Page 66 of Undone

"And you were Eleanor Hartley," Darcy continued, "his only daughter."

A disdainful smile touched her lips. "Bravo, Mr. Darcy. You are more perceptive than most men."

During the past few days, Darcy had searched his memory for every particular contained in the records he had examined after succeeding to Pemberley. He would gladly have returned to the estate to consult them again, or sent for the papers themselves, but time had not permitted either course, and there had always been the danger that any unusual movement might reach Mrs. Vane through eyes they had not yet uncovered.

He remembered the matter only because it had struck him as singular when first he read it. There had been records of Thomas Hartley's dealings, the legal proceedings that followed, and abrief note in his father's hand lamenting the unhappy manner of Hartley's death.

"Your father defrauded his partners and creditors. Mine uncovered the fraud and gave evidence against him."

"My father," Mrs. Vane cried, her composure breaking at last, "made mistakes."

"He falsified his accounts."

"He sought to preserve an estate that had been declining for years."

"By taking money that did not belong to him."

Mrs. Vane's fingers tightened upon the edge of the table between them. "Your father might have settled the matter privately. He might have allowed mine time to dispose of his lands and satisfy his creditors without exposing every particular before the county. Instead, he pursued him through the courts and ensured that his disgrace was complete."

"My father acted according to the law."

"How comforting that must be."

Her voice had sharpened at last. Though she still held herself erect, bitterness had broken through the composure she had maintained for so long.

"You speak of the law as though it were some sacred protection," she continued. "The law did not protect my mother when every acquaintance ceased to call upon her. It did not protect me when young ladies who had once sought my friendship were forbidden even to acknowledge me. It did not prevent tradesmen from gathering at our door, nor strangers from staring whenever we ventured to leave our home."

Darcy remained silent. Hartley's guilt admitted of no doubt, yet the suffering she described had found no place in the dry legal papers he had read.

"My father lost his estate," she said. "He lost his name, his standing, and every hope of recovering either. Within months he put a pistol to his own heart. We left Derbyshire soon afterwards, but my mother followed him before the year was out, though no weapon was required to kill her. The shame did the same job."

Richard lowered his pistol a fraction, though his attention never left Hale.

"And you blamed my father," Darcy said quietly.

"Whom else should I have blamed?"

"The man who committed the fraud."

Mrs. Vane's eyes flashed. "Do you suppose I did not blame him? I spent years despising my father for his weakness, and myself for loving him despite it. But your father chose the manner of his ruin. George Darcy wished to make an example of him, and he succeeded."

"My father did not compel him to steal."

"No," she replied. "He merely ensured that every person connected with Thomas Hartley suffered for it."

Darcy's jaw tightened, and he held it there, saying nothing until he was certain of his own voice. "And therefore you determined that every person connected with George Darcy should suffer in return."

Something akin to satisfaction appeared in her expression.

"Now you understand."

"No," he replied quietly. "I understand only that you became the very thing you professed to despise."

The satisfaction faded instantly.

"You speak of innocent women punished for the actions of men," Darcy continued, "yet you chose my sister for ruin because she bore my father's name. You speak of cruelty shownto your mother, yet you were prepared to inflict disgrace upon Georgiana and leave her to endure it alone."

"She would not have been alone. She would have had you." Mrs. Vane turned her gaze upon Wickham. "And a husband, had Mr. Wickham done his duty."