Page 169 of The Governess of My Heart
“Did you read the letters?” Elizabeth asked, wanting to understand Charlotte’s perspective.
“I did. I feel the same way as you do; there is a sudden shift in your mother’s sentiments in the letters she had written after her marriage. Something is wrong; I feel that Mrs. Bennethas a hand in this, and, moreover, you state the handwriting is similar.”
“I wish I could say for certain, but the choice of words makes me doubt it apart from the writing. Mamma is not capable of expressing herself so sensibly. I wish I could figure this out.”
She retired that night, pondering over the happenings of the day. Somehow, she strangely missed the presence of Lord Anderson and felt irritated by her thoughts.
What is wrong with you? How could you miss him? Maybe you miss the anger you feel when you see him.
She was unable to sleep and reread the letters. No matter how often she read it, Elizabeth could not find anything new to throw light on the situation.
If Mrs. Lewis is not found, there is nothing we can do.
She picked up two letters for comparison, placed them on the table, and tried to compare them. She read line by line, and suddenly, something caught her eye.
Elizabeth could not believe how she missed it previously. She looked at the writing more closely and finally found the clue she was looking for all along.
Good Heavens! I have the proof now. My mother never wrote these.
Chapter 48
The next morning, Darcy was surprised to receive a note from Elizabeth requesting his immediate presence at Charlotte’s house. He rushed there to find Elizabeth waiting for him impatiently.
She wasted no time in explaining her discovery the previous night. Darcy looked at the letters she handed him and was intrigued by her observation.
“So, you say Mrs. Bennet wrote these?”
“Yes, it is obvious now. I do not know how I missed it previously. Mamma writes the alphabet “y” in such a way. You see, there is a loop in the upper part of the letter; Mamma writes this way, and so does Kitty. I have often heard my father making fun of it. He used to state that Kitty and Mamma had confused minds and handwriting. It is such a small thing, but if you compare the letters written from London after her marriage and the previous ones, you can easily spot the difference. The sisters might have had the same writing style, but this is the difference.”
“Agreed, but what about the choice of words and the content? I may not have known her for long, but Mrs. Bennet is incapable of that.”
“Maybe someone helped her word them, but one thing is certain: she wrote them, I have no doubt,” Elizabeth said and looked at Charlotte, who nodded in agreement.
“Mrs. Davis, my original plan was to call on Elizabeth in the afternoon today, but now, I want to take her to my townhouse as my close friend Mr. Bingley is arriving from Netherfield. I assure you I will bring her back before evening,” he said.
Charlotte smiled at him and agreed.
“Your future husband’s actions amuse me, asking my permission to take you to his house,” she said in a low voice as Elizabeth prepared to leave.
“Well, I am your responsibility now; he is doing the right thing.”
“I can see he brought a maid as a chaperone for your carriage ride. But trust me, Lizzy, more than society, he is scared of himself; I can see it in his eyes,” Charlotte said with a wink, and Elizabeth frowned.
***
Meanwhile, in Darcy’s townhouse, two men sat in the drawing room, unable to be civil to each other. Mr. Gardiner decided to meet Lord Anderson that morning and made the call. However, he was unaware of Darcy’s absence, so Georgiana made the introductions and left them alone. She hoped her brother would return soon.
“Trust me, Lord Anderson, if I come across as uncivil, I am not explaining why. I wish I had met you twenty years ago while my sister was still alive. I still do not understand why she kept your identity a secret and hid her marriage from us. Do not waste time justifying your actions, stating that my sister wanted to keep it a secret for her own benefit. Do you have any idea as to how much she suffered till she died?”
Lord Anderson clenched his fist and stayed silent.
“As her family, we despised her for her ruin, having no idea about the secret she buried in her heart to safeguard you. Why did you marry her if you had no intention of living a life with her? It was easy for you to forsake her based on a few letters, wasn’t it?”
“I did not forsake her; I did everything that she wanted. You say she never wanted to marry Thomas Bennet, but she wrote to me stating the opposite. How do you explain that? I sent her money, as she requested, because she blamed me for takingadvantage of her, even though to get married in Scotland was her idea.”
“No wonder Elizabeth is so angry with you; I am not certain you understand what you are saying. If you had visited her once to see why she sent you those letters, you could have saved her from pain and suffering. Why didn’t you?”
“Because she did not want me to. Do you think it was easy for me to forget her?”
