Longbourn to London (19 page)

Elizabeth blushed and started down the stairs, only to be edged aside by her mother. “Grandison’s! I shall take the package, young man!” Mrs. Bennet rushed to the courier.

“Please, I do beg your pardon, ma’am, but are you Miss Elizabeth Bennet?” The courier tried to sound as civil and friendly as possible.

“Do not be ridiculous. I am her mother.” Mrs. Bennet reached for the beautifully wrapped package.

The courier took a step back. “I am indeed very sorry, ma’am, but it is Grandison’s policy to deliver our items into the hands of their intended recipients. I do apologise.”

Elizabeth stepped forward. “I am Elizabeth Bennet, sir.” She gave him a rueful smile.

“For you, ma’am, from Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy.” The courier executed a handsome and well-practiced bow. “You will find a card from the gentleman inside the package.”

Elizabeth looked to Hill, not knowing whether a gratuity should be offered. “Ah, ma’am,” said the courier, recognising the look. “I cannot accept a gratuity from you; it has been paid by the sender.”

“Thank you,” murmured Elizabeth. She was still blushing. The courier left, riding in a small, unmarked carriage with a driver and secretly well-armed footman.

“Open it, girl!” Mrs. Bennet was beside herself.

Elizabeth tore the wrapping, revealing a handsome wooden box with a hinged lid. Darcy’s card was inside but Elizabeth tucked it into her pocket before her mother could abscond with it. Inside the box was a velvet pouch. Elizabeth could feel loose items in it and opened the drawstrings to withdraw a golden hairpin topped with a pearl the size of a silver tuppence.

“Oh, Lizzy! How lovely! How many are there?” Jane was at her elbow.

Jane took the pouch and poured it into her sister’s cupped hands. There were fifteen perfectly matched pearl hairpins. Tears stung Elizabeth’s eyes. “Jane, oh Jane.” She looked at her sister with a smile starting to crumple around its edges. “He has said he loves my dark hair,” she whispered. Her throat tightened.

The pouch was laid on the table and the hairpins arrayed upon the velvet. “We shall give you a moment to read your card, Lizzy,” said Mrs. Gardiner. She pointedly placed her arm around Mrs. Bennet’s shoulders and turned her away saying, “We shall be in the drawing room.”

“What can Mr. Darcy have to say that needs such privacy?” groused Mrs. Bennet as Jane joined her mother and aunt.

Elizabeth read the card and did cry but smiled through the tears. She knew her mother would never allow the pearls to be worn for the wedding. After replacing them in their pouch and the pouch into its box, Elizabeth took a deep breath, preparing nevertheless to make Darcy’s case.

***

An hour later, Elizabeth and Jane were both in tears—Elizabeth from vexed frustration and Jane in sympathy. Mrs. Bennet was shrill and shouting. Mrs. Gardiner was quietly infuriated. It was she who finally said, “We do not need to settle this now. When the bridal gowns are delivered tomorrow and the girls try them on, we can be assured the selection for Jane is the best one. When you see Lizzy’s gown, Fanny, you can judge what might suit her most. There is still fabric enough and time enough to follow our first plan to make her a proper veil to match her gown. Perhaps the pearls might be incorporated into it?”

“Mr. Darcy may spend whatever he chooses, but we must show him the Bennets are not so profligate. Lizzy may wear the bonnet Jane is not wearing. It will be less expense than making Lizzy a new hat.”

Elizabeth began to protest but a hand on her arm stilled her as her aunt pursued their point. “Fanny, dear Sister. At your request, Lizzy is wearing a colour called candlelight. The bonnet is white. She cannot possibly wear it. If you would spurn Mr. Darcy’s request, we must at least have Lizzy in a veil or bonnet matching her gown.”

“Nonsense. No one will notice. Lizzy must wear the second bonnet.”

Elizabeth eyed her mother warily and stood. “Madam,” she addressed her mother formally, “had not Mr. Darcy given me these pearls and suggested I wear them for my wedding, would you so much as suggest I wear a white bonnet with a candlelight gown?”

Mrs. Bennet dithered before responding. “Your Mr. Darcy may be a man of fashion, Lizzy, but we are not without our own resources of taste.”

