole truth…”

  “HE? Who is he? What truth?”

  Elizabeth took instant pity on Miss Darcy and took the girl’s hands into her own. As she looked at her young friend, she saw nothing but a frightened child ready to burst into tears. Her emotions were extreme, she could feel it.

  “Let us go, Miss Darcy! I shall not reveal anything to anyone, should you not allow me to. Although I feel your brother must be informed.”

  “No!” Miss Darcy cried emphatically. “I do not wish to speak to my brother. He is evil and I shall not look him in the eyes ever again. I would prefer to die than to return to him.”

  “You cannot be serious, Miss Darcy. Your brother loves you very much.” On hearing these words, Miss Darcy shook her head violently.

  “You speak without knowing him, Miss Elizabeth. My brother is not the gentleman you think he is.” Miss Darcy was about to say something else, but she was interrupted by the neigh of a horse in the distance.

  “Please, Miss Elizabeth, leave,” Georgiana begged, while her eyes filled with tears again.

  “I cannot leave you here Miss Darcy,” Elizabeth spoke with all the conviction she could find in herself. “I find little sense in all of this, but I shall not allow you to remain alone. No decent gentleman would allow a young lady like yourself to meet him unaccompanied.”

  Elizabeth saw Miss Darcy suddenly resign herself to her stubbornness; her eyes filled with tears of remorse, or perhaps frustration as well, but she spoke no other words. The rider was approaching them fast, but it was only at the last minute he acknowledged the presence of two ladies, instead of one. He gave a loud curse, as Elizabeth moved her eyes towards his face to recognise with surprise, Mr. Wickham.

  “Mr. Wickham?” Her voice trailed away, unable to contain her shock. Mr. Wickham smirked, seemingly striving to maintain his usual countenance, the one the ladies often mistook for undeniable charm. Georgiana moved her gaze from one person to another, unsure of what she should say. Wickham, more shrewdly, inferred that the circumstances looked not in his favour.

  “Miss Elizabeth,” he said with an attitude that Elizabeth found carefully planned, “I am perfectly aware that you might find this encounter to be highly improper. But I hope you shall believe me when I say I can provide you with a perfectly good explanation.”

  “I believe there are no such explanations, Mr. Wickham. Not one that would require the presence of a young lady alone at this hour for an encounter.”

  Mr. Wickham appeared to be annoyed by her intrusion into his affairs and spoke in a dismissive tone, that left little for supposition.

  “You see, Miss Elizabeth, Miss Darcy and I are old acquaintances; I even dare say we are more. Or at least, we were until we were separated.” Elizabeth startled with the revelation of his words, she needed no proof that they were true for she saw it on Miss Darcy’s face. Wickham claimed the victory for himself and continued to speak some more, as Elizabeth struggled to make sense of it all. “If it were not for the wickedness of a certain person, we would already be married.”

  “My brother, Miss Elizabeth, he has done it, most cruelly,” Georgiana spoke at last, with tears in her eyes, astonishing Elizabeth, “Mr. Wickham and I have known each other from childhood. We were once ready to wed, but my brother prevented it and caused Mr. Wickham irreparable harm. I only learned of it when Mr. Wickham wrote to me.”

  Elizabeth’s mind was working feverishly to understand all that was being revealed. Her natural distrust of Mr. Wickham and what she knew of Mr. Darcy both clashed with intensity in her mind.

  “Darcy is a… heartless man, Miss Elizabeth,” Mr. Wickham spoke, trying to find a harsher word to describe the gentleman. “I believe I have already told you what awful things Mr. Darcy did to me; now you know the root of it.”

  “I cannot believe it, I shall not believe it!” Elizabeth uttered before she even found a reason within herself against what she was hearing. Words were pouring from her mouth relentlessly and the more she spoke, the more she realised that she had to stop the injustice against Mr. Darcy.

  “No, Mr. Darcy is not heartless, he may be flawed, but he is not as you describe him. Miss Darcy, you are deceived to believe your brother capable of things like this without seeking his explanation. You must allow him to defend himself before you fully believe Mr. Wickham’s words.” The passion with which she spoke startled even herself. She looked at the pair in front of her and when she spoke again, she did it with determination.

