Chapter Seventy-Three
The next day, the new Mrs. Bingley came to visit.
Elizabeth met Jane at the entrance to the drawing room.
Elizabeth knew that Mr. Darcy had taken great care to make her wedding night as enjoyable as possible, and hoped Mr. Bingley had done the same for Jane.
She took Jane’s hand and whispered. “Are you well, Jane?”
Jane whispered back, with a happy smile, “Very well, indeed! And you, Lizzy?”
“Also very well! Do come in!”
Mr. Darcy and Georgiana greeted Mrs. Bingley, and everyone sat together in the drawing room while Elizabeth rang for tea.
All the events of the wedding were reviewed, as well as Colonel Fitzwilliam’s surprising wish to have Mary join them in London.
Mr. Darcy assured them that the carriage had departed early that morning and was doubtless on its way back even now.
Having his own tasks to fulfill in Town, he left the ladies alone.
When Jane got up to leave, Elizabeth pulled her back down. “Stay a bit longer,” she begged. “Mary is on her way here!”
Indeed, Mary arrived within the quarter hour, and there was a happy reunion of the sisters, including the ‘sixth Bennet girl,’ Georgiana.
“How is our father?” Elizbeth enquired.
“Not very pleased just now,” Mary said.
“With just Lydia and Kitty left in the house, I can well believe it!” Jane chuckled. “And Mama?”
“Oh, she could not be happier!” Mary declared. “Lady Lucas is afraid to visit, as all Mama does is brag about her two married daughters!”
“And I can well believe that,” Elizabeth said, rolling her eyes. “But Lady Lucas can always look around the Longbourn parlour and imagine Charlotte as mistress there; that should soothe any wounded feelings.”
After another half an hour, Jane finally made her departure.
Elizabeth and Georgiana took Mary up to her room.
Her trunk was already there, and Anna had unpacked for her.
“Mary, this is Anna, who takes care of me and has offered to take care of you as well, as your room is just down the hall from mine.”
“This is luxury indeed!” Mary said. “Anna, it is a great pleasure to meet you, and I thank you in advance!”
“You have very nice hair, Miss Mary,” Anna ventured. “It will be a pleasure to dress it for you.”
“Me? Nice hair?” Mary’s brow was furrowed.
“Oh, I can tell, even though you have done your best to hide it,” Anna assured her.
Georgiana was already taking the pins out of Mary’s hair and letting it fall down her back. “She is right, you know, Mary. Look how thick it is!”
“So thick that it never holds a curl,” Mary said, mournfully.
“Just you wait and see,” Anna promised.
Mary was then given a tour of Darcy House, and her mouth fell open many times. “To think you are mistress of all this!” she said to her sister, again and again.
“Wait until you see Pemberley!” Georgiana exclaimed. “Darcy House is nothing to Pemberley!”
“When I see all this, I wonder that you were willing to be our friend,” Mary said. “You have so much, and we have…” she trailed off.
“You have each other,” Georgiana said, firmly. “Do you not think I would trade all this stuff, all this furniture, all these portraits, all the silver, to have sisters like you?”
“Well, you have no need to make any trades,” Mary replied, staunchly. “You have all this and you have sisters like us!”
Georgiana opened her arms and enfolded the two Bennet sisters. The three of them stood together, feeling one another’s warmth and closeness for several minutes. Finally, Georgiana broke away, tear streaks on her cheeks, and exclaimed, “But you must see the pianoforte, Mary!”
What was left of the day was spent in the music room.
***
While the Bennet sisters were enjoying their reunion, Mr. Darcy ventured out to his club to get a sense of what the gossips were now saying about the Darcys.
As luck would have it, the first gentleman he saw upon entering the main room was Lord Hilton, the baron who had snubbed him months ago.
Mr. Darcy tensed, waiting for the man’s reaction, but Hilton waved him over and offered him a brandy.
“Heard you got leg-shackled,” he said. “Shall we toast your bride?”
Two other gentlemen came up and sat down to quiz Mr. Darcy as to how it was that he had gotten married so quickly, and with so little notice! Mr. Darcy spoke glowingly of Elizabeth, and he was amused to see eyebrows shoot up.
“So, a love match, then?” Lord Archer enquired.
“Most definitely. For what is the point of all our wealth and property, if we cannot wed someone we love?”
“Humph,” Lord Archer muttered. It was well known that he and Lady Archer barely tolerated one another. “All very modern.”
“Yes, and a good thing, too,” Sir Hilton said, staunchly. “I have been thinking of matrimony myself.”
“Then let us drink to your future bride,” Mr. Darcy said, agreeably, motioning to the waiter.
Three more gentlemen crowded in, and soon everyone was quite happily drinking excellent brandy, paid for by Mr. Darcy, and raising their glasses to the new Mrs. Darcy and the future Lady Hilton, whoever she might be.
“M’wife will go to meet yours,” Lord Archer hiccupped.
”And mine as well,” another gentleman said.
There was then a chorus of gentlemen stating that their wives were desperate – nay, dying! – to meet the new Mrs. Darcy!
It was quite evident that the Countess had been right; the arrival of a new Mrs. Darcy was far more interesting than the possible almost-elopement that might or might not have happened last summer.