Chapter 33
A s we went through Worcester, Mrs Annesley developed a cold and travelled in the second coach to spare us her sneezes.
Absent her companion’s company and when she and I could think of nothing else to say to one another, Georgiana pulled out her letters and began to reread them.
Since her only faithful correspondent was Elizabeth, it was with some envy I watched the complete absorption writ on my sister’s face as she revisited those letters.
When I could no longer contain my curiosity, I said, “What news from Hertfordshire?”
“Oh!” she said, throwing her letter down in her lap, “did I not read her last letter to you? I suppose I did not, since Mrs Annesley and I were in a frenzy of packing.”
“I knew something had come for you, but I did not press when you chose not to share it. Let us hear it if you are willing. Are you given a foretaste of what to expect when you visit?”
“Yes,” she said, picking up her letters again and shuffling through them to find her friend’s most recent note which she began to read aloud. As was my habit, I settled back into the comfortable repose most conducive to intense concentration and awaited having my heart squeezed.
Dear Georgiana,
You cannot imagine the effect of your impending arrival upon all of us at Longbourn.
But, before I begin to elaborate, Mama has demanded twice since breakfast that I ask you to bring with you the very latest of your London-made gowns so that she can amend our wardrobes accordingly.
Her plan must be to cast all our rivals into the shade on account of their being sadly passe’.
In other words, dear friend, do not be shy of being the most elegant woman in the room.
“You see?” my sister said, looking up at me with a twinkle in her eyes, before returning to her reading.
But more than this, we—by which I mean all save Papa—have begun to think of how we might show ourselves to advantage when you arrive.
Perhaps I should warn you that after coming home from Pemberley, I spoke glowingly of you and cemented in the minds of my mother and sisters that you are astonishingly accomplished and meticulously educated.
Thus, by degrees and with Jane’s concurrence, we have begun to carefully steer this haphazard ship that is my family away from the reefs and foul currents of husband-catching by means of plunging bodices and open flirting.
We are now paddling towards the calmer, more reasonable waters of elegant manners and informed conversation.
Lest you expect us to be anywhere near what might be called a level of sophistication, I must also warn you that we are now a very stupid mixture of silliness and loftiness of ideals that has had me throw up my hands in complete surrender.
And so, prepare yourself for anything, dearest, and if I did not trust you to overlook a great deal of nonsense in the cause of our friendship, I would be greatly daunted by your visit.
As to the other salient bit you have written, I thank you for the news of Mr Bingley’s impending marriage, for when the gossips shortly thereafter rushed to tell us, we could all calmly and disinterestedly claim to know all about it.
Mama was quite struck down, as you might expect, for she always is when an eligible man of our acquaintance is snatched out of her grasp by someone who is not her daughter.
But news that the eminently eligible Colonel Fitzwilliam is also expected?—
“I do not know why Mrs Bennet does not recall that you are also a bachelor,” Georgiana said.
“Might I urge you not to mention it? I do not love being stalked with beaters like a game bird, Georgie. Read on.”
With a huff, for she was adorably defensive of my eligibility, she refocused her attention on her letter, finding her place mid-sentence.
…news that Colonel Fitzwilliam is also expected has raised everyone’s spirits considerably, and the poor man should feel the full effect of something on the order of a hero’s welcome if he should happen to visit us at Longbourn.
But truly, none of this is of as much import to me as the chance to visit with you again so soon.
Might we, from time to time, find the excuse to escape the noise of what your brother once justifiably referred to as our savage society?
There are a few pleasant walks I enjoy at this time of year, and if I have my way, I mean to claim your undivided company as my right just as often as can be.
Folding the letter and tucking it into her stack before retying the whole with a red satin ribbon, my sister said, “If only I could be half so entertaining. Are you not amazed at how Elizabeth makes any flaw into a charming anecdote?”
“She dearly loves to laugh, which means she finds reasons to do so nearly every hour of every day, and sometimes,” I said with a touch of poignancy, “even in dreadful circumstances.”
My sister concurred, but not privy to the example of the lady’s resilience that had sprung to the forefront of my mind, she said, “I can think of no other lady who, with her family facing an entail, would so determinately refuse to be bitter about it.”
We then retreated into our private thoughts as we pondered the intricacies of her friend’s life, and shortly after, my sister fell asleep with her head leaning on the upholstered padding that lined the interior of the coach.
After another night spent on the road, our cavalcade descended upon Netherfield Park, challenging the capacity of its stables and filling the lower floors with servants to be housed.
Bingley, who was undaunted by the fact that he might have overestimated the grandness of his house when planning his invitations, greeted us upon the steps with a radiant smile, and we were then plunged into yet another passage in which my sister and I were required to be more sociable than not.
Georgiana’s presentation, however, had done us both a great deal of good in this regard.
For my part, I had been forced by my cousin’s injury to extend myself, and by necessity, I had practised making trivial conversation so that my sister’s way into general society would be eased somewhat.
In Georgiana’s case, she had been so repeatedly required to overcome her shyness that she had become more adept at assuming an air of confidence she did not naturally possess.
This immersive training—coupled with her sense of being supported by at least one friend in the world who would not despise her for any reason —lent Georgiana a decided advantage when facing the caressing attentions of Bingley’s sisters.
The strangest fact in all this was that when my sister was not agonising over her social ineptitude, I could myself relax the rigidity of my jaw when faced with a crowd.
“You look very well, Mr Darcy,” Miss Bingley exclaimed as she looked me up and down, perhaps noticing that my forehead was not bunched in a scowl for once.
With regard to that lady, I felt duty-bound to behave better than the last time we met, but the degree of warmth I meant to extend to her fell decidedly upon the ground of neutrality.
Aiming for polite distance, I was aided by Georgiana’s arrival, which necessarily consumed a portion of our hostess’s attention, as did her duty to entertain Miss Johnson, her mother, her aunt, and two young cousins who had also come.
Even Miss Bingley could not snub the degree of wealth which the marriage would add to her brother’s fortune, for the young lady had a portion rivalling my sister’s.
Thus, she was far too busy to constantly remind me she wished to be my wife, and more ironically, between her and Mrs Hurst, Miss Johnson—who had been so recently despised—was now doted upon, albeit with effusions of regard which only ever smacked of insincerity.
From time to time throughout dinner, Georgiana and I exchanged looks which would have been overt rolling of our eyes if we were not so constrained to behave ourselves, and at one point later that evening, I stood next to her and murmured, “It seems we have begun to emulate your friend in finding something to laugh at in all this.”
“I pity Miss Johnson,” she whispered. “They are so cloying.” And then, she added, “When might we pay a call at Longbourn?”
“That depends on whether you wish to go with an entourage or escape without detection.”
“You know my answer.”
Relishing my alteration in status from that of guardian to my sister’s ally in mischief, I whispered, “Should we go riding in the morning, then? Our excuse should be we hope to meet our cousin on the road from London.”