Well, we are that same day and other events are happening.
What's going on with Elizabeth and Fitzwilliam? Let's have a few news from Pemberley.
The next chapters will deal with ELizabeth and her family.


Chapter 7: Meeting


Derbyshire, Pemberley, Wednesday August the fifth 1801


When Darcy and Bingley came back from Derby it was late evening but, to Darcy's relief, everybody was awake and up.

He immediately went to Mrs. Reynolds and asked her to organize in the Great Parlor a meeting where all his guests and everyone of the staff with rank would assist.

He then asked Mr. And Mrs. Gardiner if they would accept to organize a meeting between him and Elizabeth.

"Immediately?"

Mrs. Gardiner's voice was half surprised and half amused.

Darcy looked at himself and tapped a dust cloud from his vest.

"Give me a quarter of an hour. I'd like to refresh myself and get rid of the dust of the road. Do you think it could be possible?"

Mr. and Mrs. Gardiner looked at each other and made tremendous efforts to suppress the smiles that were threatening to appear on their lips.

"We will see what can be done," said Mr. Gardiner. "Where would you wish to meet her?"

"The morning parlor? We, I mean, Elizabeth and I, could have some privacy while you could be within the same room."

"Let it be the morning parlor, then..." said Mrs Gardiner.

She looked at her husband and smiled at him.

"I'll go fetch Elizabeth, we will join you in the morning parlor..."

"Of course, dear. I'll wait there till you come back..."

As Mrs. Gardiner turned around, the two men walked toward the Great Parlor where Fitzwilliam poured Mr. Gardiner a glass of Port wine just before leaving for his room I order to change his dusty clothes.


Never in his life had Fitzwilliam Darcy made such haste to change and clean himself. His man was quite disturbed and made it known.

"It's unseemly, Sir, to hurry as much. Give me ten minutes more and you will be perfect. With less I fear we will not be at our best."

"I'm in a hurry, Flinch" said Darcy while washing himself in the bath room. "I have already lost way too much time and I'm not loosing a second more than necessary. I said a quarter of an hour, it will be a quarter of an hour, not an second more..."

Flinch made a face while sorting the clothes he was preparing for his Master.

As every manservant he hated those moments where too less time made their work less then perfect.

But even with this stress he could not help but smile. He knew, as everybody else in the House, that Miss Bennet was a very special guest.

The very special guest!

They have known it the minute Fitzwilliam Darcy asked Mrs. Reynolds to prepare the blue bedroom for Miss Bennet. Nobody has ever been invited to stay in the blue Bedroom while in Pemberley .

The blue bedroom has been Fitzwilliam and Georgiana very special project for the last five years.

They had said nothing to anybody but the staff knew it was what they wanted as a bedroom for the future mistress of Pemberley.

And of course the whole staff has been looking out of a front window when Miss Darcy came back from Lambton in company. The old couple was immediately discounted. Not the brown haired young Lady who came out of the carriage helping a very pale and distressed looking Georgiana Darcy.

Everybody noted the difference between her attitude and the Bingley Sisters' who swarmed Georgiana the second she came out of the carriage. Of course they said they were distressed to see her in such a dire straight but, as usual, their eyes were plotting and the ugly stares they shot toward the young Lady was a sign that they did not like her.

And to be disliked by the Bingley sisters, if not a difficult achievement, was an excellent sign for the whole staff.

Somebody Caroline Bingley disliked would, probably, be a kind and lovable person...

And within two hours, everybody knew she was a lovable, gentle and caring person.

Strong willed also since, even while Georgiana was willing to let herself be grabbed by the Bingley sisters, she stood her ground and politely but strongly hushed the two harpies away and brought Georgiana to her room to rest and to refresh.

And when Georgiana asked her to stay with her, she accepted but not before speaking of it with her aunt.

A gentle and well bred young Lady, indeed.

Of course the staff went immediately into active surveillance phase.

If this young Lady was to become the next Mistress of Pemberley everything about her was of the greatest interest.

