Chapter 14 #2
Seeing Misses Jane and Elizabeth Bennet emerging from the Chinese garden, Darcy froze on the path, causing both Georgiana and Charles Bingley to look at him askance.
Miss Bingley had stayed back on a bench near the conservatories, her shoes apparently unequal to much walking even on these tended paths, and Mrs Annesley had gone alone to look at the ferns.
“Darcy?” Bingley queried, while Georgiana’s hand tightened on his arm.
There was no way to flee this time. The Bennet sisters were walking directly towards them, accompanied by another lady of early middle age and kindly aspect, and there was no turning on this path.
To walk away across the grass would be peculiar, obvious, and could even be interpreted as a deliberate snub.
Perhaps it had been correct to assume that Jane and Elizabeth Bennet were unlikely to be at the gardens in the company of Lord Grantchester and Lord Keeble. However, Darcy had not considered the possibility that they might come alone, or with a relative.
“Is that Jane Bennet and…her sister?” Darcy asked, controlling his voice as much as he could, and unsure why he was so reluctant to speak Elizabeth Bennet’s name aloud before his party.
“Why, yes,” answered Bingley immediately, with a short, happy laugh. “What a marvellous surprise! Come, let us go and greet them.”
He strolled ahead without hesitation, meeting the three ladies and bowing politely.
Bingley was always at home with the world, friend or stranger.
The older lady who accompanied the young Bennets was already looking on him with an easy and approving smile.
It was not the reception that Darcy himself was accustomed to receiving.
For him, there was too often either cool civility or fawning obsequiousness.
“Brother?” Georgiana queried, tugging on Darcy’s arm, her face puzzled.
“Yes, of course, come,” Darcy said, breaking his feet from the spot and taking them to join Bingley.
“…and this is my friend, Mr Fitzwilliam Darcy of Pemberley,” Bingley introduced him immediately to the older lady, having evidently placed himself on the footing of a family friend in the mere two minutes of their initial meeting.
“Darcy, this is Mrs Gardiner, Miss Bennet and Miss Elizabeth’s aunt, who lives in London. ”
“Very pleased to make your acquaintance, Madame,” Darcy acknowledged with a bow of his head to Mrs Gardiner before turning to the two younger ladies. “I am happy also to see you here enjoying the gardens, Miss Bennet, Miss Elizabeth.”
“As are we, Mr Darcy,” Miss Bennet returned with a shy smile after her aunt had acknowledged Darcy. “It is wonderful weather for a day outdoors.”
“We were both at the Ewert ball last week but did not have the chance to speak with you before you left, Mr Darcy,” put in Elizabeth Bennet rather boldly, and almost as if she had not been avoiding him that evening as much as he had been avoiding her.
“There were so many people that Lord Grantchester wished Jane to meet.”
“The loss was mine,” Darcy returned with grave chivalry, wondering what she was thinking. “I hope you both enjoyed the ball, nonetheless.”
The pressure of Georgiana’s fingers on his arm brought him back to the present moment. Had he said something wrong? Ah no, there was something he had neglected to do at all.
“Mrs Gardiner, Miss Bennet, Miss Elizabeth, may I present my sister, Miss Georgiana Darcy?” Darcy said formally, glancing to Georgiana briefly and seeing her approving smile before all the ladies bowed to one another. “She has been keen to make your acquaintance.”
“How pretty your walking outfit is, Miss Bennet,” Georgiana remarked impulsively and then blushed, as though fearing she had spoken out of turn. “I should like one just like it.”
Jane Bennet smiled, and Elizabeth Bennet laughed and clapped her hands, startling Darcy, although neither her laughter nor the clap were beyond the volume of polite discourse.
“There, you see, Jane? Our aunt was right,” said Elizabeth before turning to Georgiana again. “Our mother had this new outfit made to celebrate Jane’s engagement, but Jane was concerned it did not suit her and did not wish to wear it. We persuaded her to put it on for the first time this morning.”
“It is most becoming, Miss Bennet,” Georgiana said again, and Darcy saw that Miss Bennet was now blushing too, likely at the mention of her engagement.
“Thank you, Miss Darcy,” she said. “You are most kind.”
“I must offer you congratulations on your engagement to Lord Grantchester also, Miss Bennet,” Georgiana ventured. “He is a very good old friend of my brother, as you likely know. I am so glad that he is to be married and wish you both joy.”
At this statement of innocent sincerity, Elizabeth Bennet caught Darcy’s eye, and he could not miss the hint of triumph in her expression at Georgiana’s goodwill. It irked him again that he could not explain himself.
“My family will be happy to know that Jane is so well received by Lord Grantchester’s family and friends,” Elizabeth told Georgiana after Jane had given her own thanks for the well-wishes. “We too wish her joy.”
This time, when Elizabeth Bennet’s fiery hazel eyes met Darcy’s, there was a note of entreaty in them, a plea that he should finally share Georgiana’s viewpoint and change the attitude he had not been able to hide towards his friend’s marriage. It was impossible, however, and Darcy turned away.
“Mrs Annesley may have finished with the ferns. Perhaps we should meet her,” he suggested to his sister and Bingley.
“No, Mrs Annesley told us that she wished to sit and sketch several particular varieties of fern,” Georgiana responded blithely, cutting off this possible means of easy escape. “She said that she would be at least an hour, Brother. We have time to see the Chinese gardens and perhaps more besides.”
“In that case, let us move on to the Chinese gardens and not detain Miss Bennet and her relatives any longer,” Darcy returned, glad for the second opportunity for escape that his sister had accidentally offered him. “It seems they have just come out of the place we mean to visit.”
“How did you find the Chinese gardens?” Georgiana asked the three ladies, foiling Darcy’s attempts to break away yet again, as Mrs Gardiner and then her nieces gave their opinions on the trees, plants and layout of the area ahead.