Epilogue 2 #2
Enter Mr. Sampson, the clever second son of an impecunious baronet and, having learned from his father’s and grandfather’s mistakes, taught himself estate management.
Being of a mathematical turn of mind and strictly honest and kindly in his temperament, he had quickly proven himself a most excellent steward.
Anne had depended more and more on his help, spending hours each week poring over the books with him and discussing various issues and their solutions.
In time, she had come to look forward to their near-daily meetings to discuss estate business for more than just his courtesy and kindness and knowledge.
She had started taking time over her hair and her dress when she knew she would be meeting him.
It had taken Mr. Sampson, well aware of his position in the world, some time to pluck up the courage and audacity to indicate to Anne that he held such feelings for her as well.
Once he had, however, the couple had quickly decided to marry.
Elizabeth, delighted, supported them wholeheartedly, and Darcy, thinking of his own wildly successful love match, could do no less.
Richard, as equally thrilled with Anne’s choice of husband as he had been with Darcy’s choice of bride, had been vocal in his support, and the Earl of Matlock, seeing this alliance arrayed against his own protests, had reluctantly granted his blessing to the match.
Sampson had never given his new uncle reason to regret his decision.
He was invariably tender and solicitous towards Anne, whose strength and health grew daily.
Regular walks in her park, a steady diet of meat and vegetables, and a vacation from the worst of the summer’s heat to Emerald Island every year, had put blooms in her cheeks at last.
Rosings likewise was thriving under its new master and mistress.
Anne loved her home, and her husband had come to regard it with almost the same depth of affection.
Anne’s letters to Elizabeth spoke of land and crops and livestock as well as gowns and mutual acquaintances and interesting books to read, while Charlotte Collins’s letters to Elizabeth told of her duties as the parson’s wife, her own children, along with news of contented tenants and happy families and poultry.
Elizabeth was glad that Rosings, beautiful estate that it was, was in good heart under the diligent care of the Sampsons.
“Shall we, Elizabeth?” Darcy asked from her side, and she turned a puzzled look at him, only to realize that it was time for the third set of dances to begin.
“We shall,” she said happily, and together they walked onto the ballroom floor.
The band struck up the slow, sweeping chords of a waltz, and Elizabeth curtseyed in response to her husband’s bow.
Darcy had requested a waltz specifically for the third set, desiring to perform this rather daring new dance with his own wife.
The debutantes had not expected to be permitted to dance it as well, but the Earl of Matlock, the Earl of Keaton, and Colonel Fitzwilliam had each led out a Bennet or Darcy sister onto the floor.
Elizabeth leaned back against her Fitzwilliam’s strong hand, following his lead through the gliding steps and gazing up at him in adoration.
Nothing on this side of Heaven could be perfect, the Good Book said, but this evening certainly came rather close, Elizabeth thought.
Her very heart was filled to overflowing with joy and contentment, to be here in her beloved husband’s arms, carrying their child, surrounded by her family and everything she could ever desire.
***
Hyde Park
Noon
The Next Day
Thursday, 17th May, 1812
Hyde Park was always a popular spot for holidaymakers of every class, but today it was especially crowded, with flags and scarves and shawls fluttering in the breeze and small boys up on their fathers' shoulders or hanging from the limbs of trees.
People chattered and laughed and called to one another, dogs ran about underfoot, and horses pranced and whinnied.
The focus of the activity was protected on all four sides by ropes.
Within the enclosure, a great balloon lay deflated across the grass, as yet only promising future magnificence.
What seemed like a quarter of London had turned out to watch it be filled, and the departure of the brave men who would use it as their mode of transportation.
The Darcys were among the interested onlookers.
Mr. Darcy was driving the barouche, his wife at his side, with their young groomsman riding at the back of the carriage.
The boy was making soft exclamations under his breath such as “Cor!” and “Blimey!” at all the sights and sounds around them, or perhaps merely at the size of the balloon which provoked shared a brief amused, indulgent glance between husband and wife before Darcy returned his full focus to navigating the narrow pathways left between the vehicles of the other merrymakers.
“Good morning, Lizzy!” a voice called loudly from their left, and Elizabeth turned and smiled at the sight of her elder sister and husband, who were sitting on chairs underneath a spreading tree.
Some distance to their left, a familiar landau waited under another tree, with a groomsman looking after Bingley’s prize team of grays.
“Oh, Fitzwilliam,” Elizabeth began, and her husband said, “I see them. I will try to park the barouche near the Bingleys’ carriage.”
Elizabeth sat back against the comfortable seat and watched with admiration as her husband did just that. He was not the sort of man to show off his skill with horses, but he was indeed a great adept, and within a couple of minutes, the Darcys’ carriage was safely drawn up next to the landau.
A minute later, Darcy handed her out of the carriage and, after giving brief instructions to their own servant boy to look after the horses, guided her over to the Bingleys, where several empty chairs were waiting for them.
Elizabeth took the seat nearest her sister, while Darcy sat on the other side of Bingley.
“How are you, Jane?” she asked and could not help looking at her sister’s bulging abdomen.
“I am well enough,” Jane replied with a grin. “As much as I might wish to birth this child today, I am confident I have at least a week more to wait.”
“Or children?” Elizabeth asked doubtfully.
Bingley cried out in mock despair at this statement, and Jane reached out to take her husband’s hand in his own, though she kept her face turned toward her next younger sister.
“It is not twins this time,” she said firmly. “I am certain of it. I was far larger with the boys.”
“How are the boys?” Elizabeth asked, smiling fondly at the thought of her twin nephews.
“They are exceptionally busy,” Jane declared. “I am incredibly thankful for such excellent nursemaids and have a renewed admiration for the tenant wives who manage their children without assistance.”
