by Sophia King
Elizabeth stared at her. “Engaged? Are you certain? When did this come about?”
“Just today. It is all over Meryton already. I visited with my aunt this morning, and she told me she had heard it from Mrs Ward, who heard it from Colonel Forster’s wife, Harriet. He’s been engaged these past two weeks to Mary King. You know her. Nasty freckled little thing, whom no-one could care two straws about until someone died and left her ten thousand pounds. Can you believe it? All this time, I wondered why he should choose you over me, and all the time, he was engaged.” She finished with a smile.
Elizabeth winced at her words. Lydia was not deliberately cruel, but she had a self-absorbed thoughtlessness that made her oblivious to the feelings of others. She was sure Lydia thought she would find it as fine a joke as she did.
“You’re sitting on my pelisse,” said Elizabeth with all the calmness she could muster. She reached across the bed to pull it from underneath her sister.
“You are not disappointed, Lizzy?” asked Lydia, looking into her sister’s face with something approaching anxiousness. “I know you liked him, and he is far superior to every other man, but I did not think you were violently in love with him?”
“I am not,” said Elizabeth firmly. “I am merely surprised, that is all.”
Lydia nodded. “I cannot blame you. He certainly showed you enough attention. I thought it was due to him that you turned down Mr Collins.”
Elizabeth burst out laughing. “Surely you are not such a simpleton as to believe I need another man to reject Mr Collins? No, the ridiculousness of his character did it all by itself. Now, if you do not mind, I must finish packing.”
Lydia did not take the hint. She came around the bed to stand beside Elizabeth. Her attempts to help her were more of a hindrance, and Elizabeth had to take her clothes back out and refold them every time Lydia bundled them up into a careless ball.
“I must tell you something, Lizzy,” she said with barely suppressed excitement. “And I cannot tell Kitty as she will be wild with jealousy. She cannot understand that it is not my fault that Mrs Forster prefers me to anyone else. Did you know the regiment is to leave Meryton earlier than they intended?”
Elizabeth went to her dresser and found her hairbrush. “I had not heard,” she said, wrapping the brush in tissue. “I understood they were to remain here for the winter?”
“They were, but they decided to leave for Brighton several months early. The Colonel expressed a desire to be near the sea as his doctor told him it would help improve his gout. Why the sea at winter should help him, I am sure I do not know. I have been heartbroken thinking I should be without the officers.”
Elizabeth looked at her impatiently, so Lydia decided to come to the point before she was thrown from the room.
“Mrs Forster has invited me to go with them. Is that not the most thrilling thing? I shall spend a whole winter dancing with the officers, and there shall be balls and parties every night.”
Elizabeth stared at Lydia in dismay. Lydia, unsupervised by her parents or older sisters, would make a fool of them all if she was let loose among a crowd of officers for a whole season.
“What have our parents said about this?” she asked.
“Mama is as excited as I am. I think I will be the first to marry of all my sisters, even though I am the youngest,” she said proudly. “Especially now poor Jane has been cast aside like a pair of worn-out old shoes.”
Elizabeth shook her head. “Father will not allow it,” she warned. “You are only fifteen, Lydia. You are too young to be unsupervised.”
Lydia sprang from the bed with her usual good humour and stuck her tongue out.
“La,” she said. “How dull you are, Lizzy. Of course he will agree. He cannot refuse when I am invited as the colonel’s wife personal friend.”
Laughing, she ran from the room.
Elizabeth stood beside her trunk for several moments, before coming to a decision. She shut the lid with a bang and went to find her father.
“You cannot let her go, Father,” she protested. “Lydia already has a reputation, and she is only fifteen. If she goes to Brighton, she will make a fool of herself and her family along with her.”
“Lydia will never be easy until she has exposed herself to ridicule,” Mr Bennet argued. “And we should be grateful that if she is to do so, it will be far away so that the rest of us are not exposed along with her. Be easy, my love. She will get her heart broken, and return to us a more humble creature than she was before. It will all come to right.”
