Chapter 20. Brother and Sister Plan
It became a part of their routine to ride out three or four times each week in the months following their arrival at Pemberley.
For much of each day William was confined to his study with business letters, visits by powerful men who never stayed for supper, and matters of the different estates in the Darcy lands.
Georgiana continued with her lessons and her correspondence with her friends in Hertfordshire. Mrs Annesley mentioned once the number of letters that Miss Darcy sent and received, but Mr Darcy assured the lady that his sister had full permission to write as much as she wished to the Bennet sisters.
The butler and housekeeper noticed the increased funds spent to frank letters, but they remained silent–Mr Darcy’s correspondence was fully three-fold the old master’s and Miss Darcy’s amounted to a mere pittance compared to her brother’s letters.
And during their time alone at Pemberley, William and Georgiana had two sets of rooms in the family wing cleaned and then furnished with their choice of the beddings, chairs and hangings.
Georgiana found a writing desk and chair in the rooms used by her mother and with William’s blessing, adopted them as her own.
Mrs Annesley moved into a large, comfortable room near Georgiana with warm bedding and hangings.
Packages arrived from the seamstress in Meryton with warm leggings and gowns in grey for Georgiana.
William provided funds for Mrs Annesley to obtain additional warm clothing for the coming Derbyshire winter.
And Harris spent several hours each week working with pants and coats from the tailor in London that William patronized for his clothing during their years at Netherfield.
William had the dower house at Pemberley cleaned and painted before he assigned it to Mr Clemmons and his family as a portion of his expanded income.
“I intend for you to remain as my secretary in the north,” William explained. “It is only proper you have lodgings equal to your position as my trusted servant.”
Mr Clemmons was certainly pleased with his master’s words while Mrs Clemmons was silent with shock–now she had a cook as well as two maids to do her housework.
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On one particular day during their ride across fields and a portion of the park, William and Georgiana stopped their horses where the fields changed into the wood lot.
The sister brought her small mare to stand near her brother’s gelding before he dropped down from the saddle and approached to help her down from the side saddle.
“William, Pemberley is beautiful, is it not?” she asked looking across the verge toward the home of their ancestors.
“But can it feel like home?” he asked seriously.
Catching the tone of his voice, Georgiana paused to consider her answer carefully. “We have not had time enough yet to know. Mrs Reynolds is pleasant, but I do not remember the other servants. Pemberley is grand but it is not Netherfield.”
“Where we know everyone–neighbours, servants and tenants,” William added.
“And are welcomed in every home,” concluded Georgiana sadly. She took her brother’s arm as they strolled to a stone fence enclosing a pasture where sheep grazed contentedly.
“With Father’s passing, many powerful men will call at Pemberley though the local gentry remain reluctant to venture close.”
“The neighbours attended Father’s funeral but only the gentlemen have called since that day. When I insisted, Mrs Annesley explained that they stay away because Father kept his mistress in residence,” Georgiana confided. “They think the walls of Pemberley are polluted.”
William nodded. “In a few years they will welcome invitations again.”
“A few years?” Georgiana asked in an unusual, petulant tone. She exaggerated her tone when she added, “I shall be old and grey in a few years.” William’s lips twisted with a small smile hearing his sister’s teasing.
“I wish to discuss a letter, Georgie.”
“You sound very serious,” the teenaged girl observed.
He stopped walking and looked directly at his sister before saying, “This is a family matter for you and I to discuss without Mrs Reynolds hovering or Mrs Annesley participating in our conversation.”
Thinking of how Elizabeth and Jane would react to these words from their father, Georgiana nodded her head only once before William continued, “A letter came from the Earl of Matlock. He announced that the family will descend upon Pemberley at Christmas.”
Georgiana’s face was truly sour remembering the few times she had been in company with her relatives over the last years. “We are in mourning! Surely, they will not expect us to entertain...”
“I have replied that we would house them for one week with their departure occurring no later than two days following Christmas.”
Georgiana nodded but sighed. “Do I have to sit at the head of the table and act as hostess?”
Shaking his head, William said, “I shall not ask you to do so and neither Aunt Edith nor Aunt Catherine will act as such.”
“Shall I bite Lady Catherine?” Georgiana teased remembering Kitty’s solution for dealing their aunt several years before when the harridan invaded Netherfield.
