by Ola Wegner
He hugged her to him, placing her head on his chest, but keeping the small space between their bodies. “All is well,” he assured, pressing his lips to her forehead. He pulled away from her, saying. “I believe that it is high time for you to return home.”
Elizabeth glanced at the clock on the mantelpiece and cried. “It is past three! I have been gone for more than five hours. Mama shall send a search party for me if I do not return soon.”
“I will order the curricle, and we shall be at Purvis Lodge in half an hour.”
“Thank you, William.” she said, visibly relieved.
They were outside Darcy’s bedroom, in the hall, when they saw Georgiana creeping up the stairs as if she had not wanted anybody to see her.
“Georgiana? Is something wrong?” Darcy asked.
“Oh, Brother,” she whispered dramatically, her eyes wide. “She is here.”
Darcy frowned. “Who?”
“Miss Bingley. She has arrived just a moment ago. Thankfully the music room windows face the front courtyard, and I noticed her before she entered the house.”
Darcy looked unconvinced. “She is here? Are you sure? Bingley has not mentioned that she was to come. Perhaps it was someone else.”
“It is she. She was wearing a silk dress and the orange turban with three feathers.”
“I have to agree with your sister, William,” Elizabeth supported the younger girl. “Miss Bingley is the only lady of my acquaintance who would wear such an… well, original attire on such a warm summer day and on a journey.”
“Perhaps all three of us should hide in some convenient closet,” Darcy proposed, his voice deadly serious.
Elizabeth and Georgiana stared at him incredibly for a few moments before breaking up into animated laughter which lasted for a long time afterwards.
Chapter Nine
“Poor, poor Georgiana. She will be completely drowned by the time she reaches Netherfield.” Caroline Bingley said with a sigh, her voice full of exaggerated compassion, at the same time loud enough for Darcy, who was standing by the window, to hear her.
“It is merely a drizzle. They will be fine, sister.” Bingley reasoned with her.
Caroline ignored her brother and continued confidently. “I say, Miss Eliza is determined to sway our dear girl into her wild country ways. Whoever heard of such a thing? To drag the poor girl out at seven o’clock in the morning to see the view from Oakham Mount.”
“Miss Elizabeth insisted that the countryside looks the best in the morning light. Moreover, when they left, the weather was very pleasant and sunny. Who could know it would start to rain?” Bingley pointed out.
Caroline looked at her younger sibling with exasperation and spoke sharply. “Charles, I foretold yesterday that it would rain. I warned dear Georgiana that it was not the best idea to walk God knows how many miles only to see the view when it was positively going to rain.”
“They are coming,” Darcy announced brusquely and walked out of the room without a second glance at his companions.
He moved briskly through the house, and soon was walking down the path from where Georgiana and Elizabeth were approaching. Despite the visible dampness of their dresses, their complexions had a healthy glow, due to the exercise. They were talking animatedly, smiling at each other. Some of Elizabeth’s hair fell out of the pins, curling in small clipped ringlets. Georgiana’s curls, only early this morning artfully arranged by her maid, had straightened completely, and now loose blond wisps of her hair were hanging around her face, reaching her chin.
“Are you all well?” Darcy asked breathlessly when he reached them.
“As I have been telling you,” Georgiana turned to Elizabeth with a knowing look.
Elizabeth smiled at Darcy. “Georgiana has bet me that you were standing by the window looking out for us or walking around the house waiting for our return.”
“You are making fun of me,” Darcy pronounced, offended.
“No, of course not,” Elizabeth spoke reassuringly, scooting to his side and placing her hand on his arm, but at the same time winking at Georgiana.
“We are quite well, dear brother; truly. It was a very pleasant walk. The view from Oakham Mount is beautiful in the morning light.”
“Come inside. You must warm yourselves and change those wet clothes.” Darcy said, offering Georgiana his other arm.
“Perhaps I should go back home. I promised to help Jane in the garden today, and I am not really that wet,” Elizabeth said; but seeing the frown on Darcy’s face, she just raised her hands in a gesture of surrender. “Oh, very well. I will stay.”