Elizabeth remembered Darcy and Miss Bingley mocking her sister’s behaviour in the garden. She was sure it had played into Miss Bingley’s decision to separate her brother from Jane. “Sir, I cannot go into detail, but you must know that Lydia’s behaviour has already attracted comments from places where we would not wish to be censured. I am afraid it has already cost us dearly.”
Mr Bennet removed his glasses and leaned forward in his chair. “Let me understand you,” he said. “Do you mean Mr Bingley’s sudden flight into the night had something to do with Lydia’s behaviour? You know this?”
“I do not know this for certain,” said Elizabeth. “But I have good reason to believe it. You must trust me, Father. Do not allow Lydia to go to Brighton.”
Mr Bennet sighed and replaced his glasses. He sat back in his chair and picked up his book. “I will listen to you, Lizzy. She shall not go to Brighton.”
Elizabeth sighed in relief. “Thank you, Father,” she said.
“But she must go somewhere,” he added. Elizabeth had been about to leave the room, and she froze at his words. “We shall have no peace if she is thwarted. I shall make arrangements to have her travel to London with you. That way, she shall not feel so slighted, and she shall have you to watch over her.”
Elizabeth protested, but Mr Bennet shook his head. “No, Lizzy. I will listen to your advice and oblige you as to Brighton, but you must also oblige me. You shall take Lydia to London. That is final.”
Chapter 15
Aunt and Uncle Gardiner were waiting at the door to greet them when the carriage pulled up in front of their elegant house in Gracechurch Street. Lydia sprang from the carriage and threw her arms around her aunt and uncle.
“Lydia. How you have grown,” said Aunt Gardiner with a laugh as she tried to extract herself from her niece’s stranglehold.
“I am now the tallest of all my sisters,” she announced proudly. She ran past them into the house to inspect the view from her room and ascertain whether it would allow her to inspect passing beaus.
Elizabeth hugged her aunt and uncle.
“Never mind, Lizzy,” said Uncle Gardiner. “Lydia is a handful, but we can manage her well enough. Do not fret that your time with us has been spoiled.”
“Even though it is not supposed to be an enjoyable holiday,” her aunt added, her eyes twinkling. “Is it not, Lizzy? I believe your mama wishes to punish you by banishing you to the wilds of London.”
Elizabeth laughed. “Yes, that is her object,” she agreed. “I believe she hopes I will contemplate my decision and resolve that whatever man offers for me in the future, I will gratefully accept him no matter how ridiculous I find him.”
“Well, perhaps you will meet a wealthy man and once you have married him, all will be forgiven,” said her uncle as they led her to the parlour.
“I do not believe so. I think Jane was the hope of wealth for the family.”
“Ah yes, dear Jane. How is she? I hope she is not too disappointed?”
“She could not be more so,” said Elizabeth. She removed her coat and gloves and sat down with relief. It had been a long journey, and Lydia had not paused for breath once. The sensible company of her aunt and uncle was a welcome balm.
“I am surprised that a man so in love could leave so easily,” said Uncle Gardiner. “When I met Marianne, nothing in the world could have coaxed me from her side.”
The Gardiners exchanged a loving look, and Mrs Gardiner s
miled tenderly at her husband. Elizabeth laughed. “If only Mama knew she had sent me to the worst people to make me regret Mr Collins,” she said. “It is your example that has made me wish to not settle for less than real love. You have a lot to answer for.”
Aunt Gardiner stared at her in feigned horror. “Then you must keep this dreadful secret to yourself,” she counselled. “She would surely ban us from seeing our nieces if she knew we set such a poor example before you.”
Elizabeth smiled, but she felt a pang in her heart at their teasing. She was sure that Wickham would have offered her exactly what she always hoped to find. When her uncle left the room, her aunt sat beside her.
“Am I right in thinking it is not just Jane who has been disappointed?” she asked. “I think you yourself have also suffered in love, Lizzy. Whatever happened to this fine officer whose name popped up in your letters with increasing regularity over the past few weeks?”
Elizabeth laughed as if it was of little concern. “He is engaged, Aunt. He is to be married to Mary King. They have been engaged some weeks.”
