The Lady of the Mount and Patience Rewarded: Two Stories of Darcy and Elizabeth

by Don H. Miller

  His mind went back to those days at Netherfield Park. The only good thing about the fire last fall had been that it had forced him to leave Netherfield Park and had thus taken him away from the lure of Elizabeth. The more he had been with her, the more he recognized her to be the kind of woman with whom he might be able to make a life. She was intelligent, resourceful, accomplished, and beautiful. He recalled he had not thought her so beautiful at first, but the more time he spent with her, the more beautiful she became. Her sparkling eyes enchanted him, and her gorgeous, curly, dark chestnut hair made him want to run his hands through it and feel it against his face. Unfortunately, her low social standing, her lack of wealth, and her undistinguished heritage made her entirely unsuitable as a wife for a him. He believed he had barely escaped in time, because he knew he had begun to try to find a way he could justify marrying her. His duty to his family had been drilled into him all this life; hence, he should never consider pursuing a woman such as Elizabeth. And yet, here she was, and as soon as he had seen her, he knew he had not forgotten her. “Damn,” he said out loud, and then thought, “I am sorry, Lord. I do not mean to curse, but my self-restraint seems to disappear when she is near.”

  ******

  As they started on the tour, Mrs. Reynold said, “As I said, the full tour of the house takes well over two hours, however, some find it a rather physically tiring tour. Should you wish to curtail it, tell me at any point and we will then determine which of the remaining areas to visit before I take you to the sitting room.” She then led them to the hallway to the right. “The house was built in four stages. You are currently standing in the original house, which was started in 1538 and completed in 1540. The north wing was added in 1670, the south wing, which contains most of the guest quarters, in 1703, and the front part, which enclosed the courtyard and contains the entrance arch, was completed in 1747. We will start with the main house, then move to the guest wing, then the part of the family wing that is for family guests, and finally the library and its adjoining terrace and the ballroom and its adjoining terrace. This tour usually takes one and a half hours, unless you care to spend more time in the library or observing the views from the terraces. Then, if you are still willing to see more, we will tour the kitchen, infirmary, the school and playrooms for staff children, and look into some of the storage rooms. The only place left that some people want to see is the rooms for the staff, many of which are on the third floor, which, of course, requires quite a climb up rather narrow stairs. You would be amazed, however, at what fine rooms the Darcy’s provide their staff and the extent of their library.

  “My goodness that does seem like an ambitious tour. Will I have any energy left to tour the grounds this afternoon?”

  “It depends on your recuperative powers,” said Georgiana. “We can take as long as you wish to rest and relax in the sitting room and dining room before the afternoon tour. I imagine my brother will want to join us for at least part of that.”

  Mrs. Reynolds first led them to a glass case against the wall in the foyer beside the staircase. “This case contains miniatures of many of the past residents of Pemberley. You can see there a very fine portrait of Mr. Darcy when he was in Cambridge and this is a picture of Miss Darcy when she was ten. This fine lady and gentleman are Mr. and Miss Darcy’s parents, Mr. George and Lady Anne Darcy.

  “And who is this beautiful lady?” asked Elizabeth, pointing to a miniature beside Georgiana’s.

  “That is my aunt, Lady Sophia, the late Countess of Vollenbrook,” said Georgiana. “She would have been Marchioness of Willingham, had she not died giving birth to her first child, a baby girl. She was two years older than my father and they were very close. Her death was a great loss to him. This miniature below hers is her daughter, our cousin, Miss Amelia Sutherland, who often visited here until she married. Darcy House in London is next door to the Willingham mansion. Will and I remain quite close to our uncle, and our uncle’s son and daughter by the current Lady Willingham.”

  “You cousin looks much like her mother.” Then, seeing another face she recognized, she said, “Is this not Mr. George Wickham.”

  Elizabeth was surprised to see Georgiana become pale and visibly upset. However, Georgiana, gathering her courage, said, “It is. Have you met him?”

  “I have. He is an officer in the militia, which was quartered near my home for some months.”

  “Was he there while my brother was in Hertfordshire?”

  “He arrived a few days before your brother left because of the fire.”

