Last chapter: Georgiana takes Elizabeth to the ancient chapel, where they discover a painting of Georgiana's mother and brother, forgotten in the wake of the second discovery -- a starving cat. Darcy teaches Georgiana how to take care of it.
Chapter Four
Georgiana could only stand very still amidst the flurry of embraces, laughter, smiles, and chatter as her brother and sister acknowledged the Gardiners with all the enthusiasm their respective dispositions allowed. Even her shyness and reserve, however, could not stand against the unaffected warmth of Mrs Darcy's family. Mr Gardiner was a merry, charming man, perhaps her cousin Milton's age, or a little older; despite his youth and dark curls he reminded her of her father. Mrs Gardiner was just as agreeable, but less gregarious; quiet and sensible, something almost commanding underlaid her sweetness of manner.
She also looked very fashionable; although slender, she was tall, with heavy dark hair worn in a beautiful arrangement Georgiana had never seen amongst the assorted turbans and feathers of her usual acquaintance. She surreptitiously eyed the older woman; her own hair was almost exactly like Mrs Gardiner's, and if she told Kate —
'Good afternoon, Miss Darcy!' a small Gardiner said cheerfully. Georgiana, determined to be as amiable as she was capable of, knelt so as not to dwarf the girl.
'Good afternoon, Miss Amelia,' she replied.
'Is it always so pretty here?' Amelia stood on tiptoe. 'I have never seen anything like it in my entire life.'
'Nor I,' Georgiana confessed with a smile, 'but it is always beautiful here.'
'My mama has been talking and talking about how wonderful it is here, especially in the winter. I have never seen so much snow anywhere. Does it always snow this much here? It took us hours and hours more to come here because of it. I do not know how anybody gets around.'
She laughed. 'There is almost never this much; and it is only for a few weeks out of the year.'
'Well, Mama wanted to take the feetun, but I think it is too cold to go outside. Papa is worried about her con-dish-en. That means I am going to have a new brother or sister.'
'I see.'
'Are you going to have a new brother or sister?'
'No. My parents are dead.'
Amelia clapped her hands over her mouth, eyes turning enormous. 'Oh, I'm sorry! I would rather anything than not have my mama and papa.'
When her father died, Georgiana wept tears of relief. It had been two and a half long years of excruciating illness for George Darcy. She had loved him dearly, certain that she felt all of his pain as her own. Yet, to this day, there were sudden sharp moments when she would give anything to hear his booming laughter or see his green eyes dance at some secret jest between the two of them, to once more enjoy their easy camaraderie.
Six years. Georgiana's eyes stung. Then she deliberately turned to Amelia with a warm smile. 'Do not fret, Miss Amelia; they died a long time ago.'
'Is that why your brother brought you up? I heard my mama say that he did, and I wondered why your papa didn't.'
She had not thought of her childhood in a long time; not since Ramsgate, when she felt as if the gay innocence of that time had been stripped away, and every happy memory was tainted by him. She remembered playing with her father, Mr Darcy swinging her up on his broad shoulders as she screamed with laughter. She remembered running to her father with frogs and bows, beaming as he pronounced every accomplishment the most splendid thing he had ever seen. She also remembered that when she tumbled down the stairs, when she awoke from her childish nightmares, when she fell off her pony, she sought her brother. Her father would laugh her out of her fears, her brother would rescue her from them. Between the two of them, all was right with her world.
'Miss Darcy?'
'Oh! I beg your pardon,' she said, looking down at the girl.
'You were lost,' said Amelia knowledgeably. 'That's what my papa says my mama does when she is thinking.'
'Yes, I am afraid so.'
'Are you going to be married? I love people getting married. It is great fun and I get to be pretty, and Meg too, and there is lots and lots of food. My aunt Bennet is very strange but it's always nice to eat at Longbourn.'
'No, I am afraid not — not yet, at any rate. I am far too young for that,' Georgiana said.
'How old are you?'
'Sixteen.'