Aunt Gardiner shook her head. “That is poor of him,” she said. “It seems like he singled you out for particular attention. If it is true, he has hurt two young women.”
“I do not blame him,” argued Elizabeth. “Handsome men must have something to live on as well as the plain. It is something I have long accepted. I only hope my younger sisters learn to do likewise or they shall be sorely disappointed.”
Lydia’s footsteps came thundering down the stairs. Mrs Gardiner smiled wryly. “She seems to have recovered from her disappointment about Brighton at any rate.”
Elizabeth laughed. “Thank Heaven for small mercies,” she agreed. “I expected more of a rage. She did rail against Father’s decision at first, but by the following day, she had calmed down and reconciled herself with London. I hope she will not prove to be too much trouble.”
“Nothing we cannot handle, my dear,” said Mrs Gardiner. She patted Elizabeth’s hand as Lydia burst into the room. “After all, she is merely fifteen. How much trouble can she cause?”
Elizabeth’s first week in London passed quickly. Mr and Mrs Gardiner were popular and every evening brought them to new card parties or dances or dinners.
“I wonder you keep a cook at all,” Elizabeth remarked dryly as they travelled back to Gracechurch Street one evening. “You are never home to dine.”
Mr Gardiner laughed. “We are blessed to have so many kind friends,” he said. “And we entertain at home too. We have not done so this week as we wanted to show off our nieces and allow you to mingle with new families. But we shall have dinners at home soon enough.”
“I am enjoying it immensely,” said Elizabeth quickly, for fear they thought she was unhappy about it. “But I will need your assistance, Aunt. I have not enough gowns for all these outings. My father gave me money to allow me buy any clothes I needed, but I have not the smallest notion which shops are the best.”
“I can certainly help you there,” said her aunt. “Tomorrow, we will travel to New Bond Street and help you find anything you need. Now, tell me. What did you think of Mr Smyth? He was certainly taken with you.”
Elizabeth remembered the portly young man with the enormous moustache and smiled. “He seemed pleasant,” she said. “But if I had to listen to his account of stag hunting one more time, I should have screamed.”
Mrs Gardiner shook her head. “You are severe, Lizzy. I despair of your mother ever marrying you off.” But her eyes twinkled.
Elizabeth agreed with a grin. “I shall end an old maid, sure enough,” she agreed.
“And what of you, Lydia?” asked Uncle Gardiner. “You are very quiet this evening. Is London to your liking?”
Lydia gave him a dimpled smile. “I was miles away,” she said. “But I am very happy I came here. I had a wonderful time at the party tonight.”
“I am sure you did,” said Elizabeth. “I hardly saw you all evening.”
Lydia yawned and snuggled down into her lap rug. “I do hope it doesn’t snow,” she said, laying her head against the window. “I should hate to be cooped up inside.”
The conversation turned to the expected weather, and the family happily chatted together the rest of the journey home.
Chapter 16
The next morning, Elizabeth and her aunt sat in the parlour of Grafton House at the corner of New Bond Street. The attendant bought out an array of materials for Elizabeth to choose for her new gowns. As Elizabeth looked over the different colours and discussed the merits of each one with her aunt, the door rang. The attendant politely excused himself.
“I like the brown, Lizzy,” said Mrs Gardiner. “It brings out your eyes.”
“I am fond of it,” admitted Elizabeth. She held the fabric up to the light. “It has a rich gold sheen that is most pleasing.”
“What of the green?” said her aunt. She held up a dark shade against her niece. “This would become you most splendidly.”
“Between greens and browns, I fear you are trying to turn me into a woodland creature, Aunt,” said Elizabeth mischievously. “But I do agree, I like this colour very much. And I have not observed any other ladies wearing such a shade. It will make me stand out.” She looked up towards the stand of ribbons. “I think I see a shade that would accompany it quite nicely,” she said, rising from her chair. “I shall not be a moment. I do not wish to disturb Mr Wilding as he attends his other customers.”
As she crossed the floor to the stand of ribbons, another figure walked in the same direction, coming from the opposite angle. The pair collided. The other person was large and strong, and it only took Elizabeth a little contact with him to send her stumbling to the floor.