Maids were dispatched to Lambton to squeeze the staff of the inn for all available information and footmen and maids were placed everywhere were the young Lady and her parents could possibly go while in Pemberley.

Every conversation would be heard and reported to Mrs. Reynolds in a first phase and to everybody else in the following news-spreading phases.

Luckily for her, but unluckily for the staff, Georgiana was not really unwell but only distressed and the two young Ladies had no need for the help of a maid the whole hour they stayed within Georgiana's room.

But the few minutes were maids brought new clothes, tea and refreshments for Georgiana and her guest were sufficient to get the essence of their exchanges.

So most of what they said would remain a secret but the important things were known immediately.

The young Lady shew no unseemly arrogance and never stopped to speak to Georgiana when a member of the Staff entered the room. The first time she asked Georgiana what were the traditions of the House concerning members of the staff and when Georgiana had assured her that the staff could be trusted, she went on with her conversation without even a lull in her speech.

More to the point, the young Lady smiled to the maids and the young Lady thanked them every time she was served.

Caroline Bingley never smiled and never thanked.

She always stopped what she was saying but never acknowledged the presence of a member of the staff. She just waited till the inconvenience ended.

For Caroline Bingley, staff were not people. They were servants.

For Miss Bennet it was quite the contrary. They still were servants but they felt themselves more like trusted members of the household.

And the news brought back from Lambton confirmed everything the direct observations had brought out.

The young Lady was gentle with everybody of the staff, not demanding and easygoing. She knew the names of every staff member she had encountered once and she had, on two occasions, played with the two younger daughters of the Innkeeper. She was not shy and had been witnessed sparring with Old Grumbey, the Inn's steward, about the way he looked after the horses...

All in all, the staff was rather satisfied with everything they had learned about Miss Bennet.

Of course the information gathering was going on and the next days would bring other details of her new mistress' life and family but, for now, they knew the two points that were important: Caroline Bingley was out of the race --the sigh of relief of Pemberley's staff was loud enough to be heard till Derby-- and the Lady who had caught theirs master's fancy was a good-humored easy-going well-bred young Lady with no delusion of grandeur and not the slightest trace of heir-huntress in her.

"I must insist, Sir, there are circumstances where a perfect appearance can make the difference between success and failure..."

Darcy could only laugh.

"No chance for that, Flinch. Last time I proposed I was perfectly attired and she gave not a damn to it..."

Flinch could only snort. He knew perfectly well that last time his master was perfectly attired. They had spend two hours in his dressing room going from one set to the other.

And all or nothing.

"Last April, in Rosings, I suppose, Sir?"

Darcy looked out of the bathroom. Rather astonished.

"Indeed, how did you know?"

"It was the first time in our whole being-together that you shouted at me, Sir. Twice! Before, while choosing the proper dress and after when you came back drenched and distressed. We all remember with dread the following three months..."

Darcy could only make a grimace.

"Sorry for the inconvenience. I was rather not myself those days..."

Those weeks, rectified Flinch, but now with a little luck everything will straighten up.

"If you are ready, Sir, I am too. We have still five minutes to dress. With the help of a little miracle, there's a chance my good name will survive this evening."

"Five minutes it is!"


Elizabeth was not as calm as she would have liked.

She had known that Miss Darcy's invitation was about more than just comforting a distressed young Lady, even if the young Lady was really distressed and more than once at the brink of dissolving into tears.

There was something else in her eyes.

She was distressed and even scared. But she was also looking at her with such longing in her eyes that some hope has began to creep into Elizabeth's mind.

Could it be possible that he still held feelings for her?

That even after her hateful words last April he still would have her?

She could not really believe it but Georgiana's eyes could not be interpreted differently. There was hope and pleasure in her eyes. Even relief of a sort...

Elizabeth looked at her aunt.

"Do you have any idea why Mr. Darcy wants to see me?"

Her aunt's gaze was full of disbelief.