  “Did he harm you or your family or any of you friends?”

  She answered, “No, he did not,” deciding, given Georgiana’s expression, that she should not tell Georgiana that he was considered to be a very personable and pleasant young man by all who had meet him in Meryton.”

  “Did my brother have a chance to warn you of him before he left?”

  “No, he did not, although I did observe the first meeting of your brother and Mr. Wickham in Meryton, while we were on a walk, and it did seem there was some tension between them.”

  “Did Mr. Wickham tell you he was my father’s godson and that father had him educated and paid his way through Cambridge.”

  When Elizabeth confirmed that he had, Georgiana continued, “I am not sure why Will allows his picture to remain in the case. I implore you to be very careful when he is in the area and do not let him charm you. He developed quite wicked ways when he was in Cambridge and has caused much harm to us. He seems the consummate gentleman, but if it were not for my brother, he would be in debtor’s prison or worse.”

  “Thank you for your warning, Miss Darcy. I promise to be wary of him.” However, Elizabeth was finding it difficult to reconcile her impressions of Wickham and what Georgiana had told her. Both seemed to be pleasant, honest people. However, Wickham had told her Georgiana was haughty and proud, which did not seem to be true, and now Georgiana had told her Wickham was wicked, which she also found difficult to believe. She was certain Wickham had been wrong about Georgiana. Was she as certain that Georgiana was wrong about Wickham?”

  They proceeded on the tour, which almost overwhelmed Elizabeth. Her initial impression of the house was continually reinforced as they toured the public rooms and the guest wing. The grand hall on the first floor was lined with portraits of Darcys, past and present, and when they came to the painting of Darcy, she was reminded of how handsome she had thought him when she first saw him. He was not smiling, but he did not have the somewhat stern expression she often remembered him having. He looked……finally she decided he looked contented. She needed to observe him more carefully during their visit to see if she could see such an expression on his face.

  “He is a handsome man, is he not, Miss Elizabeth?”

  “That he is, Mrs. Reynolds.”

  “He is also a generous and caring man. There are those who say he is proud or haughty, but that is because they have only seen him at large gatherings, where he is very uncomfortable. He is always reserved and feels out of place in large groups, but those who know him will tell you he is the best of men. And he is certainly the best master. There is not a servant or tenant who will say a bad word about him. His compensation to his servants and tenants is almost generous to a fault, and he provides services for servants and tenants unheard of at most estates. It is rare for a servant to leave his employ voluntarily, and he rarely dismisses anyone; therefore, we are always overflowing with staff. It is good he is such a good manager and investor, else I do not know how he could afford his largess to his servants and tenants.”

  “That is high praised, indeed,” said Elizabeth. “Do you usually tell this to those who visit?”

  “No, I do not. But the fact that he invited you to come, and that he wrote to Miss Darcy about you, tells me you are a special guest. I have helped bring up both him and Miss Darcy, and I know them as well as anyone. I suppose I am acting like a mother wanting to impress everyone with the qualities of her son. Both of my wonderfu
l children were girls, so I never had a son to brag about.”

  “Thank you, Mrs. Reynolds. I appreciate the insights you have given me. I can tell you that my uncle and aunt, as well as Mr. and Mrs. Rodgers, have told me the people of Lambton have always had a very high regard for the Darcy family. It is good to know the opinion of his servants and tenants is just as high.”

  Their visit to the library was a revelation to Elizabeth. She had never seen such a huge or magnificent library. Two stories high with a balcony on the three inside walls, it had ceiling to floor bookcases as well as bookcases coming out from the ground floor walls which supported the balcony. The outside wall contained the large fireplace and French doors and large arched windows looking out on the back terrace and landscape, including the lake, beyond.

  “This is the most incredible library I have ever seen,” said Elizabeth. “It is heaven on earth. I had no idea estates had libraries such as this. Before seeing it, I imagined I could spend hours in here, but having seen it, I could imagine spending years in here and not being able to read even half of what is here.”

  “There are few, if any such private libraries in England,” said Georgiana. “Our family and friends say this is the largest private library they have ever seen.

