Chapter Nineteen #2
“I have always thought highly of Mrs. Gregg’s sense of style,” Mary whispered back.
Hannah swiftly returned, curtsied again, and said, “Missus said to bring ye to ‘er private study. Please, follow me.”
Mary knew the way, but followed the maid as was expected down a corridor to a white door. The maid opened it and stepped aside.
“Thank you,” Mary murmured.
She and Georgiana entered the small, brightly lit room and curtsied to the older lady standing near to her secretaire.
A lovely lace cap adorned her softly-styled steel-gray hair.
She had a kindly face—one that Mary had often admired.
Tall, slender, and gowned in a day dress of dark-mustard, trimmed in Burgundy piping, she smiled warmly at them.
“Mary,” she said, coming toward them to greet her, offering her cheek for Mary to kiss. “What a pleasure it is to see you. It has been an age. What have you here?”
“Cook’s currant scones and sweet chestnut spread,” Mary informed her, presenting the basket.
“Delightful. Hannah?” Mrs. Gregg looked over Mary’s shoulder. She passed the basket to the maid. “Bring black currant juice.”
“Yes, mum,” Hannah said, bobbing a curtsy and leaving.
“And who is this?” Mrs. Gregg asked, smiling at Georgiana.
“Mrs. Gregg, may I present Miss Darcy, of Pemberley House, Derbyshire?” Mary asked.
“Of course you may,” their hostess said.
Georgiana curtsied and Mrs. Gregg nodded in a friendly way.
“Welcome, Miss Darcy,” Mrs. Gregg said. She indicated a grouping of lemon-colored upholstered chairs set in front of a cold fireplace. “Please, sit.”
“It is good to meet you,” Georgiana said, taking a seat. Mary sat next to her. “My brother, my cousin, and I are visiting with Mr. Bingley, at Netherfield.”
“Your cousin?” Mrs. Gregg asked, choosing a chair that faced Mary and Georgiana.
“Colonel Fitzwilliam,” Georgiana explained. “He and my brother are my guardians.”
“I see. And how are you enjoying our little corner of Hertfordshire?”
“I have been enjoying it exceedingly.” Georgiana smoothed her skirts over her knees. “Mary has been kind enough to introduce me to some of her friends. And Lizzy found me a puppy.”
“How lovely. You must be excited,” Mrs. Gregg said, grinning.
“Oh, yes. Mary is coming to visit the puppy with me this afternoon. My brother wants us to wait to pick Flora up until I am ready to return to London.”
“What kind of puppy is she?”
“Flora is a Sussex spaniel, and she is adorable,” Georgiana gushed.
The study door opened, admitting Hannah bearing a tray of black currant juice and a plate of gingery molasses biscuits. She set it on the table next to Mrs. Gregg, and then left the room, leaving the door partially open.
Mrs. Gregg poured them glasses of black currant juice and passed around saucers and napkins before she offered them the biscuits. Mary took a sip of the cool, tart drink and found it refreshing.
“It is rather hot, is it not?” Mrs. Gregg asked. “The weather must be confusing the plants. How do they know if it is summer or autumn?”
“Winter may come as a shock to them,” Mary said.
“Yes, indeed. Our gardener is scratching his head over it.” Their hostess smiled, shaking her head.
“The heat must be difficult for the patients at the infirmary,” Georgiana suggested. “Or for anyone who is ill.”
“So true,” Mrs. Gregg said, nodding approvingly at Georgiana.
“I was wondering, ma’am, about the condition of the typhus patient,” Mary said, frowning as she pushed her spectacles up her nose. “Do you know how he is?”
“Yes,” Mrs. Gregg said, her brow furrowed. “Oscar said he is improving—Oscar is my son, Miss Darcy. He has high hopes for a full recovery.”
“That must be a relief to the boy’s family,” Georgiana offered.
“I imagine so,” Mrs. Gregg said. “The patients missed the pleasure of your visit, Mary. Oscar told me he meant to tell you not to go to the infirmary for your usual visits this week.”
“Yes, he came around and told me yesterday,” Mary informed her. She nibbled on her biscuit. After swallowing, she added, “I missed the pleasure of my visit as well.”
“I was to join her, ma’am,” Georgiana said. “I looked forward to the opportunity to see Mary’s charity work.”
“Have you visited an infirmary before, my dear?”
“I have only visited the sick on our estate,” Georgiana confessed.
Mrs. Gregg nodded, took a sip of her juice, and said, “My father is a squire. The estate has some tenant farmers. My mother and I visited them when they were ill. I assure you, a ward full of sick people is not the same. It is a more trying experience. I am immensely proud of Mary for continuing her visits, for she breaks up the monotony of the patients’ time away from their families—if they have one.
Some have no one to care for them at home. ”
Mary felt her cheeks flush at the praise. Georgiana pressed a hand to her arm and smiled warmly at her.
