Helplessly Lady Catherine giggled at his smirk. She hated dealing with Mr. Wickham more than she did any other man. “Wickham! Do not mock me.”
The young man took her hand in a gesture that was too quick for Lady Catherine to pull away. He kissed it softly. “I can die happy, now at last.” He winked at her. “What service do you wish me to perform for you?”
“I…that is, I…”
He looked into her eyes, and Lady Catherine found herself stuttering. He had such beautiful eyes. She abruptly pushed him away. “Cease attempting to make love to me!”
“To you? But it is impossible to resist.” Wickham laughed and stepped away. He walked to her mirror and started to readjust the line of his cravat. “Do speak. I am listening. Cathy, this is a fine mirror. Is that frame made of that imported wood from Brazil? I cannot recall its name. And the silver backing! So well made! I always look at mirrors whenever I enter a room. It tells me so much about the character of the owner. Your mirrors are very revealing.”
Wickham turned away from the mirror to display the complicated wave of his cravat. “What do you think? Fine is it not? The best I could do so quickly, but the knot had become dreadfully undone on the journey. Pamela sneaked me in so quick that I had no opportunity to refresh myself.”
“Have you heard that my niece is to marry in two months?”
“No.” Wickham’s imperturbable mask slipped for a moment, and he drew his lips together in an almost hurt expression. Then it smoothed out. “Georgiana? Hmmmm. She is to marry at last. I hope she is happy. I long since lost that hope. But what of it for me — Oh. I have a guess. I shall owe myself ten pounds if I am right. Do you want to guess what my guess is?” He waggled his finger back and forth. “You are being a very naughty girl, Cathy.”
He winked at her and blew a kiss, while keeping that rakish smile that made her elderly stomach flutter.
This creature who had proven the moral inferiority of Georgiana. “You seduced her!”
“Jealous? Do not be, my love is like the rain which falls upon all who are out to receive it.” He leaned his head close to hers and looked deep into her eyes. “Your place in my heart will always be safe.”
“Wickham!”
“I did not take her maidenhead, if that is how you believe I seduced her. She was too young and too behaved. I prefer lively girls. It would have seemed…wrong to sleep with her before a marriage.”
Wickham was lying. Lady Catherine was sure that her filthy, filthy niece had let herself be defiled by this creature. And now that besmirched girl intended to contaminate another noble house with the filthiness she’d received from Wickham.
Kindly laying his hand over hers Wickham softly said, “I will tell anyone you wish that I did seduce her — if that is your wish. But I do not lie easily. Dishonesty is bad for my blood, and when I lie, I must see doctors for the pain it causes me. Expensive doctors.” Wickham looked at Lady Catherine and grinned. “I even have an old sheet that was bloodied when I met a quite different virgin. I could produce it. I still know Mrs. Younge and she would be quite happy to confirm that I took the girl’s maidenhead.”
Georgiana had filthied herself with him. She was no better than the mother of that wild girl Lady Catherine had been forced to take on because everyone else was dead. Even though desire was natural, a woman of true breeding would resist. The thought of Georgiana happily married to an earl… It sickened Lady Catherine. “Yes! Yes! Do it! Tell that man, that earl who will marry her. Tell him everything! Warn him about Georgiana’s character so he knows not to soil himself with your leavings.”
“Ahhhh…” Wickham blinked and in a far less elegant gesture than his usual, he scratched at the back of his head. “That is not at all what I believed you wished. To actually harm her I shall need even more expensive doctors for the pain it shall cause me inside. I am still quite fond of Georgiana, the memory of my beloved godfather, and my sense of honor and chivalry—”
“No, no.” Lady Catherine shook her head to clear the confusion. She wished to punish Georgiana for her weakness, but that was not her plan. “Darcy. My nephew must be brought to heel, like the disobedient dog he has been — you can prove that you defiled my filthy niece?”