  They spent 15 minutes browsing among the shelves and in the cabinets before Mrs. Reynolds reminded them there was more to see. Reluctantly, Elizabeth followed her out of the library and to the west wing, where they entered the ballroom. It too, was memorable, being two stories high with a balcony on the three inside walls. The floor was at basement level and steps led from the doors on the main floor down to the dance floor. The balcony was at ground floor level and there was a terrace outside the ballroom, running the length of the ballroom. This wing of the house was built at the top of a slope, which allowed the terrace to have views of some of the gardens and peaks in the distance.

  By the time they finished the visit to the ballroom, it was 11:45 and time for lunch; therefore Mrs. Reynolds led them to the family sitting room on the first floor, where Elizabeth and Georgiana gladly sat and had a cup of tea.

  ******

  When Darcy entered the house and asked Carson, the butler, where the guests were, he was told that Mr. Gardiner was in the library, Mrs. Gardiner was with Mr. Vanderoot, and Elizabeth was with Georgiana and Mrs. Reynolds, touring the house.

  “Georgiana is with Miss Elizabeth? Did she greet them in the entrance hall when they entered the house?”

  “She did. Whoever was at the gatehouse raised the important-visitor flag for them; therefore, Mrs. Reynolds asked Miss Darcy if she wanted to greet whoever it was, and she said yes. Once greetings were completed, they separated. Mrs. Reynolds told me to tell you that the Gardiners were returning to Lambton around eleven o’clock, but Miss Darcy asked Miss Elizabeth to stay for lunch and a tour of the grounds after lunch.”

  Darcy was surprised that Georgiana had not only been willing to greet unknown visitors but had even taken the initiative to invite Elizabeth for lunch. Neither action was typical of his usually shy, somewhat withdrawn sister. He was happy she had been willing to take the initiative, but not sure he was pleased she had, because he was ambivalent about seeing Elizabeth again. He knew both that he wanted to see her and that he should not.

  Deciding, since he had invited the Gardiners, he should at least go to the library to greet Mr. Gardiner again and perhaps converse with him. He was glad he did. He discovered Mr. Gardiner was far more genteel and knowledgeable about many topics than he had expected, and when they were joined by Mrs. Gardiner, he was impressed with how the young lady he had known as Miss Maddie had matured. She was beautiful, as genteel as her husband, and also knowledgeable on many subjects. In fact, he judged them to be far more interesting than most of the upper-class acquaintances he had. He also learned they were not only acquainted with, but considered friends by Lord and Lady Dumont, the Baron and Baroness of Monttard and perhaps the wealthiest couple in England outside of the royal family, and were also friends of Sir Ronald Carlson, Baronet, and Lady Inez Carlson. Sir Ronald owned the bank where Darcy did most of his banking and investing. With such connections, he could imagine Mr. and Mrs. Gardiner, should they choose to buy an estate, might one day well be members of le bon ton.

  By the time the Gardiners left for Lambton, Darcy had assured them they were welcome to visit Pemberley any time they were in Lambton and given Mr. Gardiner’s penchant for fishing, Darcy invited him to return while he was in Derbyshire, to fish wherever he wished. He also expressed an honest opinion that he would enjoy conversing with them again. Finally, having learned they now owned the bookstore where he usually shopped for books in town, he assured them he would be in to browse their latest acquisitions.

  After they left, he went back to his study and just before noon, went to the sitting room, assuming Georgiana and Elizabeth would have finished their tour by then and be awaiting lunch there. When he entered he said, “Good morning, again, Miss Elizabeth. Did you enjoy your tour?”

  “I did, indeed,” answered Elizabeth, “although they had to drag me out of the library. I am sure you remember how much I enjoy reading. It is the most magnificent library I have ever seen or even heard of, and I believe I could spend the rest of my life in there. May I assume your family has been collecting books for many years?”

  “Yes, we have manuscripts which have been in the family for many hundreds of years. We have been fortunate that none of the fires that have occasionally struck Pemberley or other Darcy residences in the past have damaged the library.”

  “I hope you do not mind that Georgie asked me to lunch.”

