13. Surrey Institute, London—Friday 15 December 1809
Darcy could not have felt better about Miss Bennet.
He had known that she was skilled at conversation in a way that he was not. He had known that she would be kind to Georgiana—not just for his sake, but because she simply was a kind person.
However, he was prodigiously surprised that Miss Bennet would be as successful with Georgiana as she was.
The introductions had occurred in the Gardiner’s parlour, and Georgiana had proved to be unable to lift her eyes to anyone else’s, although she had bobbed very polite curtseys and had said all the expected things—in such a low voice, everyone else had to be still as well as silent so that they could hear.
The Gardiners and Miss Bennet had been warm as they said the polite words back, but Darcy felt his sister’s discomfort as he handed Georgiana into the carriage and guided her to the forward-facing seat alongside Miss Bennet.
Mr Gardiner and Darcy climbed in, as well, and Darcy squeezed his sister’s hand. He had never before thought about doing such a thing in silent support of his sister, but when Miss Bennet had used the caring gesture with him earlier that day, Darcy had been surprised how much it had meant to him.
Georgiana, surprised to have him touch her in comfort, looked up into his eyes and smiled a tiny bit. He smiled back, widely, in an effort to make her feel more at ease.
And that is when Miss Bennet said, “Goodness, I suppose that Mr Darcy is preparing us for tonight’s lecture, for his rare, sudden smile must surely be the result of a galvanic twitch.”
Georgiana let out a laugh, she was so shocked, and looked up into Miss Bennet’s smile. Then her face coloured, and she looked down right away.
Miss Bennet leant to the side a bit, giving Georgiana’s arm a bit of a nudge with her own arm, and she said, “I assure you, Miss Darcy, Mr Galvani knew what he was doing with his electrical experiments. And thus, I am able to promise you that your brother’s smile will not permanently damage him, even though it might appear to have cracked his usual rigid countenance. ”
Another giggle escaped Georgiana. Darcy grinned at his sister again, and then adopted an air of exaggerated umbrage. “Am I to be insulted thus in my own carriage?”
At this point, even Mr Gardiner was chuckling. He did not chastise his niece, and Darcy was happy at his forbearance, since he adored Miss Bennet’s teases.
Miss Bennet said in a whisper that pretended to be for his ears only but was carefully calibrated to reach everyone, “You know very well, Mr Darcy, that I prefer your countenance over all others, even those without the rigidity I so treasure. But I also enjoy seeing a galvanic twitch here and there, so please aim one at me….”
He grinned at her, and she said, “Thank you.”
Georgiana whispered, “You are smiling more, Brother.”
“I believe I am. I feel…happy.”
“I am glad,” she responded.
Darcy knew that his sister’s whispers were not carefully gauged to reach everyone, but Miss Bennet seemed to have heard them.
She said, “I believe that your brother is so happy because he sold his turtledove. And I have heard that he tried to make you happy with the proceeds of that sale—I believe he purchased some new music for your enjoyment?”
“Oh, yes!” Georgiana forgot to whisper in her excitement. “He bought a song written by the Scottish composer John Ross and Beethoven’s early symphonies, plus another piece by Clementi.”
“I love a good Scottish air!” Miss Bennet said. “‘The Lass O’ Arranteenie’” is a favourite.”
“Oh, yes!” Georgiana was all the way out of her shell, now, and Darcy marvelled to see it. His sister asked Miss Bennet if she could come to Darcy House someday and play it with her as a duet.
“I can certainly try,” Miss Bennet said. “But I am not very adept at changing arrangements to four hands.”
“I would be, if I had anyone to play with,” Georgiana replied, and the ladies spent the rest of the brief ride planning the duets they would play.
As he handed Miss Bennet out of the carriage, at the Surrey Institute, Darcy leant towards the lady and whispered, “Thank you for working your magic on my sister.”
“First Fate, now magic? Mr Darcy, to think that I once thought of you as very science-minded.”
“I used to be so,” he said in a low voice. “But then I met a certain lady who is apparently above and beyond all natural law!”
“Speaking of natural law,” she said, “let us partake of the scientific knowledge on offer here.”
Darcy escorted his sister inside as Mr Gardiner accompanied his niece; they were easily able to sit in the centre of the semi-circular benches, fairly close to the demonstration table.
As more and more people filtered into the room and sat on the benches, they ended up sitting more and more closely to one another.
