by Wells, Linda
Elizabeth immediately countered, “But she is legitimate and she will be raised that way with no stigma attached to her origins.”
“Hmmph.” Lady Catherine cast a critical eye upon her niece. “You are quite flushed for a girl so unconnected to this abandoned child. What has you so passionate? I have never seen you thus.”
Georgiana looked to Susan tearfully for reassurance. “I … I just think that the baby … should be judged on her own merits. What difference does it make who her father is? He … he thought enough of her to secure her a good home.”
“He thought enough of himself to leave her in someone else’s care.” Lady Matlock said dryly.
Susan responded coldly, “I think that my husband and I are quite capable of determining if it is a burden or not. We think not. We are delighted to be parents again, after losing our babies.”
“You wear that like a badge, Susan.”
“How many did you lose, Grace?”
Cathy and Anne watched the volley of conversation and glanced at each other. Mrs. Kelly was regretting she had opened her mouth and Elizabeth, while still holding her sister’s hand, was looking between the women with narrowed eyes.
“Have you something against charity and compassion? Have you never seen the children abandoned at the orphanages or worse?”
“Mrs. Darcy, of course I have, and as the mistress of Matlock I have been approached more times than I can count by young girls, heavy of foot with their natural children, or working the streets, selling their apples or oranges while babies hide in their skirts or cry from their backs. I have done what I can, and I have not made a dent. As the Mistress of Pemberley you will do the same when the reverend comes to your door asking for money. It is my opinion that if a girl lies down with a man, she reaps what she deserves if he leaves her pregnant or diseased.”
“And what of the girls who sell themselves to eat? Or the maids who are accosted by the men in their households, or the courtesans …”
“No, not the courtesans, Mrs. Darcy. Any woman who has a contract to provide,” Lady Catherine glanced at Georgiana and Cathy, “company, to a gentleman for an annual income is no downtrodden wretch.”
“Fine, I will leave the professionals out of the equation, but you cannot ignore the innocents taken in by a cad.”
“You can if she is as drunk on gin as he is.” Anne shrugged.
“Let their families care for them.” Lady Matlock said.
“Families reject them so their remaining daughters are not tainted.” Cathy spoke up. “And those same families already failed her by not teaching her properly.”
“Sometimes the girl is rebellious and the family has done its job, but she ignored their direction.” Georgiana whispered.
“How do you know this?” Lady Matlock stared.
Everyone looked at the girl who was staring down at her plate. “You hear things at school.”
“Well then good for Darcy for pulling you out of there last year and finding you a companion! I never sent Anne to school. You, Mrs. Darcy, did well for having no governess. I have no idea if your sisters followed your example, but if they did, it is a miracle.” Lady Catherine glared around the table. “If I had a daughter who gave in to the whispers of an amorous man, I would have thrown her from my house!”
“You would?” Anne gasped.
“Of course! It is a disgrace, a shame of the highest order to see a daughter, particularly one who is given the best of everything, to forsake her upbringing for a … visit by Satan.” She looked directly at Georgiana. “And a girl of our circle has no business being rebellious. If she is raised with the best, what precisely does she have to protest? What if it were you, Niece? What has Darcy not given you?” She stared and when no answer was forthcoming, she turned to Elizabeth, “Now these girls with nothing, perhaps they might rebel against the strictures of their circumstances, but I feel that they are simply uneducated about the consequences of acting on their desires and become pregnant without even knowing what has occurred.”
Elizabeth nodded, “So you feel that education on procreation should be taught to girls? Before the wedding night? More should be said besides admonitions to keep our skirts down and our legs together? Of course in my mother’s case that did not seem to apply when an actual gentleman was calling. Anything to secure a marriage was her motto.”
“Elizabeth!” Susan whispered as Mrs. Kelly gasped and Cathy stared.
Ignoring them, she continued, “I know that innocence and being sheltered is attractive, but there are times that I wonder for whose benefit these rules are made. Certainly not the girls who fall with the unwanted child; and certainly not the child who is more often than not left to live a terrible life through no fault but the circumstances of his conception. So, Aunt Grace, how can you look askance at Aunt Susan and Uncle Harding for saving one life from such a horrible future?”
