by Don Miller
“May I ask when you saw her last?”
“In early January. We traditionally spend the Christmas week at Longbourn. Mrs. Bennet is Mr. Gardiner’s sister and his other sister, Mrs. Phillips, lives near Longbourn in Meryton. I could see the difference Elizabeth had made in Catherine in only six weeks, and if you know Elizabeth, you know she can be quite determined. Catherine was her main project over the winter months and given I have not seen her in three months, I suspect Catherine is even much changed from when I saw her last.”
Chapter 3: A Visit to the Bennets
Darcy’s Journal: Saturday, April 7
I spoke with Georgie this morning about Mrs. Annesley’s idea and she was thrilled at the prospect of having someone her own age as a companion at least for the summer, and possibly until she was married. But then I had to warn her that Wickham is in Meryton with the militia. I do not believe there is any chance we will see him, but I was worried Miss Catherine might mention him, because she knows he was raised at Pemberley. She, as everyone in that area, probably believes him to be a fine gentleman and believes his story that I denied him the living at Kympton. I asked her if she was prepared to discuss that with Miss Catherine if she mentioned it.
I was quite proud of Georgie. She became pale when I mentioned Wickham’s name, but then she threw back her shoulders and told me that she was sixteen now and should be able to speak about such things without breaking down. She said she would tell Miss Catherine about Wickham if she asks, but not about her experience with him.
It has been arranged that the Georgie and I will take Mrs. Gardiner with us to Longbourn on Monday, so Georgiana can meet Kitty. If Georgie finds Miss Catherine acceptable, Mrs. Gardiner and I will try to convince Mr. Bennet to allow Miss Catherine to live with us for an indefinite period of time, where the length of that indefinite period depends on how well she and Georgie get along once they are living together and how homesick Miss Catherine becomes. Also, I always have the power to send her home if I do not believe her effect on Georgie is positive.
As the Darcy carriage was traveling through Meryton on its way to Longbourn, Mrs. Gardiner happened to see Jane and Kitty walking on the street. She pointed them out to Darcy, and he told the driver to stop the carriage beside the two young ladies. Mrs. Gardiner opened the door and called them over to the carriage.
“Aunt Madeleine, Mr. Darcy, what a surprise to see you here and together,” said Jane.
“Hello, Jane, Kitty. Would you mind returning to Longbourn with us? We have some business with your father and with you, Kitty.”
As one of the footman put down the step, Kitty asked, “Business with me? What could you possibly want with me?”
“We will tell you on the way.”
Both young women entered the carriage and Jane and Kitty were introduced to Georgiana.
Once the carriage was on its way again, Mrs. Gardiner said, “We came here specifically for Miss Darcy to meet you, Kitty. You are almost the same age, only ten months between your birthdays. The Darcys are soon returning to Pemberley, where Miss Darcy has no friends her age and her companion, Mrs. Annesley, just tendered her resignation so she could join her daughter in America. Needless to say, Miss Darcy does not want to spend months at Pemberley with no friends or a companion. I mentioned to Mr. Darcy that I thought you and Miss Darcy might be able to forge a friendship, and, if so, perhaps your father would let you visit Pemberley to provide her company. Of course, this depends on both of you and Miss Darcy thinking it is a good idea, because, if one of you thought you were not compatible, it would not work. Therefore, when we arrive at Longbourn, I hope you will take Miss Darcy somewhere private to talk. Are you willing to do that?”
Kitty and Georgiana had been looking at each other as Mrs. Gardiner was speaking. “I will be happy to do that, Aunt Madeleine, but I am somewhat surprised you agreed to this, Mr. Darcy. I believe I acted rather immature and unladylike when you last saw me.”
Darcy smiled at her—the first time she could remember seeing him give a full smile. “I remembered the ball and questioned the advisability of approaching you, but I am told your sister took you in hand and has been seeing to your education. Is that correct?”