  “Miss Darcy, I believe you have known your brother much longer than you have known Mr. Wickham. Has your brother not cared for you? Has he treated you unfairly or unkindly? I believe that no man can hide for long who he truly is.” Georgiana appeared to react to Elizabeth’s words and moved her gaze to Wickham who felt the need to defend himself.

  “Miss Elizabeth, I believe it is enough! I have proved myself to be a reliable officer and gentleman and to not have my words doubted.”

  “Your behaviour does not speak of honour as no honourable gentleman would summon a young lady to such a place and feed her lies about her family. I believe you are the heartless one, Mr. Wickham. I believe that you have intended to smear Mr. Darcy’s name from the very first moment you entered this neighbourhood and sadly, we all believed you for a while. I could never understand why you took such pains to speak to anyone who would listen to you about your injustice, of how cruelly you were treated. I believe it now to be all a masquerade, made for your benefit,” she cried infuriated, on the verge of tears.

  Mr. Wickham grinned bitterly, and at that moment, Elizabeth was convinced she was right. Wickham pushed her aside and took Miss Darcy’s hand, determined to take her away from the place immediately. But in doing so, he saw Mr. Darcy standing in their way.

  “Wickham,” he said, and although he was striving to remain calm, his voice betrayed his fury. He spoke without haste, and his gaze was fixed on Mr. Wickham, who instinctively let go of his sister. Still reeling from the shock of the events, Elizabeth took Georgiana by the arm and drew her away from the two men. Mr. Wickham smirked.

  “Of course, you have appeared, Darcy! What would any party be without you? And what are you going to do to me this time? Have me shot?”

  “You much deserve it, but I shall not be the one to soil my hands with your unworthiness.” He stopped and upon looking at Georgiana, he said, “I just wish to take my sister home, for I believe it is time that indeed I tell her the truth.”

  “If she wants to come with you.” Mr. Wickham retorted, turning his attention to Darcy’s sister, who kept her head lowered, unable to look anyone in the eye. “Georgiana, will you go with your brother or will you come with me? I love you, Georgie!”

  “Please, Miss Darcy,” Elizabeth begged in a whisper, “think of all you know for sure, and do not allow yourself to be coerced.”

  “Do not speak to her!” Wickham cried, losing, at last, his carefully employed mask. Elizabeth was startled by how different he appeared now, a man of mean spirit, whose interests were only for his own gain. She further noted that even Miss Darcy looked at him as though she had seen him for the first time.

  There was a moment of silence, before she spoke,

  “I did not come here to leave with you, Mr. Wickham. I came because you promised to tell me the truth about what happened last time. I came because I wish to know the truth. It is what you said in your letter, that you would tell me the truth.”

  Mr. Wickham drew near to Miss Darcy, disregarding Elizabeth’s evident disdain for him.

  “You already know the truth.”

  “No, I do not, Mr. Wickham!”

  “Then ask me, Georgiana, and I shall tell you,” Mr. Darcy spoke, “I am ready to answer all your questions. I shall not hide anything from you,
I give you my word.”

  “Your word, Darcy?” Mr. Wickham scoffed. “What good is your word?”

  “It is worth more than you will ever own.”

  When Mr. Darcy spoke, it was with an intensity that none of those present had ever witnessed. Wickham, who had known Darcy for many years, realised for the first time that he was afraid of him. Darcy’s calmness was only masking the storm inside him and Wickham, in all his experience, knew such storms were best avoided.

  Silence fell until Georgiana asked, “Is it true that you threatened to have Mr. Wickham sent to prison?”

  “Yes,” Mr. Darcy replied serenely, “I did, and quite deservedly so for what he did.”

  “And what have I done, Darcy? Love your sister! And it seems I must pay for it indefinitely.”

  “No, Wickham, you do not love anyone. You are not capable of love, or any noble feeling for that matter. You almost managed to convince my sister to elope with you just to get your hands on her money.”