  “Of course not. I am pleased she was willing to take the initiative to ask you. It makes me believe, particularly since you called her Georgie, that you enjoyed each other’s company. I believe I mentioned to you in Hertfordshire that I thought she would enjoy meeting you.”

  “You certainly mentioned it to me in your letters from Hertfordshire,” said Georgiana. “I am glad I agreed to meet the unknown important guest whom you sent to the house. As soon as I heard Lizzy’s name, I was most pleased, because not only did you suggest I should meet her, but so did Cousin Anne.”

  “You have met our cousin, Anne DeBourgh?” exclaimed Darcy.

  “Yes. Recall that my cousin, Mr. Collins, Lady DeBourgh’s rector, was visiting while you were in Hertfordshire. Not long after you left, he proposed to my friend, Charlotte Lucas, she accepted, and they were married in January. I visited her in Hunsford last Easter, and we were invited to dine at Rosings Park. I saw Miss DeBourgh three times at Rosings Park and once she came to visit us at Hunsford Cottage, the Collins’ home. And I must say, the Anne DeBourgh with whom I spoke at Hunsford Cottage was nothing like the Anne DeBourgh I observed at Rosings Park.”

  Darcy chuckled. “I can imagine. Anne has been putting on an act for Aunt Catherine since she was sixteen or seventeen, pretending to be sickly, shy, and uncommunicative, when, in fact, she is quite an interesting conversationalist and not as sick as she appears.”

  “She explained her act to me when she visited Mrs. Collins and me at Hunsford Cottage, which was before my last dinner at Rosings Park. It certainly made me appreciate how good an actress she is. She also assured me that the rumors that she was to marry you are a fantasy of her mother and completely false.”

  “Yes, Anne and I cannot seem to convince her that although we love each other as cousins, we would never marry, particularly since she is not strong enough to bear a child. Did she tell you that she will soon be mistress of Rosings Park?”

  “She did, and I suspect she will be a good one, particularly with the help you and Col. Fitzwilliam give her.”

  “Did you meet him, also?”

  “No, but she mentioned how close you and he were.”

  “Which reminds me, Will,” said Georgiana, “I learned from Lizzy that George was in Hertfordshire while you were there. Why did you not tell me?”

  “Because I knew any mention
of his name would upset you and saw no reason. How did his name come up?”

  “Lizzy saw the miniature of him in the entrance hall. Why is it still there?”

  “To tell the truth, I had forgotten it was. I will have Mrs. Reynolds remove it. And, let me remind you again, you should not refer to him as George. That was father’s name and I do not want to associate Wickham with that name.

  Deciding to change the subject, Elizabeth asked, “Miss Darcy, I did not ask, but do you have a favorite section of the library, or are your tastes eclectic?”

  “My current interests are poetry and biographies, although Will is encouraging me to start reading plays, particularly Shakespeare. He has become a great fan of plays, and we see as many as we can when we are in town.”

  They then began discussing some of the latest plays that had been performed in London and what they were anticipating would be shown in the fall. Darcy was again impressed with the breadth of knowledge Elizabeth had with respect to the arts and was surprised to discover that Mr. and Mrs. Gardiner sometimes hosted gatherings of an aspiring group of playwrights and poets in their home, gatherings which Elizabeth, when she was in London, attended. The Gardiners made it a practice to encourage these young artists by selling their material in their bookstore. Elizabeth had met and had discussions with several such young men and women when she visited the Gardiners.

  Finally, lunch was served in the family dining room just off the sitting room. As they were eating, Darcy suggested they visit the more formal gardens near the house whenever Elizabeth felt the urge after lunch and then decide what other areas of the grounds she would like to visit.

  Chapter 3: Pemberley – The Afternoon Tour

  The three of them relaxed in the sitting room after lunch and Darcy gave Elizabeth a brief history of his family and Pemberley. Just before two o’clock, they met Mr. Vanderoot, the 80-year-old gardener of Pemberley, who was still a very active man and was happy to talk with Elizabeth about the arrangement of flowering plants in the gardens near the house. Darcy and Georgiana then guided her through some of the less formal gardens somewhat further from the house, including the maze.