***
Half an hour later, Elizabeth was sitting on the settee in front of the fire in one of the guest rooms at Netherfield, dressed in a robe belonging to Georgiana. Her feet were bare. Her dress, together with her muddy half boots, stockings and petticoats, were sent downstairs for cleaning.
There was a light knock, the door opened slightly and Darcy’s voice was heard.
“May I come in?”
“You may. I am decent.”
Darcy walked in, closing the doors quietly behind him. He stood in front of her, taking his time to stare at her. She was hardly ‘decent’ in his view. Her hair was free, strewn down her back and chest. Though Georgiana’s attire she wore was modestly cut, with long sleeves, he could still not take his eyes from her. She looked so intimate with her two small feet exposed. It was so easy to imagine they were in their private rooms at Pemberley and she waited for him like this, sitting by the fire, as he came back home after the long day of surveying the estate.
She extended her hand towards him, and he approached her immediately with a smile. He took her hand and kissed it, sitting beside her.
“You have been worried about us?”she asked.
“No, no,… Well. Perhaps a little.”
“It is stronger than you, is it not?” she enquired tenderly, scooting closer to him with a shy smile. She arranged herself with her back to his chest, her legs tucked under the full skirt of the robe. She took his hands and placed them on her waist. Darcy instantly enveloped her tightly in his arms, burying his head into her hair. She sighed in contentment and stared at the fire, her head lolling on his arm.
They sat like this for a long moment when Darcy began to slowly disentangle himself from her; but she stopped his arms and buried herself even more into his chest.
“Do not go yet,” she whispered. “Stay with me a little longer. I like when you hold me like this.”
“Lizzy,…”
“You are shivering…. What is the matter?” She turned into his arms to face him.
He shook his head. “Nothing,” he answered, stroking her cheek.
There was a knock at the door.
“Yes?” Elizabeth enquired in a polite voice.
“Miss Bennet, Miss Darcy sent one of her dresses for you,” the woman’s voice spoke.
Darcy immediately stood up, walking the few steps towards mantelpiece, leaning against it.
“Ah, yes. Pray, come in,” Elizabeth said, straightening in her seat.
Georgiana’s personal maid entered with a freshly pressed light pink dress hanging over her arm. Noticing Mr. Darcy, she lowered her eyes to the ground and spoke quietly. “Shall I help you with your hair, Miss Bennet?”
“What about Miss Darcy? Perhaps she needs you?”
“Oh, no, ma’am. Miss Darcy asked me to come here and help you with everything.”
The maid walked to the bed, and Darcy approached Elizabeth closely and spoke in a lowered voice.
“I shall see you downstairs.”
Elizabeth rolled her eyes. “I cannot wait. Miss Bingley will certainly have a great deal to tell me on the subject of my wild behaviour.”
Darcy leaned into her, looking at her worriedly. “Does she bother you so much? I can talk with Bingley...”
“No, no. It is just she irritates me somehow, more than when she was here the first time. Back then I could easily ignore her, but
now...” she sighed. “I can quote Mama this time and state that Miss Bingley affects my poor nerves.”
“You have been a lot through lately. It is natural you are more apprehensive and disquieted.”
“Yes, I think you are right,” she agreed distractedly.
“Come downstairs when you are ready. You shall drink some tea, and then I shall drive you home.” He kissed her forehead and walked out of the room.
***
A quarter of an hour later, Elizabeth, dressed in Georgiana’s dress, with her hair elegantly pinned up, and a warm woollen shawl draped over her arms, entered the drawing room. The gentlemen stood up instantly to greet her. Elizabeth, having nodded her head with a smile at Mr. Bingley, sat on the sofa next to Georgiana. Mr. Bingley enquired how Miss Bennet fared this morning, to which Elizabeth smilingly answered that she believed her sister was well, as Jane still had been soundly asleep when she had left home.
While drinking her tea, Elizabeth was aware of Darcy’s steady gaze on her. His staring, which, in the past, she had found uncomfortable, did not bother her anymore. It felt natural, and somehow comforting, to feel his eyes on her. She looked at him across the room, smiling, and was rewarded with such a tender and loving expression that she felt a slight flutter low in her stomach and a tightening in her throat.
