Chapter 12 #2
“I will not trespass on Bennet land, I promise you. I need to speak to you in private. I promise you on my life, Louisa, I am not here to cause trouble; I am trying to stop it,” Bingley insisted.
Just then Louisa noticed Charlotte arrive at the tearoom across the street.
“I must away Charles; my friend awaits me. I will be in Meryton alone three days hence. Find me then, and I will judge if you are sincere in your desire to help.” Louisa turned and crossed the street before her brother could respond.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
“Welcome, Cousin Elizabeth.” Lady Georgiana waited at the top of the stone steps leading to Netherfield’s front door. Miss Younge stood just behind her, while Miss Jones followed Elizabeth.
“I thank you for the warm welcome, Cousin Georgiana; it is good to see you again,” Elizabeth curtsied to her younger cousin.
“Let us go meet the men,” Georgiana invited.
“Is your brother content with my being here?” Elizabeth asked.
“He is,” a deep, baritone voice answered from behind Georgiana. “I do not hold you responsible for my trespassing on your land or being a clumsy oaf who became tongue-tied when he bumped into you,” the Duke stated, evenly.
“Do not forget to add borrowing apples as well, Cousin,” Richard added.
“Cousin Richard!” Elizabeth exclaimed. “I have not seen you for so long.”
“Could we move to the drawing room?” Georgiana said as she smiled. “I do not believe it is proper to have tea served in the entryway!”
The four entered the drawing room where Mr. Hurst and the Major were awaiting them. “Gigi, will you introduce our cousin to us?” the Duke requested.
Lady Georgiana introduced Elizabeth to the men. “You must allow me to apologise your Grace…” Elizabeth started when he interjected.
“William or Cousin William if you please. May I call you Cousin Elizabeth?” the Duke asked.
“I am Elizabeth or Lizzy,” Elizabeth allowed. “In that case, William, please allow me to apologise for my behaviour toward you on the two occasions we have been in one another’s company.”
“It is my belief that I am the one who owes you an apology. I was trespassing and, as Richard reminded us, eating your apples without permission. In Meryton, I wanted to beg your pardon for my inattentiveness, but you seemed to be in a hurry,” William said with a grin.
“There is no excuse for the way I reacted. I made assumptions about your intent, so it is my error and not yours,” Elizabeth insisted.
“Come, let us not argue over who owns the greater fault and agree that we both erred and move forward. Please accept my condolences on the loss of your family members and then your father,” William offered.
“I thank you for the condolences for my father, but until I know for sure they are no longer living, I must believe Jane, Tommy, and our cousins yet live,” Elizabeth averred.
“It is understandable you feel that way. I believe Marie also does not accept her parents, brothers, and sisters are no more. She and Andrew manage Holder Heights and the rest of the Holder interests with an eye to the Earl returning to assume the helm once again,” Richard stated.
“Richard, Major Wickham, I see you are both wounded. I trust you will both make full and complete recoveries?” Elizabeth had not noticed at first the fact that Richard leaned on a walking stick and had a serious limp. She noted that the Major’s arm was in a sling as soon as they were introduced.
“We are well on our way to hopefully being completely hale and healthy, Miss Bennet,” Major Wickham informed her.
“Major, please call me Elizabeth, or at the very least Miss Elizabeth. Jane is still Miss Bennet until I find out otherwise,” Elizabeth insisted.
“Cousin, I understand you manage the estate and have to put up with an unwanted stepmother and her two awful daughters,” William intimated.
“One awful daughter. Over the years Miss Louisa Bingley and I have become as close as real sisters could be. Once she matured and saw her mother and sister for who they are, we became extremely close…” Elizabeth told them how things were at Longbourn and how, if the stepmother and her shrew of a daughter did nothing to evict themselves beforehand, they would be expelled if she inherited the estate in four years.
“The day I made your acquaintance in Meryton, I noted Miss Bingley did not seem at all like what I had heard about the three women,” Mr. Hurst observed.
“If you were to meet Lulu, that is Louisa, Mr. Hurst, you would see she is a genteel and a most pleasant sort,” Elizabeth informed her hosts.
Georgiana looked to her brother, who gave a nod. “When we return your call, we will be pleased to meet Miss Bingley,” Georgiana offered.
“I would like nothing better than to have all of you visit me at Longbourn, but the other two residents would fawn and fall all over you. My younger stepsister already claims to be the next Duchess of Derbyshire, Countess of Lambton,” Elizabeth related with chagrin.
Elizabeth had thought her cousin, the Duke, to be of a staid and of a taciturn disposition—until he roared with laughter at her intimation.
He wiped his eyes as he brought himself under regulation.
“The one who tried to apologise for your rudeness fancies that I would look at her in any way other that disdain? She is not close to tolerable enough to tempt me, and we shall not talk about her being handsome, as she is not. I know it is indecorous for me to speak of a lady so, but I have never seen such behaviour as that in public before. I am not sure whose behaviour was worse, that of the mother or the daughter!” William’s re-energized laugh shook his shoulders.
“I know they are from trade, but do they know nothing of protocol?”
“I explained it to them when they wanted to visit here the day after you took up residence—they must have forgotten,” Elizabeth’s tongue-in-cheek reply was offered in all seriousness, and she smiled at the laughter of all who were listening.
“Will you be attending the assembly this evening, Elizabeth?” William asked.
“I will, along with Louisa and the other two. Please accept my apologies ahead of time for the way those two will behave,” Elizabeth replied.
“In that case, may I have the second set with you?” William requested. “I never dance the first as it would set tongues wagging.”
“Yes, William, I will dance the second with you, and I understand your aversion to dancing the first,” Elizabeth allowed.
“You mean his aversion to dancing at all!” Major Wickham ribbed his friend. “May I have the third, Miss Elizabeth? I am able to dance with one arm creditably.” Elizabeth granted the Major’s request.
“I would request the first set Cousin, but dancing with one good leg is somewhat harder than with one good arm,” Richard quipped.
“May I have your fourth set, Miss Elizabeth?” Mr. Hurst requested. Elizabeth responded in the affirmative.
“Lizzy, do you play the pianoforte?” Georgiana asked.
“I do Gigi; I enjoy music,” Elizabeth nodded happily as she looked directly into her younger cousin’s eyes and was gratified to see they were on herself rather than toward the floor.
Georgiana invited Elizabeth to join her in the music room in the time Elizabeth had left before she had to depart to prepare for the assembly.
“Lizzy has grown since the last time I saw her before we were deployed to the peninsula,” Richard opined.
“She is much more than merely tolerable,” the Duke said to no one in particular as he sat contemplating the finest eyes he had ever seen.
After Elizabeth had played a duet with her cousin, she and Miss Jones departed Netherfield Park to return to Longbourn.