Elizabeth didn't relish the thought of informing Mrs. Wainwright of the children's acquaintance with Lady Cavendish, but did it sooner than later. As expected Mrs. Wainwright was elated at this new connection of hers, and proceeded to call on Lady Cavendish and invite her for tea.
Her Ladyship wasn't exceedingly proud, Elizabeth had soon discovered, but exceedingly shy and didn't seem quite at ease when she was having tea with Mrs. Wainwright and Mrs. Swanson. There was something faintly familiar about her Elizabeth couldn't put a finger on, for she was sure they hadn't met before. There was something about Lady Cavendish's face and gestures... and her voice, a very light trace of accent in her speech that betrayed she hadn't always lived in town. Where, really, she had no idea and no plans to enquiry for such personal information.
During the little Elizabeth saw of her in her visits Lady Cavendish never spoke much with her host and fellow guests, and seemed to favour musical soirées over balls or fashions as a topic of conversation, and definitely over gossip. Once she even played the piano with both proficiency and enthusiasm, with a thorough enjoyment that was sadly mistaken by the present company. But what Lady Cavendish never left the Wainwright home without doing, regardless of the hour or day of her visit, was going up to the children's room and chatting a little with Elizabeth and Josephine. Such deference was always heartfelt by both the governess and the girl, whom had by now developed a particular affection for the young Lady.
As it was his habit, Mr. Darcy had left town for Derbyshire before the summer had started and planned on staying at least for several months. Pemberley was in order and he enjoyed himself there, and the all small little routines that disfigured themselves so easily when he was in town, except, perhaps, the carefully planning of meeting Elizabeth. He was so mindful of when he saw her and he would see her next, that he had even said goodbye last time they had met... serendipitously, of course.
While in Pemberley he kept a regular correspondence with his sister, which contained all the loving minutiae of a young mother discovering the world through her son's eyes as well as other observations concerning Georgiana's interests. She would often mention music and ask him for sheets of scores kept in Pemberley, or would review the botanical species of the Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park. Sometimes she would even include a sketch of young Darcy playing in the grass or a flower or leaf.
Mr. Darcy placed large importance in his sister's letters. They showed that his sister was happy, and he delighted in her quiet enthusiasm of life.
Georgiana's latest letter contained an unusual passage referring to a conversation Georgiana had overheard (or at least seemed to have developed without her) Mrs. Annesley having with someone else. This person, a woman from what he could tell, had told Mrs. Annesley she preferred being in a paid position to an unhappy marriage; she could change employers more easily than husbands without resourcing to murder, this person joked and Georgiana duly reported. Mr. Darcy supposed this was probably a chaperone or lady in waiting, much as Mrs. Annesley herself (who was actually a widow), and wondered why Georgiana had been so caught in the rapport. Georgiana concluded the passage observing that the woman in question seemed contented in her position and wondered how her own life would be if she had had to work.
Mr. Darcy was a little puzzled by this segment of Georgiana's letter, but he considered it in his reply. He told his sister that he could understand someone not wanting to be involved in a bad marriage, and that this person had probably witnessed either unhappy couples or the hardships of maintaining a family (here Mr. Darcy thought of their own parents but didn't mentioned them), but he could hardly understand someone who preferred working to being married at all.
Georgiana replied in turn, that it had seemed to her the reluctance had been brought by reprehensible suitors rather than repulsion to the institution of marriage, and they didn't mention the subject again.