'That is ten years older than me.' Amelia chewed her lip. 'But my cousin Lydia was married this year and she was just sixteen in June. Were you sixteen in June?'
Georgiana caught her breath. Lydia Wickham, a person she had never set eyes on, was a constant reminder of her own folly, and of how close she had come to such a dreadful fate. 'Ye-yes,' she stammered. 'Yes, I was, on the fourteenth.'
'My birthday is in June too!' She clapped her hands. 'And that is not so far away. How many months? One—two—three—'
'Six,' Georgiana said with a smile.
'I shall be seven. So I will only be a year younger than Meg for a little while. Meggggg!'
'Amelia!' The elder Miss Gardiner looked shocked. 'This is Pemberley. You can't shout here.'
'Miss Darcy's birthday is in June too. Isn't that nice?'
Meg blinked. 'My mama says you are the same age as Cousin Lydia,' she remarked, 'but you look older. You look as old as Cousin Lizzy, and she is one-and-twenty.'
It was impossible not to be pleased, even if she felt her want of experience and maturity at every turn. 'Thank you.'
'Georgiana!' Mrs Darcy, her face still alight with laughter, firmly took her by the arm. 'Meg, Amelia, you may not have her all to yourselves. Aunt — uncle Gardiner — you will remember my sister Miss Darcy from the wedding, of course.'
'My dear Miss Darcy.' Mrs Gardiner kissed her cheek, Mr Gardiner shook her hand warmly. She scarcely knew what to do or say, murmuring a soft greeting.
'I hope we are no imposition on your family party; you cannot have been home very long, Miss Darcy?' Mrs Gardiner enquired.
'I have been here twelve days, and it is not an imposition, ma'am, not with family.' She felt a tugging at her skirts and looked down, surprised.
'Up,' said John, the youngest of the family, though it was clear from Mrs Gardiner's appearance that he would not carry that distinction for long. He held up his arms.
She hesitated a moment before lifting him up. 'Miz Dazzly,' he pronounced.
This young child, perhaps three or four years old, already recognised her. She laughed shakily as he tugged at one of the curls around her face. Then, utterly without warning, he lay his head on his shoulder and fell asleep.
'It has been a very long journey,' Mrs Gardiner said apologetically. 'It is only nerves keeping them going now.'
'Oh, it must have been quite arduous. I hope you did not encounter too many difficulties,' Georgiana said, tentatively brushing some of the boy's hair out of his eyes. 'Winters here can be — oh, but you would know. You are one of us.'
Mrs Gardiner smiled one of the loveliest smiles she had ever seen, gracefully seating herself at Mrs Darcy's invitation. Georgiana joined her. 'Yes, I have missed them. Winter in the south is very — piano, though I would rather have my husband and children with me anywhere, than an hundred wild Derbyshire Christmases.'
Georgiana looked at them, Amelia chattering at Fitzwilliam, Elizabeth laughing gaily with Neddy, while Meg contentedly rested against her father.
'If I had a family like yours, I should never want to be separated from them, not ever.' She heard her own voice, as if through a fine silver mist, and coloured. 'I beg your pardon — I did not mean — '
Mrs Gardiner patted her hand. 'I shall tell you something, my dear, and I hope you do not think me terribly impertinent.' She paused, and Georgiana's brow furrowed.
'Of course not, Mrs Gardiner.'
'When we became acquainted with your brother in town, I thought the way he spoke of you was quite the most charming thing I had ever heard from such a man.'
She sat up straight. 'Fitzwilliam talked of me — to you?'
Mrs Gardiner's lips twitched. 'I suspect he talks of you to his entire acquaintance. He is as proud of you as any father, as any brother, could be.'
'Proud of me?' she echoed, feeling stupid and dull, but scarcely able to credit it. Fondness was one thing; she had always depended on his affectionate concern. Pride, though — that was something altogether different. She had never, never imagined such a thing; never imagined how he could not feel her a burden and a duty, when he had given up his youth to be a proper guardian to her. And after what she had done at Ramsgate! what a trial she must be — she was certain of it. 'He said he was proud of me?'