"Dear, I do believe you know very well why Mr. Darcy wants to see you. Why would a man ask your uncle to organize a meeting with you in a room where he could have privacy while under the eyes of the parents of the Lady? It seems evident that he has something very important to ask you, Dear, and I'm sure you have a better idea of what the matter of the question will be than I..."

Elizabeth could only pout.

"I have no idea, aunt. Really... Mr. Darcy and me have had a..." She hesitated. "A dispute, some months ago. And meanwhile we have not seen each other, not even have we had news from each other. I really cannot fathom why he would like to speak to me..."

Aunt Gardiner looked at her with a smile on her lips and in her eyes.

"You'll know very soon, now. I do believe I hear somebody running in the hall. Would it be Mr? Darcy trying to be here in time?"

She closed the distance between her and her niece and gave her a kiss.

"If in doubt,dear Elizabeth," whispered she, "take the initiative and ask your own questions. You'll see, it will soften the stress..."


Darcy stopped running just in front of the parlor.

He took a lungful of fresh air and walked in.

He bowed toward Mr. And Mrs. Gardiner and while walking to Elizabeth he felt his knees being made of an unknown and spongy matter and his throat becoming as dry as paper.

He bowed before looking her in the eyes.

They were as beautiful as in his memories. He could lose himself in them.

He longed to lose himself in them for the rest of his life.

"Mr. Darcy" curtsied Elizabeth. "You wanted to speak to me?"

"Yes indeed, Miss Elizabeth. "I asked your uncle to organize a meeting between us... I... We..."

She looked at him and decided that she was not willing to let him wreck her next proposal.

""Could it be, Sir, that the present meeting have been organized in order to give you the possibility to ask me a question?"

Darcy looked at her with astonishment in his eyes.

"One could say so" agreed he.

"Could it be, furthermore, that the question you want to ask, was already asked some months earlier?"

Astonishment gave way to stupefaction and --to Elizabeth's relief-- pleasure.

"One could say that this is also true..."

Elizabeth took a deep breath.

"Could it be then that a "Yes" to said question would be your wished answer?"

"Indeed, it could be" said Darcy with a smile on his lips.

"Then" said Elizabeth, "let me invite you to go on asking your question since I do believe there is this unique possibility that you will get the wished-for answer."

Darcy smiled at her in a way she could not believe possible. He, the dark, distant, haughty fellow who never was seen smiling just lit up from within while offering her the most beautiful smile in the world.

Yes, he was handsome but when he smiled he was gorgeous and she knew that had he only smiled to her in such a fashion in Rosings, he would have replaced the sun for the rest of her life...

Her heart was bursting in her chest and she saw him go on his knees.

"Miss Elizabeth, I know I have..."

She interrupted him with a finger on his lips.

"Your question, Sir?"

He smiled again, took her hand and kissed it.

"Will you accept my hand and marry me, Elizabeth Bennet?"

She let her smile take unknown proportions.

"I will, Mr. Darcy. I will..."

She helped him to stand up and his lips were against hers in not enough time for Mr. Gardiner to protest.

He opened his mouth but Mrs. Gardiner stopped him right there with a finger on his lips and a smile on her face. She spelled the next words in the silence of the parlor.

"Let them have a few minutes. They are engaged, no?"

M. Gardiner looked at the embracing couple and his angry grimace was denied by his smiling eyes.

"One minute, not a second more" whispered he. "What will her parents think of us if they ever know what happened in this parlor..."

She chose not to answer.

She knew exactly how her sister would have reacted.

And it was a great blessing for her ears that she would be miles away when she learned of it.

And since this was Elizabeth she was sure that Mr. Bennet would have been prone to close both eyes while his daughter and her fiancé had such unseemly behavior.

She shared a smile with her husband and they made every effort to stay invisible for as long as possible.

Then Mr. Gardiner looked at the clock and took a long breath.

He knew this next cough would have to be loud and sound if it had to be of any use.


Next chapter: Spreading news