“I would happily prove that, so long as you pay me enough. I would not wish to offend Mr. Darcy, he is quite good with his pistol. Though I am his superior with other manly games.” Wickham winked at her again and lowered his eyes with a smirk to admire her breasts. While Lady Catherine sputtered he walked to her writing desk and picked up the letter she had been writing on it.
“Put that down!”
“But I am desperate for any clue as to the inner workings of your mind. I cannot tell whether you like me or not — I shall be desolate if you do not. Perhaps you tell your correspondent about your deep feelings for me.”
“Look at me. You will, if I tell you to, go to the earl.”
“I will, if you give me a thousand pounds.”
“A thousand!”
“I like Georgiana. I have fond memories of growing up with her and of that one incredible night your jealous woman’s mind insists on imagining occurred between us. Now a gentleman would never speak after taking a girl’s maidenhead. Fortunately for your plans I am no gentleman, but…I want a great deal of money.”
“Fine. Fine. I’ll pay it.”
“You will!”
Lady Catherine shook her head in disgust at her own weakness. Wickham clearly had not expected to get as much as he had asked. But she could not bargain harshly when he kept smiling at her in that distracting manner.
“Of course you will pay.” Wickham took her hand and kissed it. “You are a generous-hearted and noble woman, and it is a matter of great importance to protect a fellow noble family — I shall need the money immediately.”
“I don’t care about Lord Chancey! You will not tell anyone unless I send word. It is my disobedient, useless nephew. He’ll marry Anne. At last. He will marry Anne, or I will destroy him.”
“Aha!” Wickham put the letter he’d pretended to read down and clapped slowly. “I am impressed that you have at last chosen to act so.”
Lady Catherine snarled. “He refused to listen! I told him, and I told him, and I told him. I have been kind. No one has ever been kinder to their family than I! I have been understanding. No one has ever been more understanding of their family than I! I have been the best of aunts. No one has ever been a better aunt to their sibling’s children than I!”
“Youth today. We never appreciate how much goodness is shown to us by our elders. But I appreciate you. I know you did everything for Fitzy.”
“He let his sister be defiled! Despite all I did for him. And he sat at that estate of his, and he never married my daughter! Not in the slightest! How has he dared to disrespect the memory of my sister so! While in their cradles we planned the union!”
“It would be a glorious marriage. Such wealth and lineage on both sides, it is as though they were formed for each other.”
Wickham’s enthusiasm warmed Lady Catherine’s heart.
She added, expressing for once all her frustration, “He even attends local assemblies! He even dined at the house of a tradesman. The shades of Pemberley are thus polluted!”
“Yet you still will bring him to safely marry your daughter. I salute you! Your goodness in acting to protect him from himself is an example for all. You are the best of aunts! Most would not—” In a quick gesture Wickham took her hand. “Cathy. I feel connected to you. There is some spiritual bond betwixt us that transcends the difference in age and class. I feel the goodness of your soul! I wish all could see how beautiful your soul is.”
Lady Catherine blushed like a helpless girl at the intensity in his voice. “Thank you. Thank you. It is hard to be so misunderstood by one as close to me as my sister’s beloved son.”
“I understand you.”
“You do — oh, I must give you what I owe.”
A small part of Lady Catherine’s mind s
aid that a thousand pounds was too little for the service Wickham would perform for her. He too was good, like she was.
Another part of her was gibbering with disgust at how easily she let Wickham charm her. But no one else ever tried to charm her anymore, and they had not for many years.
Lady Catherine pulled out the money box from inside her desk, and gave Wickham four fifty pound notes, then she pulled out her cheques and wrote out a message to her banker, requesting that he give the bearer eight hundred pounds.
Wickham smiled at receiving it and bowed deeply. “It was a delightful delight to speak with you. I shall keep the memory of this afternoon in my heart, and take it from the bottom” — Wickham tapped his stomach — “of my memory often on days when I must remember there is goodness in the world.”
He sauntered from the room, with a confident stride, acting as though he were the Lord of the manor and not she.
