******
Friday morning, just before noon, the Darcy carriage pulled up to the front door of Longbourn and Darcy, Elizabeth, and Jane were soon in the parlor with everyone, telling them of their decision to marry at Pemberley on Friday, January 3.
“Pemberley,” exclaimed Mrs. Bennet. “But you should be married here. The wedding is always held at the bride’s home church. I should be giving you a grand wedding breakfast.”
“Mama, we have chosen Pemberley for several reasons. First, there will be nobility at the wedding and Pemberley has a magnificent dining room and ballroom, plus over thirty bedrooms in the family quarters and thirty guest rooms and suites that would be appropriate for accommodating the number of high society guests we expect to attend. There will be a Marquess and some Earls, as well as lower ranked nobility. Second, it is a magnificent house where you will feel pampered as you have never been before. The staff is the finest I have ever seen, and I want the whole family to experience what it is like to be at Pemberley. Third, Darcy’s great uncle, who is a bishop and resides at Matlock, will be presiding at the wedding, and Matlock is only a short distance from Pemberley. And perhaps most important to you, Aunt Gardiner will organize the wedding breakfast and ball, and she could use your help. Think of preparing a wedding breakfast at a place like Pemberley for noble guests who might not go to the wedding were it held anywhere less magnificent.”
As she was speaking, Mrs. Bennet was imagining what it must be like at Pemberley and being among so much nobility. “I can see your point, Lizzy. Our small town would seem very rustic to such high-class people. And being able to plan a wedding breakfast with Madeleine at such a place would be an experience I will probably never have again. I agree, it is probably the best choice if you are not to have it in London.”
“I had not known Pemberley was so huge,” said Mr. Bennet. “But as large as it is, surely it cannot accommodate all that might come.”
“The Inn at Lambton is only 30 minutes away,” said Darcy. “It is one of the best country inns you will find in England, and I will book the entire inn for the weekend, starting on Thursday. Furthermore, Sir John Throckmorton, my neighbor has quite a large manor house and is willing to host up to 24 people, should we need more space. Even Mrs. Gardiner’s parents could house up to three couples, so I believe we can accommodate all that want to come in appropriate quarters. Your family and the Gardiners will be staying at Pemberley, and we expect you and them to bring their entire family.”
“When will you go to Pemberley?” asked Mr. Bennet.
“We are leaving for Derbyshire next week,” said Elizabeth.
She then turned to Jane. “Have you decided if you are going with us, or did you hope meet again with Mr. Bingley in the next few weeks?”
“No, I will not be meeting Mr. Bingley. He came to see me yesterday while you were at Darcy House. I waited to tell you, until I could tell everyone here today. He and I have decided that perhaps his abrupt departure was good for both of us. We learned something about ourselves and each other during that time. I have discovered an inner strength that I did not know I had, and he discovered the old me was more what he wanted than what I have become. It is our intention to separate for an undetermined length of time to gauge our feelings.”
“You have purposely discouraged the most eligible man you may ever meet,” said an obviously distressed Mrs. Bennet. “I do not understand you. You would also be preparing for your wedding now, had you listened to me. You will regret this, you wait and see. And him being such a good friend of yours, Mr. Darcy. I am sure you must be as upset.”
“No, I am not, Mrs. Bennet. I respect your daughter and her willingness to let go a man with whom she probably would not be happy. Bingley is a friend of mine, and I would never wish on him a marriage in which he or his wife was unhappy. Jane, I knew shortly after we met this last time that the woman you had become was probably not right for Bingley. I applaud your honesty.”
“Oh, you and Mr. Bennet. I will never understand how you could think this is good.”
“Mrs. Bennet,” said Mr. Bennet in a disgusted voice, “we have already discussed this and agreed it will no longer be an issue discussed in this house. Jane has made her choice, and like Mr. Darcy, I applaud her. Therefore, let…it…be!”
Mrs. Bennet flounced out of the room, saying she needed to check on lunch. “I apologize, Darcy, she had great hopes for Jane and Bingley.”