Tight seating on such a bench sometimes vexed Darcy, but that night he felt delighted to be pressed between his beloved sister and the tempting Miss Bennet.
Sitting between them, listening as they continued to talk about music while people still arrived and sat down, Darcy could easily picture his future happiness.
Except…he could not help but notice some men staring at Miss Bennet.
Her gown was lovely and entirely modest, but there was no disguising her hourglass figure, the sensual swing of fabric as she moved, the way the fabric moulded to her hips and thighs when she sat.
He would have appreciated more gentlemanlike behaviour; even the envious looks sent his way made Darcy feel uncomfortable.
He glared at the men who stared at her most blatantly.
He was already sitting as close to her as possible, but he moved to cover her hands, which calmly sat on her lap, with his own right hand.
She gave a small start as he did so, but otherwise she did not react, and he marvelled at how alluring touching her was—even through two pairs of gloves.
Soon the lecture began as a natural philosopher demonstrated galvanic twitches with skinned legs of dead frogs and also with living frogs.
After using a voltaic pile for electricity with the frogs, another lecturer spoke of electrolysis and used electricity to prove that water was made up of two different substances, rather than being one unalterable element.
Darcy enjoyed seeing the demonstrations of the processes, but he had already accepted these observations as true, when he first read about the results of the experiments.
Still, it seemed that most people subscribed to “seeing is believing,” and there were plenty of shocked exclamations to be heard.
“Had you seen a voltaic pile before tonight?” Miss Bennet whispered to Darcy.
“Yes, last year, right here,” he replied. “It is impressive is it not?”
“Stunning. I will have to reread everything again, now that I have these visuals to go along with the words and mathematics that explains what we are seeing.”
“That is an excellent idea.”
When the lecture was over, several men headed towards their little group.
Darcy did not like the idea of being polite to every single man who wished to know the lady on his arm, and when he heard someone say, “Is Darcy courting her?” he decided to take an alternate route to the carriage.
The door through which the lecturer had disappeared was marked “Surrey Institute,” and Darcy stepped through boldly, allowed the other three in the party to enter, and then firmly closed the door.
Darcy led the others through the chemical laboratory and apparatus room to an outer door that allowed them to enter the gardens.
“Cover your ears, ladies,” Darcy warned, and then he whistled a series of long and short and high and low notes.
By the time they reached the gate between the garden and the street, the carriage had pulled up to the kerb, and the four swiftly entered and settled down for the short ride back to Gracechurch Street.
“You were quite the expert of the discreet exit, back there,” Mr Gardiner said with a smile.
“I hope you are not ashamed of us,” Miss Bennet said.
Darcy looked at her with surprise. She was not smiling, and he felt dread that he might have hurt her.
“I could never be ashamed of you!” he answered with a gulp.
“I had not imagined that my behaviour could be taken that way, and I apologise. I simply did not wish to be delayed in our exit at the whim of so many curious people who….”
He had been about to say something very rude. He had almost said that those men and women who wished to swarm him—asking for the favour of his attention, and most especially asking for an introduction to the mystery woman in his company—simply did not matter to him.
The implication was that the Great Mr Darcy of Pemberley need not worry about the opinions of the greater part of the ton, because they were beneath him in wealth and consequence.
Had he said those words, made that implication, he would have been deeply ashamed. He promised himself that he would wrestle with his own pride and…arrogance, he supposed…later that night, when he was alone.
For now, he said—and these words were certainly true—“I become nervous in large groups, and I had not thought about the curiosity our presence might cause at such an event; nor had I prepared myself for making introductions. But I promise, at the next event, I will be ready to face acquaintances, make introductions, and be as cordial as I can be.”
“I am so glad we did not have to do it tonight,” Georgiana said in a low voice. “I was feeling like a hunted fox when all those people started walking towards us.”
Miss Bennet smiled and squeezed Georgiana’s hand. “You have convinced me to assume that your brother was feeling protective of you rather than ashamed of me.”
Darcy should have felt relief at those words…but he did not.
“Miss Bennet, would you call me Georgiana?”
“I will, if you wish me to. However, you must call me Elizabeth, then.”
“Thank you…Elizabeth.”
Darcy wished to call the woman he loved by her Christian name. It would be a huge step forward when that occurred. But somehow he had managed to make Miss Bennet feel insecure about his feelings, which was several steps backwards.
He had much to think about that night.