Once he was gone Lady Catherine blushed and giggled. Then noticing herself she shook herself out of the happy daze Wickham had placed her in.
At last! Darcy had resisted till now. But now he would be brought to obey, and she would punish him.
Chapter Three
Fitzwilliam Darcy vaulted off his bay stallion as he reached the end of the gravel carriage way leading up to his aunt’s estate. He was tired and sweaty from the long hot ride.
He looked around, noting the neatly mowed grass about him, the tall hedges of rose bushes, the oak and ash trees shading the house on the sides, and the vast prospect down the drive he’d just traveled. There was a deer park, part of what had once been the royal hunting grounds of Henry VIII where he’d courted Anne Boleyn while hunting a few miles from this spot.
Four years since he had been to Rosings.
A thin servant boy ran out to take the reins of Darcy’s horse. Darcy smiled at the young lad and tossed him a coin.
The place where Elizabeth refused him. The hint of that old pain was a little present with him, though he had long since recovered from his feelings for her.
The reason he had not married was that such women were rare. He had yet to see a woman in the ballrooms of London or the assemblies of Derbyshire who compared to Elizabeth, and he had looked.
When Darcy received the curt message ordering him to come immediately to Rosings, he had been tempted to ignore his aunt’s summons. But she was his aunt.
The butler, Mr. Wood, bowed upon Darcy’s entry into the shaded entry hall of the building. “The mistress informed us that you would come, but we did not know when. It shall take half an hour for your room to be prepared. Pamela” — Mr. Wood gestured at a pretty young maid — “will lead you to the room where you can refresh yourself before meeting her Ladyship.”
“That is unnecessary, I’ll not stay for longer than necessary to speak with her Ladyship. If she does not keep me for long, I can be back to London by nightfall.”
“As you wish, sir.”
There was something in the stiff bow of Mr. Wood that said that no matter what Darcy said, he would make the room up and expect Darcy to stay in it.
The reason Darcy had never returned had been silly. He had heard of the death of Mr. Bennet, and without Mrs. Collins’s presence there was no possibility he would meet Elizabeth here. He didn’t want to walk in the park again unless she was there to share that grove with him once more.
The insulting letter Lady Catherine sent in reply to his request that they meet in London instead of Rosings the next year did not encourage him to overcome irrational sentiment. In fact it gave him a quite rational reason to avoid his aunt.
When led to a room to refresh himself, Darcy splashed water over his face and vigorously wiped the dust off. He truly hoped he would not need to stay here overnight.
A pretty young maid who stared at him for a minute and blushed led Darcy to Lady Catherine’s sitting room. The Lady sat in a large chair with massive armrests carved to look like lions paws. Her thin blue-veined hands rested on the walnut wood.
Due to the summer heat, all but one of the windows were shaded with light colored curtains to block the sun. But one window’s curtains stood open so that the sunlight shined directly upon Lady Catherine, making her sit in a pool of light surrounded by the dimness of the room.
Silly theater. Darcy examined his aunt. She’d gone completely grey since he’d seen her last time and despite the thronelike chair, she looked smaller. Perhaps it was because of the thronelike chair. She could not fill it.
He’d heard about Lady Catherine’s recent illness from Colonel Fitzwilliam, who had visited Rosings repeatedly since then. Despite knowing she had been unwell, Darcy was not been prepared for how much older his aunt looked.
There was a chair much too small for a man of Darcy’s size in front of Lady Catherine’s chair. All of the other seats had been removed from the center of the drawing room and pushed against the walls or removed from the room.
Darcy ignored the chair. He stood in a relaxed pose in the middle of the room. “Lady Catherine. It has been too many years. I am well, and you have heard that Georgiana is to be married, I hope you and Anne will travel to Chancey for the ceremony at the end of August.”
“Sit!”
Darcy glanced at the chair. The chair was of an appropriate size for a fourteen year old. It was a small wooden thing. Darcy’s legs would be scrunched up if he tried to sit in it. He looked back at Lady Catherine with raised eyebrows.