“I agree,” Elizabeth said solemnly. She knew that the Bingleys were generous overseers to the tenants of Netherfield, and she and Fitzwilliam likewise cared deeply about the tenants of Pemberley and Emerald Island, but without a doubt, they were exceptionally blessed to have the funds to hire servants to help with their offspring.
“How was the ball last night?” Jane continued. “I was very disappointed to miss it, but I truly did not feel up to being in a warm room with hundreds of other people.”
“We understand entirely,” Elizabeth said immediately. “Regarding the girls, they all seemed to be a great success. The ball was a crush, which is, I know, the most that any hostess can possibly wish for in London.”
Darcy made a soft grumbling noise at this, and she grinned at him, and a moment later, he reluctantly grinned back.
She knew that he did not particularly enjoy hosting large parties, but he was devoted to his sister and sisters-in-law, and he had not hesitated to spend a great deal of money and time in launching the young ladies.
“Have you heard any news from Longbourn of late?” Jane asked.
“I received a note from Mr. Wallace only yesterday,” Elizabeth said. “Young Mr. Bramstoke is a true blessing, apparently, and Mr. Wallace is grateful that the young man has been hired as sort of an understeward for both Longbourn and Netherfield.”
Jane wrinkled her nose and said, “Well, certainly neither Charles nor I is particularly good at figuring, and while Mr. Dryden is reasonably adept, he is so busy with the more practical concerns of the estate that he needed help. With Kitty in London, we needed someone to manage the books!”
“Absolutely!” Elizabeth agreed. “It was kind of Kitty to help with the books for both estates, but there is a good chance she will find a husband soon.”
“It is hard to believe our sisters are growing up,” Jane remarked.
“Oh, the balloon is filling!” Bingley cried, and both couples turned interested eyes toward the enclosure, where a vast canvas of brightly colored silk was, indeed, beginning to bulge upward toward the blue sky.
“Is Father over there?” Elizabeth began, peering toward the enclosure, and Jane replied, “He is, of course. We arrived half an hour before you did, and he has been by the rope the entire time. I hope he is not driving the aeronauts mad.”
“I hope that he does not convince them to let him ride with them in the balloon,” Elizabeth said grimly.
Jane turned an alarmed look on her sister and said, “Surely they would not, would they?”
“I believe that the weight of the aeronauts needs to be carefully determined when ballooning,” Darcy said reassuringly, “and the addition of a full-grown man would not work at all.”
“That is true,” Elizabeth said with relief and lapsed into silence as she watched the balloon continue to fill and rise and fill and rise.
She had never seen a balloon ascension before and could not help but be impressed by the unusual sight, as well as the genuine beauty of the silken bag, with its stripes of green and blue and yellow.
Finally, the balloon, with a large wicker basket under it and two men standing in the basket, was high enough above the crowd that everyone could observe it.
Elizabeth found her heart beating faster as, in one swift movement, the four ropes tying the balloon to the ground were cast off, and the balloon rose steadily into the clear blue sky.
She and the others rose from their chairs and stepped out from under the tree, the better to watch as the majestic, floating glorious envelope drifted away in the light breeze.
“Jane, you ought to sit down again,” Charles said a few minutes later, and Elizabeth, turning a concerned look on her sister, noted that she was perspiring rather freely.
“We brought a picnic,” she said immediately and looked at her husband, who nodded and walked over to their barouche.
Within two minutes, she was spreading a rug down onto the ground, and Darcy and Charles were unloading drinks and food onto it. It was at this point that Sir Thomas finally tore himself away from the now empty enclosure and returned.
“Good morning, Father,” Elizabeth said, gesturing toward one of the empty chairs. “Do sit down and drink some water, please.”
He obeyed and drank down the water with alacrity, but his eyes were vague, and he did not even speak.
Elizabeth sighed silently and gave him a rueful, fond smile that he did not even see.
It was as well that everyone who had married into the family understood Sir Thomas as well as his daughters did.
It would be very easy to construe his eccentric behavior as deliberate rudeness, but his tolerant sons-in-law were never insulted or offended.
It did seem a bit late in life for such a dedicated astronomer to acquire a second interest as intense as his first, but Sir Thomas had once again defied social conventions, expectations, and his own precedent by embracing aeronautics as intensely as he always had planets and stars.
His first love had not died, but now among his notes on stars and planetary movements and orbits and mathematical equations could be found reams of notes on aeronautics, drag, lift, and aerodynamics.
It was not unusual in and around Osea House to come suddenly upon tiny colorful balloons bobbing on air currents and tugging at whatever bits of string or ribbon had been near enough at hand to tether them.
Sir Thomas had found, to his great delight and everyone else’s mingled chagrin and amusement, that the air currents and breezes of the island were perfect for studying balloon movement, with or without added weights.
Elizabeth had, long ago, entertained a fancy of space travel.
How Sir Thomas would have loved to go up and see the stars without the interference of an inconsiderate atmosphere!
It was absurd, of course, as the heavens were quite beyond reach.
The sky, however, was not, to her slight dismay.
It was all well and good for young, hale men to become aeronauts, but she very much hoped that her father would not insist on studying his new passion within its own environs.
Ballooning was novel and exciting, but it was still quite dangerous, and were Sir Thomas to take it into his head to make the attempt, Elizabeth would be very uneasy indeed.
“Would you care for some grapes, Elizabeth?” her husband asked, and she turned a grateful look on him and accepted the bunch in his hand.
“Thank you, yes,” she replied, forcing her mind away from her eccentric father.
“You are welcome, of course,” Darcy said softly, and she stared into his dark eyes, so full of protection and respect and adoration.