Unexpected Friends & Relations

by Jayne Bamber

  “It was very kind of Mr. Knightley,” Georgiana said, “coming to my rescue at such a moment. How mortified I felt one moment, and then so very happy in the next. He is a very fine dancer, is he not, Rebecca?”

  Rebecca’s countenance flashed with annoyance, but she agreed that it was so. “It was very kind of him,” she admitted. “He dances very well, though he seems only inclined to offer his hand to those of us who cannot find other partners. Not that I wished to be dancing tonight, anyhow!” Rebecca folded her arms and looked away with a huff.

  “She is only angry that Sir Walter Elliot has been determined to pay his addresses,” Georgiana whispered to Mary, casting a teasing glance at Rebecca. “She has vowed to sit out the rest of the evening to avoid him!”

  Mary screwed up her face with distaste, and Georgiana did likewise. “How eager I am to leave this place,” Georgiana said sadly. “Our removal to Kent cannot take place soon enough.”

  Internally Mary doubted Kent would offer any real improvement. Aloud she said only, “I hope for your sake, Georgiana, your departure comes soon, and that your time in Kent does you much good.”

  Georgiana smiled. “I have spoken to Kate about it tonight – we have made a plan between ourselves to get away as soon as may be. I am sure the house party will be just the thing; it could scarcely be worse than London.”

  “That is setting the bar rather low, is it not,” Rebecca drawled.

  Mary shrugged. “Will you go into Kent, as well?”

  “I have not yet decided,” Rebecca replied. “Mr. Knightley would have me return to Surrey with him, and spend some time at Hartfield with my poor cousin Emma. I cannot think why! He seemed to think last autumn that I would be but a poor influence on her, and has now conveniently revised his opinion. Vexing man!”

  Mary rolled her eyes at Rebecca’s ill-humor, which she believed to be rather exaggerated. Certainly her friend was not so put out with Mr. Knightley, for she seemed to be looking in his direction often enough that evening. “Offering consolation to a relation in such a time of mourning must be a duty and a privilege, I should think,” she said diplomatically. “To know oneself capable of bringing such happiness to another, at such a time, I should think it an honor.”

  “Is that so,” Rebecca asked with an imperious look. “Perhaps I may be tempted to go, if one of my acquaintance would agree to accompany me. Pray come with me, Mary, and I shall not be afraid to venture into uncharted territory.”

  “Surely you have no need of my company. Miss Woodhouse is your own cousin! You are perfectly capable of attending her without any help from me.”

  “I am certain you would be of the utmost assistance. I am not always adept in situations that require great solemnity. I managed to offend Elizabeth when she was mourning her father, and I daresay I am far closer with her than I have ever been with Emma. Oh, do say you will come with me, Mary, and help me help her. I am sure I shall make a mess of it on my own. Mr. Knightley says otherwise now, but when we met in September, he was so suspicious of me, so judgmental! You, however, are morally unassailable.”

  Mary scarcely knew how to reply; Rebecca was acting rather strangely, but the journey to Surrey would certainly be better than going into Kent, or remaining with Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy, where she would only be a burden.

  “Very well, I suppose I must agree, if Lizzy and Mr. Darcy give their permission.”

  Rebecca smiled warmly at her, and eagerly seized her hand. “Thank you Mary, I am truly grateful to you. Let us go and speak to them now, and obtain their consent.”

  “Now?”

  “I am afraid we cannot wait, for Mr. Knightley departs tomorrow, and so we must make ready at once. Come, Mary. Darcy and Lizzy are certain to give us their consent, and then we shall all have a very good excuse to leave this wretched party early, and go home to pack.”

  10

  Harriet and Georgiana had spent a great deal of time together preparing for the ball over the last week and a half; it was only natural that the two should reunite the morning after, to compare their impressions of the event.

  Kate and Harriet were sitting with Lady Catherine in the drawing room when Georgiana and Mrs. Darcy arrived. Mrs. Darcy greeted Harriet warmly before sitting with her sister and Lady Catherine by the fire, while Georgiana approached Harriet directly, where she sat by the sofa admiring several bouquets of flowers that had been sent to her by her various dance partners from the previous evening. Georgiana gave Harriet a knowing look. “I see you have a great many admirers already! I knew just how it would be.”