  Elizabeth’s countenance fell under the shock of these revelations. She had inferred some of the connection between Miss Darcy and Mr. Wickham, but the reality surpassed her imagination.

  “Lies!”

  “Yes, your lies! If Georgiana had not confided in me then about what she was about to do, you would have got your way. You took advantage of her innocence to fool her, thinking you would get all the money she inherited from our parents. And you did get money, although not as much as you had expected. Wickham, I paid you more than I should and less than you demanded, for I paid for your card debts and your other expenses, just to get you out of Georgiana’s life. I make no apologies for it.”

  Georgiana turned to Mr. Wickham and said, “You told me that you turned down the money my brother offered you to renounce me.”

  “I did, believe me! Darcy is lying! He would say anything to separate us.”

  “I would most certainly not,” Darcy spoke, addressing now only Georgiana, “If my word is not enough, you can always ask Colonel Fitzwilliam, he knows everything about this matter and he can be no better witness to my character throughout all this.” Upon hearing these words, Georgiana nodded gently. It had been a terrible effort for her to speak, considering the circumstances. She was pale and distraught in appearance, crushed with the revelations.

  “Come, Georgiana,” Darcy spoke with gentleness, summoning his sister to him. “Let us leave.”

  “Do not leave me!” Mr. Wickham cried, striving one last time to change Georgiana’s mind. But Miss Darcy had at last made her decision, and was determined in her resolve. At last, Wickham stood aside as she passed by him, his fists clenched.

  “You and your money!” he cried, mounting his horse before he disappeared from everyone’s sight, “I hope you know that no one will ever love you for anything else. Hold onto it tightly, for it may be the only thing you will ever have. Remember that no one will ever love you!”

  Elizabeth was left unable to decide whether she should say something once she was left alone with Mr. Darcy and his sister. She knew not what to expect – his indifference or his reproach. He gazed at her with an expression she did not recognise and Elizabeth felt tears spring to her eyes.

  “What if he thinks that I planned all of this with Mr. Wickham? He will never forgive me.”

  Little was spoken between them, except short farewells. There was only the sound of the woods coming to life that told Elizabeth it was time to return home.

  Chapter 22

  For the rest of the afternoon, Elizabeth could think of nothing else than what she had learned that morning. There were plenty of questions she found no answers for. Her keen sense of logic would make her return to the mystery regarding the correspondence between Mr. Wickham and Miss Darcy – how did Mr. Wickham know where to find her? How could he have sent her letters? It had been a coincidence indeed to come across Miss Darcy that morning but seeing it in perspective, it would have been difficult to explain it to anyone, let alone Mr. Darcy.

  “What if he believes that I had arranged the encounter between his sister and Mr. Wickham? I would die if he despised me! I could not endure it.”

  She had received no word from Netherfield Park, not a single note from Mr. Darcy, though she had expected to at some point. She feared he would now be indifferent to her and it hurt her immensely.

  With Mr. and Mrs. Gardiner having taken the twins and her sisters for a ride in the countryside, and since they were bound to be out until the evening, the house was quiet. Elizabeth found herself crying in her chamber that afternoon. Her emotions were high and her state of mind was, as a result, agitated. She could not even come to greet Mr. Bingley, who had arrived to visit Jane.

  When Jane found her still crying in her room after the visit concluded, and not understanding the reason for it, she questioned her sister. Upon solemn promise that Jane would not speak to anyone else, Elizabeth revealed the occurrences of the morning.

  Jane was as horrified as her sister and Elizabeth found herself agreeing when Jane even made a guess that it had been Mr. Wickham’s letter in London that had caused Georgiana’s illness.

  “The doctor said it was the result of a shock; it could not have been something trivial, for sure. Do you remember that I told you that before I found Miss Darcy she had received a letter? What if he had written to her for the first time after their ….” Jane was too embarrassed to end the sentence.

  “But how would he have known where to write to her in London? He surely must have had precise intelligence where she was staying. Miss Darcy rarely leaves Pemberley.”Jane confessed she had no answer for that. Elizabeth was relieved to find that in talking to her sister, her soul had found some peace. She was even tranquil enough to go down to the drawing-room, where she helped her sister with the preparations for her trousseau.