Did she really expect him to participate in such a theatrical game?
“I order you to sit! You are my nephew, and I am your superior in rank and family position.”
Darcy looked back at the chair. His aunt’s sense had not improved. Maybe he should simply walk out, but that would also be childish after the length of his ride. He’d known all along having anything to do with his aunt would be a mistake. “What matter do you wish to speak on?”
“You will sit, or I shall make you regret it.”
“Lady Catherine, I am here at your request, but my family feeling extends no further than being willing to listen to you.”
“You are here to obey. At last! It is time you marry Anne. I am done with your games of delay and resistance.”
“Then we have nothing to speak of.”
“I know what Georgiana did.” Something in Darcy’s stomach seized up as Lady Catherine leaned forward, gripping the clawed armrests of her chair with claw-like hands. “Yes! I know. You thought you could hide the filthy behavior of that creature who cannot truly be of the Fitzwilliam blood. But I know. I know!”
“I have no knowledge of what you speak about.”
“She…she… It is not a matter a delicate creature such as myself can speak directly of. But you know! You know that thing she did with your father’s godson. She is fit to marry no man. You know she is filthy! Yet! Yet you let her marry a man of noble blood such as the Earl of Chancey.”
“That is untrue. Georgiana did no —”
“She is filthy! Filthy, I say. That handsome boy seduced her! She threw away her honor, her virtue, her childhood — she is filthy!”
“Madam. I do not know what you have been told, but though you are my aunt, I will not accept this abuse from you.”
“She is defiled. Filthy! With Wickham!”
“I must assume Wickham told you that. The truth of the matter is that while she agreed to elope with Mr. Wickham, Georgiana did not—”
“Filthy! You believed her filthy lie. But you are the only one! The whole world — all of England! — shall hear me proclaim her sin. I will go to Chancey, I will go to his mother. I will go to his cousins. I will go to St. James and proclaim it during the cotillion. I shall pronounce it to everyone. Everyone shall hear!”
Lady Catherine’s eyes bulged as she continued in a ranting, rising voice, “Everyone! Chancey shall throw filthy Georgiana aside; no one will ever speak to your beloved sister again. It is what she deserves for sporting in such a way with that charming, smiling creature your father doted upon.”
“You are insane.”
“No — you are the one who has lost his sanity! You accept that filth as your sister! But I shall tell everyone!”
“Madam, we are family — my mother, your sister — if you spoke that way it would profane her memory. You would be involved in scandal — and…and such a plan is insane.”
“I am not mad! I know myself better than I ever have! Better than anyone has ever known themselves! I have a beautiful soul!”
The light in her eyes was full of glee. They looked at each other for a long time, Darcy silently testing her resolve.
Lady Catherine said, “I have been too kind to you. But spare the rod and spoil the child. I love you too much to allow you to continue as you have. Do not think I shall hesitate.”
“Madam. This is insane. I do not wish to marry your daughter. I do not believe Anne wishes to marry me, so—”
“Do not insult Anne’s name. She knows how to obey. Good people know how to obey! If you can’t obey, you are not truly my nephew. I will know how to act!”
“If Georgiana — she does not deserve what scorn you would heap on her.”
“I have sources! She loves that earl of hers. I’ll break her heart, the way you’ve broken mine by refusing Anne. I will destroy her.”
“Madam, we have nothing to speak about ever again. You may do as you will, but you will only expose your madness to the world. I shall not be blackmailed.”
Darcy wanted to stalk from the room. But his anxiety for Georgiana held him.
“Then you choose to destroy her once more! It was your failure. Yours! If not for you, and her filthy, defiled, lack of character, she would never have been a victim of that handsome man who does not know his place.”
“I beg you madam—”
“I will not be gainsaid. Either agree to marry Anne, and publically announce it this afternoon, or you will have destroyed your sister’s happiness! Choose!”
*****
The Trials: A Pride and Prejudice Story Page 2
