Chapter 11 #2
“I did it as much for myself as for you, Lizzy, and you well know it was a long time coming. It has been some years now since she has been a mother to me; she is only interested in her own and Caroline’s machinations.
It is good I will not have to hide how I feel about you any longer.
We are stepsisters, but you and Charlotte are sisters of my heart. ” Louisa hugged Elizabeth tightly.
The two soon retired to their chambers, where Elizabeth wrote a letter to Jane and then read her book in front of the fire. She finally crawled into bed a little after midnight.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
“We should have a masque!” Richard suggested, a few afternoons after the Bingley women’s performance in Meryton—yes, he knew one was a Bennet.
“Are you in your right mind, Richard, suggesting that William host a ball, masque or not? You would have better luck having him walk over hot coals!” Wickham guffawed, as the three sat in the study with snifters of brandy.
“Actually, George, I think for once Richard may have a decent idea. It had to happen sooner or later!” the Duke ribbed his cousin.
“William, are you well? You understand as host you will be expected to dance, and you will not be able to stalk around the perimeter in that stupid manner you are wont to do,” Wickham confirmed.
“Yes, George, I am well aware of what my duties would be. It would be a way of showing the neighbourhood I do not think myself so above them as to not socialise with them by choice,” the Duke explained.
“Do you not mean you want to show such to one particular young lady, William?” Richard prodded.
“Yes, mayhap, I do not know. Be quiet, Richard!” Lord William was flustered, and he was never flustered.
“When will we have it?” Wickham asked.
“The local assembly is on the morrow, correct?” the Duke asked as he looked at a calendar.” His cousin and friend nodded.
“Then we shall have it the last day of March, it is a Friday. I will ask Mrs. Nichols to make sure we have more than enough white soup ready. I do have standards to maintain you know,” the Duke affected a look of fake hauteur.
Thus, it was decided; the invitations would start going out the week following the assembly.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
Elizabeth loved to walk, but that did not mean she was not an accomplished rider.
On this particular afternoon, she was riding her old mare Nellie along the fence that bordered Netherfield when she spied some riders across the fence.
She was about to turn Nellie, thinking it might be the arrogant Duke but did not when she spied a young girl of fifteen or sixteen riding with some escorts.
Elizabeth knew the Duke had a sister, so she waited to see if she would be approached or if the sister was anything like her objectionable brother.
From the description her brother had given on more than one occasion, Lady Georgiana was fairly certain the solitary rider across the fence from her was the enigmatic cousin she had never met, Miss Elizabeth Bennet.
She was also aware that both William and Richard agreed the family connection would not be revealed until there were better relations between the two estates.
Normally very shy, Lady Georgiana approached the fence across which Miss Bennet was watching her, with the green eyes William had quite often mentioned these last few days. “A-as there is no one to perform the office, would you agree that we introduce ourselves?” she asked tentatively.
It did not take Elizabeth long to see that this was a shy young lady, neither proud nor haughty, as she had judged the brother to be.
The girl had straight blonde hair, had the beginnings of womanly curves, and the same cerulean eyes Elizabeth had noted when she crossed paths with her brother.
“I assume that you are the Duke’s sister, and no, I do not object if we introduce ourselves.
With you being the higher-ranking person, and now that you have intimated wanting such, I will begin.
I am Miss Elizabeth Bennet of Longbourn,” Elizabeth offered.
“I am Georgiana Darcy of Pemberley and—well one estate is enough, as you correctly surmised my brother is the Duke,” Lady Georgiana forced herself to look the other young lady in the eye rather than look down as her inclination was to do.
“It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Lady Georgiana. You know, I believe I met your brother many years ago, in a much happier time,” the smile slipped, but Elizabeth schooled her features, “at a cousin’s estate.”
“Do you mean at Holder Heights when you met the mark-ess!” the girl smiled.
“Yes, but how could you know that? You must have been a babe! I do not remember meeting you as a babe,” Elizabeth searched her memories and found none that included the girl opposite her.
When Elizabeth looked up, she paid attention to the girl’s four escorts for the first time.
“I am sorry, Lady Georgiana. I am holding you and your party up.”
“As I am the one who initiated the conversation, you have nothing to apologise for, Miss Bennet,” replied Lady Georgiana.
“I was deeply sorry to hear about your sister, brother, and cousins, and then to lose your father. William and I lost both of our parents,” she saw the questioning look at the name.
“William is my brother, the ogre that stole your apples and bumped into you in Meryton.”
Miss Younge was extremely impressed by her charge; she could not remember another instance of her ladyship being so quickly at ease as she was with the young lady across the fence.
Better still, the young lady, Miss Bennet, was treating her charge like any other young lady.
There was no fawning, and she certainly was not seeking information about the Duke and his preferences.
“It is possible I jumped to some conclusions without allowing him time to respond,” Elizabeth owned. “Is it just the two of you in your party?”
Lady Georgiana made a snap decision based on the question. “There are two others, a cousin of mine and a friend of the family. In fact, I believe you know my cousin, his name is Richard, Colonel Richard Fitzwilliam.”
“Richard is my cousin! His brother Andrew is married to my Cousin Marie, the only one of my cousins not to travel to Jamaica…” Elizabeth stopped speaking as the realisation hit her.
“I know Marie well; she happens to be my cousin too,” the younger lady smiled widely.
Elizabeth’s mouth formed a perfect ‘O’ as she processed the information. “That makes us cousins! Goodness, I threw an apple at my cousin, Andrew and Marie’s cousin! How long have you all known?”
“With Richard’s help, but a day or two. As we are cousins, will you call me Georgiana, or Gigi as all my friends and family do? We are the latter already, and I hope that we become the former sooner rather than later,” Georgiana requested.
“In that case, please call me Lizzy. Oh my, I must apologise to your brother, the Duke,” Elizabeth realised.
“Do you not mean Cousin William?” Georgiana teased. “He is, in reality, an honourable and good person, in fact he is the best brother a girl could ask for.” Georgiana did not miss the look of sorrow that crossed her cousin’s countenance when she mentioned William being a good brother.
“Absolutely not! He is Your Grace to me! I will not blame him if he thinks me a silly young girl the way I have acted and made assumptions about him. I let my prejudices get in the way of my good sense,” Elizabeth bemoaned her faulty snap judgements.
“Lizzy, I promise you, William holds nothing against you, and you did not hear this from me, but, if anything, it amuses him,” Georgiana assured her cousin.
“Now, Lizzy, please say you will join me for tea this afternoon. You will see Richard there, meet Major Wickham, and see my brother is but a flesh and blood man like any other,” Georgiana asked, hopefully.
“After the way I have treated your brother, I must accept and take the opportunity to apologise and hope he forgives my bad behaviour. Like Daniel, I will enter the lion’s den. What time?” Elizabeth asked, using much hyperbole.
“You are being overly dramatic, newly discovered cousin. How does three sound?”
The young ladies bade farewell to one another and set their mounts to their respective houses.