Chapter 19 #2
The next room that they entered was the music room.
It was a large room with a good number of settees, chaises and armchairs.
There was a Broadwood Grand pianoforte, a harpsichord that Lady Anne Darcy used to play, which Georgiana had learnt to play to feel closer to her mother, and a gleaming harp.
The music room led into the drawing room on one side and a smaller parlour on the other.
The last stop on the short tour was the ballroom.
If one turned right down a hall from the front door, one arrived at a very large ballroom with ten large chandeliers hanging from the ceiling and many sconces on the walls.
There were large windows on the sides, and on the left-hand side there were big double glass doors that led out to a nice sized terrace that overlooked the garden.
The last feature pointed out was that the walls that were common with the three dining rooms could be opened to accommodate revellers at supper-time.
Elizabeth and her mother were very impressed at the understated elegance that they saw.
Elizabeth especially noticed that it was the opposite of what had been seen at Rosings Park when Lady Catherine had dictated the décor, though Anne had previously stated that she was completely redecorating it.
At Darcy House, there was nothing for show; it was easy to see that the quality was the best, but everything was chosen with taste and an understanding of what was pleasing to the eye when grouped together.
It was something few in the Ton recognised as valuable, but from the carpet to the ceilings in each room, all was in harmony, from the furniture to the selected artwork.
In her opinion, the house reflected her suitor very well.
They thanked the housekeeper and Darcy led their group back to the drawing room.
They had just arrived when the butler delivered an express to Richard on his silver salver.
Richard saw it was from his former General, Grant Atherton and paused but a moment before he broke the seal and read the short but explicit missive.
When he was done, with all looking at him with inquisitive looks, he understood that they would all want to know, and he could not easily request the youngest group to leave as they would surely protest.
“Wickham is dead.” he stated with no emotion; his eyes watched Georgiana peripherally and he tensed in case he was needed to help comfort her. Darcy looked directly at Georgiana, surprised when he saw no sympathy or remorse in her countenance, merely relief.
“How?” he asked simply, hoping to quickly close this last time that they would discuss Wickham.
“In the first action he saw, the coward tried to desert. He was shot before he made it halfway off the field,” the former Colonel said with contempt.
“Before you even think it William, you are not responsible for what happened to him. All of his decisions were his own and he has finally paid the ultimate price for his crimes.”
“I whole-heartedly agree with my son, Nephew. It was many a time that I told your father that he indulged a boy who did not deserve it and nothing good would come of it. Had he been a good man, his life would have been decidedly different. You only need to concentrate on the path your life is on now. If not for a certain lady, it is one that maybe you would not be on,” the Earl stated, glancing at Elizabeth and looking back at Darcy.
“That is all true Uncle Reggie. I see the truth in what you say and what was said by Richard, but I cannot help remember what Lady Elizabeth said about my deciding not to tell Father the truth about Wickham. I could have…” Darcy tried to explain his thoughts.
“No, Mr Darcy,” Elizabeth cut him off with her hands on her hips and her fine eyes flashing bright with emotion, “I will not stand by and allow you to take on yourself that which is not yours to take. Even if you had informed your father, there is no guarantee that he would not have come to such an end. The man was inherently bad and looked to blame everyone but himself for his own choices.”
“Not for the first time Lady Elizabeth, I have to bow to your superior wisdom. We have better things to think on than George Wickham, may he rest in peace.” Darcy smiled at his Lizzy, smiling at her arched brow and he nodded that his thinking now matched hers.
“You are correct as well, Uncle. Whatever the struggle to get to this point in my life, I am grateful as it helped me become a man worthy enough to court Lady Elizabeth,” he said with feeling, his words actually for Elizabeth, who blushed becomingly as she smiled, and for them the rest of the world faded into the background.
That was the last ever mention of a man who was a seducer of young girls, a cheat, dishonourable, and a dissolute man. The words spoken about him that evening were already too much.
Killion announced dinner so the party made their way to the formal dining room.