“I can understand. I did also but can now see what has happened is probably for the best.”
“That being the case, Jane,” said Elizabeth, “I hope you will come with us and be my chaperone until the others arrive.”
“I would love to, Lizzy. Do you want me to return to London with you tomorrow, or do you want to come back here next week to pick me up?”
Elizabeth looked at Darcy, who nodded and said, “If you have no objections, it would save us time if you returned to London with us. Meryton is not on the most direct route to Pemberley from London.”
The lunch was delicious, as usual. Some of what Mrs. Bennet lacked in common sense and appropriate behavior, she made up for with her ability to set a fine table. She and her kitchen staff were well known in the region to be as talented in that domain as anyone else in the region. Darcy was looking forward to seeing how she and Marcel, the head chef at Pemberley, got along. The conversation during lunch was more about the plans for the wedding and then, shortly after lunch, Darcy sat with Mr. Bennet, to drink a glass of brandy and show him the complete set of settlement papers, which Mr. Bennet was happy to sign. “It still amazes me, Mr. Darcy, that you give her more in pin money per year than the entire income of Longbourn, let alone the amount she is given to handle household expenses. I believe your income must be much greater than the rumored £10,000.”
“That is true, Mr. Bennet. Let me just say it is more than £25,000.”
Mr. Bennet laughed. “I do not want to know how much more. It would probably give me a heart attack. And now that you are to be my son-in-law, I hope you will call me Bennet and allow me to call you Darcy.”
“I would be happy to oblige you, sir.”
Chapter 19: Another Engagement
When they returned to London before leaving for Pemberley, Elizabeth and Jane did not go to the Gardiners to stay but went to Darcy House with the Darcys and Kitty. When they entered the foyer, Mrs. McGregor, the housekeeper, and Leila, the maid who had served Elizabeth at Pemberley, were there to greet them.
After introducing Jane to Leila, Elizabeth said, “Leila, I am surprised to see you here. Why are you not at Pemberley?”
“I was visiting my grandmother, Mrs. Reynolds, while you were there in August, but I am regularly assigned to Darcy House. Mrs. McGregor has assigned me to serve you again, until you return to Pemberley and choose whomever you wish to be your maid.”
“I am happy to hear that. Mrs. McGregor, Miss Bennet, will be travelling to Pemberley with us. Is there another lady’s maid available for her?”
“There is. Sally, who is usually at Pemberley, has been here visiting her family. She is one of our most experienced lady’s maids.”
“Good. Leila, I did not know you were usually here. Do you prefer to stay in the city?”
“No, Miss Elizabeth, I prefer Pemberley, if I am not assigned permanently to anyone. Grandmother sent me here, so I could keep up with the latest fashions in dress and hairstyles, in case such expertise might eventually be needed at Pemberley.”
“The truth is, Miss Elizabeth,” said Mrs. McGregor, “Mrs. Reynolds has been grooming Leila to be the lady’s maid for the future Mrs. Darcy and wants her to be up on all the latest styles. I believe Mrs. Reynolds was hoping that Mr. Darcy might win your hand while he was here. Of course, you may choose whomever you wish to be you lady’s maid, but we had hoped you would not mind giving Leila a try.”
“Of course, I will. I was quite pleased with her, when I was at Pemberley. Come, Leila, let us go to my assigned room and you can help
me change into something else, and we can talk.”
That afternoon, Jane, Kitty, Georgiana, and Elizabeth went to the modistes for the final fittings of the gowns, dresses, and riding habits which had been completed for the four of them. They were promised most of what had been ordered would be completed before they left London for Pemberley in four days. Those that were not completed would be sent to Pemberley, where the seamstress who lived in Lambton could make the final fittings.