“Yes, sir. Lizzie and Jane were not happy with the way Lydia and I behaved at the ball. The next day, Lizzie came to me and told me in no uncertain terms that my behavior was inappropriate for my age and she was going to make me into a proper gentlewoman, whether I liked it or not. I must admit, I resisted a little at first, but she soon showed me the error of my ways and I feel much better about myself now. I do not know how well you know Lizzie, but when she decides to do something, she is thorough and demanding. I believe I have matured about two years in the last four months under her guidance.”
“I will certainly corroborate what she has said, Mr. Darcy,” said Jane. “Even father has noticed it, and I do not know how much you remember our father, but it takes quite a change in one of his daughters for him to notice it—except possibly for Lizzie.”
“Mrs. Gardiner told me much the same, therefore, here we are, and I will leave it up to Georgiana and you, Miss Catherine, to decide if you might be compatible. And I beg you, Miss Catherine, be honest in your evaluation, as I know Georgiana will be. Pemberley is a beautiful place, with much to do, but even it would soon become unpleasant if you do not have a good friend with you.” He looked at Georgiana, “Do you have anything to add, Georgie?”
Georgiana, as usual, had been quiet. She was quite shy in such situations, but she finally said, “No, except I have no preconceived ideas about you, Miss Catherine, and I like what I see and have heard so far. I look forward to our conversation.”
Kitty smiled at her. “I feel the same, Miss Darcy.”
When the carriage pulled up to the front door of Longbourn, Darcy exited first and helped the women out. Kitty then took Georgiana in hand and led her toward the small park beside the house, while Jane, Mrs. Gardiner, and Darcy entered the house. When they were in the entry hall, Mr. Bennet came out of his library and said, “Madeleine, Mr. Darcy, this is a surprise—particularly seeing you together and with Jane.”
Darcy nodded and greeted Mr. Bennet. Mrs. Gardiner said, “Hello, Thomas. We saw Jane and Kitty walking in Meryton as we drove through it and asked them to come with us. Kitty is out walking with Miss Darcy at the moment, and Mr. Darcy and I are here to speak with you.”
Hearing the voices in the entryway, Mrs. Bennet and Mary joined the others in the hall. “Mr. Darcy, sister, what a pleasure. May I ask why you are here and why you are together? I did not know you even knew each other.”
“Good morning, Mrs. Bennet,” said Darcy. “I have some business with Mr. Bennet, and Mrs. Gardiner, whom I have known since I was a boy, is here because what we are to discuss was her idea.”
Before Mrs. Bennet could say more, Mrs. Gardiner said, “Pemberley, his estate, is near Lambton. When he was a boy, he often came into my father’s store, where I worked as a young woman. We met again for the first time in 15 years three days ago. His aunt, Lady Matlock, is one of the supporters of the charity I recently started.”
“Oh my, what a coincidence. May I ask; will you stay for lunch?”
“We will.”
“Good. I will go tell the cook we need two more places.”
“We need three, Mama,” said Jane. “Miss Darcy is also here. She is out walking with Kitty at the moment.”
After Mrs. Bennet had gone, Mr. Bennet said, “I suppose, if you are here to see me, we should go into my library and discuss whatever needs to be discussed.”
After they were seated in the library, Darcy said, “Mr. Bennet, last summer my sister went through a traumatic experience and has had a difficult time recovering from it. She has had an older woman as a companion since the incident, who has been marvelous, but she has turned in her resignation so that she can join her daughter in New York in America. I intended to replace her, but she suggested Georgiana might recover to
her old self more quickly if she had a friend her own age in whom she can confide, partake of the activities girls that age do, and express feelings she will not express to me or, indeed, anyone much older than her. We will soon be returning to Pemberley, which is a large and somewhat remote estate, where Georgiana has no friends her age; therefore, unless we can find another companion or, preferably, a friend, she will be, in a sense, on her own. That, I am assured, would not be good for her. I was speaking with my aunt, Lady Matlock about my dilemma, and she contacted Mrs. Gardiner, whom she knows through Mrs. Gardiner’s charity. Mrs. Gardiner reminded me that Miss Catherine’s age is close to that of Georgiana, and suggested she might do well as a friend.”