“In what county is it the height of fashion for a bride to appear mismatched?” Mrs. Gardiner asked, incredulous.

“Oh bother!” Mrs. Bennet stood, trying to face down Elizabeth, who was two inches taller than her mother. “I won’t have it, Lizzy. I shall not have you upstage Jane. You are always trying to put yourself ahead of her, and your father pushes you to it every minute. I suppose you will run to him now,
Miss Lizzy
, for his protection, but I shall not have it.
I shall not have it!
” She flounced from the room, and her heavy tread was heard ascending the stairs to her sitting room.

Jane and Elizabeth stared after her, their tears abated by stunned silence.

“Close your mouths, dears, you look like startled fish,” their aunt murmured. “It is time to let the dust settle. Nothing shall be deemed decided until the gowns arrive. Do not fret, either of you.”

The sisters nodded, and Elizabeth left the room to write the necessary thank-you note to Darcy. She settled herself in the small sitting room after drinking a glass of water to restore her equanimity.
Two lovely gifts and each creating havoc in their different ways. I pray he will send no more, poor dear man. How amazed he will be when he learns of it all. But what am I to say to him?
She sighed, trying to clear her head.

Elizabeth breathed deeply to calm herself, and closed her eyes. A vision appeared in her mind of sitting at a looking glass preparing for a ball, putting the pearl pins into her hair, and over her shoulder, Fitzwilliam Darcy’s handsome face, with dimples pronounced in approval, watching her in the glass. She opened her eyes, the vision dissolved, and she laughed.

18 November 1812
Longbourn

My Dear Fitzwilliam,

Do not think for a moment, dear sir, that I do not see what you are about. Your generous and beautiful gift of pearl hairpins is clearly meant to help you improve your memory of past events. I know you do not yet follow my philosophy of remembering the past only as it gives us pleasure, and you seek to improve the future in order to banish the past. It remains to be seen whose way of thinking is best, but I am thankful for your gift and even more thankful that we have our entire future together to determine which of us has the better approach.

Matters at Netherfield seemed calmer when we departed, and Miss Bingley passed a quiet night. Do not disturb yourself overmuch regarding the events there. You and I must step out of the way and allow the Bingley family to heal itself with my dear Jane’s gentle assistance. She has been very wise throughout these events, which is all one would expect of her, and yet I love my sister more as each day marches us closer to the altar. That day, I shall happily transfer myself into your tender care and wisdom.

I miss you dreadfully, my love, more than I dare say here. I pray your next letter will tell me that you will re-join us much sooner than expected.

With all grateful affection,
Your E. B.

Elizabeth decided she was not up to addressing his suggestion of wearing the hairpins for the wedding. She was hopeful that, with Jane and their aunt’s help, they would prevail in furthering Darcy’s proposition. She was quite sure it had never occurred to him that his desire for her to wear the hairpins would not find universal welcome.

***

On the morning of November 18, Darcy received a note from the solicitors with news that the marriage settlement was already drafted, and he was welcome to review it at any time before the final copies were prepared. This visit was executed before eleven o’clock. Darcy was assured by the youngest Steveton that he could be on his way back to Hertfordshire on Monday.

“Monday! I would ask that clerks be paid extra to prepare the documents sooner.”

“Very good, Mr. Darcy. We shall send the copies to you by special courier as soon as they are ready.”

“Thank you, Steveton. I would be delighted to return to Miss Bennet on Saturday. I promised I would.”

Mercifully, the remainder of the week passed without further incident and at Longbourn without the arrival of more gifts from Darcy. Letters continued to pass from Darcy throughout Meryton, and the Royal Post noted a boost in Hertfordshire to London revenues throughout the remainder of November.

***

Due to the incident at Netherfield, Colonel Fitzwilliam privately suggested to Elizabeth that Georgiana would enjoy a change of scene and asked whether it would be an imposition to have her stay at Longbourn for a night or two. The attitude of Caroline Bingley had become what could only be called servile towards Darcy’s sister, and Georgiana longed for escape. Elizabeth remembered the spare bed in Kitty’s room, as well as Georgiana’s avowed desire for a sister. Given the current atmosphere at Longbourn, Elizabeth judged that, if the application to Mrs. Bennet came from Jane rather than herself, the scheme could be accomplished.