“Only if absolutely necessary,” he agreed. “And remember, neither aunt has authority over you.”
“My aunts have never had time for me other than to direct my efforts to improve my performance on the pianoforte or in dancing. I was always too young of a girl to keep their attention,” Georgiana said.
“But now you are an heiress with a substantial dowry,” Darcy reminded her. “They will invite you to visit them and offer to sponsor you for your presentation at court in a few years.”
“I am determined that I shall not come out until I am eighteen years or more!” the girl insisted. “Elizabeth decided to wait until next year when she is nineteen. I shall wait until Kitty and I can come out together at the Assembly Ball in Meryton.”
Darcy’s face now shone with a happy grin–his sister was determined to follow in the paths of her friends but then he asked, “I thought Miss Elizabeth planned to come out this fall? I have heard nothing of this in her...in Mr Bennet’s letters.”
Smiling gently, Georgiana slipped a hand onto her brother’s arm. “All of the Bennet family misses us. Mrs Bennet is willing to allow Elizabeth to wait another year. And Elizabeth wrote that she cannot come out without your presence for a dance.”
Georgiana nodded confidently, “I think you must have her first dance.”
“I had not thought of Miss Elizabeth coming out,” William admitted. “She would enjoy herself very much with dancing and conversation.”
“But she does not want the parties and dinners this fall,” Georgiana insisted. “She writes she thinks of us each day and prays for our comfort.”
Darcy considered their Hertfordshire friends for a moment and admitted that he too missed their company and the young woman who filled every meeting with bright laughter and conversation.
“Our lives will be different now Georgie,” William said as they walked back to the horses. “Many more people will invade our home wherever it is, and we shall have to spend time in town during the season.”
“Mrs Annesley has mentioned that you will require time at the house in London to gather with men of power and influence.”
“And you will be a great lady in the ton someday,” William assured her.
Feeling his shy sister grow tense, he made a promise.
“We shall arrange a court presentation for you and Miss Catherine together in a few years. I shall find some pleasant lady to sponsor Miss Bennet and Miss Elizabeth next year to lay the foundation for Miss Mary, Miss Kitty, Miss Georgie and then Miss Lydia to be presented.”
“Oh, Lydia will not like having to wait until last!” Georgiana confided to her brother. “Mrs Bennet and Nanny Brice often talk to Lydia for many minutes when she chaffs at being too young to ride or sit up after supper.”
Upon reaching the horses, Georgiana turned to her brother before he helped her mount. “William, I would ask something of you.”
“Certainly,” he replied. “You ask for very little.”
“I do not want you to rush in taking a wife next year.”
“A wife?” he asked. “Why would you think I...”
“The ladies who came to the house during Father’s funeral were excessively curious concerning your marriage prospects. They insisted that you are the most eligible man in the entire kingdom and that every young woman would be thrown in your path in town.”
William sighed. “And our relatives will forward their candidates as well.’
“Aunt Catherine will attempt to force Anne forward,” Georgiana said. “But Anne has no desire to be your wife.”
“Aunt Edith will throw...” William began to say but stopped when he could not remember the younger Fitzwilliam daughter’s name.
“Cousin Abigail,” Georgiana supplied the name.
“Thank you,” he said. “Aunt Edith will throw Abigail at me.”
“Our cousins are to be pitied William,” Georgiana said. “They have no choice in their parents’ demands and must go where they are told. I suppose they must marry as directed as well.”
“I shall never force you to marry anyone Georgie,” he assured her. “He will have to win your heart and earn my approval before you marry any man.”
“Then I insist that you allow me to approve of any woman you consider bringing into our family.”
The quizzical look on her brother’s face made Georgiana laugh but she explained. “Any woman who wants to be Mrs Fitzwilliam Darcy must love you and want you to be happy brother. You must have someone to support you.”
“Why do you say that, Georgie?”
“Mrs Reynolds answered many questions concerning our parents. Father and Mother were never in love and they both turned to others. It caused a great deal of trouble in their marriage,” Georgiana explained.
“You are extremely wise for fourteen years,” William observed once they were back in the saddle and turned the horses toward Pemberley.
“I have had good teachers and friends these past few years,” she replied. “And I love my brother dearly when he speaks plainly to me on important matters.”
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