The eyes of the room turned to Lady Matlock and she lifted her chin. “Very well, no, I cannot fault their compassion, but that does not make me cruel because I do not save every child who comes within my sight.”
Elizabeth nodded, “Nobody asks you to. But you help where you can. Would you have accepted the children of your sons had they brought them home?”
“We are not talking of sons, we are talking of daughters. There is no way to prove that a particular child was the result of a particular encounter for a man. The law protects the estate by requiring legitimacy, anything else is solely the product of the man’s conscious.”
“Or he secures his legitimate child’s future as the father of our baby has chosen to do.” Susan said heatedly.
“Fitzwilliam and I witnessed a child being left on the church’s steps in Lambton. I wished that we could have taken the baby home, but if we had, then Pemberley would have basket after basket left at the gate. I know that questions of what to do are enormous and difficult, but I believe firmly that if the girls are educated so much less suffering would occur.” She wiped her eyes. “This is a subject that I find I feel passionately about. If I have offended, I apologize.”
“You did not offend, Mrs. Darcy. You spoke your mind and you have reason to feel this way.” Lady Catherine nodded and alarmed, Elizabeth quickly looked to her. “Production of an heir is your most important duty as Darcy’s wife.” She nodded to her sister, “Maintaining purity of the family line is also deeply important, and pollution by illegitimate children is the reason why laws are so harsh. Lady Matlock and I felt the same pressure to further our husbands’ lines, as I imagine you did, Mrs. Kelly?”
“Yes.”
“You did well, with four boys. It was a crowning achievement. And soon enough they will have their wives to occupy you.” Lady Catherine demanded, “Why do you blubber over the loss of a daughter? Do not be so foolish, you should be proud of her spectacular accomplishment!”
“Of course, of course I am.” She looked around at the women, “I am so sorry to have inspired such a violent conversation, I … I was just missing Sophie and wondering how she fared … last night. I thought that she might wish she had someone to speak with. I remember my first morning.” She looked around and saw understanding on all but two faces. Her brow creased as she noticed Georgiana’s expression. Elizabeth caught the stare and quickly found a distraction.
“In the spirit of information for the unmarried ladies, should we reveal what that first morning was like?”
“No, Mrs. Darcy.” Lady Matlock’s head shook. “It depends on the sort of man she marries and that is why he must be thoroughly vetted before being accepted by her father.”
Surprised, Cathy asked, “You would not marry me off to just any man who offered?”
“You are five and twenty, dear, if we were that desperate to be rid of you, would we not have found someone by now? We had aspirations for Darcy, but you had to stand in line for that fruitless quest.” She looked from Anne to Elizabeth and back to her daughter. “We are hopeful that you will … cooperate and find a man of your own.” Frus
trated she took a sip of tea and set down her cup with a rattle. “Before your hair is gray!”
Anne snorted and put her hand to her mouth. “I am sorry …”
“No, you are not.” Cathy muttered.
“I wish that I could find a nice girl for Samuel, but he says he is far too young. But he knows that he will have Mayfield’s when his apprenticeship is finished …” Susan smiled and shrugged. “He is very much like his father in this, stubborn as an ox. He seems to know precisely what he wants in a wife.”
“Good for him. My Robert is definitely at the age where he should marry, but I have seen no girl that is good enough, not that my opinion counts …” Mrs. Kelly looked at Elizabeth. “This cousin of yours who visited, Miss Cargill? Where is she from? Is she old enough to marry? When we inquired of her to Mr. Ferguson, he said that she was a lovely girl, sweet and kind. I think that he was smitten with her, but of course nothing could come of it.”
“Who is Ferguson?” Lady Catherine demanded.
“The steward at Sommerwald.” Elizabeth glanced at Georgiana’s wide eyes then to Susan, who was watching her niece’s blushing face worriedly. “She is a very nice girl.”
