Another milestone, Cinder Lizzy just eclipsed Times Up as my most favourited ff story. Don't forget you can still read Times Up for free if you have an Amazon Prime subscription.
This is an M rated story. As such, it is hidden from casual view. You will need to select 'M' in the Ratings category using the Filters button and re-search to find it.
Thanks MayBelle5, I had noticed that continuity error and fixed it in the master but not yet online. At your prompting, I have done so now, with a slight change to chapter 33.
Suggestions for the title of chapter 36 were:
"Becoming Friends" by FatPatricia515,
"Renewing Friendship" by Kaohing,
"friendship afire", "Inquisition" by auladarcy,
"Waterfall Redoux!" by BettyMaryLou,
"It's all about trust" by justafan,
"Chasing Waterfalls" by SacredwomanY2K,
"Unleashing the dragon",
"Starting to Blaze / Lighting a Fire" by LMFG,
"Friends Without Benefits? by Clara84,
"I was in the middle before I knew I had begun." by nanciellen,
"Awakening a Sleeping Dragon" by MrsSP9,
"A friendship with benefits" by Levenez,
"Beyond the Cascade" by Lee3619,
"A cascading moment" by Angelicsailor,
"Beginning again",
"I'm telling you my friend that I'll get you in the end",
"Loved of all ladies, only you excepted",
"I would not wish any companion in the world but you" by suddenlysingle,
"Cascade of feelings", "Between a rock and a warm embrace",
"Vortex", "Friends with benefits" by guest,
"Kiss and tell" by vaarin,
"Unleashed the Dragon" by b-sepulveda-m,
"The Shades of Pemberley: The Importance of Colours" OR "Pemberleys Colours"; "To be or not to be (friends)" by beaty,
"Hidden figures" by DizzyLizzy60,
"Kissing Cousins" by MerytonMiss
There were some very good ones there: I laughed at "Between a rock and a warm embrace" and was taken by "Hidden figures" by DizzyLizzy60—very topical with NASA's tepid attempt at gender equity street naming. I thought of "The shape of water" and "Stuck in the middle"—a great Gerry Rafferty song. I'll go with the latter, inspired by nanciellen's entry.
Chapter 37 In the driving seat
After they had extracted themselves from the cascade, Darcy offered to show Lizzy the spot where the Gardiners were fishing. They had got themselves a little dirty in their refuge but for the most part, the muck brushed off. As they tidied themselves, Lizzy commented on how lucky they were that Georgie had not thought to look for them behind the cascade, to which Darcy replied that he was the only person in his family who knew of the hiding spot.
"How came it to be there?" mused Lizzy. "It must surely have been designed by the architect?"
"Of course," replied Darcy. "It is on the drawings for the gardens but my father never seemed to be aware of it. He certainly never thought to look for me there. Perhaps the architect neglected to point it out to him, or perhaps he merely forgot about it—he was always very busy."
"And you just discovered it by accident?"
"Yes, when I was trying to catch the turtle in the pond. I was looking for something to scoop it up in."
"Poor turtle. I hope it eluded you."
"It did. But it didn't escape the chef. It was a green turtle, brought from the Indies for soup*. I found it in the kitchen and released it into the pond as my pet. I kept it there for a whole month. Unfortunately the game was up when Mrs Reynolds found me trying to catch it once more with my straw hat."
"Ah! I expect the hat did not survive that incident."
"It did not. The misshapen thing was given to one of the tenants' boys who wore it to bits."
"And so you subsequently hid from your tutor behind the cascade..." prompted Lizzy, fascinated that she was finally getting him to talk openly.
"Not really," said Darcy. "I mainly went there to be alone after Mother died."
He had said no more on the subject and Lizzy had not asked since it had clearly been a painful time for him, but they had chatted about more innocuous topics such as the age and design of the gardens. The way to the Gardiners at the river seemed quite long. It was only over the next few days, as she came to know the environs of the manor house a little better, that Lizzy realised they had taken a very roundabout path.
Mrs Gardiner shot Lizzy a quizzical look when the wanderers, ensconced in their own conversation, finally came upon the fishermen. She had immediately noticed the hem of Lizzy's muslin gown, tinted with the dark green of slime, and the matching mark on the right knee of Darcy's breeches. But she said not a word about it.
During his morning's sport, Mr Gardiner had caught one sizeable fish, which he thought a paltry effort. But Darcy assured him it was a very good catch, for the fish in the upper reaches of the Wye and its tributaries were very canny. They had taken it back to the house for their dinner in the rush basket Darcy had supplied.
The Gardiners had gone off to Lambton after lunch to check their children were not overwhelming the aunts. It had been their original intention to take Lizzy's carriage, but as Mrs Annesley had to be retrieved from the stagecoach in Lambton, it was agreed to combine both trips into one. Feeling rather grand, the Gardiners set off in the larger Darcy coach, attended by two footmen and the head coachman.