No one said anything for several moments, and then Mr. Bennet said, “A few months ago I would have said I do not think Kitty would qualify, but she has changed much in the past few months, thanks mostly to her older sister, Elizabeth. As I recall, Mr. Darcy, you may not have a high opinion of Elizabeth, but I assure you, she is an intelligent, competent woman who can do marvelous things, and reforming Kitty, I believe, has been one of them. I assume you are here to ask if I would allow Kitty to go to Pemberley with you to be Miss Darcy’s companion.”
“Yes, but, of course, she would not be a companion in the employee sense. She would be Georgiana’s friend and treated like a sister. We would buy her appropriate clothing and anything she needs to move in our society. I will be hiring tutors for Georgiana who, I assume, if Miss Catherine is with us, will tutor Miss Catherine as well as Georgiana. If she is allowed and wishes to stay permanently with us, we would find a sponsor for her and have her debut in the ton with Georgiana during the Season of 1811. I know not what her dowry is, but I would augment it so that it would be appropriate for one who is in the ton.”
Mr. Bennet had entwined the fingers of his hands and leaned forward, putting his elbows on the desk and setting his chin on top of his hands as he listened to Darcy. He paused before answering, then leaning back again, he said, “You are saying you are willing to spend thousands of pounds, probably several thousand pounds, to make Kitty presentable to your peers?”
“That is true.”
“You must be wealthier than I thought, Mr. Darcy. But I should warn you, Kitty has essentially no dowry at this point. The most I could give her would be £1000.”
“I expected no more, Mr. Bennet. I would provide her at least £15,000. And, yes, I expect I am wealthier than you think. If it will make my sister happy, I will spend five times that.”
“Mr. Darcy, you are a hard man to deny, and I must admit, I have no desire to deny your request. But it is up to Kitty. If she wants to go, then she has my blessing, and I believe I can guarantee you, my wife’s. What do you think, Madeleine?”
“I think it is the opportunity of a lifetime for Kitty, and I am sure she will see that. It is now up to the two girls. It will be disappointing if one of them believes it will not work for them.”
As she was saying that, they could hear Kitty and Georgiana come into the entry hall, and it was music to Darcy’s ears to hear Georgiana laugh. He could not remember the last time her heard her give a genuine laugh which made her sound happy. Their voices soon faded and they could hear them run up the stairs, probably going to Kitty’s room.
Darcy shook his head and said to Mr. Bennet and Mrs. Gardiner, “This introduction has already succeeded to some extent. It would be worth all I could spend to hear Georgie laugh like that every day.” And both could see what appeared to be tears in the taciturn Mr. Darcy’ eyes. Suddenly they understood the love Darcy had for his sister, and the bad opinion of Mr. Darcy that Mr. Bennet had held for so long began to evaporate.
It had, in fact, not taken long for Georgiana and Kitty to decide they could be friends. Georgiana envied Kitty’s exuberant nature. She was always smiling and seemed to just enjoy being alive, but she, in turn, envied Georgiana’s poise and ability to look so elegant all the time. They soon decided Georgiana could teach Kitty how to be a true lady and Kitty could teach Georgiana to enjoy life more and be more confident around others. Georgiana also envied Kitty in that she had already been out in Hertfordshire since she was 16 and had been able to dance with men. That caused them to start talking about men and being out and trying to imagine what it would be like to be married, which both understood could happen in two years or so. Finally they talked about what they liked to do, and Kitty told Georgiana about her drawing, which Georgiana wanted to see. That was what brought then into the house and when they arrived in the entry hall, Kitty said, “Georgie, have you ever run upstairs?”
“No. Gentlewomen never do such things.”
“Well, some gentle girls do. Come on.”
She then started running toward the stairs and after a hesitation, Georgiana laughed and ran after her. When they reached the top, Georgiana had to catch her breath, and a giggling Kitty said, “You need to run more often. It builds your stamina. Lizzie says it is good for my singing.”
They went into Kitty’s room and she took out some of her sketch books and showed them to Georgiana. As Georgiana paged though them, she was impressed. “These are really good, Kitty. How did you become so good?”
