Chapter Eight
“We are truly blessed to have our table graced with so many lovely ladies tonight,” Mr. Barlow declared, pushing back from the table and beaming at his guests.
The ladies in question, Miss Bennet, Miss Elizabeth Bennet, Miss Mary Bennet, Miss Darcy and Miss Baxter, smiled back at him.
“I am thankful for this time together before many of you abandon me for parts unknown.”
“I will take no offence to being left out of the blessing,” Mr. Ashley said.
“I cannot argue with your descriptor, nor would I quibble with your gratitude, which I share. I will, however, ask if I have been fooled into allowing my lovely betrothed out of my sight for a fortnight in the mistaken belief she will go no further than Yorkshire. Parts unknown, my love?”
“Well, they are unknown to some of us in that we have yet to visit them,” she answered, smiling at him.
The look they shared was filled with humour and fondness, but also seemed to hold some secret Elizabeth could not guess.
“While I am grateful to be included in the outing and imagine we will all greatly enjoy visiting Blenheim Castle, the ruins at Kenilworth and the peaks, I think you know I look forward most of all to the event to take place after our return.”
“That is good to know,” he said with a bright and satisfied smile.
“It is indeed,” Mr. Gardiner agreed, then raising his glass, he said, “To our adventures and the start of new things; to our extended and expanding family and our dear friends.”
The guests raised their glasses in response.
“I do seem to be doing most of the expanding,” Mrs. Gardiner laughed, patting her only slightly bulging belly.
When Elizabeth, Mary and Jane had arrived yesterday, they barely had time to take in their aunt’s somewhat altered figure before she burst with her news. They were expecting once again and anticipated the newest Gardiner would arrive in late fall.
After hugs and congratulations were exchanged, Elizabeth assured her aunt, “We will not be put out at all if we must cancel or curtail our adventures. Please think nothing of it.” Her sisters quickly seconded this.
“Don’t be silly,” she insisted as the entire party made their way into the house. “I feel completely fine and am, for the time being, quite equal to the exertion. Though perhaps I will leave you girls to explore some of the more challenging rocks and hills.”
As soon as the party crossed the threshold of Barlow Hall, Amelia’s shouts of greeting could be heard. Moments later, she toddled into the entryway to greet her cousins, her nurse in tow. Jane delighted in this first meeting, while Mary and Elizabeth exclaimed at the little girl’s growth.
Mrs. Bennet was unwilling to let either of her elder daughters spend more than a month away from Longbourn.
In her considered opinion, they were neither of them focused enough on procuring husbands.
She continued to have no faith in her relations’ willingness to put the girls forwards in their own circles.
The shortened visit was a compromise. When the northern tour was proposed, Elizabeth asked the Gardiners if both Jane and Mary could accompany her.
They were eager to have three of their nieces and readily agreed.
Mrs. Bennet was more reluctant but was eventually won over when even her normally uninterested husband urged her acceptance.
Miss Darcy and Miss Baxter had arrived at Barlow Hall the day after the Bennet sisters and would stay with the family for the week leading up to their planned northern tour.
The outing would be two weeks touring the celebrated beauties and attractions of their very own county and those directly to the north in South Yorkshire.
That week together at Barlow Hall, Georgiana found great comfort in being with her friend again and told her so one day as they walked that long path towards Pemberley, where they had first met.
“I am so glad to have you all to myself,” Elizabeth declared, linking their arms and setting their course. “I adore Jane and Mary, and of course Miss Baxter is all that is good, but I am used to being able to spend time with just us, and I have missed that.”
“I feel just the same,” Georgiana responded eagerly. “It is delightful to see Jane again and Mary is such a dear, but I have missed you, despite how faithful of a correspondent you have been.”
“Yes, we love everyone else quite madly and do not at all mean that they are not dear to us when we declare that we are glad to be rid of them for one hour altogether,” Elizabeth agreed.
Though she exclaimed at her friend’s wording, Georgiana heartily agreed with the sentiment.
In fact, Elizabeth’s bold declaration reassured her.
When the plans for their trip had been presented for her approval, her only hesitancy was that Elizabeth might not need her, might not have as much time for her with her aunt and two sisters at her disposal.
