Chapter Four
"Eyes as deep, as dark as the night, yet there was something that sparked with warmth, that kept those eyes from being cold."
~ Lora Leigh, Maverick
Georgiana Darcy usually slept peacefully and without obstruction, but in the early hours of the morning, she was whipped from her slumber by loud noises coming from down the hall. They sounded like screams and not just the childish and brief outbursts from a fright, but instead they were the tormented and terrifying sounds of someone in the depths of despair and caught by the unrelenting terror of nightmares.
She swiftly pulled on her robe and hastened down the corridor of Pemberley's grand and lengthy Maidens' Hall, where unmarried women in the family and unwed guests were housed. The point of it was that it was far away from the rest of the manor where the married folk dwelled. For, it would be detrimental to young women's virtues and sensibilities if they chanced to overhear certain connubial activities taking place. In the moments when she sped down the hall, though, Georgiana did wonder at how ridiculous it was that while young girls had to be shielded from the secret acts of the marriage bed, they were quite abandoned and segregated so that if an incident occurred, no one could hear them.
Having flung open the door to her sister-in-law's room, she took in the sight of Mary Bennet feverous and writhing atop her bed, her sheets already soiled with copious sweat. Evidently, she had been experiencing a poor night's sleep for hours before her screams manifested.
Georgiana was well-acquainted with sorrow in all its many forms, but witnessing such abject hardship in one so young caused her heart to swell with pity and compassion for the young woman. She knew what it was to lose her parents, she knew the sorrow of being thwarted in love, though she now knew that what she felt for George Wickham had not been true love, merely adolescent infatuation, but at the time of his betrayal, the sting had been that of true love vanishing.
"No, please," Mary whimpered, "father! Make it stop! I'm so frightened! KITTY!"
From the thrashing and the words that started a faint moan only to become louder and more frantic, Georgiana deduced that her kinswoman was reliving the night that ruined her life and instigated her removal to Derbyshire.
She approached the bed hesitantly, for Mary was swinging her arms about with quite some force and Georgiana had no desire to be hurt, but once she got within arms' reach of her, Miss Darcy managed quite well to pull Mary into a comforting embrace and stroke her hair while uttering calming words until the nightmare subsided and Mary resumed serene sleep.
A secondary problem arose when Georgiana attempted to return to her own bedchamber. When she tried to extricate herself from Miss Bennet's iron grip, the instant Mary felt her nocturnal saviour retreat, the whimpers of a relapse restarted and Georgiana had no wish to force Mary to re-experience such horrors. Thus, the Misses Darcy and Bennet were required to spend the night together with the latter clinging for dear life to the almost sheer fabric of the former's nightgown.
"Rouse the house! Get everyone up! We need to find her!" The less-than-dulcet tones of the Master of the House bellowed after the sun had made its appearance.
"Heavens, why would she do such a thing, Darcy? She was well last night, I thought. I can't imagine why she would ever leave home!"
After the Mistress of the House had spoken, another voice resounded through the vast halls, "If you both believe Miss Darcy has not absconded, then I doubt that she has. Just pause and think for a moment. Where could she be if she is not in her bedchamber?"
"Elizabeth, wake your sister, right now," Darcy instructed his wife, "she might know where Georgiana is."
Elizabeth nodded at her husband and his cousin before flitting down the corridor of Maidens' Hall and rapping on Mary's door. When she heard no reply, or indeed any sound at all, she quietly pushed the door ajar and peeked round it. The sight that greeted her instantaneously relieved her troubled mind and she thought it best to leave the two young women to rest as clearly they had both had a rather eventful night.
On her return to Darcy and Colonel Fitzwilliam who had arrived in the early hours of the morning to inquire after the family and to ask her spouse's opinion on a thoroughbred roan mare he was thinking of acquiring, Elizabeth told them she had discovered the missing member of the household and invited the two gentlemen to see for themselves the adorable sight in Miss Bennet's bedchamber.
"I'm not sure that would be quite proper, Elizabeth," Darcy reasoned, "I mean I – and certainly Fitzwilliam here – cannot spy on the young women when they are not decent."
"Oh, pish tosh, Darcy," Elizabeth retorted, displaying her usual gumption, "you have to see it, our sisters looking so cosy together. I think Mary must have had a nightmare during the night and Georgiana went in to comfort her and just fell asleep."
