Chapter 3 #2
Although unused to such manners, Georgiana appeared oddly charmed by them.
“Of course, Miss Lydia. I did not wish to delay you, only to give our footmen and the maids time enough to take your trunks up to your rooms. I believe I should see your parents to their accommodations first, then return here for you and your sisters…” Here she hesitated, looking first to Mrs Annesley, then to Darcy for guidance on protocol.
“Mrs Gaines may wish for that pleasure,” said Mrs Annesley kindly. “For I understand she wishes to settle Mrs Bennet with a maid she has chosen from the household. She will perform the introductions and also ensure Mr Bennet’s needs are met. I know we may entrust her with such arrangements.”
When Mrs Gaines was summoned, the Bennet girls mounted the stairs with Georgiana to discover their own accommodations.
Darcy had to fight against the sudden impulse to follow them to ensure their comfort but instead contented himself by listening for the happy chatter—and Elizabeth’s laughter—that floated down the stairs to his ears not long afterwards.
He reminded himself and Bingley that the dinner table would soon be laid, and the ladies would be summoned again to join them.
Both gentlemen found some relief from their suspense when Mr Bennet reappeared and enquired politely about the use of the library.
They were happy to oblige by escorting him there.
Darcy was gladdened further to see the gentleman’s eyes immediately tracking over the bookshelves with a scholar’s eagerness.
Books, Darcy quickly discovered, were the surest way to draw out Mr Bennet and engage him in discussions that leaned more to the serious than the satirical.
They soon became engrossed in discussing a new volume that Darcy had come across on the history of Rome, recently written by a German professor named Niebuhr, when Hainsbrook, Darcy’s butler, informed the gentlemen that it was time to dine.
Seeing Elizabeth seated at his own table for dinner warmed Darcy even more than the steaming bowls of soup set before them.
His mind was so engaged by the smallest details of her, with the inviting way she conversed and the dainty way she ate, that he initially found himself stretched to utter more than the occasional contribution to the discussion.
But as the footmen presented the next course, Mrs Bennet’s voice, raised to be directed towards his sister, could not fail to pull at his attention.
“Miss Darcy! You have planned such a beautiful dinner and seen to all our comforts. I can scarcely believe a girl of your age has already attained such skills as a hostess. I am sure your brother is very proud of you,” she praised.
Georgiana flushed immediately and plucked at the napkin in her lap. “I thank you, Mrs Bennet. I have had excellent guidance from Mrs Annesley and my housekeeper, Mrs Gaines, and of course my brother.”
“And so very modest you are too! Why, I did not mean to discomfit you. I had thought you must be well accustomed to such compliments,” Mrs Bennet said, tilting her head and speaking in a tone that was far gentler.
“She is complimented often, and always with genuine regard,” said Darcy. “But she has no vanity, I find.”
“Why then,” said Mrs Bennet, her manner softening even further as she leaned across her husband to pat Georgiana’s hand, “you are very like my Jane, especially when she was as young as you. It is very easy to love and admire her, and I am sure that is true of you as well, Miss Darcy.”
Darcy wondered whether he should be alarmed on his sister’s behalf, but Georgiana, rather than shrinking, instead put her hand over Mrs Bennet’s and accepted what seemed to be a genuine gesture.
As the conversation went on around him, Darcy found himself cautiously lowering his guard against the less refined younger members of the Bennet family.
For although their impertinent questions and inelegant displays of glee and sisterly pique demonstrated unquestionably poor manners that should cause affront, he watched in growing astonishment as Georgiana’s shyness faded before such utter frankness in her houseguests.
Eventually, she even matched them, honest word for honest word, in her gentle and good-humoured replies and enquiries.
It was as though the utter guilelessness of the younger Bennet girls had worked some strange magic by evoking in his sister the same levity and curiosity they shamelessly presented.
With great animation, the ladies went on to talk about their shopping trip on the morrow, discussing the requirements of Miss Bennet’s wedding clothes.
Finding himself far out of his depth, he instead sat back with his wine and watched with growing admiration as his own sister and Elizabeth deftly guided Mrs Bennet into a sensible plan of attack.
Upon her mother’s concession, Elizabeth sat back with some relief and took up her own wineglass.
It was then that Darcy caught her satisfied gaze and saluted her in a congratulatory way with his own glass, enjoying the way her eyes widened with surprise and then amusement before she returned the gesture.
When the ladies left on their errands in two of Darcy’s carriages the following morning, Darcy was surprised to find Bingley also urging him out of the house.
“Come along, Darcy!” Bingley said. “I must meet my solicitor this morning to go over the marriage settlement, and I shall feel much more confident in my arrangements if you accompany me to hear them.”
“If you are meeting Mr Woods, you will be in perfectly good hands,” Darcy replied, gazing out of the window and absently wondering how long the ladies’ shopping expedition would take and struggling to remember the details of their plans.
He recalled at breakfast there had been some anticipation of one appointment, which involved meeting up with yet another lady, a Mrs Gardiner, an aunt to the Miss Bennets and apparently a woman whose good sense merited the respect of Mrs Bennet and the eldest daughters, especially Elizabeth, who had raised the suggestion from the first.
Bingley’s touch on his arm almost made Darcy start.
“Darcy, I say!” Bingley was smiling kindly at him.
“It will do you no good to stay here pining for your Miss Elizabeth. Do not think I have not seen you languishing by the window and sighing at shadows. It makes for a moving performance, I grant you, but I can tell you from experience as a lover that it does nothing to tick away the hours.”
Darcy sighed, then caught himself doing so, and Bingley laughed to see every bit of his suspicions confirmed.