Chapter Thirty-Six
The party returned to Netherfield late in the evening.
Darcy's engagement was announced, Miss Bingley received the intelligence with less composure than she afterwards displayed, and Mrs. Hurst found it necessary to remind her that the matter was no longer open to discussion.
Reflection restored her usual good sense before dinner, and under the combined influence of Lord and Lady Matlock's presence and her own better judgement, she treated Elizabeth with every proper attention throughout the evening.
Mr. Bingley spoke frequently of Jane and of the happiness he expected to find with her.
Nobody had the heart to contradict him. By the following morning they had departed for London.
London received them with its usual noise and confusion. Elizabeth had always stayed with the Gardiners during previous visits to town, and arriving instead at Matlock House felt strange at first. Aunt Deborah, however, seemed determined that it should not remain so.
The days that followed passed quickly; family called almost constantly. Lord and Lady Ashford came frequently, Colonel Fitzwilliam appeared within hours of learning they had returned to town, and Mr. and Mrs. Gardiner were scarcely absent.
By the end of the week Matlock House had settled into a comfortable routine. Elizabeth found herself consulted, included, and argued with so naturally that she sometimes forgot she had not belonged there all her life.
The first large family dinner was held several evenings after their arrival.
Mr. and Mrs. Gardiner came, and Colonel Fitzwilliam, and Lord and Lady Ashford.
What had begun as a family dinner became, almost immediately, a lively conversation, with everyone speaking at once and nobody appearing inclined to stop.
"I give her a month," Lady Ashford declared.
"A month?" said Mrs. Gardiner. "You are remarkably generous."
Elizabeth looked up. "A month until what?"
"Until you decide never to leave Pemberley."
"I have not even seen Pemberley."
"No," Lady Ashford agreed. "Which is why you still imagine you have a choice."
"Amelia," Ashford said mildly.
"It is true. Ask anyone."
"She has not asked anyone."
"Then she ought."
Mrs. Gardiner set down her wine.
"She will be lost the moment Darcy takes her into the library."
"The library?" Lady Ashford looked scandalised. "The grounds alone are enough to settle the question."
"I should like to form my own opinion."
"You may," Lady Ashford assured her. "Provided it agrees with ours."
Ashford lifted his glass. "There is still hope for her."
"Very little," said Lady Ashford.
Across the table Darcy had set down his glass and appeared to be studying the ceiling.
"You are all discussing my future as though I were not present."
"That," Colonel Fitzwilliam informed her, "is one of the principal advantages of family."
He settled back in his chair. "Darcy, I find I owe you an apology."
"Only one?" said Darcy.
"On this particular subject. I confess I did not look closely enough when Miss Bennet was first introduced to us. Had I done so, I should have known at once."
"Known what?" Elizabeth asked.
"You have the look of your mother about you. I always thought Margaret a great beauty."
"Richard," said Darcy.
"I am making an observation."
"You are flirting with my fiancée."
"I am paying a compliment to my cousin."
"There is no practical distinction."
"Cousin," said Elizabeth sweetly, "since you have claimed the connection so freely, I think you can hardly object to the use of your Christian name."
Colonel Fitzwilliam reached for the decanter.
"Darcy," he said, "I like her exceedingly."
"I know."
"You sound resigned."
"I am."
Ashford raised his glass slightly in Elizabeth's direction.
"High praise," Lady Ashford informed her.
Elizabeth set down her fork. "From Richard or Basil?"
"Basil."
"Then I am honoured."
At the head of the table Lady Matlock smiled into her wine.
Lady Ashford was already treating Elizabeth as though she had belonged to the family all her life.
Colonel Fitzwilliam had apparently adopted her as a cousin within the first quarter hour.
Darcy's attention followed her whenever she spoke, though he attempted to conceal it.
Even Lord Matlock appeared content merely to listen.
As the ladies withdrew after dinner, Lady Ashford returned immediately to a subject she had apparently been contemplating since receiving news of the engagement.
"There is scarcely a fortnight."
Mrs. Gardiner laughed.
"There it is."
"Of course there is. Does nobody else understand the situation? Elizabeth requires an entire trousseau."
"A what?" said Elizabeth.
"A trousseau," Lady Ashford repeated. "You cannot arrive at Pemberley with only half a dozen gowns and expect society to believe Darcy has married properly."