When they arrived back at Darcy House after their shopping expedition, the women discovered that Col. Fitzwilliam was with Darcy and was staying for dinner. As they were having an aperitif before dinner, he told them, “Mother would like you to come for dinner tomorrow after church. Father has been convinced by mother he should raise no more objections, given Lord Willingham’s and Lord and Lady Monttard’s support of your marriage. And, of course, he is still embarrassed about Aunt Catherine’s behavior and feels he should make amends. Anne would also like to know you better, Lizzy, so she hopes you and she will have time to talk together after dinner.”
“May we assume the invitation includes Jane, Kitty, and Georgie,” asked Elizabeth.
“It does. Also, they are celebrating that I have been stripped of command of my cavalry detachment, so will no longer be leading troops into battle. It seems my general is unhappy that I have been wounded so often.”
“I can imagine that upsets you,” said Darcy, “but I am glad of it also. What will you be doing?”
“It seems the general has decided I can be utilized on his staff. I have been promoted to full colonel. I believe that is truly what we are celebrating tomorrow.”
They were then called to dinner, and much of the conversation during dinner was what Col. Fitzwilliam expected to be doing when on the general’s staff. They learned it was good that the wedding was to occur in early January, because he was slated to return to duty on the Continent at the end of January, and in answer to the question as to whether he would miss the excitement of leading men into battle, he said, “No, I will not. I will miss my close contact with the men; but I will certainly not miss the horrors of battle. Furthermore, I am looking forward to the challenges of higher command and to having the time to become more concerned about other parts of my life. I have been hesitant to marry because of the chance that, as one who was often leading men into battle, my wife might soon be a widow. Now, with a longer life expectancy and more time on English soil in the coming years, I hope I can finally start a family.”
The others could not help but notice that he looked at Jane as he made his last two statements, and Elizabeth was amazed that she returned his gaze without immediately looking down. In fact, given the way the two looked at each other, it dawned on her that perhaps Jane’s discussions with Col. Fitzwilliam, when they had been together at the Grand Tea Party and when he called on her at the Gardiners’ house, had progressed further than she had known. She decided she would have to speak with Jane about that.
After dinner Col. Fitzwilliam and Darcy chose to go into Darcy’s study to have a brandy, while the four women went into the sitting room. Once the women were seated, Elizabeth said, “Jane, I could not help but notice the look that passed between you and Richard while he was discussing his future plans. Has he mentioned a courtship?”
“He has not used that word, but the last time we were together, he asked if I might be interested in pursuing a closer relationship with him other than being a cousin through your marriage, and I told him I would.”
“I thought it rather unusual for them the separate from us and go into the study after dinner this evening. Do you know if it has anything to do with his request to you?”
“I do not. As you know, we have not had any time to be together today since we returned from shopping. But I agree, it is unusual for them to separate.”
“If he asks you for a courtship, will you accept?” asked Georgiana. “I think you would be a wonderful wife for him.”
“I would rather not answer that until it happens, if it does. There are still some issues we must discuss, but I can tell you that my opinion about never even considering marriage to a military man has changed. I hold the Colonel in high regard.”
“And from what I have seen,” said Kitty, “I believe he holds you in high regard. I think it would be amusing if you, who were always warning Lydia and me about the militia officers, would end up marrying an officer.”
“Kitty, you can hardly put Richard in the same category as the militia officers we met in Meryton,” said Elizabeth. “That would be like comparing Uncle Edward to a shopkeeper in Meryton.”
“I know, but still, it demonstrates how our preconceived notions change once the circumstances occur which make us understand we have been basing our beliefs on insufficient information. I believe a certain militia officer we met in Hertfordshire is a case in point.”
Elizabeth immediately looked at Georgiana, to see if she knew that Kitty was speaking of Wickham, and seeing Georgiana nod and purse her lips, she decided she did know to whom Kitty was referring. She decided Georgiana must have told Kitty about her episode with Wickham, and Kitty had also told her about Wickham’s time in Hertfordshire – how he had been accepted as a consummate gentleman while there, and then, after he left, discovered to be a womanizer who left many debts behind. It pleased her that Georgiana felt so comfortable with Kitty that she would tell her.
“Yes, I will admit there was a time when all of us thought him comparable, but we eventually learned otherwise. You have made your point.”