  Harriet blushed, still rather embarrassed about being the recipient of so much attention. “Did you receive any flowers, Georgiana?”

  “Henry Audley sent arrangements to Mary, Rebecca, and I, although of course Mary and Rebecca did not receive theirs, as they left for Surrey this morning. I am sure Rebecca would have laughed, as all three of the bouquets came with an identical card – not very original, I daresay. Indeed, I see this one here with the lilacs and myrtle – he has sent you an identical one as well, signifying his desire to find a rich wife!”

  Harriet let out a giggle of astonishment. “I do not think Mr. Audley wants to marry me! Good Heavens, Georgiana, how you do go on!”

  Georgiana merely arched an eyebrow at Harriet. “Indeed, Henry Audley is a second son, and he is certainly in want of a wealthy wife. Mary told me last night that he was making some rather impertinent inquiries about you and me, and I would not be surprised if he tried to court one of us. The myrtles here in his bouquet signify love and marriage.”

  “Do they really?” Harriet blushed an even deeper shade of pink, flattered at the handsome gentleman’s overtures, despite her awareness of his obvious motive. “What do the other flowers mean?”

  “This one here – the tulips signify a declaration of love, and the stephanotis represent happiness in marriage. Who are they from?”

  Harriet’s stomach turned, and she screwed up her face. “Sir Walter Elliot.” He had certainly made his intentions clear, even before the ball, as he had invited them the previous week to the theater with him and his eldest daughter, and had dropped several hints at his intention to select a wife in the very near future, and all but told Harriet that he considered her a suitable candidate. “He is old enough to be my father!”

  Georgiana laughed. “He certainly thinks himself still a very fine man, I daresay! That explains the poppies in the bouquet, for they represent extravagance. Who is the other bouquet from? The bellflower for gratitude and the love-in-a-mist for perplexity are certainly unusual choices.”

  “These are from Mr. Rushworth,” Harriet replied. “But how do you know so much about flowers?”

  “Lizzy taught me.”

  “Could you teach me?”

  “I should be delighted to. Of course, I had fewer flowers this morning to analyze than you do, but I knew just how it would be – everyone at the ball was quite taken with you!”

  Harriet averted her eyes for a minute. “I think I know why. It is just as Lydia said, I am an object of curiosity for the ton. Even my mother told me that Sir Walter is only interested in my fortune, and I am sure it is the same for the others.”

  “Dowry or no, you are still quite perfect, Harriet. You are so beautiful, and far better at making conversation than I. But it is good that you know well enough to be cautious. Certainly Sir Walter is odious as anything, and I think Henry Audley is not to be trusted. I think every lady in attendance last night must have gotten an identical bouquet from him this morning!”

  “What think you of Mr. Rushworth,” Harriet asked. “I liked him very much, but I hear he was so rude to you!” Harriet offered her cousin a commiserating smile. She had found Mr. Rushworth very agreeable, and could not quite reconcile his rudeness to Georgiana with the affability he had shown herself. “Perplexing indeed,” she sighed.

  Georgiana furrowed her brow. “It was certainly awful when he refused to dance with me, though I suppose I cannot fault him for i
t. In truth, with all the rumors about me, it is rather miraculous that anybody at all wished to dance with me. Mr. Rushworth must have more reason than most to be guarded, given his own history.”

  “His own history,” Harriet queried, leaning in to Georgiana, for fear her mother would overhear her gossiping and intervene.

  “Oh yes, I heard it from Mrs. Sutton,” Georgiana replied. “She is perhaps a little overly familiar with me, but for once it was most welcome. Mrs. Sutton made me feel ever so much better, explaining why Mr. Rushworth acted as he did. She told me not to spread the tale – I cannot think why she would care – but surely she would not mind me telling you, her own sister-in-law.”

  “If there is any explanation for his behavior to you, I should be most relieved, for in truth I thought him very amiable.”

  “Knowing what I do now, it is rather a wonder that he could be amiable at all,” Georgiana whispered.

