Chapter 7 #2
In any case, we will be out of mourning by the first week of November and would like to spend a few weeks at Pemberley later that month if that is all right with you?
I do intend to purchase an estate in the next year or two. It is time for me to settle down and become a more serious man.
Kindly let me know if that is convenient for you.
Your friend,
Charles Bingley
***
Pemberley
23rd October, 1812
Bingley,
I am grieved over the loss of your aunt.
You are, of course, very welcome to spend as long as you like at Pemberley; indeed, Georgiana and I would greatly enjoy your company through the Christmas Season and into the New Year.
We will have other guests as well, namely my cousins Anne and Richard Fitzwilliam, though Richard will not be staying for long. Given the size of Pemberley, there is no chance we will find ourselves overly crowded.
In truth, Georgiana and I have both been feeling a little lonely, and we look forward to the party of friends and relatives arriving in the next weeks.
I must see my steward over an urgent problem, so I will close this in haste.
Sincerely,
Fitzwilliam Darcy
***
28th October, 1812
Rosings
Dear Elizabeth,
This is a great secret, so I beg you to tell no one. Richard and I are married!
We were wed in secret, by common license, in the middle of September, in Richard’s parish; not Hunsford, certainly, as Mr. Collins is entirely incapable of keeping anything secret from my mother.
Lady Catherine was herself in London that day.
She was visiting a distant cousin who birthed her third daughter in late August. My mother, of course, could not bear missing a chance to call upon my Cousin Phoebe and scold her for not providing an heir to her husband.
I know it must sound odd to you, who are so bright and clever and courageous, that we have not yet told my mother of our marriage.
But I am a meeker person and have long been in the habit of obeying my mother, so we have decided that, for now, I will stay humbly at home while Richard sells out and arranges to take over Rosings.
We will both be traveling north to Pemberley in the next month, where I will reside for some weeks, while Richard will return to Kent and throw my mother into the Dower House.
It is such a delightful thought.
I wish for you to come with me to Pemberley, if your father can spare you. I am very fond of my Darcy cousins, but they are both quiet people, as am I. You would be a most enjoyable companion.
Please let me know if you would be willing to journey with me to Derbyshire.
Affectionately,
Anne Fitzwilliam
***
Longbourn
6th November, 1812
Anne,
First of all, many, many, many congratulations on your marriage! The colonel is a delightful gentleman, and I am confident of your mutual satisfaction as husband and wife.
Second, I would be overjoyed to accompany you to Pemberley, assuming, that is, that Mr. Darcy truly is at peace with my presence.
You are aware that he and I have not always been on the best of terms. Not that I am alarmed at sharing a very large house with him; it is merely that I do not wish for him to be uncomfortable in his own home.
Blessings,
Elizabeth
***
Rosings
9th November, 1812
Elizabeth,
Do not worry about Darcy. I shared your concerns with my dear husband, and he said that Darcy could use as many cheerful ladies as possible in the great halls of Pemberley, as could my young cousin, Miss Darcy.
I know you do not like Darcy particularly, but he really is a good man.
Our situations are radically different in many ways; I, an only child, have been under the thumb of my dictatorial mother for my entire life.
Darcy lost his mother during his teen years and his father when he was but three and twenty.
He has had to carry the burden of overseeing a truly vast estate, even larger than Rosings, while also acting as father and mother to a much younger sister.
Last, but not least, the poor man has been hunted and pursued by the mammas of the ton and their daughters ever since he came out in society.
Having said that, there is no excuse for his behavior the night he met you; yes, Richard told me about his insult of your beauty, and if he had been nearby, I would have been inclined to hit him with a pillow!
An odd threat, I know, but the only time I was at Pemberley was when I was a child of seven, which was one of the healthiest of my life. Darcy was eight or nine, and we enjoyed pillow fights with one another, to the amusement of our respective nursemaids.
In any case, I am glad you are willing to come to Pemberley with me. We intend to leave for Longbourn on Tuesday, the 17th of November.
My mother, who still does not know of our marriage, is traveling to London on the 16th at the behest of the Earl of Matlock, her brother and Richard’s father.
My uncle is aware of our secret, and both he and the countess are delighted that their second son has wed such a wealthy woman who is also a precious niece.
In any case, Matlock will keep Lady Catherine busy as Richard arrives from his lodgings in London on the 16th, and we will begin our journey north that very day.
I am so excited at seeing you, my friend, and I am thrilled at the thought of being away from Rosings and my mother. I have never said this before, but the house seems more prison than mansion to me, thanks to my mother’s character and obstinacy. I hope one day I will be happy to live here again.
With much affection,
Mrs. Anne Fitzwilliam
***
10th November, 1812
Darcy,
I write in haste as much must be done in the next days before we begin our journey north.
Miss Elizabeth Bennet has agreed to accompany us to Pemberley. She expressed some concern that you would find her presence unpleasant, but I assured her that, in spite of her unfortunate first impression, you are far too much of a gentleman to do anything but welcome her with pleasure.
She is, as you know, a lively and joyful person, which will be a blessing to both Anne and Georgiana.
I must speak to my man of business.
Sincerely,
Richard Fitzwilliam