“Pray, Miss Eliza, how was your walk?” Caroline’s voice grated unpleasantly in Elizabeth’s ears, almost making her spill tea on Georgiana’s dress.
“It was quite a pleasant walk, Miss Bingley,” Elizabeth replied.
“But a little wet, was it not?” Caroline asked with an insincere smile plastered on her face.
Elizabeth simply smiled back at her, saying nothing, and returned to her tea. She managed to take no more than two sips when Miss Bingley decided to engage her in conversation once again.
“Miss Eliza, I must compliment you on your dress. Simply marvellous! What a cut, and such fine material, it is rarely to be seen. You had to order it in London; oh, I am sure of that! Pray tell me which seamstress did it for you, as I would readily like to have one made for myself in such a style.”
“Unfortunately I cannot help you with this, Miss Bingley. The gown belongs to Miss Darcy, who has been so kind to lend it to me because my own dress is drying at the moment.”
Caroline clasped her hands enthusiastically. “I should have guessed that. Our dear Georgiana has the most marvellous taste for such young a person. It must be somewhat of a novelty for you to wear such a fine gown, Miss Eliza, is it not?”
Elizabeth looked straight into Caroline’s eyes and spoke in a clear voice. “You are perfectly right, Miss Bingley. I have never had the opportunity to wear a finer morning dress than this one. I must agree with you, Georgiana’s taste in clothes is implacable. Not every lady, even with sufficient means, can choose for herself an attire which would suit her age, position in life and, what is more important, looks.”
Caroline’s eyes narrowed at Elizabeth and she continued with forced smile. “Pray tell me, Miss Eliza, I am naturally curious as I have never had the opportunity to experience it; how does it feel to wear such a finery for the first time in your life? It must be quite a thrilling thing, is it not? I imagine your father could not afford the latest fashion for you and your sisters…”
Elizabeth put her cup soundly on the saucer, then placed it abruptly on the nearby side table. She raised herself from her seat, speaking angrily. “I forbid you to refer to my father, Caroline Bingley! I forbid you to talk about him at all! You can direct your spiteful remarks to me if you wish, but I shall never allow you to berate him in any way!”
Caroline gaped at her for a moment before she found her voice. “Dear Miss Eliza, pray calm yourself. I never meant to…”
She did not finish because Elizabeth walked past her furiously, straight to Darcy, and standing in front of him, spoke quietly. “William, could you please take me home?”
Darcy placed his arm around her, gathering her closely to his side. “Of course, my love. Let us go.”
Just before reaching the door, Elizabeth turned to her host. “I understand we are to welcome you tomorrow for tea at Purvis Lodge, Mr. Bingley?”
Startled, and clearly not a little shocked with the turn of the events, Bingley nodded his head. “Yes, Miss Bennet. I do remember. I thank you.”
Elizabeth bowed her head at him, and with one last smile at Georgiana, she and Darcy left the room.
***
“Lizzy, perhaps you are too tired to work in the garden this afternoon after such a long walk this morning? I can ask Kitty to help me, and you can go upstairs and have a nap,” Jane offered worriedly, looking at her younger sister’s drawn face. They were both kneeling in front of the flower beds spread in front of the front parlour’s windows, wearing aprons and thick gloves.
Elizabeth managed a small smile. “No, Jane, dearest, I am not tired. I am simply angry with Caroline Bingley,” she explained, forcefully pulling out the weeds that planted themselves between flowers.
“What has she done today?”
Elizabeth sat back on her heels. “Can you believe she dared to make remarks about our father? She implied he did not provide us with proper dresses.”
Jane’s face went grim. “I am afraid that my first impression of Miss Bingley when she came here last autumn was overly enthusiastic.”
“So you are ready to agree with me at last that she is a mean witch?”