“I started when I was twelve after reading a book about artists and found I enjoyed it. I kept it a secret for two years until Lizzie saw me sketching one time. She told me she was amazed how good I was for an untrained fourteen year old. She encouraged me and was constantly finding books on drawing and painting for me. It was funny, because she was never interested in developing an ability for herself to draw or paint, but she would often spend a long time with me to help me understand what the book was saying I should do. She said she was happy to do it, because it let her better appreciate paintings she would see in museums or other places. She wanted to be able to understand why some paintings were considered better than others.”
“She sounds like an amazing sister. I hope I can meet her. I will tell you a secret. When Will was here last fall, he mentioned Miss Elizabeth in several of his letters. I thought he was falling in love with her because he had never written about women he met before. But when he returned from here, she was never mentioned again, so I guess something went wrong.”
Kitty’s face registered her astonishment. “He wrote good things about her? We all thought he disapproved of her. At an assembly he attended when he and Mr. Bingley first came to Hertfordshire, he said something about Lizzie being tolerable, but not pretty enough for him. Everyone around here who heard about that was upset with him because she is considered one of the prettiest women of the area. If I can be half as pretty and educated and resourceful as her when I am her age, I will be happy. She is incredible.”
“She sounds perfect for Will. Does she like him at all?”
“I do not think so, which is unusual for her. She is usually willing to forgive and forget. I do not think they got along well.”
“That is too bad. Will has been looking for a suitable woman for years and has about given up. One of the things I want to do, when I am out, is to try to find him a suitable woman to marry.”
“I can tell you truly love him, so he must be more agreeable than the people of this area think he is. He did not leave a good impression with the folks here. They think he is prideful and haughty and does not want to associate with those below him.”
“But he is not that way at all. All of the staff and tenants at Pemberley think he is the best master in England and he is honest and trustworthy almost to a fault. Everyone who truly knows will tell you he is one of the best men they know. You will see, once you know him better.”
“That is certainly a different picture of him than that painted by Mr. Wickham, whom you must know, since he grew up at Pemberley. He says your brother is disdainful of those below him and even dishonored his father by denying Mr. Wickham the living his father had promised him. Everyone here admires Mr. Wickham, so his story has been an important factor in everyone’s dislike of your brother.”
Kitty
was surprised at the effect the mention of Mr. Wickham had on Georgiana. Kitty thought she was almost brought to tears. Kitty grabbed both of Georgiana’s hands and said, “I am sorry. I did not know speaking of Mr. Wickham and his relationship to your brother would so upset you. I should not have said anything.”
Georgiana loosened one hand from Kitty’s and wiped her eyes with her handkerchief. “I am sorry. I promised Will I would not break down when his name was mentioned, and I will not.”
She wiped her eyes again and then continued, “Let me tell you the truth about the living at Kympton. Mr. Wickham was my father’s godson and raised at Pemberley after his father died. My father educated him and promised him the living at Kympton, once the current vicar left, if he would take his orders after he graduated from Cambridge. When father died, Mr. Wickham came to receive his inheritance and told Will he had no intention of becoming a clergyman, partly because the living would probably not be vacant for many years. The current vicar is only in his 40s. He said he wanted to study law and asked for compensation for refusing the living, asking for £10,000, but finally accepting £3000. He signed papers acknowledging his claims against father’s will had been satisfied.”
“So he was never denied the living?”
“Yes, but after he had refused it once and signed those papers. Two years later he returned and asked again for the living or more money, which, of course, Will refused, reminding him of the papers he had signed. Mr. Wickham stormed out of the house, vowing revenge on my brother and has been taking it by using the fact he was my father’s godson to obtain credit, and then not paying his debts. Will did not want a stain on the Darcy name, so he has paid some of the debts. Mr. Wickham also has a history of seducing girls and ruining their reputation. One of the girls he seduced had a child and Will took pity on her and brought her to Pemberley, where she is working on the staff and the daughter Mr. Wickham fathered is being raised with the children of other staff members. Mr. Wickham has never even seen his daughter or acknowledged she is his. I hope no one here has been seduced by Mr. Wickham, because he is not a good man.”