  Sensing something sensational, Harriet urged Georgiana to go on.

  “Well,” Georgiana said, “it seems he is rather guarded around the opposite sex, as he is recently divorced. His wife became notorious in London last autumn, after having an affair, and so he cast her off.”

  “How shocking,” Harriet cried.

  Georgiana grew serious. “Mrs. Sutton may have been right – I feel guilty for gossiping so, particularly when I myself have been a victim of the very same behavior, and what Mrs. Rushworth did is scarcely worse than – did Mr. Rushworth happen to mention his history to you?”

  “No, not at all,” Harriet replied. “I think I rather dominated our conversation, and did not give him nearly enough time to speak of himself. He must have thought me very foolish indeed, prattling on so much about my life and history before I came to London.”

  Georgiana glanced back at the flowers. “He must not have thought so very badly of you, to send such an elegant arrangement.”

  Harriet frowned. “My mother seems to think that it is because she is acquainted with his mother, and has taken the compliment all for herself. But, I am sure she is quite right. Truly, I could not have made so great an impression on him, babbling on about myself and not even learning the most basic information about him. I shall have to learn to do better.”

  Lady Catherine chose this moment to intervene in their conversation, demanding her share in it. “Before you get any ideas on taking a fancy to any of your partners from last evening,” said she, “I should advise you both to proceed with the utmost caution. You are both full young yet, and must not think to marry after only one season in London. No indeed, these early admirers may serve to boost your confidence, but beyond that, you must not think to form any serious designs just yet.”

  Harriet and Georgiana exchanged a look of bashful mirth between themselves, before Harriet demurred to her mother, “Of course I have no desire to leave you and Papa. I am only very flattered that they should think so well of me, that is all.”

  Lady Catherine harrumphed. “Of course they think well of you, my dear. You are everything a young lady ought to be, handsome and lively, of good fortune and breeding, naturally diffident and demure, and in time you shall grow quite accomplished, as well. You could do far better than a second son, a divorcee, or an elderly baronet. By the end of the Season I shall have you dining exclusively with nobility. In a few years, you might have the son of a duke or marquess.”

  Harriet began to feel rather anxious; happily, Georgiana interjected. “I had understood from Mr. Sutton that you meant to remove to Kent at month’s end.”

  Harriet glanced hopefully up at her mother, for she had been of the same impression, and had found the prospect a great relief. Her mother scowled and shook her head. “Certainly not! Samuel may do as he pleases, and bring as many friends as he likes to Cranbrook; it can be nothing to me.”

  Kate smirked at Georgiana for a moment, giving her a quick wink before addressing Lady Catherine. “Are you not to come with us, Aunt? I was unaware that you intended to remain in London – I daresay we were all laboring under the apprehension that the whole family would be removing to Kent.”

  Lady Catherine looked quite astonished. “What, are you to leave me? I am sure Harriet will be most disappointed, is that not so my dear?”

  Harriet made no answer, but Kate replied, “I wish to see my cousin Emily’s baby. But I had thought we should all travel together to Kent. Truly, Aunt Cathy, I believe that is what we were all expecting.”

  Lady Catherine glanced between Harriet and Georgiana on one side of her, and Kate and Mrs. Darcy on the other. “Well, Elizabeth? Are you, too, eager to abandon the delights of London before the Season has reached its zenith, and return to Kent in all haste?”

  Mrs. Darcy laughed. “No indeed, Aunt. As fond as my recollections of Kent are, I cannot say that I had intended to travel thither any time soon, though I shall certainly send my regards to Cousin Emily. I could not think of leaving London before my new Gardiner cousin makes an appearance in the world. After that, I believe William and I shall summer at Pemberley.”

  Georgiana gave a little cough before she spoke. “Lizzy, might I travel into Kent with Kate and Robert?”

  “I shall have to speak to William about it,” Mrs. Darcy replied. “I see no reason why you should not be permitted to go, provided Lady Catherine is also present.”

