Page 37 of Till Death Us Do Part: Book 2
“I suppose not, but at least I would be rid of him and able to live in peace, presuming he left me enough to live on. In the worst case, if he gave me enough, I could leave England and start over, since nothing is really keeping me here.”
Caroline looked sceptical. “What will you do when he returns?”
Entirely surprised by the intimacy of the conversation, Elizabeth thought it was far too late to back down after all they had said.
“I will explain my complete lack of any agency in his demise—exactlyonce. If he recants hismistake, then we shall see if we can find a way to live with each other. If he decides to put me aside, get an annulment, or what have you—as you say, there is not a lot I can do about it, is there?”
“Is that not just a touch defeatist? You could woo him? I never admitted so, but you are an attractive woman, he is a handsome man, and he commented on your beauty with approbation. How hard could it be?”
“And have a man come to me out of lust or a desire for children alone, who does not trust or respect me?”
Caroline thought for quite a while and finally answered grimly, “It sounds quite unattractive when you put it that way.I imagine, once you produce the required heir and spare, then he might mostly leave you alone. It would not be an unusual situation.”
“Is that what you aspire to? I have already seen twenty years of a husband who does not respect his wife, and lives to make sport of her. That seems sufficient for one lifetime.”
Caroline thought pensively for some time, before finally sighing in uncertainty. “I do not know. I believe there are such things as love matches. My idiot brother might even have one, but I do not know if that is for the likes of me.”
Elizabeth leaned across and squeezed her hand again. “I hope you do not give up. It would be nice ifone of ussucceeded. It would be a win for our side.”
“And you think you cannot have that with your husband?”
Elizabeth stared at the far wall for quite some time and finally sighed resignedly.
“I suppose it ispossible, but—but—but—” then finally, for the first time since the night she learned of her engagement, a tear fell from her eye, and she finally continued, “but I cannotseeit, nor imagine how it might come about with the level of resentment and hostility we both harbour. It looms as an unlikely theoretical possibility that two people who do not even like or respect each other can eventually fall in love, or at least, fall into respect; but the odds seem—daunting, if not impossible.”
Caroline had the courtesy to look away as Elizabeth reached for a handkerchief to wipe her eye.
A moment later, Mrs Darcy said, entirely too brightly, “You mentioned you had a purpose for your visit.”
Caroline was shaken by the abrupt change, but readily recognised someone with the need to move on. “I had not expected such—intimacy. I came to offer you a sort of—”
Elizabeth prompted, “Sort of?”
Caroline frowned. “Now that I must say it aloud, it sounds a bit vulgar.”
“Private conversation, Miss Bingley.”
Caroline paused a moment, and finally said, “Have you any idea how difficult a time you will have entering society as Mrs Darcy?”
“Lord and Lady Matlock blathered on about it,” she replied with a puzzled frown. “Mr Bartlet, the bookseller, implied it might be difficult. I had not thought about it before, but it sounds—unpleasant.”
“It is. You will be thrown into a band of cut-throat thieves. There will be the vindictive daughters that wanted a piece of your husband, their matchmaking mothers, their fortune-hunting fathers, those who just like to cause pain, scandalmongers, and—and—”
“Peace,” Elizabeth laughed, then spoke more soberly. “I get the picture.”
“Thetonis full of undercurrents, that your husbandmightprotect you from, if he is so inclined, and if he is aware of the dangers. His inclination might be in your favour, but his knowledge will be sorely inadequate. I fear he knows less than nothing about the society of women.”
“As much as I hate to admit it, that makes sense. My husband barely understands the society ofmen. Have you a remedy?”
Caroline leaned forward emphatically. “Not a remedy as such, but an ally. I know an awful lot about the ton—who is nice, who is mean, who is vindictive, who is a scandalmonger, who can be trusted, who must be avoided, and who is a ruthless fortune-hunter like me.”
Elizabeth raised an eyebrow, but Caroline continued, “We are past pretending an ox is a cow, are we not?”
“I suppose so,” Elizabeth sighed, not looking forward to entering society in the least. She might hope she could just makeher home in Pemberley among the Lambton society, but that seemed absurd. Her husband would need to maintain the Darcy family’s social status and power. It was part and parcel of being a landowner of such a large estate. Her husband did not seem the sort of man to retreat to his library never to return like her indolent father—though how he lived before marriage was not necessarily a guide to how he would behave after. Past was not always prologue.
“I would like to offer this. If you come to London to enter society, I will tell you everything I know about everyone I know. Forewarned is forearmed.”
Elizabeth tipped her head in thought, and asked, “What is the ‘quo’ part of this ‘quid pro quo’?”