  In the evening, the house was thrown into more turmoil when Mrs. Phillips saw Lydia wearing a pair of earrings and insisted they were part of her stolen jewels, driving her to her chamber in a fit of crying, assisted by Mrs. Hill. When confronted about it, Lydia denied it fearlessly and took refuge in her own chamber, refusing to speak on the subject and locking herself in.

  It was only when Mr. Bennet was summoned to intervene that the affair came to a surprising conclusion. Lydia confessed she had received the earrings as a gift from a gentleman, who had promised to present himself to her father to ask for her hand in marriage.

  “Another wedding in the family! Oh, my dear Mr. Bennet, this is a blessing!” Mrs. Bennet exclaimed, taken with the novelty of Lydia’s admission. Elizabeth hardly perceived it like that and felt compelled to reply indignantly.

  “Mama, you cannot seriously think that this is in any way good tidings.”

  “Oh, hush, Lizzy… you are always determined to ruin the beauty of a moment.”

  “Lizzy is right, Mama!” Jane added, mortified. “Lydia cannot accept gifts from strangers!” The strongest vehemence came, however, from Mr. Bennet who silenced everyone in the room.

  “I cannot fathom how this can be anything else but an utter disgrace.” Then, addressing Lydia, he spoke, “And where is this gentleman of yours, Lydia?”

  “Mr. Wickham promised to come to speak to you soon.” Realizing that she had made a mistake in revealing the identity of the gentleman, Lydia paused under the shock of her blunder. Mr. Wickham’s name was echoed throughout the room by different voices, although each utterance betrayed a different emotion.

  Elizabeth felt she could hardly breathe. For her, the revelation confused further the events of the morning and she felt nauseous to realise how far Mr. Wickham’s villainy had gone.

  “Mr. Wickham promised you marriage?” she managed to utter, as Mrs. Bennet choked back a few tears at what she considered excellent news.

  “Answer Lizzy’s question, Lydia,” Mr. Bennet commanded with no emotion of his own. “This is a situation of a most serious nature. Answer her question.”

  “Yes,” Lydia boasted, “Mr. Wickham and I are very much i
n love. Now all of you know it and I am content that it is no longer a secret. I so wished to see your faces when I told you; you are as surprised as I would have expected you to be.”

  Elizabeth spoke as calmly as she could before she was overcome with indignation. “You cannot be, Lydia, for Mr. Wickham is a dreadful man. He is abominable and he has already…” The eyes of everyone in the room were on Elizabeth, but she could not finish, realising she was about to reveal something she knew she could not.

  “You speak ill of him because you do not want me to get married before you, Lizzy,” Lydia spoke in Mr. Wickham’s defense. “I shall not listen to you. And you cannot make me renounce Mr. Wickham.”

  Mrs. Bennet took her favourite child into her arms as she was ready to start weeping, while Mr. Bennet beckoned Elizabeth to accompany him to his study and when they were alone, he spoke again.

  “Lizzy, I understand that you might know more than any of us about Mr. Wickham.”

  “I do, Papa! But I cannot tell you the details of it. I have learned it in confidence and I am bound to keep it that way. But please, for once, trust in my words when I tell you that I know for sure that Mr. Wickham has proved to be most ungentlemanlike. He is not the person he has presented himself to be. He is a deceiver of decent people!”

  “By God, Lizzy!” Mr. Bennet spoke as he sat down, “I trust you and I know you would not speak ill of anyone, should you not have good reason for it. But what am I to do now? You cannot tell me much, but I have gathered that Mr. Wickham has at least stolen Mrs. Phillips’s jewels and that is bad enough. What if he and Lydia…”

  Mr. Bennet did not speak further, although Elizabeth knew what he was implying and blushed instantly. To correct the imprudence of speaking so openly to his daughter about such details, Mr. Bennet murmured almost to himself, “The scandal would last for days and with Jane’s wedding right at our door….”

  “We have to tell someone, Papa, we cannot allow Mr. Wickham to go unpunished. It is not fair, nor just.”