Dubiously, the two men followed Elizabeth Darcy and did smile at the pretty and at the same time, sad sight of the two girls slumbering in each other's arms. Georgiana looked as she ever did: bright and beautiful, unburdened, but Mary looked the exact opposite: gaunt, sullen and unsightly. Sure enough, the middle Bennet daughter had never possessed the beauty of her elder sisters but the lack of sleep and prior coma had not helped her looks along at all.
This much was apparent to the Darcys but Colonel Fitzwilliam had not set eyes on Elizabeth's sister in years. She seldom travelled into Derbyshire to see her sister and when the Darcys paid visits to Longbourn, Fitzwilliam never accompanied them. He knew she had suffered greatly from the accident that had cost the rest of her family their lives but just the sight of a damsel in distress appealed to the soldier side of him and was like a call to arms.
"We should go now," he whispered to his co-intruders, "leave them to their rest. Forgive me for saying so, dear Elizabeth, but your sister looks like she needs the rest."
As they walked from Maidens' Hall, Elizabeth replied, "Indeed she does, Colonel. We have tried to make her feel at home, but alas, it is Longbourn and my parents' and Kitty's company she truly craves."
"She has only been here the one night, my dear," Darcy added, "she may yet improve with time and due care."
Elizabeth leaned into her husband's shoulder, feeling quite defeated in the effort to return her sister to health and good spirits. She had thought that it would be the best thing for Mary to return to Derbyshire to live with her family but maybe she did not have the correct temperament or knowledge to heal her broken sibling.
"Elizabeth, Darcy, if you will permit me," Fitzwilliam asked, not at all fazed by the display of affection between his cousin and his wife, "I have seen many a man enter into such a state of melancholia after time on the battlefield on the Continent. I believe I may be able to assist you in helping your sister, but only with your permission to remain at Pemberley, naturally."
Mrs Darcy perked up at the Colonel's kind offer to stay and be of as much assistance as he could be. It was the first good news they'd had at Pemberley in what seemed like decades and she readily accepted his offer, not wanting to give him too much time to reconsider and change his mind, not that he would, being an honourable man.
"Very decent of you, cousin," Darcy stated with a kind smile plastered across his face, "now, might I interested the two of you in coming downstairs for some breakfast?"
As they started downstairs, a light patter of feet could be heard behind them, so Elizabeth directed the two men to continue without her. It was Georgiana who had just woken up and had recalled what had happened in the early hours.
"Georgiana," Elizabeth greeted her sister with a happy smile, "Colonel Fitzwilliam is here and will be staying for a while to assist with Miss Bennet's recovery. I hope this will not inconvenience you, indeed, I believe it may help you get a restful night's sleep."
"Thank you, Elizabeth. I am sorry if I caused the household any worry or trouble this morning. Your sister had a nightmare and she was screaming. I believe she was transported back to the night of the coach accident and when I tried to go after lulling her back to sleep, she resisted, so I stayed."
Elizabeth was truly moved by the younger woman's compassion and kindness, not that she expected Georgiana to show any other emotions, sweetheart that she was, but she had gone above and beyond this morning.
"I will go to my chambers now and get dressed," Miss Darcy announced, "I must greet my cousin and thank him for myself too. Though, if you will permit me to give you some sisterly advice, Elizabeth?"
She nodded instantly.
"Have Mary's maid stay with her at nights. She is too delicate to be left to sleep alone at present. I would also send her to sit with her now while I am gone as to ensure Miss Bennet does not wake alone. I know when I have my night terrors, it is the worst thing to wake without Ann there."
Elizabeth Darcy felt foolish. How could so young and seemingly so innocent a person be able to see what she – Mary's sister – could not? She was ashamed that instead of having her sister comfort and catch her, Mary had Georgiana because Elizabeth had permitted her to be abandoned to her grief and not foreseen that Miss Mary had not quite relinquished the fear she felt and the sorrow that burdened her from the accident.
"You are right, Georgiana," Elizabeth replied, "I thank you for your kindness and perspicacity where my sister is concerned. You have shown maturity and wisdom beyond your years tonight. I will tell Darcy of this and I am sure he will be as proud of you as I am, dear."
That was enough for the young Miss Darcy to hear. All she ever wanted was to be a credit to the brother who was more of a father to her and his wife who was the kindest and most accomplished woman she knew, despite Caroline Bingley's slurs. With a short curtsy, she flitted off to her bedchamber, quite content with herself and reassured that Mary would be looked after more studiously.
"Well then," Elizabeth sighed, "back to the Colonel it is. Though if he can't help us, I am sure I don't know what else is to be done for Mary."