“Forgive me,” the man cried in alarm. “I hope I did not hurt you?”
“I do not believe so,” she said, flexing her fingers to check her hands had not been injured from trying to break her fall. “You have merely made me feel rather foolish.”
“Allow me.” The gentleman held out his hand to help her to her feet. As Elizabeth looked up at him to take his hand, the pair saw one another properly for the first time. They gasped.
“Mr Darcy,” exclaimed Elizabeth.
“Miss Bennet.”
They stared at one another, Elizabeth still on the floor, before he came to himself. “Forgive me,” he said. He took her hand and helped her to her feet.
“I am so sorry,” he said. “I hope I have not caused you injury?”
“Not at all,” said Elizabeth. “I managed to break most of the fall. I am merely a little shaken from the shock of the tumble. And surprised to see you here. I would have thought London too large to run into acquaintances by chance.”
“I did not know you were here,” said Darcy. “I was not aware that you had any plans to come to London.”
“I didn’t,” said Elizabeth. “It was only decided recently. The day after the ball.”
They stared at one another. The ball had been the last time they had seen one another before Darcy and Bingley’s sudden departure.
“Mr Darcy,” said Elizabeth finally.
He swallowed. “Yes, Miss Bennet?”
She smiled at him. Her eyes sparkled with mirth. She leaned forward as if to whisper a secret. Mr Darcy leaned in to hear her, his heart pounding.
“You’re still holding my hand,” she whispered. Darcy stared down at their entwined fingers and released her quickly.
“Forgive me,” he said. “It was the surprise of seeing you.” He looked away uncomfortably. Elizabeth was amused to see his throat was red above his cravat. She smiled to ease his embarrassment.
“And what do you do here, sir?” she asked. “I was told this is the finest ladies establishment in London. Are you searching for a new ballgown, perhaps?”
Darcy returned her smile. “Yes, I am,” he said. “But it is not for me.” He looked over his shoulder in the direction from which he had come. “I am here with my sister,” he said. “Would you d
o me the honour of allowing me to introduce you to her?”
Elizabeth was too surprised to refuse, nor could she have done so without giving offence. Not that she would have done. She was curious to know what sort of girl Miss Darcy was. According to Wickham, she was as proud as her brother. But it was such an honour that Mr Darcy should desire them to be acquainted, that it took her by surprise. Before he could take her over, she stopped him.
“I feel you should know, I am staying here with my aunt, Mr Darcy,” she said. She raised her chin in defiance. “The one who lives in Cheapside.”
Mr Darcy hesitated and she saw a flash of shame cross his handsome face. For a moment, he looked as if he did not know what to say. “If you should like to introduce me to her, I would be honoured,” he said finally. His eyes looked sincere. Elizabeth hesitated, then nodded.
“I shall bring my sister over to you,” he said with a smile.
Elizabeth returned to her aunt. “I have had a most unexpected surprise,” she said in a low voice. “I have literally run into an old acquaintance whom I did not expect to see.”
“How lovely,” said Mrs Gardiner. “Is it anyone I know?”
“You know of him, certainly,” said Elizabeth. She heard the low murmur of voices coming towards them, and broke off to greet Mr and Miss Darcy as they came around the corner.
Miss Darcy was a very pretty girl, and tall for her age. She did not look so much like Mr Darcy, having fair colouring compared to his dark ones. Elizabeth wondered which sibling took after which parent. Miss Darcy had a certain way of carrying herself that might make some see her as proud, but her face flushed as her brother introduced them, and her voice stammered when she spoke. Elizabeth’s heart went out to her. She was excessively shy, and Elizabeth felt a wave of protective feeling towards her. She introduced her aunt to the siblings, and watched Mr Darcy curiously to see how he would take the introduction.
He bowed to Mrs Gardiner. He looked as stiff and uncomfortable as he had always been in social gatherings, although his manners were above reproach. For a moment, Elizabeth saw the same look in his eyes she could see so clearly in Miss Darcy’s, and she wondered if for all his pride, he was like his sister; excessively shy and uncomfortable around those he did not know well.