After dinner, for which many compliments were passed to the beaming cook, there was a brief separation of the sexes followed by musical entertainment, the highlight of which was the combined voices of the two oldest Bennet sisters.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
Lydia was in her characteristically very high spirits when she flew out of the front door of the school to throw herself into the welcoming arms of her family as they alighted from the two carriages.
“Mama, Papa, Jane, Lizzy, Mary, and Kitty! I have missed you all so very much and I want to apologise in person for the deplorable way I used to behave,” she babbled, feeling that she could not yet forgive herself until she saw that she had their pardons.
Before Lydia could say any more, her father raised his hand to stay her.
“As we all told you in our letters, we have accepted your apologies and your Mother and I told you what we saw as our part in not checking you and teaching you better. Let us move forward with all of us behaving as we should,” Bennet suggested gently, hugging his youngest daughter tightly as if it were a dream come true that he could and she would welcome it.
Eventually they noticed a smiling headmistress watching the scene.
“Lord and Lady Longbourn, Ladies Jane, Elizabeth, Mary, and Catherine you are most welcome to the Dark Hollow School for Girls. I had hoped that you would see the demure young lady that Lady Lydia has become, but I understand that she is overwhelmed having missed all of you these last months. We are all very proud of her progress and the young lady that she is blossoming into.” Mrs Gilbert winked at Lydia for the first time and Lydia laughed at the unexpected sight.
As the headmistress was talking, the Bennet footmen were loading Lydia’s meagre belongings to the roof of the rear carriage.
They were about to enter the conveyances when Lydia asked if she could introduce her best friend and roommate to her family.
Her mother immediately agreed and Miss Helen Jacobson was introduced to the family.
Then it was time for the girls to say a tearful goodbye.
“Helen, you promise that you will write to me at least once a week?” Lydia asked between sniffles.
“I promise Lydia, as long as you do the same to me,” Helen warned and Lydia nodded vigorously.
“You helped me so very much, Helen. I would not have learnt so much without your help. I wrote to my papa and asked if you can come visit me over the summer, after Jane’s wedding, and he said yes, so as soon as you get permission from your father, please let me know,” Lydia asked hopefully.
“I am sure all will be well, but I will write to you as soon as I hear from Papa. Do not forget that I leave here at the end of term. You have my direction at home do you not?” Helen asked, a thread of worry at the idea that they might lose contact.
“Yes, and you have mine for Longbourn and London,” Lydia soothed both herself and Helen with the expectation that this was not their goodbye.
The girls had a long hug, then to Lydia’s very big surprise the headmistress hugged her before she joined her mother, father, and Kitty in the lead carriage while the three older Bennet sisters rode in the second vehicle.
Lydia waved to her friend until she was out of sight.
“It is so very good to have you back with us, Lyddie,” her mother said with tears of joy in her eyes. “Tomorrow when we start to shop for Jane’s trousseau, you will join us and we will order you a new wardrobe from Madame Chambourg, appropriate for your age as a girl not yet out.”
“Thank you, Mama, I look forward to that with pleasure. You are a countess Mama, and Papa is an earl,” Lydia proclaimed with her old exuberance showing, “and my sisters and I are all Ladies. When Mrs Gilbert told me, I thought that it was all some joke that Papa was playing until she showed me the newspaper with the royal announcement. You could have knocked me over with a feather.”
“We were as astonished as you by the munificence of the Regent and the Queen. The honour was unprecedented, but even if we had wanted to refuse it, you do not refuse the royal family.” Bennet chuckled at her happiness for being with all of them again.
“No Papa, I dare say that you do not,” Kitty agreed. “Lyddie, just wait until you meet Georgie, Tiffany, and Loretta. They will love you and I am sure that you will love them.”
“Who are they, Kitty, or do you prefer Catherine now?” Lydia turned to her closest sister.