“Well, who is she? I do not know this family.” Lady Matlock demanded. “They are cousins?”
“Yes, the Mistress of Pemberley for whom Sommerwald was built was a Cargill, so she is a relation, albeit a distant one.”
“She was not with child was she?” Mrs. Kelly asked and felt the eyes of the room boring into her. “A pregnant girl was seen with Mr. Darcy in a carriage one day.” The eyes moved to Elizabeth. “And there were others who said they noticed our minister’s sister, the midwife, paying several calls to Sommerwald.”
Elizabeth maintained tight control of her emotions although she could feel Georgiana trembling at her side. Susan looked as if she wished to speak, but she dared not ruin whatever Elizabeth was about to say. “Mrs. Kelly, how you can make the leap from hoping for an introduction to practically accusing our cousin of being precisely the type of ruined girl we were just discussing amazes me. And did you just imply that my husband fathered a child with a girl?” Her eyes flashed as Mrs. Kelly paled. “How dare you suggest such a thing!”
“I did not, Mrs. Darcy, only that he was in a carriage with a girl …”
“Did this witness speak to him or the girl? How are you to assume that she is pregnant? Did you see her or are you drawing ugly conclusions? Why would my husband drive with any woman who was not his family? To say that implies that he is unfaithful to me.”
“My brother would never betray you, Elizabeth.” Georgiana said tremulously.
“Never.” Susan agreed.
“I … I did not mean …”
“This is how ugly gossip is created. The beginnings of my marriage were tortured by such rumours. Rumours that I had been compromised and was carrying Mr. Darcy’s child. That I was unworthy of him!” Elizabeth threw down her napkin and stood. “I will not tolerate such implications by anyone! I did not from Lady Catherine, and I did not from my own mother! And I most certainly will not tolerate your suggestion that my husband is anything less than an outstanding man!”
“Mrs. Darcy, please …”
“Yes, my husband took a girl for a carriage ride one day. This girl!” She pointed at Georgiana. “If a girl bundled in blankets for a ride to look upon the sea in cool weather is an indictment of her chastity and his fidelity, than I do not wish to know the people of your neighbourhood further.” She glared and looked around the table. “And heaven forbid a woman who has no experience, and no reliable source of information regarding pregnancy, consult a discreet midwife with her questions!” Elizabeth sat down. Georgiana put her arm around her sister’s shoulder while she sobbed.
“Are you pregnant, Elizabeth?” Lady Matlock asked gently. “Or should I ask, were you?”
Susan wiped her eyes as tears rolled over her cheeks. “A woman never knows for certain until the baby moves within her. Until then we can only hope.”
“Mrs. Darcy, I am so sorry, I never meant to imply anything about your husband’s constancy or … You know how gossip spreads in such a close community …”
“I hope this is the end of it.” Elizabeth resisted the urge to hug herself, and finally letting go of Georgiana’s hand wiped her eyes. “I grew up in a village where gossip was the fuel that warmed the nights. I did not learn how hurtful it was until I and my dear husband were the subject of it. Perhaps that is the case with you.”
“Darcy is a deeply devoted husband.” Lady Matlock nodded. “Anyone can see that clearly.” She glared at Mrs. Kelly. “Can you not?”
“Of course!” Mrs. Kelly nodded vehemently. “And I am only sorry that you felt you could not come and ask me your questions about childbirth. I would have been glad to aid you in any way, Mrs. Darcy. I have such admiration and respect for you …”
“That is quite enough. Mrs. Darcy dislikes excessive compliments. If she enjoyed them she would have married Mr. Collins.” Lady Catherine said coolly.
“That man’s idea of a compliment is to smile while he stabs you in the back.” Elizabeth managed a small smile at Lady Catherine. “But my sister is happy with him, so I can only be glad she is his wife.”
“You remind me that I owe that man a letter, congratulating him on his pending fatherhood.” She added grimly, “And correcting his notion of what exactly the definition of a willing wife is. I did not witness you fighting tooth and claw for your husband when he nearly died, but I see clearly before me that you would not hesitate to do so again at a moment’s notice. Mr. Darcy chose well. You will give him the sons he needs, I have no doubt.”
