Chapter 27 #4
Watching him as he settled and relaxed, she knew that were she but to mouth his name he would jump to her and fulfil any wish she requested.
The idea set Lady Elizabeth’s mind into contemplating options she could request from her husband.
Elizabeth naturally wished for the same happiness, the flutters in her stomach she was used to, but the pressure and deeper ache that resulted in a dampness she had never experienced was a thrill as she knew from her well rounded education meant she wanted him.
‘Oh my, what thinking about this man does to me. I hope no one notices. It will not be much longer, William, before I signal you that I am ready for you to pay your addresses, as long as you are not upset with me for waiting this long. I doubt I will want a very long betrothal!’
As she ruminated about him, the very same man was watching her, he always watched her as his eyes were inexorably drawn to her. Darcy saw the beatific smile spread across her face; it made him even more enchanted with her than was his normal state.
‘I pray that she is thinking about me when she smiles in that fashion. If we were not in a room full of people and she would but allow it, I would ravish her!’ he silently vowed to them both, shocking himself with such a thought.
‘As much as my heart would break, if she does not accept my hand and sends me away, as long as she is happy, I will survive.’ He swallowed dryly, the thought causing his heart to ache.
‘No more negative thoughts!’ Darcy admonished himself ‘All the signs are positive, so keep thinking about the positive, William! Would I prefer that she had made her decision sooner? Certainly, I would have, but I understand the reasons why she needs to be sure.’
Charlotte Collins, neé Lucas, was admiring the understated elegance of the home.
Unlike the former mistress of Rosings Park, the Earl and Countess did not ascribe to gaudy needless displays of their wealth as she had seen in Kent before the rightful heir asserted ownership.
She was happy to be out of Meryton where everyone wanted to condole with her over the death of her husband.
It had been nothing but a relief to Charlotte.
‘I need to talk to Eliza,’ she told herself.
‘That is a woman in love if I have ever seen one. The way she looks at Mr Darcy and he at her surprises me that they do not burst into flames with the heat they generate when they look at each other so.’
The following morning the Fitzwilliam parents joined those breaking their fasts and noticed that of those below the age of twenty, only the youngest, Peter, was sitting next to his parents.
“Where are the rest of the young people?” the Countess asked, although she was almost certain she knew the answer.
“Tiffany has graciously consented to take them into the maze,” Lady Gardiner offered with an amused smile, “promising to return with all of them so we saw no harm.”
“My daughter knows her way around the maze and will not get them lost.” the Earl reported with a chuckle.
It was not many minutes later that a cacophony of young voices was heard approaching the breakfast room.
The two younger Gardiners who had gone on the adventure were both trying to tell their parents how much fun they had at the same time while Lily and the rest of the older girls were all talking among themselves.
The group was brought to order and sat to break their fasts.
After everyone had their fill, they boarded the carriages after goodbyes and hearty appreciation were conveyed to the hosts.
Andrew and Marie, who had slept later than the rest, joined their parents to farewell the travellers. Tiffany hugged and kissed her family members before joining those leaving, taking her seat in one of the Darcy equipages.
Less than two hours later, the lead Gardiner carriage passed the gatehouse at their estate as the gatekeeper doffed his hat in reverence.
The topography was more rugged than that at Snowhaven.
The rocks and uneven terrain on the northwest side of the estate only supported the grazing of sheep, so the estate’s primary output was wool.
There was a two-mile drive from the gate to the manor house where the land was much more level, so most of the fields for agriculture could be found on the plateau.
After a mile the drive became an avenue with tall oak trees on either side.
Tenant houses could be seen dotted around until the trees made visibility more difficult.
The drive terminated with a large, lazy circle that led to the entrance to the house.
There was a large structure with an extended roof that at least two carriages could comfortably fit under so that the alighting passengers would be protected from rain or snow.
The house was a large three-storey building faced with the same Derbyshire stone that most builders used on the great houses in Derbyshire.
There was one wing on the right of the structure and a very well thought out formal garden in the front on either side of the drive.
Lady Gardiner was very happy to note the large rose garden to the left of the house.
Lizzy was excited to see that beyond the formal gardens, nature ruled and she could spy lots of potential walking paths.
