Chapter 27 A House Full of Laughter
A HOUSE FULL OF LAUGHTER
The sun had risen on a quieter world, sharp with frost but clear of cloud.
Darcy sat in his study with a sheaf of letters open before him, though his eyes had drifted from the page more than once.
Somewhere beyond the closed door, laughter had rung out, quick and light and followed by a faint clatter that suggested furniture was once again being rearranged.
It had not been the first such sound that morning.
He returned his gaze to the page, read the same line for the third time, and set the letter aside. If it was important, it would still be important an hour from now.
The knock came at last, not a summons from Elizabeth, but a message from Williams, who looked rather as if he wished to keep to himself.
“They are in the drawing room, sir,” the butler said with a slight incline of the head. “Miss Catherine Bennet arrived earlier this morning with two friends. There are… several other guests. Mrs Darcy suggested you might wish to see the effect of the morning’s plans.”
Darcy raised one brow. “Indeed. I was under the impression the morning’s plans required only one room and a few familiar faces.”
Williams said nothing, but his eyes carried the faintest glimmer of restrained patience, the sort that indicated a great many shoes had been removed at the threshold and a great many voices had been raised in cheerful debate about which dances should come next.
Darcy rose. “Very well. Let us see what new enterprise my wife has undertaken.”
He left the study and turned toward the parlour, expecting to find the group there as before. But the sound of music drew him onward, past the now-quiet room and on toward the drawing room. It was larger, better lit, and clearly more populated than the previous day.
The drawing room had been transformed. Again.
Chairs were gathered to one side, rugs rolled up, and one of the long windows had been opened slightly to admit the winter air and its welcome crispness.
Kitty Bennet sat at the pianoforte, her fingers poised above the keys with the studied seriousness of someone recently entrusted with a public task.
She struck the first notes of a country tune, steady if a little hesitant, while the rest of the room fell into easy motion.
Georgiana stood opposite a young man Darcy did not immediately recognise.
Her posture was graceful, her expression attentive.
Nearby, Edward and Lady Rowena observed the dance, while Richard shared a word with one of the younger guests.
Jane sat with Caroline on a settee by the wall, offering occasional remarks between dances, and Bingley hovered in good spirits near the refreshments, clearly enjoying the bustle.
Elizabeth stood near the hearth, conversing with two young ladies whose gowns and eager expressions marked them as friends of Georgiana.
Darcy recalled hearing their names the evening before: Olivia Turner, once her closest school companion, and Miss Montgomery, whose good humour had often steadied her nerves.
The young man on the floor must be Olivia’s brother, drawn in by his sister’s persuasion and Georgiana’s need for practice.
Several other acquaintances had also joined the company, some dancing, others observing with the mixture of interest and self-consciousness that marked such gatherings.
Elizabeth looked up as Darcy entered, and her smile deepened.
“Fitzwilliam. We had not expected you so soon. I thought the matter from Pemberley would require more of your morning.”
“I thought so too,” Darcy said dryly. “But the matter could not compete with the sound of a country reel and a drawing room turned inside out.”
His eyes swept the room. “Not the ballroom this time?”
Elizabeth crossed to him with a smile. “That is for the next rehearsal. We thought to work up to it in stages.”
Darcy arched a brow. “How very methodical. And this stage involves what, half of London’s unmarried population?”
“Only the pleasant half,” she replied. “Georgiana asked to try with more people about. I merely supplied the people.”
He studied the scene again. It was no longer merely practice. It had become something social, something festive. Yet it retained an air of ease, free from the rigidity of formal assemblies.
Since Elizabeth’s arrival, the house had filled not only with light and conversation, but with warmth. She had arranged it all without ceremony, drawing people in as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
He looked toward the pianoforte. “Kitty has improved.”
“She has,” Elizabeth said with quiet satisfaction. “She takes pride in it. I believe the summer’s lessons did more good than she lets on.”
Darcy nodded. He remembered those lessons well, the long afternoons, the patient encouragement, the slow but steady progress. Kitty had grown more thoughtful since then. And more composed.
He lingered near the door for a few moments longer, exchanging greetings and watching Georgiana move through the figures with assurance. It was not simply that she danced well. It was that she was no longer afraid to be seen. She laughed with her partner, missed a step, corrected it, and moved on.
When the set concluded, she spotted him and crossed the room.
“I am glad you came,” she said, a little breathless.
“I am glad I did too,” he replied. “Your company grows livelier by the day.”
“Elizabeth said I needed a proper rehearsal. I was nervous at first, but now—” She glanced back at Olivia’s brother, who was returning to his sister with a smile. “Now it feels like a real gathering. And I do not feel quite so much on display.”
“You carry yourself well,” Darcy said. “Better than many who have no reason to be uncertain.”
Elizabeth joined them, eyes bright. “We shall not keep you from your letters any longer, Mr Darcy. Though I do hope you will rejoin us before the next set begins.”
“Will there be another set?”
“There is always another set.”
He inclined his head to Georgiana, then to Elizabeth, her hair softening at the temples despite her maid’s careful work that morning, her eyes alight with a familiar glimmer of mischief.
As he stepped from the room, he heard Kitty strike up another tune, steadier now. And above the music, Elizabeth’s voice, warm and guiding, anchoring the entire gathering with little more than presence.
The house had once been very quiet.
It was no longer quiet at all.
And he would not have changed it for the world.
When Georgiana concluded her next set, she was quickly claimed by the two young ladies Elizabeth had introduced earlier. Miss Turner was the more forward of the pair, greeting Georgiana with a laugh that carried easily across the room.
“You danced well enough to shame half the ladies at Almack’s,” she declared, with a frankness that brought colour to Georgiana’s cheeks. “I told you the figures would return if only you tried.”
Miss Montgomery, gentler in manner, added with a smile, “And if you misstep again, you must remember I did the same three times this morning. No one fainted from the shock.”
Georgiana laughed, soft but unforced, and the sound was one Darcy had seldom heard from her in company. She answered them with more ease than he expected, and though her words were quiet, they were accompanied by a sparkle in her eyes that spoke of renewed confidence.
Darcy could not but note the change. It seemed Elizabeth had contrived to provide her sister with allies as well as partners, and Georgiana, who once shrank from any stranger’s gaze, was now smiling between her friends as if she had never doubted her welcome.
It was an odd thing to reflect that a young lady might learn to dance again not from a master but from her companions’ laughter. Yet in that moment Darcy began to think Elizabeth’s methods rather better than his own.
The warmth of the afternoon lingered well into the evening, with talk and music continuing long after the pianoforte had fallen silent.
Chairs were pulled closer, shawls fetched for the ladies, and the house rang with the easy murmur of conversation between friends old and new.
Darcy, though he had missed most of the dancing, found himself content merely to observe the quiet joy Elizabeth had brought into their home.
It had been a fine gathering, better than any he might have planned himself, and it ended with satisfied sighs and promises to meet again soon.