"I had not considered the matter in quite those terms."
"That is why you have us."
"I have no objections," said Mrs. Gardiner.
"Nor I," said Lady Matlock.
Before Elizabeth could answer, Mr. Gardiner leaned back in his chair with a look of innocent interest.
"As it happens, a shipment arrived only within the last sennight," he said. "Several cases of French lace. Very fashionable, I am told."
Lady Ashford turned to him at once.
"You see? Even Edward understands the urgency."
"I understand nothing of the sort," he replied. "I merely know that every lady in London appears determined to purchase it."
Elizabeth reached for her wine.
"Uncle, you know how I hate shopping."
"Nonsense," said Lady Ashford. "You merely hate shopping when left to your own devices. Fortunately, you shall have assistance."
"That is precisely what alarms me."
Mrs. Gardiner laughed.
"I begin to think she understands us perfectly."
Elizabeth looked helplessly toward Darcy.
He smiled.
"I believe you are outnumbered." He picked up his glass.
"Traitor."
"Entirely."
"Very well," Elizabeth said. "Though I reserve the right to an opinion."
"You may have one," Lady Ashford assured her, "provided it agrees with ours."
The fortnight before the wedding passed more quickly than Elizabeth would have thought possible.
There were visits to solicitors, settlements to be drawn, licences to be obtained, and a hundred lesser arrangements which appeared to multiply whenever one was resolved.
Lord Matlock attended to most of them with such efficiency that Elizabeth soon suspected half the business of society could be accomplished merely by placing him in a room and allowing him sufficient time.
The Trevelyan accounts arrived from Ashcombe promptly and in good order.
The figures themselves surprised no one so much as Elizabeth.
The estate reserves stood at fifty thousand pounds.
Her father's original provision of five thousand pounds had grown to twenty thousand under her grandfather's careful management.
The estate itself remained substantial despite fifteen years under Lord Ashcombe's care, though it became increasingly clear from the accounts that much of its income had been diverted to support his expensive habits and a succession of ill-judged investments.
Even so, Stephen had structured the estate in a manner that made it difficult for any one man to squander entirely.
Darcy set down the final sheet and looked across at Lord Matlock.
"Trevelyan was a prudent man."
"A fortunate thing for his descendants," Lord Matlock replied. "Had he been less cautious, there might have been very little left to discuss."
"There is still the question of what ought to be done now," Darcy said.
Elizabeth considered.
"His father wronged me," she said at last. "I am not persuaded the son did."
The matter of Ashcombe was therefore settled with very little difficulty.
The question of pursuing Mr. Bennet for the quarterly payments was raised and set aside almost as quickly, for Elizabeth had no wish to spend further energy upon a man who had already consumed too much of it.
Darcy, who had spent some time examining the accounts, agreed with her decision.
"The expense of pursuing him would likely exceed anything recovered," he observed.
"And the aggravation certainly would," Elizabeth replied.
Lord Matlock laughed.
"You are remarkably forgiving."
"No," she said. "Merely tired."
"That may be the more sensible quality."
Elizabeth called at Gracechurch Street and found Mrs. Gardiner in the small parlour.
Eddie was on the settee with his healing leg extended before him while Bethany sat beside him reading aloud from a book.
On the floor, Grace was happily occupied playing with Freddie, who, being nearly two, was far more interested in toddling determinedly from one adventure to the next than remaining where anyone had put him.
Every few moments Grace intercepted him before he could investigate something unsuitable, which he accepted with good humour before dissolving into giggles and setting off again.
Mrs. Gardiner rose at once and hugged Elizabeth tightly.
"I wish I had been there," she said softly.
Elizabeth returned the embrace.
"So do I," she admitted. "Though I understand why you could not."
As she looked around the room, the reason was plain enough.
The house was full of demands upon Mrs. Gardiner's attention.
Mr. Gardiner was occupied with business, autumn shipments keeping him from home for much of the day, and Eddie still needed his mother close while he recovered.
Watching her cousins together, Elizabeth felt only gratitude that they were all exactly where they ought to be.
Mrs. Gardiner followed her glance and smiled. "And now you have acquired an alarming number of relations besides."
Elizabeth laughed and admitted that she loved them all more than she could quite account for, given how recently she had known them.
"They are your family," Mrs. Gardiner said.