Anne stared at her mother and with a small struggle, managed to stand. “Excuse me.”
“Sit down, Anne. This is not about you.” Lady Matlock directed.
“May I remind you that you are Lady Gladney?” Her mother snapped.
“I know who I am.” She looked around the room and snatching her reticule from the table, turned and left. Susan closed her eyes.
“What is wrong?” Georgiana asked.
“It is difficult to explain.” Susan said quietly. “I will speak to her.”
Elizabeth nodded. “I hope that she is well.”
Mrs. Kelly was pale, and leaned towards her. “Mrs. Darcy … I am mortified. I am new to this family and I truly did not mean to imply …” She stared down at her hands. “It is no excuse, I know, but this trip has been overwhelming.”
“I had to adjust to my new position amongst different people when I married Mr. Darcy so I can understand somewhat. I suggest that we put this behind us now.” She drew a breath and smiled weakly to the ladies around the table. “Well, that was certainly a wide-ranging discussion. Have we left any stone unturned?”
“I would still like to know what happens the morning after the wedding night …” Cathy offered and instantly the tension in the room was dissolved when the women laughed. “I did not mean it as a joke!”
DARCY HEARD A SOUND and turning away from the window was surprised to find his cousin with a bag of sewing in hand, frozen in the doorway. He nodded, “Good morning, Anne.”
“Good morning, Fitzwilliam.” Stiffly, she crossed the room and stood a little uncertainly by a chair. Darcy read her face and approaching, wordlessly offered his supporting arm as she slowly descended ungracefully to take a seat. Immediately he straightened and retreated. “Thank you.”
“You are welcome. I have fallen many times and I assure you that the pain will fade long before your embarrassment.” His lips lifted slightly and he returned to his post.
Anne watched him. Taking in his handsome, imposing form, her eyes strayed over his open coat to his thighs encased in well-cut breeches, down to his finely polished boots, and back up to his waist, where even the looseness of the fall could not hide the very definition of his masculinity. She shifted in her chair and his eyes moved from the window to find her staring. He looked down and feeling the heat rising in his ch
eeks, met her gaze.
“Do you realize we have never been alone in a room before?” She said quietly.
“I had not thought of it. But it would have been improper, considering the suppositions by your mother.”
“And yours.”
“I only know what I have been told. I hope that you have recovered from any disappointment you may have felt with my …” He struggled.
“Absolute rejection.”
Darcy inclined his head. “I will not attempt to change your mind from an opinion you clearly will not relinquish.”
She watched as his gaze returned to the view and after several pregnant moments of silence, she spoke. “I see. You cannot reject what you never considered? Did you never imagine me as your wife?”
Supremely uncomfortable, Darcy glanced at the doorway. “Why are you asking me this now? You are married. You have achieved status that you never would with me. You are titled and have the potential to rule not only Rosings, but this home as well. You should be satisfied with your life.”
The women’s conversation played in her mind and she said bitterly, “Yes, as a celibate who will never experience her purpose as a woman.”
“Lady Gladney, this is not …” He stopped and faced her. “I made you no promises, others did that. It was not my fault that you were led to believe I would ever offer for you. I will not take that responsibility. Why do you wish to burden me with guilt that I assure you, I do not feel? I thought that you seem content with the viscount. He is certainly showing every sign of caring for you.”
“He does, and I care for him. But … he does not express it easily … But then, neither do I.” She looked down at her hands. “What is the point of expressing affection when nothing can come of it? Even if he were physically able, the disease he believes he carries would stop him. Why attempt to feel like a woman when the man I married cannot … fulfil … we cannot be …” She looked at Darcy again. His face was now unreadable. “He is trying very hard to overcome his desires for the opium. I suppose that sometimes I think that it would be so much easier for us both if we could … be properly married. At least then he would seek comfort from me rather than from a snuff box he no longer carries.”