Chapter 7
“Miss Bingley,” Darcy said, bowing slightly and casting an unhappy look toward the house.
Bingley was not in sight, but two gardeners were working in the flower garden.
He need not worry about a compromise in such a public place, but he did not enjoy a tête-à-tête with his friend’s sister.
There was nothing to be done without gross discourtesy, however, so he unhappily held out his arm and Caroline took it, her mouth curved in a satisfied smile.
“It is wonderful to be here at Pemberley again, Mr. Darcy,” she declared, gazing with admiration at the mansion. “I suppose Netherfield is respectable enough, but it is nothing compared to your marvelous estate.”
There was nothing that Darcy could say to this, so he chose to remain silent.
Miss Bingley waited a few seconds until it was obvious that her companion had no intention of speaking, and said, “I confess that I am pleased to have the opportunity to speak to you alone, Mr. Darcy, and to warn you.”
“Warn me?” Darcy returned, his brows lowered. “About what, may I ask?”
Miss Bingley glanced around and lowered her voice dramatically, which was absurd, as they were well away from any listening ears.
“I wished to give you more information about the Bennets. It is a great pity that you were not able to join us at Netherfield last autumn. Louisa and I tried to convince Charles that his attraction to Jane was merely infatuation, but he would not listen.”
She sighed deeply and said, “My brother was meant for so much more, but he has always had a soft spot for pretty blondes.”
‘Pretty’, Darcy thought, was far too subdued a word to describe Mrs. Bingley. She was, in fact, quite one of the most handsome women he had ever met.
“Am I to understand that you do not approve of Mrs. Bingley?” he asked, bending a frowning look on his companion.
“Oh, it quite depends on what you mean by approve!” Caroline answered with a wry twist of her lips.
“I like her well enough; Jane has excellent manners and is kindness itself. But I certainly do not approve of her family! Her father spends all his time in his library, and her mother is a most vulgar person, a mere solicitor’s daughter, and I have no doubt that she ordered Jane to accept my brother’s offer, for I cannot believe that Jane actually cares for Charles!
As for the younger girls, Elizabeth is arch and pert, Mary, the middle girl, is a bluestocking, and as for Jane’s youngest two sisters .
.. well, they are hoydens who chase after officers and gentlemen’s sons.
Are you aware that Longbourn, the Bennet estate, is entailed away to a distant relative? ”
“I am,” Darcy said stiffly. He did not care to discuss this matter with Miss Bingley, but he did not know how to cut her off without being openly rude.
Miss Bingley shook her head in exasperation.
“Jane has no prospects and her only connections in Town are her uncle and aunt Gardiner, who live in Cheapside. We met them at the wedding, of course; Mr. Gardiner is a tradesman who lives within view of his own warehouses! When I think of my brother’s amiable temper, his fortune, and his education – oh, I know he could have found a much better wife. ”
Darcy blew out a breath. “It is too late for that, Miss Bingley. In any case, you can rejoice that your brother has chosen a charming wife with excellent manners. We must hope that they are happy together.”
Based on Miss Bingley’s expression, Darcy was certain that Bingley’s happiness was not her primary concern. No, it would not do to accept too much of what Miss Bingley was saying about her new relations by marriage. The lady had always been ambitious and...
“Miss Darcy!” Miss Bingley suddenly exclaimed, her face wreathed with smiles.
/
“Which are the females and which are the males?” Elizabeth asked, leaning over the fence of the pen where two peahens and eight peachicks were rustling about on a layer of straw.
“These hatched in the last three weeks,” Georgiana explained, “and thus I cannot tell. The hatchlings only begin showing dissimilarities when they are about five months of age.”
“It is remarkable that they look so plain as babies,” Elizabeth mused.
“It is,” Georgiana agreed, glancing at the watch suspended around her neck. “We need to return to the house.”
“Of course,” Elizabeth said, and the two girls walked rapidly toward the door which led outside the walled garden.
“Something positively ghastly just occurred to me,” Elizabeth said a moment later. “I know many ladies in society decorate their hats with peacock feathers. Are these beautiful birds killed to reap their feathers?”