In addition, Elizabeth had turned seventeen a few weeks prior, Georgiana was only fourteen.
As the date of their reunion came closer, Georgiana worried that their age difference, which seemed less important in years past, would be too great now, especially as they had not seen one another in over a year and this summer’s visit would be much shorter and not at all like their usual season together.
As Georgiana strolled under the familiar trees and along the familiar paths, listening to her dearest friend narrate her youngest sisters’ latest antics, she felt relief that none of the distance or awkwardness she had feared was present, and she relished the easy closeness that she and Elizabeth had always enjoyed.
Finally, the day of their departure arrived.
Though they all worried about Mr. Barlow being left on his own as they mounted the carriages, he assured them once again that he would be quite well with the staff and his many friends and neighbours who had been recruited to stop by quite frequently to look after him.
Amelia stood beside him, her small hand in his, her nurse at the ready as her young charge was prone to sudden flights, testing the limits of both her guardian’s tolerance and her own abilities.
“I look forward to your detailed accounts of all that you see and do,” he told Elizabeth and Mary as they mounted the steps of the Darcy carriage, where the four girls would ride together.
Miss Baxter joined the Gardiners in their carriage.
Soon the two conveyances were rumbling down the long driveway, their passengers eager as much for conversation, companionship and socializing as for castles, cliffs and rocks.
It is not the object of this work to describe the many sites the party enjoyed in both Derbyshire and Yorkshire. Between the cliffs, castles, ruins and parks, the party each found something to delight them.
The two weeks went by too quickly for most of them.
Though by the end, as they made their way back to Barlow Hall, both the Gardiners and Miss Baxter were thankful to be almost home.
Even more so when the house came into view and Mr. Barlow, Mr. Ashley and Cora could be seen on the lawn—engaged in a very serious-looking game of blindman’s bluff.
As the carriage came to a stop on the far side, the participants seemed unaware and were focused on the blind player, Miss Amelia.
They were calling out encouragement and instructions.
The travel party came closer, and Mrs. Gardiner called out to her daughter, who, upon hearing her mother’s voice, tore off the blindfold and raced into her arms. Mr. Gardiner soon joined them.
Mr. Ashley rushed eagerly to Miss Baxter’s side, but instead of hugs and exclamations, their joy at the reunion was seen in sparkling eyes and wide smiles as they gazed contentedly at one another.
After the travellers went inside to refresh themselves and change out of their travel clothes, they all met in the large sitting room where each party regaled the others with tales of the past two weeks.
Mr. Ashley did not leave Miss Baxter’s side.
Miss Amelia did not leave her mother’s lap.
Cora was given a much-needed night off. Though Mr. Ashley was clearly reluctant to leave, after an hour, he declared his intention to depart.
“Miss Baxter, will you do me a favour and see our guest out? As you can see, I am quite occupied.” Amelia tugged her mother’s face back to herself, demanding her undivided attention for another story.
“Of course, Mrs. Gardiner,” she responded with unhidden happiness.
Mr. Ashley bade everyone adieu and offered a warm thank you to his hostess as he followed his betrothed out the door.
The wedding was to be held three days later in the church in Kympton, where Mr. Ashley served as vicar. The former vicar, who had mentored the young man before his retirement, would conduct the service.
The day following their return, the ladies were mending some clothes Miss Baxter had taken in from the parish collection box.
A letter was brought to Georgiana. She read the envelope and declared it to be from her brother.
Elizabeth tried to quell her curiosity as her friend opened and began to read it, even as Georgiana frowned and then sighed in clear displeasure.
“It is terribly disappointing,” she said a moment after placing the letter on the table beside her. “Fitzwilliam will miss the wedding.”
Elizabeth felt a sharp pain in her finger and realised she had stabbed herself with the needle. Mary handed her a handkerchief without a word.
“Oh, no,” Jane said, not missing a beat in her stitching. “Is he unwell?”
“No,” Georgiana answered. “He has been at the Darcy estate in Scotland for the past month, and it seems that things were worse than he had thought. His presence will be required for another fortnight at least. He sends his regrets to you in particular, Miss Baxter, and apologises for his absence.”