  Lady Catherine regarded Mrs. Darcy with annoyance. “Elizabeth, I have already told you I have no intention of leaving London just because my stepson has got it into his head to have a house party in the country during the height of the Season. It is madness! Besides, Harriet is quite content where she is, is that not so my dear?”

  As all eyes turned to Harriet, she squirmed uncomfortably on the sofa, and cast a helpless glance in Georgiana’s direction. “Just be honest,” Georgiana whispered.

  She could think of nothing more difficult. She braved a glance at her mother, who regarded her with no little scrutiny. “Well,” she began, chewing her lip nervously. “I have had quite a fine time here with you all since I have come, although I am of course more accustomed to country life, and I am sure I should be very happy in Kent, at my family’s ancestral home. Pray, do not leave it to me to decide!”

  Kate folded her arms across her chest and regarded Lady Catherine with a look of tremendous triumph. “There now, you see,” she declared, “she really wants to come with us, and is too generous to say so.”

  Mrs. Darcy patted her sister on the knee. “Do not provoke them, Kate,” she said with a laugh. “I think we have had quite enough drama of late.”

  “I am merely telling the truth, as Harriet is afraid to. Look me in the eye, Cousin, and tell me you should not prefer to see Rosings in all its glory, and escape all these fortune hunters your mother is warning you away from.”

  Waving her hand at Kate, Lady Catherine drew back as if insulted by the suggestion. “I am not proposing she flee the city entirely! I only wished to put her on her guard. Harriet must learn how to behave around these sorts of gentlemen.”

  “And there shall certainly be gentlemen at Cranbrook,” Kate retorted. “Let her practice there, where she might be at ease in the country, and not constantly watched by the gossips of society. You would not believe the things I overheard last night spoken in the ballroom!”

  Harriet’s discomfiture only increased at seeing Kate argue with her mother on her behalf, and Georgiana and Mrs. Darcy seemed to feel it too. Though she would not dare to oppose her mother on any subject, Harriet realized she rather hoped that Kate would carry her point in the end, though without any lasting quarrel with her mother. What a mess!

  Georgiana coughed again, exchanging a significant look with Kate before she stood to address Mrs. Darcy. “It is hardly fair that I cannot go to Kent and see my own relations unless Lady Catherine is present at Rosings, when you know she has no intention of going there for many months yet! Oh Lizzy, I have been so unhappy here. It is not fair! I will go to Rosings, and I shall speak to William about it myself. I do not care if it is o
nly halfway through my first season, I wish to be away from this wretched place and all of the awful gossip about me. I think it is the hardest thing in the world that you should make me stay here where I am so miserable!”

  Mrs. Darcy appeared stunned by Georgiana’s sudden outburst. Lady Catherine looked furious, and stood up, stamping her foot. “Georgiana Augusta Darcy, what is the meaning of this! How dare you speak to your sister in such a way! Have we not made every allowance for you during your time here in London? This willful ingratitude is not to be borne!”

  Harriet began to panic. “Cousin Georgiana,” said she, “surely things are not so very bad here in London. They are whispering about me, too, but I am sure our family shall look after us.”

  Lady Catherine nodded imperiously. “Indeed! You see, Harriet is willing to leave it to me to make the decisions.”

  “Damn and blast that,” Georgiana cried, glaring at Lady Catherine. “Half our family is going away to Kent without us! Mary and Rebecca left this morning for Surrey, Kate and Robert and even Mrs. Sutton are going to Kent for the house party, and even Lydia gets to go to Rosings! It is not fair!”

  Mrs. Darcy hesitantly approached Georgiana. “I shall not leave you, dearest. All shall be well, I am sure of it.”

  “All shall not be well,” Georgiana shouted. “Last night at the ball, Mr. Rushworth flatly refused to dance with me because he has heard the vicious rumors, and Henry Audley told Mary that perhaps he ought to offer to marry me to hush them up. The longer I stay in London, the more I shall have to endure such things! And I am sure it shall be just as bad for Harriet. You must have seen how Sir Walter was leering at her, and every other single man in the room!”

  “Dearest,” Mrs. Darcy said patiently, “I cannot see how going to Kent would be a solution – both Mr. Audley and Mr. Rushworth have been invited there as well.”