Chapter 4
“You are absolutely sure you do not need me to write to Mrs Bevan?” Mrs Annesley asked worriedly as Darcy escorted her to the coach outside Darcy House the next morning.
Her trunk and bag were already stowed inside, along with a generous hamper of food for the journey.
“I do not like leaving my work on the shoulders of others.”
“Georgiana is my responsibility even more than yours,” Darcy assured her. “I have already written to Mrs Bevan and shall call at her offices this very afternoon to discuss requirements for a temporary companion. You need have no anxiety in this regard.”
“Mrs Bevan is most professional,” Mrs Annesley said as Darcy handed her into the coach. “She takes referencing and character very seriously, and you may be reassured on that point, as I am.”
“I am quite satisfied,” said Darcy. “Be sure to write to us when you reach Berwick-on-Tweed. Let us know if there is anything else we can send for your sister from London. Ask the physician whether there are medicines that might be obtained from London apothecaries that cannot be had in the north, and I shall send them to you straightaway.”
“You are most kind, Mr Darcy,” she said gratefully.
“While I am gone, please do remind Georgiana that she must practice her scales on the pianoforte as much as her favourite pieces. Nor should she neglect her French or Italian reading without me. Perhaps Georgiana can read to you, if you have time. She might also finish the botanical watercolours we have been working on together…”
Darcy smiled and nodded. Mrs Annesley had already said her farewells to Georgiana in the hallway and given all of these same reminders directly to her young charge.
“All is in hand, Mrs Annesley. You need not worry about anything here. Have a safe journey.”
Mounting the steps back into Darcy House once the carriage had pulled away, Darcy found Georgiana still in the hallway. Her expression was rather melancholy.
“I shall miss Mrs Annesley,” she admitted, and Darcy put an arm about her shoulders as the butler closed the door.
“It will be a challenge to find someone else with all Mrs Annesley’s learning and dedication,” Darcy agreed, remembering the great efforts he had gone to after the dismissal of the dishonest and dishonourable Mrs Younge, Mrs Annesley’s predecessor.
That woman had not only hidden her connection with the despicable George Wickham, but facilitated that rogue’s access to fifteen-year-old Georgiana…
It had taken Darcy months after that awful business in Ramsgate to find a lady whose learning and manners he could esteem and whose character he could trust with Georgiana’s wellbeing and guidance.
Darcy had taken not one but three character references for Mrs Annesley, only feeling sufficiently assured after the third to offer her a position.
“It will also be hard to find someone as kind and sympathetic,” added Georgiana. “Some very accomplished governesses do not really seem to like young people, but Mrs Annesley has always felt like a friend or an aunt, as much as a teacher or companion. I like that.”
Darcy considered this thoughtfully alongside his other concerns and then nodded.
“Sympathetic character will be at the very top of my list in seeking Mrs Annesley’s temporary replacement,” he told his sister.
“Even higher than education and accomplishment?” Georgiana asked with some surprise.
“Yes, I think so, as long as the lady is trustworthy,” Darcy said.
“I must still take references for any stranger, but if Mrs Annesley is only away for a few months, it shouldn’t matter too much if you have a companion who speaks no Italian or cannot draw.
You are sixteen and old enough to direct your own learning.
We are seeking a companion rather than a governess. ”
His sister smiled at this acknowledgement of her presumed capability and maturity.
“Yes, I should not mind at all if you find a lady who has less learning than Mrs Annesley. Even if she has no accomplishments at all, I should not mind very much as long as she is kind.”
“Hmmm, I could not bear to have a foolish or ignorant woman in the house,” Darcy cautioned, although with a smile rather than any severity.
“Shall we agree that even if no bluestocking or model of all feminine accomplishments, your new companion must at least be intelligent, well-read, and able to expand your horizons and thinking?”
“And able to play duets on the piano with me too,” Georgiana specified further, emboldened by Darcy’s adoption of her previous suggestion.
“It does not matter how well she plays, as long as she enjoys it. We can learn together. I know that Mrs Hurst kindly offered to play with me, but…I would rather play with someone else.”
Nodding in understanding and then kissing the top of his sister’s head, Darcy left Georgiana to her own devices and went towards his study, intending to prepare further for his afternoon’s call on Mrs Bevan at the ladies’ employment agency.
Before this conversation with Georgiana, “accomplished” would have featured prominently in his specifications, but now he had to rethink his requirements.
What even was an accomplished lady? Asking himself this question afresh, Darcy found himself thinking back to the conversation on that very topic that had taken place at Netherfield Park with Caroline Bingley and Elizabeth Bennet.
As in so many other areas of life, Miss Bingley had seemed to place great importance on acquiring and displaying accomplishments with no fuller understanding of their nature or meaning.
She was the kind who would consider the ability to recite a French poem an accomplishment but yawn at the prospect of an evening of Molière at the theatre.
Miss Elizabeth Bennet, in contrast, had laughed aloud at Darcy’s idea of accomplishment, quite naturally and without malice or mockery.
He had been affronted at first, but had quickly become intrigued, and finally respectful.
What they apparently agreed on was the scarcity of truly accomplished ladies in society.
Whatever accomplishments Miss Elizabeth personally possessed or not, she seemed to have the intelligence to recognise and value genuine knowledge or skill in others.
Realising that he was letting his mind stray yet again to the young woman he was determined to forget, Darcy put Elizabeth Bennet from his mind and sat down at his desk.