Georgiana looked startled and shook her head, “No, the peacocks molt all their glorious plumage every year, and grow a new train of feathers for the next mating season.”
“Truly?” Elizabeth marveled. “The feathers must grow very quickly then!”
“They do,” Georgiana agreed, reaching the door, opening it, passing through, waiting for Elizabeth to join her, and then locking the door securely behind them.
“I am most relieved that the birds do not have to die for us to enjoy their plumage,” Elizabeth said as the two women began walking across the grass toward the rose garden. “I will try to obtain some peacock feathers soon to show Jane.”
“I will give you some,” Georgiana promised. “I have stored many of them.”
“Thank you very much,” her companion said, and stopped at the edge of the rose garden. “Oh, how beautiful these roses are! Such a variety of colors and the fragrance is divine! I confess I envy you your grounds, Miss Darcy. Both the peacocks and the roses belong in paradise.”
“I love the birds, of course,” Georgiana said seriously, “but I do not care a great deal about the roses. I find them dull.”
“Dull?”
“Yes. I agree they are beautiful, but they are not like my peacocks. They just sit there and grow, after all. All the same, I am thankful my father and brother have spent considerable sums to keep the roses in good order for so many years. My mother, Lady Anne, passed on when I was a young child, and she designed this garden herself. She adored roses even as I adore peacocks.”
“She was very gifted,” Elizabeth marveled, and then turned as a familiar feminine voice cried out, “Miss Darcy!”
/
Darcy hurried after Miss Bingley as she strode rapidly toward his sister, who was standing next to the rose garden with Miss Bennet. What were Georgiana and his guest doing together, when they had not yet been introduced?
“Miss Darcy,” Caroline repeated when she had reached the pair. “How wonderful to see you again after all these months!”
Georgiana, to Darcy’s considerable surprise, shifted a little closer to Elizabeth Bennet and recited, “Good morning, Miss Bingley. It is good to see you again.”
“I hope you are well, Miss Darcy,” Caroline continued brightly.
“I am well,” Georgiana responded woodenly, shifting even closer to Elizabeth.
“Miss Bennet,” Darcy said frigidly, “I was not aware you had been introduced to my sister.”
Elizabeth lifted a dark eyebrow and smiled, “In truth, we met by chance and were forced to introduce ourselves to one another. Miss Darcy and I were just speaking of the rose garden. It is absolutely breathtaking, sir.”
“Indeed it is,” Caroline chirped eagerly. “Netherfield’s formal gardens are nothing compared to the grandness of Pemberley, nor, I am certain you would agree, is Longbourn anything like either of those larger estates.”
“I agree entirely, Miss Bingley,” Elizabeth said cheerfully. “Now, if you will excuse me, I must see how Jane is feeling. Miss Darcy, it was a pleasure speaking with you.”
“I enjoyed speaking with you too,” Georgiana said, provoking a surge of surprise in Darcy’s mind.
He knew Georgiana as well as anyone, and her tone was genuine.
He had thought his sister would be distressed at encountering a stranger, but based on their brief interaction, it seemed that Georgiana was comfortable in Miss Bennet’s presence, which was a near miracle.
“Now, Miss Darcy,” Caroline Bingley said, moving a little closer to the girl, “I do hope you are still playing the pianoforte?”
“Yes, I am,” Georgiana answered, shifting backwards a little, her posture unhappy.
Darcy stepped forward and held out both arms so that Miss Bingley was forced to take his arm. Georgiana thankfully took his other arm, eager to be separated from Miss Bingley.
“Georgiana plays very constantly,” Darcy said. “In fact, I believe you have a lesson soon, dear sister?”
“Yes,” Georgiana agreed thankfully. “I do.”
“Then we should return to the house,” Darcy declared.
/
“Are you quite certain you are well enough to go down for dinner?” Elizabeth fretted.
Jane, who was sitting on a green wingback chair near the window of her bedchamber, bent an amused look on her sister and said, “Yes, I promise I am well enough. I do feel quite a bit better than I did this morning. All the same, Charles made me promise to wait until he arrives before I join everyone in the drawing room before dinner. Caroline is fatiguing at the best of times, and I wish to have all my energy for dinner.”