“I understand your son is a doctor?”
Mary silently blessed her new friend for continuing to keep Oscar a part of their conversation. She enjoyed hearing about the man she loved so dearly.
“He is,” Mrs. Gregg said proudly. “Oscar and the Bennet sisters played together as children. Oscar is a few years older than Jane, you see. They all used to run a little wild in the neighborhood together. I was so thankful, for Oscar is our only child, you understand, with no siblings of his own to play with.”
“I understand,” Georgiana said wistfully as she reached for another biscuit. “My brother is ten years older than I am. Naturally, he played with me, but it was not the same type of play I would have had with a sibling closer in age.”
“We had great fun,” Mary said, smiling at her memories.
“We got into enormous trouble, is what you should say,” Oscar pointed out from the doorway.
Mary, who had not heard him come in, gasped and twisted in her chair to behold him, standing in the doorway, his arms folded, and leaning on the jamb.
“Shame on you for telling on us,” she retorted. Please, do not notice how my words are shaking. Goodness, how handsome he looks.
“I am shameless,” he claimed. “Hello, Mother.” Oscar straightened and bowed his shoulders to Georgiana. “Miss Darcy, welcome. No, do not stand.”
“Are you joining us, dear?” Mrs. Gregg asked her son.
He shook his head and held up his hands. “I think I am close enough. Young Jimmy Butcher’s typhus may still be contagious.”
“I thought you said he was improving,” Mrs. Gregg said, frowning.
“A little at a time. The typhus has not spread, thank the good Lord,” Oscar said, nodding gravely. He looked at Mary. “Is that giant outside waiting for you, Mary? I have never known you to walk with a valet before.”
“He is Miss Darcy’s attendant,” Mary explained.
“Elliot is my brother’s valet,” Georgiana revealed. “He is very strong and most intimidating.”
“He is, indeed,” Oscar said. “I wish we had a few orderlies shaped like him.”
“My brother is protective of me,” Georgiana said, bowing her head, seemingly embarrassed by the need.
“He is right to be so,” Mrs. Gregg said in a comfortingly hearty voice.
“Excuse me, ladies,” Oscar said, bowing to them. “I am needed in the surgery with Father.”
Mary joined the other ladies in murmuring appropriate farewells. Upon glancing at her hostess, she saw that Oscar’s mother watched her with keen interest.
Mary cleared her throat, and then said, “It appears I will not be going to the infirmary this Sunday, either.”
“If the weather cooperates, perhaps you could read something outside, in the gardens?” Mrs. Gregg suggested. “I will discuss the possibility with my husband and son at dinner tonight.”
“Thank you,” Mary said, feeling warm gratitude.
Setting down her empty glass next to her saucer on the table between them, Mary stood, signaling the end of the visit. Georgiana immediately stood, handing her glass to Mrs. Gregg, who took it and placed it on the table at her elbow.
“Thank you for the refreshments, Mrs. Gregg,” Mary said, curtsying. “It has been pleasant speaking with you.”
“Yes, thank you,” Georgiana said, curtsying. “You have a delightfully cozy home.”
“Thank you, my dears,” Mrs. Gregg said, now standing. “Kindly come and visit me again, Miss Darcy, before you leave Hertfordshire. Mary, you must come too. We do not see enough of you.”
Mary and Georgiana nodded, beaming, and they followed Mrs. Gregg from her study. Mary hoped she would have a chance to see Oscar once more, but the empty entrance hall gave her no satisfaction.
*
Back in his enclosure after the walk with Lizzy, Jeffry turned in a circle, twice. He felt the stares of the rabbits and heard the fox complaining. However, he did not let their displeasure at his fidgets affect his contemplations.
Lizzy is angry with Darcy! Darcy is angry with Lizzy!
Stupid bull. Stupid, stupid bull. Why should he come between Lizzy and Darcy?
He reversed his circle pacing, thinking hard.
Wait, maybe it’s a good thing if Darcy is angry—it shows he cares about Lizzy’s safety.
Yes, yes. This is good. Darcy now knows what he’ll need to accept if…
when…he marries Lizzy. Animals are still going to come to her. It is Lizzy’s gift.
He cannot break her of this talent for interacting with animals. Clover is a bit much, but the bull will not live forever. I must go see Darcy and impress upon him how he must be tolerant with the woman he loves.
Jeffry concentrated on Darcy and disappeared from his enclosure.
“He’s gone again,” Jack, the rabbit, muttered in disgust. “He’s doing it all himself—he won’t let us help him, either.”
“I don’t think there’s anything we can do,” Jill, Jack’s companion, said in a complacent voice. “No matter how much we wish to help dear Lizzy, we are stuck in our enclosures, or pens, or cages. We cannot do what Jeffry can do. We must leave him to it.”
Jack grumbled, but said nothing.