Chapter 23
“Miss Darcy, Mrs. Annesley,” Bingley said in an excited tone, “may I please introduce you to my fiancée, Miss Bennet and her younger sister, Miss Elizabeth? Jane, Elizabeth, Miss Darcy and her companion, Mrs. Annesley.”
The four ladies bobbed curtsies at one another and Jane smiled at the taller, younger blonde lady, “Miss Darcy, we have so looked forward to meeting you. Mrs. Hurst tells me that you are a great adept on the pianoforte!”
Miss Darcy blushed furiously at these words and cast a frantic look at her brother. Darcy smiled reassuringly at her, “Indeed, Georgiana loves to play and spends many hours a day honing her skill on the instrument. Is that not so, Mrs. Annesley?”
“Indeed she does,” the older woman agreed cheerfully. “She puts me to shame with her devotion.”
“Come, let us sit down,” Louisa Hurst suggested, “and we will have tea.”
Jane sat down next to Mr. Bingley, whereas Elizabeth and Georgiana found themselves side by side on another couch.
“My sister Mary and I both enjoy playing the pianoforte as well, Miss Darcy,” Elizabeth declared, “though I do not spend enough time practicing. Tell me, who is one of your favorite composers?”
“I adore Mozart,” Georgiana replied, her color still heightened, “though many of his compositions are difficult.”
“Oh my, yes!” Elizabeth agreed. “I too appreciate his work, though I largely play far simpler pieces.”
“What think you of Beethoven, Miss Darcy?” Louisa Hurst inquired. “I quite adore some of his bagatelles!”
“Oh yes,” Georgiana responded happily. “I do as well!”
The musical conversation became animated between all the ladies except for Miss Bennet, who turned to Mr. Bingley and engaged in low, apparently lovelorn conversation, based on the smiles of both. Darcy, standing to one side, found he could not look away from Elizabeth Bennet’s animated countenance. Georgiana was an incredibly shy creature and struggled mightily when meeting new acquaintances. It was a miracle that she was already chatting so happily with Miss Elizabeth.
/
“What think you of Miss Bennet and Miss Elizabeth?” Darcy asked of his sister.
Dinner had, once again, been a pleasant affair with Miss Bingley no longer present to voice waspish barbs about the inhabitants of Meryton and Longbourn. The Bennet ladies had stayed for dinner and left immediately afterward, allowing Darcy and Georgiana to retreat to her sitting room for some time alone after so many weeks apart.
“Miss Bennet is quite the most handsome woman I have ever met,” Georgiana replied immediately, “and she seems very much in love with Mr. Bingley.”
“Do you think so?” Darcy asked curiously. He had accepted by now that his reading of Miss Bennet was faulty, but he still did not see true attachment in the serene countenance of Bingley’s fiancée.
“Her eyes never strayed far from his face,” Georgiana commented, “and when she spoke of him, she appeared to glow.”
“I see. And what of Miss Elizabeth?”
“Oh, Brother, she is such a kindly person, and quickly made me feel at ease. I like her very much.”
“I am glad,” Darcy exclaimed, which attracted a startled glance from his sister, a look which shifted into one of understanding.
“My dear Fitzwilliam, you are attracted to Miss Elizabeth!”
He opened his mouth to protest and then shut it, struck dumb by her knowing look.
“Now how could you possibly know that, dear sister?” he inquired ruefully.
“Fitzwilliam, you mentioned Miss Elizabeth in every single letter you wrote to me. She seems a most admirable person, and of course I will always be grateful that she rescued you after you injured your foot. Speaking of that, how are you feeling? I see that you are using your crutches sometimes but not always?”
“Yes, there are times when my ankle aches ferociously, generally after I have been walking on it too long. I have found, too, that since I favor that ankle, the rest of my body hurts from limping. Thus, I use the crutches at least some each day. Still, I am much improved and Mr. Jones, the local apothecary who has been treating me, has given me permission to start riding Galileo tomorrow, though I had to promise him that I would not fall off.”
His sister laughed and surged forward to wrap affectionate arms around him, “I missed you so much, Brother. I am most happy to be here.”
“I am happy you are here as well, but now I have some difficult news.”
“What is it?”
“I discovered only yesterday that George Wickham is living in the nearby village of Meryton.”
Georgiana gasped in distress and Darcy pulled her close for another quick hug, “Do not be afraid, my dear. I have not seen him once in my time in Hertfordshire and only discovered his presence by chance. Nonetheless, I thought I should warn you in case you happen to glimpse him. I do not believe he would dare approach you, but for your safety, I had John and Jacob accompany you here. They will always be near you when you are out of the house.”