'Among many other things, yes.' Mrs Gardiner smiled at her astounded expression. 'You need not doubt your brother's good opinion, Miss Darcy. You, too, are fortunate in your family; I might envy you yours, were I less happy in my life. I have no brothers or sisters, you see, and my parents died when I was too small to remember them; I always wanted a brother.'
Georgiana's head spun; she briefly rested her flaming cheek against John Gardiner's dark head. 'My brother is the dearest person in the world to me. Thank you, ma'am; you cannot comprehend what it means to know that perhaps he thinks well of me sometimes.'
'Squeeze gently, Margaret,' said Georgiana.
She watched, smiling gently as the girl bent her dark head with a frown of concentration, painstakingly wringing a few drops of buttermilk into the kitten's throat. Today he swallowed of his own accord, purring when she permitted Amelia and Neddy to pet his untidy black fur, curling up into a contented ball on her palm. It was easy to be calm and steady with the children.
'Did I do it well?' Meg asked, glancing up at Georgiana.
'Yes, perfectly; he is only very tired. I am sure he would stay awake if he could, he is a vain creature and enjoys the attention.'
'What is his name?'
'Cat,' Georgiana said with a laugh, 'until I think up something fitting for him. Now we need to wash our hands — it would not do to have sticky fingers on Christmas Eve.'
Amelia clapped her hands. 'I can't wait to see Mama's face,' she confided. 'We got her a book. A very old book. Mama loves books. Papa bought it but we gave him our allowances, we all did, so really we got it for her. Papa says that Mama would fill the house with books if he let her, and she says he would fill the house with beggars.'
'He would too,' Meg added.
After they washed their hands, Amelia said, 'What are we to do now, Miss Darcy? Mama says we must mind you and behave very, very well. And Papa said that we might have some nice presents this evening if we are very good.' She smiled angelically.
Georgiana was briefly at a loss. It was still early, not yet noon, and all she could remember of her childish preferences was that she had disliked being laughed at.
'I want to see the pictures,' Meg said. 'I like pretty things and Mama said Mr Darcy has some of the finest pictures she's ever seen.'
Neddy wrinkled his nose. 'Silly pictures, I want to play in the snow.' He threw a longing look out at the white courtyards.
'They're pictures, not those ugly people without eyes?'
Georgiana stifled a smile. 'They are almost all paintings,' she assured Amelia gravely. 'Edward, your mother said it is too cold to go outside for very long.'
He stuck his lower lip out. She was enough acquainted with children to recognise the danger.
'So — ' she consulted her watch — 'we will go to the gallery, and then go outside for a quarter-hour.'
He brightened. 'That's — ten — no — '
'Fifteen minutes.'
The children, even Neddy, were constantly twisting around to look at something new. Georgiana, who had always loved her home above any other place in the world, was enchanted anew as she discovered all the familiar, beloved sights through new eyes. The treasures, great and small, accumulated over the centuries, were all things of wonder to her as well as Meg, who stood on her tiptoes to see everything.
Georgiana had been certain they would be bored within minutes, but they were shockingly well behaved children, and seemed largely content for a very agreeable half-hour, though she kept a sharp eye on Neddy. Meg particularly seemed fascinated.
'Oh!' she cried, blinking from painting to painting. 'Oh, Miss Darcy, tell me about him.'
The others chimed in, 'What is that ugly thing around his neck?'
'Why aren't there any boys there?'
'Oh, that is Sir John Darcy and his family. He tried to put Mary, Queen of Scots on the throne and was locked away for the rest of his life. And, Master Edward, the two at the bottom, with the dog, are boys.'
'They don't look like boys.' He examined it. 'Why wasn't his head chopped off?' he demanded, disappointed.
Georgiana coloured. She could explain that he had been a favourite of the queen's, though even that would not have spared him had he not had such a minor role in the conspiracy.
'Nobody knows for sure,' she said.
'That's a pretty dress,' Amelia said, pointing to another. 'Who is that?'