And so it was that Georgiana spent three nights at Longbourn. Mrs. Bennet extended every hospitality to the girl, thinking meanly that she scored some vague social victory over Bingley’s sisters with Miss Darcy’s visit. Georgiana’s beautiful performances on the pianoforte filled the house, and by the end of the stay, she was calling Catherine “Kitty,” and Kitty was calling her “Georgie.” The roommates sat upon their small beds until late into the night. They spoke quite candidly of George Wickham, and Kitty was astonished to learn that the proper Georgiana Darcy had nearly eloped with him. Georgiana revealed, on pain of Kitty’s secrecy, what she knew of her brother’s involvement in Lydia’s marriage arrangements. The report made Kitty reflective—quite a new sensation for her—and she came to realise that her favourite sister had behaved dangerously and married badly.

During the day, when she was not practicing at the Bennet instrument with Mary, Georgiana joined Elizabeth for turns in the garden if the weather was fair. It was calming to Elizabeth to have a Darcy with whom to pass the time, and Georgiana was happy to speak of her brother to his betrothed. Thus did Elizabeth learn many of his preferences—for food and drink, colours he preferred in his dress, books he enjoyed enough to return to, and his love of riding and swordplay for exercise— without having to ask the man himself. With Georgiana in the house, Elizabeth’s longing for Darcy was not quite so keen, for she could speak of him openly and often.

Chapter 13

The Final Days

“There’s little of the melancholy element in her, my lord: she is never sad but when she sleeps and not ever sad then, for I have heard my daughter say, she hath often dreamt of unhappiness and waked herself with laughter.”
William Shakespeare
Much Ado about Nothing

The marriage contract arrived at Darcy House late on Saturday afternoon. Murray and the household servants spared no effort to prepare for Darcy’s speedy departure by carriage. However, the arrival of the documents coincided with the first winter storm of the season, and flurries of snow persuaded Darcy to spend another night in London. Beside himself to be thwarted by the weather, he was reminded of words he overheard from Bingley to Elizabeth describing what a fearsome object he was when finding himself with nothing to do, and he owned the truth of it through the long evening.

He sat in his bedroom with Elizabeth’s letters, drinking brandy and jumping up frequently to curse the snowfall. By midnight it had ceased.
I could have gone easily. Damn!
He consulted Murray one last time, vowing, no matter the morning’s weather, he would ride to Longbourn at sun-up. The carriage could follow. With any luck, he would arrive before matins.

By morning, the snow was melted, but the horse he selected was not the swiftest choice for dirty weather, and when he reached the wayside where a fresh horse from Netherfield awaited him, Darcy realised with annoyance he would be later than he wished. He had written an express to Elizabeth and Mr. Bennet the previous day saying they should expect him to call at Longbourn in the afternoon. Although he would have no time to tidy himself, he determined to slip into the back of the Longbourn chapel even though services were started. He had to see her—his Elizabeth—even if it was only to stare at her back whilst she was at prayer.

Indeed, by the time Darcy entered the little church, the final hymn was just beginning. He stepped inside and scanned the Bennet family pew. Mr. Bennet stood at the aisle, Elizabeth—in a pale green woollen gown and spencer that seemed somewhat familiar— was next to her father and, oddly, Georgiana. He heard the lovely voices of Georgiana and Elizabeth lifted in song above the congregation. The vicar, who would perform the double ceremony in less than a week, met Darcy’s eye and nodded as he sang. When the service ended, the vicar shook Darcy’s hand as he passed to exit the church.

The Bennets turned to leave, and Darcy was clearly visible, watching them. Elizabeth’s heart fluttered, and her inclinations reminded her of the worst excesses of Lydia and Kitty as they squealed and chased officers; it was all she could do to refrain from gleefully giggling and leaping into his arms. She limited herself to a wide smile as Darcy met her gaze with an intense half smile, expressive of emotions one does not usually associate with churches.