The housekeeper, butler, and the steward were waiting at the entrance to the house for the footmen to open the doors of the carriages.
For continuity, the Gardiners had retained any of the servants who wished to remain in their positions.
They had instantly won the loyalty of the staff by paying all back wages owed to the servants, due to the fact that the previous master had neglected to pay them.
The Gardiners increased wages by half and spared no expense to restore the house and the servant’s quarters to the state in which they should have been.
Likewise, the tenants whose needs had been sorely neglected by the gamester who previously owned the estate were given a reprieve.
The dissolute former landlord had raised rents each quarter in a vain attempt to cover his massive debts of honour.
The first thing that Gardiner had done was to allow the tenants one quarter with no rent, then he had lowered the rents to an acceptable level.
Next, he had authorised the steward to spend what was needed to repair or, in some cases, rebuild any tenant home that needed work.
It was not surprising that all the homes were in need due to the previous neglect.
Tenants that had left had returned, so now rather than needing tenants, Dovedale had a waiting list of tenants looking to lease farms.
Mercury was led to the extensive and well-maintained stables behind the house.
When Gardiner had inspected the estate after the purchase was final, he had ordered the pitiful stables torn down and had a new one erected in its place.
He had hired a very knowledgeable stable master and tripled the number of grooms. Next to the stables was the new carriage house.
It was large enough to hold at least a half dozen coaches with comfortable quarters above it for the male servants.
To one side were two large newly built shearing sheds.
The home farm, starting with the kitchen garden, stretched out behind the house and outbuildings and ended almost a mile distant with a fence line that marked the point that the ground started to rise where the flocks of sheep were grazed.
The Pemberley bound party was invited to take some refreshment before the less than ten-mile ride to Pemberley.
Darcy impressed Elizabeth by politely declining as he did not want to impose on the staff, as they were busy settling the family.
Another tick on the side of pros; the con side all but empty now.
Lizzy hugged her three sisters, Georgie, and Tiffany goodbye and said a reluctant goodbye to Darcy.
She wished Helen well as she was to have riding lessons while at Pemberley.
When she was a young girl of eight, she had ridden only an old pony at Janet’s Well that plodded along no faster than a slow walk.
She would have a mare waiting for her in Hertfordshire when she returned home.
It was with regret that Elizabeth would not see Darcy until the Pemberley party joined them for dinner three days hence, along with the Kympton Pastor and his young daughter.
Darcy had demurred when the invitation was proffered and explained that his friend and widowered clergyman was to dine at Pemberley that day, so the invitation was extended to include the man and his young daughter.
Lizzy watched the Darcy carriages roll down the drive until they were out of sight.
‘He is the best of men. I cannot wait to see him at Pemberley. I believe that with his love for his home, he will be most at ease there and will enjoy proposing to me at the estate that he loves so dearly. Now that I know that I love Fitzwilliam Darcy, it aches more every time that we separate. Soon my love, I promise you, very soon,’ Lizzy lamented to herself.
She was counting the days in the fortnight until she and Charlotte would join her sisters at Pemberley.
Elizabeth was assigned a room in a suite that shared a sitting room with Charlotte.
Having recently turned thirteen, Lily was in the suite next to them.
She missed her siblings but after how much she had grown while spending so much time with her older cousins, she would have felt out of place going backward.
Now she felt like she was continuing on her path to maturation being given her own bed chamber.
She was very happy Cousin Lizzy, whom she adored and looked up to, was to be their guest. She did not know Mrs Collins well, but had come to like her during the ride to the estate.
The family wing was on the first floor and the guest wing was on the next level.
The top floor housed the nursery, and school rooms that were partitioned from the female servants’ quarters served by the servant’s stairs at the rear of the house.
The new master and mistress had the facilities completely refurbished making the quarters some of the most comfortable that any servants had ever seen.
After a rest, the three older Gardiner children were surprised with a gift of a pony each.
They thanked their parents effusively and little Peter shed some tears that he did not also receive one.
He was somewhat mollified when his parents promised him that when he turned five in about six months, he too would have a pony waiting for him.
After notifying her aunt and uncle and with Biggs following them, the second Bennet daughter took herself and her friend on a walk to explore some of the paths in the forested area to the left of the house beyond the formal gardens that she had spied on their arrival.