******
The dinner at Matlock House the next evening, which included not only Lord and Lady Matlock, Col. Fitzwilliam, Darcy, Georgiana, and the three Bennet women, but also Lady Alicia and her husband, Capt. John Rutherford of the Royal Navy, was more pleasant than Darcy had expected. Once Lord Matlock had decided he would accept the marriage, he acted as if he was extremely happy with it and was a most gracious host. Lady Matlock had also embraced the fact that the wedding would be at Pemberley and expressed a great desire to be part of the preparations for it. The only unpleasant news was that Lord Andrew Fitzwilliam, the Viscount of Gladney and the heir of the Matlock Earldom, and his wife, greatly disapproved of Darcy marrying so far below him and not only refused to attend the dinner but also stated they would not attend the Christmas gathering at Pemberley for the Fitzwilliam and Darcy families if the Bennet women were to be there. Furthermore, they would probably not attend the wedding.
At the dinner, Darcy and Elizabeth informed the Matlocks of their decision that the wedding would be on January 3, and they assumed that those who attended the Christmas celebration would stay at Pemberley until after the wedding. They were also informed that the Bennet family and their relatives, who would attend the wedding, would be arriving a few days before the wedding and staying at Pemberley. The exception was the Gardiners, who would be celebrating their Christmas with Mrs. Gardiner’s parents in Lambton and would move into Pemberley on the 27th, so Mrs. Gardiner could be involved in the preparations for the wedding. Sir Ronald and Lady Inez Carlson would join them on the 29th. The Gardiners and Carlsons were good friends, and both would have their children with them.
After dinner, the sexes did not separate, but as everyone prepared to go to the parlor for conversation and eventual entertainment by some of the women, to everyone’s surprise, Col. Fitzwilliam asked Jane if she would be willing to go to the library with him for a few minutes. Once they were gone, Lord Matlock asked, “Is there something going on between the two of them I should know about?”
“He has not told you?” asked Darcy.
“He has not. Do you know anything about it, Helen?”
“I do not.”
“However, I do,” said Lady Alicia. “Perhaps you did not notice, but he danced with Miss Bennet twice at the Grand Tea Party and was in conversation with her between dances occasionally. He asked to call on her when she was staying at the Gardiners and, to my knowledge, did so twice. He told me he wa
s quite taken with her. I suspect he may be asking her for a courtship. What do you think, Lizzy?”
“The last I heard, she said they had some issues to discuss, but that she quite favored him. I think he wanted to discuss those issues with her, and a courtship will only occur if she believes they have resolved those issues satisfactorily.”
“But he has always said he needed a woman of wealth and good standing in the ton,” said Lord Matlock.
“Uncle Robert, she is my fiancée’s beloved sister. I believe you can now assume she is a woman of sufficient wealth. She, however, is not much interested in the ton. I believe that may be one of the issues they are trying to resolve.”
“You would give her a dowry?”
“Of course, we will.”
Lord Matlock shrugged. “I suppose I should have thought about that. She certainly seems like a wonderful young lady. I guess I would have no objection to her. How about you, Helen?”
“Robert, I would not object to anyone he chooses. He is a decorated hero and a responsible man. I will welcome anyone he chooses, and I certainly like Miss Bennet, so I would welcome her into the family.”
“I hope they do marry,” said Georgiana. “He needs a good wife, and I think she would be wonderful. It would be like brothers marrying sisters, would it not, Will?”
Darcy nodded. “Yes, it would. It would certainly allow Richard and me to continue the close relationship we have had all of our lives, because Elizabeth and Jane are certainly close.”
A few minutes later, Jane and Col. Fitzwilliam entered the parlor, both looking somewhat flushed and pleased. Darcy looked at Elizabeth and smiled, seeing that she probably believed what he did – his cousin and her sister had sealed whatever arrangement they made with a kiss.
The Lady of the Mount and Patience Rewarded: Two Stories of Darcy and Elizabeth Page 37