'My great-aunt, Lady Alston.'
'Did she always have that thing on her dress? I would trip over it all the time.'
'I never knew her, I daresay she managed it well enough.'
'I thought your great-aunt was Lady Darcy,' Meg piped up. 'I heard Papa say so.'
Georgiana smiled. 'This is another great-aunt. Lady Darcy is much younger than Lady Alston was.'
'Is she here?'
Georgiana pointed to a painting a few places to the right.
'I thought Lady Darcy was old,' Amelia said doubtfully.
'This was quite a long time ago, you understand.' Georgiana was seized by a mischievous impulse for the first time in, quite literally, years. 'People change — why, look at that little girl.'
They obediently stared.
'She looks normal' was Neddy's judgment.
'I think she looks nice.'
'She was drawing, see.' Meg pointed, mildly interested.
'Her hair's the same colour as mine,' Amelia said triumphantly. 'Is it Mama?'
'Mama would not have a picture here, silly.'
'Why not? She lived here!'
'She lived in the village. She was just the doctor's niece.'
'There's nothing wrong with that!'
Meg gave a long-suffering sigh. 'I didn't say there was.'
Georgiana cleared her throat. The sisters instantly silenced.
'Who is she, Miss Darcy?' Meg asked more quietly. 'It can't have been very long ago, there aren't all those veils and things.'
'I was that girl.'
'No!' Amelia's mouth dropped open. 'How old were you?'
'Eight.'
'My age!' Meg crowed. 'You don't look the same at all, Miss Darcy.'
Georgiana had not wished to see this for a long time. It had been taken just after her father first fell ill, when everyone thought he would die. She had nothing to do, was constantly underfoot, and until her brother and — until her brother was sent for, she had been terribly unhappy. She remembered drawing and drawing, unable to take any pleasure from music. The painter had been a slim reedy man whom she disliked, because he made her sit still when she felt almost wild.
Yet that was past, eight years past — 'I am not the same,' she said, then shook herself out of it. 'Wilcox!' she said to one of the upper maids. 'We need warm clothes for the children, and mine also.'
'Yes, ma'am.'
The maid bustled off, and Georgiana deliberately turned away from herself.
'You should get another,' Amelia told her. 'So people know what you really look like.'
'Perhaps, perhaps someday I shall, after Elizabeth does.'
'Lizzy is going to be here!' she crowed.
'Is she going to be as gloomy as all the rest?'
Georgiana thought of her merry sister-in-law. 'I do not think she could be gloomy if her life depended on it.'
'Oh look, it's Mr Darcy!' Amelia ran over heedlessly, tripping over the carpet. 'He doesn't seem so different.'
'My brother,' said Georgiana, 'is always the same.'
'He's not so serious here. He's almost smiling, a little. How old was he?'
'Twenty. That was almost eight years ago, the same as mine. My father wanted to have us painted, before — before he could not be with us anymore.'
'He is very handsome,' Meg said shyly. 'Is he really so much older than you, Miss Darcy?'
'Twelve years. Oh, there you are.' She instantly relieved the puffing maid of her burdens. 'Edward, this must be yours — and Amelia — ' she shrugged into her own — 'Margaret.'
'Can we go now?' Neddy demanded, suddenly impatient. 'I'm ready, Miss Darcy, see — '
'Your buttons are crooked.' Georgiana knelt down and fixed them, properly wrapped scarves around each head, and led them out to the courtyard.
The nice, well-behaved children instantly turned into screaming laughing hellions who pelted each other and Georgiana with snow. At first rather disgruntled, she transformed the blinding chaos into a properly organised game, aiding Meg against her siblings.
'Very well, it's been twenty minutes,' she said presently.
'But Miss Darcy!' Neddy protested. 'We're almost winning!'
'I was not asking your permission,' she said, sounding for all the world like her aunt Lady Catherine. She laughed at the thought, while the children looked on in bewilderment. 'Very well, come in, and stamp your feet at the door, get as much of the snow off as you can.'