“Very reasonable. And I, as your heroic sister, will stay with you until your equally heroic husband arrives,” Elizabeth concluded with a smile.
“That is truly courageous,” Jane said, her blue eyes twinkling. “Now do tell me about your day, Lizzy. I assume, since you have Mr. Darcy’s permission, that you took the opportunity to walk some of the lovely grounds?”
“Yes, though I did not venture far, as I found much of interest within easy walking distance of the house,” Elizabeth answered, and proceeded to tell her wondering sister of her introduction to Miss Darcy and the girl’s magnificent peafowl.
“That is marvelous and astonishing!” Jane declared.
“It is,” her sister agreed, walking over to her reticule, which she had placed on a small writing desk.
“Miss Darcy gave me these feathers only an hour ago. Are they not incredible? Miss Darcy says that every year, the peacocks molt and release their plumage onto the ground, and every year they grow a new train of feathers.”
Jane took the feathers in her hand and eyed them with wonder, tilting them back and forth in the light from the window. “Oh Elizabeth, I have seen peacock feathers on hats and the like but to hold them in my hand! Do you see how the colors seem to change as you turn them in the light?”
“I do. Peacocks are a remarkable example of God’s creative glory.”
“Tell me about Miss Darcy,” Jane requested, her eyes fixed on the feathers.
Elizabeth sat down on a green settee across from her sister and said, “In all honesty, I find her a puzzling individual. Mr. Wickham said that she was proud and imperious, but I quite disagree. Her manners are certainly unusual; she is very blunt, for example, and speaks boldly of her own feelings in a manner which could be construed as discourteous. All the same, I do not think she is proud at all. However, I can imagine someone thinking she is haughty if they misinterpret her plain words as arrogance.”
“Do you like her?” Jane asked curiously.
Elizabeth nodded immediately. “I do, very much. She is a genuine person, very unlike Miss Bingley, for example. When Miss Darcy says something, she means it, whereas Caroline, as you know, often says something but her tone indicates quite the opposite.”
“Yes, I know,” Jane agreed with a sigh. “It is remarkable how different Charles is from Caroline. He is all that is amiable and looks for the good in others, whereas Caroline thrives on disparaging and mocking those she considers below her in an effort to elevate herself.”
“We five sisters are very different,” Elizabeth pointed out. “Not only in looks, but in character. Nor can we boast of our younger siblings; Mary is overly studious and pedantic, Lydia is a reckless menace, and Kitty follows her younger sister in her foolishness.”
“They are not so very bad,” Jane protested.
“Charles and I quite enjoyed having them in London in March and April. You have not spent much time with them since we were married, Elizabeth. I contend that they have all improved, and perhaps Kitty most of all. She relished the opportunity to work with a drawing master in London, and even Lydia seemed quite cheerful when she was with us, though there were no officers in sight. They were even quite at peace with our decision to keep them away from parties and assemblies due to their youth, though we did entertain them at Astley’s and the opera. ”
“You are such a good sister,” Elizabeth said warmly.
“And Charles is an excellent brother. You are correct, of course; I was in Kent with Charlotte Collins while you were hosting Lydia and Kitty, and then within a few weeks of their return to Longbourn, you collected me for our trip north. I am relieved that they have improved. I suspect that your marriage has helped. Mother no longer needs to worry about being thrown into the hedgerows when Father dies, and she is not nearly as frantic about marrying us all off as quickly as possible.”
“I am so thankful to have brought such happiness to my family,” Jane said, her cheeks glowing with pleasure, “especially as I have found such joy myself. Charles is wonderful.”
“He is, and I do believe that is him out in the corridor. I had best return to my bedchamber and change for dinner.”
“Of course,” Jane said, standing up to walk her sister toward the door.
“Oh, Jane!”
“Yes?”
“Pray do not mention the peafowl to anyone. I believe it is Miss Darcy’s own private domain, and she would not care for Miss Bingley to know about it.”
“Of course I will not mention it.”