“Oh, Lizzy,” Jane cried softy, shaking her head at her sister. “You cannot be serious calling her that – it is unkind. She is simply envious of you. Can you not see that? Put yourself in her position. Imagine there is a man you have mooned over for years, hoping to draw his attention, and along comes some country girl, for whom he loses his head completely the first moment he looks into her eyes.”
“Oh, Jane it has not been like that…”
“Has it not, Lizzy? Truly? She has done everything in her power to engage Mr. Darcy’s feelings, and she has failed utterly. While in her view, you did nothing at all to draw his attention, yet it is you who has his heart, his hand, his devotion;-everything.”
“You have forgotten to mention his position and fortune, as I am sure these are the crucial matters for her.”
“Perhaps, but Lizzy… I think she is not entirely bad.”
“Jane! She is shameless! Have you not noticed the way she fawns over him every time I stand more than a few feet away?”
Jane nudged her sister’s arm playfully. “You are jealous, Lizzy. My, my,… my sister Elizabeth is jealous over Mr. Darcy.”
“I am not!”Elizabeth denied heatedly. “But the fact is that he is engaged to be married, after all. Consequently, any respectable woman would behave properly in the company of a man betrothed to another.”
Jane looked unconvinced with her sister’s assertions and spoke in the same playful tone. “Am I wrong, dear sister, in saying that you have grown to like Mr. Darcy?”
Elizabeth’s face turned serious. “You are not wrong, Jane. I do like him. I was so wrong about him. I greatly misjudged him. I know how people perceive him, as a proud and disagreeable man. It was my own estimation of him, as well, but, in truth, he is so very different. When we are alone, or just with Georgiana, he is so kind and tender, so loving.” Elizabeth closed her eyes, her expression dreamy. “Oh, Jane, and when he holds me in his arms, I forget about the whole world.”
Jane squeezed her sister’s hand. “I am glad, Lizzy. I feel relieved. I have felt so guilty that I pushed you into the arrangement with a man you could neither like nor respect, not to mention love.”
“You? Dear Jane! It is not your fault you were not born a boy who would inherit Longbourn and rescue us from entailment.”
“Yes, but it was I who said that morning at Gracechurch Street that one of us must marry very well. I know how much you value my opinion. It has tormented me, Lizzy, especially for the first weeks of your engagement. I observed how you behaved in his company, as if he had been a co
mplete stranger, when you ignored him and stiffened the moment he came near you. I felt such a heavy burden on my heart, thinking, it is I who condemned you to life with a man you cannot stand to have by your side.”
“Oh, Jane…”
“But, Lizzy, somewhere deep in my heart I have always felt he is a good man. I just knew he could never hurt you,” Jane whispered fervently.
The sisters hugged briefly and returned to their work.
They had been working compatibly in silence for a while when Jane enquired. “Lizzy, have you noticed that Lydia has many new things lately? Two bonnets and a new spencer, ribbons… I wondered how could she afford it?”
Elizabeth shrugged her shoulders. “Perhaps Mama has given her some money.”
Jane creased her delicate eyebrows. “No, Mama is still displeased with her.”
“You think so? I thought that Lydia’s apology to Mr. Darcy had brought her back into Mama’s good favour.”
Jane shook her head. “No, Lizzy. Mama has changed her attitude towards Lydia. She told me herself she does not trust her anymore, and that we have to keep a watchful eye on her. She has even implied we could send her to school earlier than September.”
“Where could Lydia possibly get money for new things? Have you asked Kitty?”
“Kitty knows nothing about it,” Jane said confidently. “Lydia does not confide in her anymore. I think that Lydia has felt betrayed because Kitty has begun to spend so much time with Mary and Georgiana.”
“No one has forbidden Lydia to keep Georgiana’s company.”
“Yes, but you know how Lydia is. She enjoys being in the centre of attention. Georgiana is in many ways more attractive for Kitty than Lydia.”
“Sincerely, I prefer Kitty looking up to Georgiana rather than to Lydia. Oh, Jane, let us not speak about her anymore. Caroline and Lydia in one day is a bit too much for me. But our conversation reminded me that I am myself in dire need of a few new things: stockings, slippers and new stays. I have not felt up to shopping before.”