Lizzy nodded her head, wondering just how red her face was. "I think we might have to... um, expand our plan now that people we really do wish to convince are here."
Darcy studied the floor. "What if we took them to you fathers house sometime? Mrs. Bennet could surly convince them, if we do not succeed."
"That is brilliant! My mothers constant talk will either drive them batty, or erase all doubt!" Darcy grinned at her, and handed back the book she had left next to her chair. "You finished the other one earlier, I thought you might wish to have this, since I stopped you in the middle." Lizzy blushed again, thinking of what had happened just a few hours before, in the Library. His smile only grew wider at this, which caused her blush to deepen. They both turned as the parlor door opened. "Colonel Fitzwilliam, and Miss. Darcy." The young maid said, holding the door for them to enter. They smiled and bowed, and introductions were made before all were seated at Lizzy's request. Georgiana thanked her brother for not making her wait until they arrived at Pemberly to meet his wife, and Darcy placed a kiss on the top of her head, making the poor thing blush just as violently as Lizzy had, moments before. Colonel Fitzwilliam was very quiet, and never once smiled, particularly not at her. The weather, the roads, and other small talk were the only conversation, and mostly between Georgiana and Darcy. Again, the door opened, bringing them all to their feet. "Beg pardon, but the Mistress would like to speak with Mrs. Darcy, immediately." Jane's chambermaid said, curtsying low. Lizzy quickly followed her, leaving the rest of the room's occupants on their own.
Darcy wondered what was the matter with his cousin, as the man had hardly spoken a word the entire time they had been in the room. "So that is Mrs. Darcy. I must say, Will, she is not what I expected." Darcy was jerked from his thoughts by Richard's voice. "I portrayed her somewhat differently in my letter, she has been very quiet this morning." Richard smirked at this. What was his problem? He was behaving very strangely. Darcy endured a few more minutes of this non-conversation before Bingley arrived. Colonel Fitzwilliam struck up a lively discussion about the merits of the shooting at Netherfield, and Georgiana began to question him closely about Lizzy. After five minutes or so, Jane entered, curtsied, and offered to have them taken to their rooms. They gratefully accepted, and so Darcy was left to his own devices. Glancing about the room, he noticed Lizzy's book lying on the table. A fleeting smile crossed his face as he picked it up and headed for his room. Upon entering, he found her engrossed in a discussion with her maid, and not in any state of decency. Lizzy spotted him in the mirror and abruptly stopped speaking, blushing bright red at being caught in such a state. "That will be all for now, thank you, ____." Darcy dismissed her with a smile. His wife kept her eyes firmly on the vanity before her as he took a seat on the settee that, fortunately, sat with it's back to Lizzy's seat. He hadn't expected to see his wife wearing that little clothing for a very long time. "I brought you book." Darcy said quietly, determined to keep his eyes away from her, for once. "Thank you, Darcy." Lizzy said, in a perfectly unaffected tone of voice, leaving him wondering what on earth she was doing. He stood; now that his mission had been accomplished he could leave. With one final glance in her direction, he made his way to the study. A glass of brandy was just what he needed.
Georgiana sat on the settee in Colonel Fitzwilliam's room, looking sadly down at her hands. Her cousin sat across from her, and he too was silent. "I just can't believe that he would do such a thing, Richard, and certainly not that he would lie about it. It is not like him!" She suddenly said, lifting her head to look him directly in the eye. Richard sighed. "I know, Georgie, but what else could it be? If they were really married, they would not be pretending anything, now would they?"
Georgie bit her lip and shook her head. When they had first arrived, the manservant at the door had them wait in the hall while he went to fetch Mr. Bingley. They had stood patiently for a while before hearing voices from the door they were next to. Georgie heard her brother's voice, and hurried toward the door, meaning to go in and greet him, but what she heard from the other side stopped her. She hadn't meant to listen in, at first, but what she heard so shocked her that she not only listened closely, but also called Richard over to hear it as well. The entirety of her brother's conversation with the strange young woman was a complete and utter shock to them both. It sounded as if the girl he said he had married was not, in fact, his wife! Georgie and Richard decided to say nothing at the moment, and discuss it more at a later date. They were now discussing it, and concluded that it would be for the best to inform Lady Catherine of what they had heard. Georgie was reviewing the conversation they had overheard, when they were called to dinner. She had a difficult time looking at either Will or Lizzy all through the meal, and went to bed soon after.