“Outside of the family I am called Catherine, or Lady Catherine now. The girls are Georgiana Darcy who is sixteen, and Lady Tiffany Fitzwilliam, Jane’s betrothed’s sister, and Lady Lorretta De Melville, the daughter of Lord and Lady Jersey, who are both seventeen so we are all close in age.
” Kitty smiled as she held her sister’s hand.
“When Lizzy wrote that she had accepted a courtship from the man that she used to hate, Mr Darcy, I was flabbergasted. Mr Darcy who used to look at Lizzy to find fault and called her ‘not tolerable enough to tempt’ him before they had even spoken a word to one another! You will have to tell me the whole story when we are home. Wickham told me that Miss Darcy is very proud and arrogant. Is that true or was that, like everything else that he told me, a lie?” Lydia was grateful for the chance to prove she knew the truth and had learned from her mistake.
Her mother took her hand and Lydia turned and met her eyes when she felt the gentle squeeze.
“My dear girl, I have to inform you that Mr Wickham is dead. He was shot while trying to desert his unit in battle, and yes, nothing that he said was true. Some of his utterances may have had a kernel of truth in them, but they were surrounded by lies and deceptions. You will not mourn for him, will you Lyddie?” the Countess held her breath, watching as Lydia’s face contorted as her daughter contemplated the question.
“No Mama, I do not mourn that desultory, lying manipulator at all. I was just thinking how close I came to allowing a practiced seducer to ruin me and the family for no other reason than his own selfish desires. When the headmistress informed me about the true nature of the dastard, it finally permeated my thick skull even though you and Papa had tried to tell me many times before. I thank all of you for the forbearance that you have shown me.”
She looked straight at her father who was sitting on the rear facing seat next to her sister. “Papa, I am no longer that silly, flighty, flirtatious girl that used to chase after any man in regimentals. That is a vow that I make to you and all of my family.”
Her father reached across the carriage and took and squeezed her hands. “I know that Lydia, and you make me very proud to see what a worthy young lady you are becoming.” He smiled gently.
“Thank you, Papa.” Lydia replied simply with a quiver in her voice and tears of happiness pooling in her eyes, grateful to no longer feel her father’s disapprobation.
To lighten the mood, Kitty told her sister about the school that they would attend together when the new school year started in August. Kitty would only attend finishing school for one more term.
Lydia would be a pupil for the full school year.
The youngest Bennet showed unbridled joy when she was told that she would reside at Bennet House when the family was in residence during the season.
She felt a little maudlin when she thought about how much she would miss Helen Jacobson during the coming school year.
As they had time in transit to their home in London, Kitty and their parents filled in the gaps in Lydia’s knowledge of the relationship between Darcy and their second oldest sister from Hunsford until the granting of a courtship.
All agreed that the two had certainly had a tempestuous relationship, but it seemed that the blistering setdown Lizzy had delivered him had bettered the man and had not cooled his ardour for her.
When her family informed her about the comeuppance that Caroline Bingley had received and her attempted attack on Lizzy, Lydia was disgusted and not very nonplussed as she could see how the woman would do anything in furtherance of her delusions.
She was saddened for the other two Bingleys, but clearly saw that they had done nothing to check their sister no matter how outlandish her behaviour became.
‘That could have been me,’ Lydia ruminated, ‘I was selfish and blind in my naiveté. Was I not delusional as well? I will thank God every day that I finally saw the error of my ways. My family loved me enough to correct me. No matter how I reacted, the tantrums, my horrendous behaviour, even promising things I never actually intended to follow through with, they stayed the course and had faith that I would learn and correct the direction of my life. Rather than a ruined family because of my reproachful behaviour, look at how different, how much better my life will be now. As much as I fought against it and hated my time in the scullery, Mrs Gilbert knew exactly what she was about. How I will miss Helen, I will write more than once a week!’ Soon after her introspection, Lydia curled up on the very comfortable seat with her head against the squabs and fell into a restful sleep and her mother lovingly placed a travel blanket over her followed by her arm as she gently drew her youngest’s head into her lap.