“I wondered why you had ordered them to come,” his sister murmured.
Silence fell for a few minutes before Georgiana spoke again, “I will be well, Fitzwilliam. Mrs. Annesley has been a great help to me these last months as I have considered all that came to pass at Ramsgate. Yes, it was a great mistake on my part, but all I can do is learn from my failures and look forward to a happy future, one in which I am not tied by marriage to a villain.”
“You were placed in a most untenable situation, sweetling. I should have scrutinized Mrs. Younge more carefully; if I had, I would have discovered that her references were false, which would have protected you from her conspiracy with Wickham. With her encouragement, it is not surprising that you thought yourself in love with the rogue, especially since I failed you by not telling you earlier of his vicious propensities and want of principle.”
There was self-loathing in his tone, and his sister, after gazing at him searchingly, reached out a tender hand to touch his arm, “My dear brother, I see that you need to forgive yourself as much, or more, than I do. You did what you thought best at the time, and it is hardly your nature to cast foul aspersions on your fellows! Mrs. Annesley, who is quite a student of the Holy Book, reminded me more than once that some of God’s greatest men and women fell short mightily. If King David could steal another man’s wife, and the Apostle Paul celebrate as Stephen was stoned, can we not accept God’s grace and forgiveness and be at peace?”
He stared at her in awe, “When did you become so very wise, my dear?”
/
George Wickham placed two linen handkerchiefs on the counter and gestured toward the bottles of spirits up on the shelves.
“Give me a bottle of your good gin, if you would, Mr. Alcott,” he requested of the elderly grocer, even as he disparagingly eyed the man’s liquor collection. The best gin in this backwater of a town was nothing compared to the delightful wines and brandies available in London, but he could not ask for something expensive for fear that the shopkeeper would require him to settle the sum immediately.
“You will need to pay off your account before you purchase anything else here,” the grocer stated implacably. “You and the other officers owe too much.”
Wickham forced himself to smile winningly, “My dear sir, I assure you that I am an honorable gentleman and I pay my debts.”
“That is not what I heard,” Alcott stated. “Pay or leave, Lieutenant Wickham, I do not care, but not another bottle or kerchief will you purchase before you pay what you owe.”
“Very well,” Wickham said, assuming a haughty expression. “I am temporarily without adequate funds, but will return tomorrow to settle my account.”
“As you wish,” Alcott declared indifferently.
Wickham, his head held high, departed from the shop and began cursing thoroughly under his breath. There was only one man in the area who knew of his penchant for racking up debts, and that was Fitzwilliam Darcy, but would Pemberley’s master lower himself to warn mere shopkeepers?
It seemed unlikely, but there was no other obvious explanation unless, perhaps, some of the officers to whom he owed gaming debts had mentioned his insolvency?
That was also possible.
He could do nothing about his fellow officers except to start winning at cards, but Darcy ... he could certainly do something about Darcy.
/
Mr. Bennet and Mr. Philips sat down next to the fire in the library at Longbourn, and Bennet looked around with thanksgiving. The worst of his discomfort from abstaining from wine was at an end, and the world seemed a much brighter place now that he was no longer drunk most of the time.
“Elizabeth will inherit Longbourn under certain provisions,” Mr. Bennet informed his brother and solicitor.
Philips took a sip of honey sweetened tea and spoke, “Not Jane?”
“Not Jane.”
“It is of course your right to will Longbourn as you wish, but why not Jane?”
“Jane is affianced, shortly to be married, to a wealthy and generous man in Mr. Bingley. Bingley does not need Longbourn. Elizabeth has fewer prospects for marriage and has been overseeing the estate for many months with great aptitude. It seems obvious that it should go to Elizabeth.”
“Does Jane know of your decision? Does Mr. Bingley?” Philips asked with concern.
“They are both aware that Longbourn might go to someone other than my eldest daughter; indeed, Jane encouraged me to will the estate to Elizabeth.”
The solicitor relaxed, “Very good. I merely wished to be certain that there would be no hard feelings on the matter. What are the provisions you mentioned?”
“Elizabeth will only inherit so long as she is still single when I pass on, or, if she is married, her husband must agree to change his surname to Bennet. If she marries and her husband will not change his name, the estate will instead go to Mary, with the same proviso, going down the line to Lydia, who, if it comes to that, will inherit regardless of her husband’s decision regarding his surname.”
Philips nodded approvingly, “An excellent plan.”