“You were jealous of him,” I summed up his words, “and so, under the excuse of envy, you define your own actions. And excuse them.”
“I am not excusing them. I am merely explaining how a man like me can result in doing a thing such as that.”
With disbelief, I said, “You really do not see it, do you? You do not see the weight of your own actions. Nor do you see that envy is not a proper explanation for it. Yes, I have been next to people more fortunate than myself, but I never let that circumstance produce the sin of jealousy and then allow it to consume me in the way that it did with you. Look at yourself. If you can allow the fortune of others to inspire you to such behavior, then how am I ever to trust you? For you let things inspire an evil within you.”
“I am still the man that you know.”
“You are not! You are the man who tried to elope with a fifteen-year-old girl so that you could steal her fortune.”
“I felt affection for Georgiana.”
“Did you? Because, from all that I have seen and heard, you did not pay any sort of attention to her until after you had squandered away your inheritance. And it is the mirror actions of how you initially behaved toward Miss King.”
“But look at how I am now? I rectified that mistake, put myself at her uncle’s mercy and abandoned all ventures there, so that I could come here and marry you.”
“Do you not see? You never should have engaged yourself to Miss King in the first place. Just as you never should have tried to elope with Georgiana Darcy.”
“Well, I did, and I cannot change that now.”
I closed my eyes, saddened that he did not say the one thing that perhaps could have softened me toward him.
“No, you cannot. But what you could have done was admit to feeling sorry for what you had done. All you needed to do was show remorse. But after you slandered Georgiana Darcy when you could not get ahold of her wealth, and then you offer a proposal to me. How can I love a man who has shown his ability to leave other women on a whim, and then slander them when he cannot get what he desires? Do you not see? The way that you treat them is a foreshadowing to how you would treat me. For you display no signs of a man who regrets the people he hurts. You left Georgiana when you could not attain her wealth. You left Miss King when you realized that you had no physical attraction to her. What will you do to me when you discover that you do care for money, and I have no dowry? Or what happens when you stop having an attraction to me?” I paused to take a breath.
“I cannot align myself with a man who discards us women in so quick a fashion. Therefore, I am honored by your proposals, and if you were a better man than the one you had presented, then I would have considered you. Yet now, I cannot. And I bid you a good day.”
As I marched past him, he clearly was stricken with a sudden desire to succeed in his endeavors. Rather than letting me pass, he grabbed my arms and secured me in front of him. Enraged and overwhelmed, I tried to release myself from him, but he only held me tighter.
“I will not walk away from here when I know that you care for me,” he declared, “nor will I lose when I sacrificed so much, risking all in coming here. I chose you, so why do you not appreciate that!”
“I will not marry a man who mistreats women so, and you will let go of me!”
“Not when I lost so much in choosing you!”
“Wickham, let her go!” came a shout from our left.
Turning, we saw Mr. Darcy, who had entered the garden.
Mr. Darcy lunged at Mr. Wickham, grabbed him, and shoved him off me. Instinctively, I placed myself behind Mr. Darcy.
“Blackguard,” Mr. Darcy hissed. “Is this the sort of man that you will always be?”
Mr. Wickham’s face was a mixture of confusion. There was anger there, but there was also embarrassment.
“How dare you lay violent hands upon Miss Elizabeth!” Darcy vowed. “Do you ever begin to realize that you always go too far?”
“Darcy…”
“Shut your mouth! Wickham, this is beyond my abilities to cast aside. Your misconduct has pushed me to the point of breaking.”
“My actions are not what you think!”
“You grabbed Miss Elizabeth!”
“This is not me being in the wrong this time. I swear it, Darcy. I was attempting to rectify my life. I was merely heartbroken when she rejected my offer of marriage.”
This declaration made me close my eyes and wonder what Mr. Darcy’s reaction would be. When I opened them again, I was not to be disappointed. Mr. Darcy’s eyes had turned a darker shade of brown if that were possible. His face drained of all color and there was a murderous look in his eye.
“You proposed to her?” Mr. Darcy spat. “You dared to propose to another woman who is too good for you!”
Mr. Wickham looked past Darcy and back at me.
“Whatever I have done,” Wickham implored, “and whatever my past mistakes, I know that you love me. You just are overwhelmed by the knowledge of my history and have been poisoned against me.”
“Wickham, you lied to me about everything,” I whispered. “And when you realize that I bring no wealth, you will despise me as surely as I despise you now.”
When hearing this, Wickham’s eyes turned a different shade.
“That’s a lie,” Wickham responded. “You do not despise me. You adore me.”
“I did once, but I cannot stand the sight of you now. And I do not love you. I never have.”
“Yes, you did. You just have forgotten it.”
“Sirs, what goes on here?”
This interruption was
