Darcy hovered close to the doorway of the sitting room, grateful that Mrs Hurst's enthusiastic request for dancing had been shouted down by other people, and saving him the difficult task of appearing rude or succumbing to the fate of dancing when he did not wish to. The notion of music had not been so easily abandoned, however, and each lady had taken her turn at the pianoforte. Even Elizabeth, who played haltingly, but received cursory praise from the ladies, and enthusiastic whoops of applause from both he and Mr Bingley.
Bingley joined Darcy in the corner he had claimed as his own.
"What fine talent our womenfolk possess, Darcy," he remarked, saluting Georgiana with a smile, which was returned as the pace of her piece increased in tandem.
Darcy nodded. He had hoped he might secure his sister for some moments' quiet conversation, but she was bound to the piano. If he had not known better he might have believed her set on avoiding him, but no, that was a nonsense. Georgiana played because she loved to, and she was a fixture at the piano because everybody else loved to hear her too. She was the most skilled, the most naturally talented of all the ladies present, so it was perfectly understandable that she should be the most in-demand performer.
Bingley seemed to notice some unspoken tension in his friend and nodded towards the doorway.
"Shall we take a walk, Darcy? Come, let's see if we can rustle up something palatable to drink."
Darcy did not remind his friend that there was a fairly well-stocked drinks cabinet in that very room, guarded as if a personal treasure by Mr Hurst, but instead followed him out into the dim corridor, the sound of Georgina's playing receding as they walked.
"How is your cousin?" Bingley asked, as soon as they were far enough away that they would not be overheard. "And Wickham?"
"Anne is well, I believe. I feared for her health on the journey, but she seems to have rallied, being settled in one place. And, at Pemberley, she might have all the notions necessary to her care without any great hardship. Wickham is…" he sighed, expansively, summing up his complex thoughts about his friends in the gesture. "Wickham."
Bingley nodded, a grim smile lighting his countenance.
"He says everything one might expect him to say, claiming to have changed, to be fixed with all certainty upon improving his position through hard work, study, application of his not-inconsiderable wits to good, sensible work."
"You do not believe him?"
"I believe his intentions are good, this time." Darcy shrugged. "But I also believe he lacks in discipline. He will fail at the first hurdle. The first enticement from a friend to return to his previous ways, of drinking and gambling and women…" he shook his head. "I cannot keep him under lock and key. He must want to change, and having decided, he must change."
"I am sure your housing them at Pemberley will assist him in his goals." Bingley smiled. "And you know Georgiana is welcome to stay here as long as she wishes."
"Yes, Georgiana…" Darcy sighed. "Tell me, how is she, really?"
"Charming!" Bingley laughed. "Of course, I am biased. Had I a sister so charming as yours, Darcy, my life would be altogether happier."
"If you were happier, Charles, your feet would scarcely touch the ground," Darcy grumbled, nonetheless pleased to see his friend's admiration of Georgiana. "She does not seem unduly melancholy, then?"
Bingley shook his head.
"You told her about Wickham?"
"Had to." Bingley pulled a face. "She overheard a conversation with Caroline, and there was nothing for it but to confess what we knew. She took the news well, though. She was surprised, of course, but there were no tears, no fits of pique." He shook his head, slowly. "If I did not know of all that had transpired between them, I would think her indifferent, truly."
"That is good," Darcy said, mechanically. He did not want to see Georgiana upset, but he could not quite shake the fear that all was not entirely as it appeared. He himself was adept at hiding his true feelings and feared his sister merely concealing her anguish. He was learning, slowly, that such concealment was not conducive to good health or a happy life: he wished to spare his sister such a lesson.
"I think she misses Pemberley," Bingley commented, after a few moments of silence.
"It is her home, Darcy, she ought not to be uprooted and forced out of it, no matter the circumstances."
"No." Darcy drew in a breath. "If her feelings are as you say, if she is truly accepting of the state of things between Wickham and Anne, there seems little enough reason to keep her at arm's length." He smiled. "In truth, I have missed her. I long for her and Elizabeth to be close friends, I think they both will benefit from such a relationship. My wife is used to being one of five, I do not doubt she is lacking for female companionship, and my sister is too prone to isolation. I have long wished her to find more and better society."
"And so you have done the decent thing and married it. What a fine brother you are!" Charles guffawed at his own joke, and Darcy permitted a wry smile in acknowledgement of his friend's superior wit.
"Remedial repairs to the Lodge are almost complete. Perhaps then, once Wickham and Anne are settled and need not remain under the same roof, Georgiana will be more than happy to come back. What do you think?"
"It's a sensible suggestion." Bingley's ear cocked towards the sitting room. "But I am the wrong person with whom to raise it. Listen, it sounds as if the performance has finished. Let us steal Miss Georgiana away from her rapturous audience and you might ask her yourself…"