As Darcy needed to check on the progress of the harvest, he offered to show the remaining visitors about the estate. It was such a pleasant day, they all went out in Georgie's phaeton, with the ladies carrying tiny parasols to shade their faces.
The wheat in the first field they visited was already bound up in sheaves, being loaded onto a cart to be taken for threshing. Freddy at first wondered that most of the workforce were women and children, but Darcy explained that they were not fieldworkers but merely walking behind the cart, gleaning the ears that had escaped the scythes or fallen from the sheaves for their own stores, as was their right.
"Oh! We call those 'the leazings' down south!" added Lizzy. "When I was small, I once helped the tenant children gather them when I went out with my father. I got very scratched and dirty, much to my mother's disgust, and she never let me venture out with Papa at harvest time again."
Lizzy was definitely more pleased with Darcy's behaviour during their excursion. She felt he was no longer pointedly ignoring her. On the outward trip, he sat next to Freddy on the forward seat and chatted amiably, much in the manner he had adopted at the opera house. On the return trip, he suggested Freddy sit next to Georgie on the back seat, as if he were granting them a great favour. Darcy then handed Lizzy into the carriage and sat on the forward seat beside her. All the way back, she could feel the heat radiating from his leg beside her. She rather fancied he was vibrating like a harp string.
As for Freddy, he found the whole trip very educational—partly because he had long suspected that Darcy was partial to his cousin; but also because it gave him a glimpse of a world far away from his own, a different, older England being eclipsed by steam engines, coal, and goods imported from over seas.
On the journey back to the manor house afterwards, Bear was mentioned again and the tourists descended from the phaeton at the stables so that Lizzy might be reacquainted with the dog. Darcy explained how Bear had made his home in the coach house, being too lumbering, dirty, and stupid to be admitted to the manor house. The head groom and coachman had apartments in the loft of the outbuilding. The dog was rather attached to the head groom and followed him around for the best part of the day. For the rest of his daylight hours, Bear dug holes and chased rabbits, but he had found time in his busy schedule to accompany Darcy out on his daily morning ride since his master's return to Pemberley for the summer.
As soon as the phaeton stopped, the groom walked out to meet it and Bear appeared from nowhere to greet the promising new arrivals. Lizzy was pleased to see he had at least gained some manners, for he did not attempt to jump up at them, as he had done in London. He merely gave them all a good sniff.
"You are not stupid, are you?" Georgie asked Bear in a childish bass voice, scruffing behind the dog's ears.
"Definitely not!" asserted Lizzy, rushing to his defence. "Why, he recognised me immediately!"
"I will give him that," conceded Darcy. "He knows which side his bread is buttered on. Definitely not a slow top in that area, are you, Bear?"
Bear gave a bark and panted appreciatively at the attention he was receiving.
When Lizzy expressed admiration for the stables—far more elegant than their counterparts at Longbourn, Darcy offered to show her around. Georgie was about to join the tour when Freddy offered his elbow to walk her back to the house. His raised eyebrow was enough to allow Miss Darcy to twig to his motive.
"Oh, yes!" offered Georgie. "I am feeling a little tired after our outing."
She then completely belied her words by doing a little hop and skip to join him. "See you back at the house, Elizabeth!"
Elizabeth and Darcy walked past a line of stalls and an open area for accommodating visiting carriages before they came upon the tack room and a series of loose boxes for the Pemberley horses. It was as pretty and organised as a house—a far cry from the tumbledown stables at Longbourn or any of the affairs one typically saw at posting houses. Bear returned to a straw-filled kennel to observe the proceedings as horses were named, and carrots and apples were offered. Outside in the sunshine, the groom and two stable hands were unharnessing the phaeton.
"Would you care to go riding with me tomorrow morning?" asked Darcy. "I could mount you on this pretty behaved mare."
"Oh, no!" shuddered Lizzy. "As much as I enjoy the morning air, I am no horsewoman."
Being an avid rider, Darcy was a trifle disappointed, but as they passed into the carriage house, his eye soon fell on his curricle—a very smart vehicle always kept highly polished by the coachman. "Then do you drive? We could perhaps go out after breakfast to a different part of the estate—the drive by the river is very pleasant."
"I am ashamed to admit that I cannot drive either," said Lizzy. "We only had the two horses and a coach at Longbourn, you see."
"Well, I was offering to do the driving myself," amended Darcy. "But I would be very glad to teach you."
Lizzy looked at the high curricle rather dubiously. She could imagine herself taking a wheel off on a gate, as she had once seen Mr Goulding do, trying to drive to an inch at a good clip.*
Noticing Lizzy's lack of enthusiasm as he led a horse past them, the head groom sought to remind the master of something he might have forgotten.
"There is still your old gig, sir, in the back. I could dust that off for tomorrow, if you like."
"Ah!" said Darcy. "I had forgotten about that. What do you say, Miss Bennet? The gig is drawn by a single horse and is much lower to the ground than the curricle. My father bought it for me when I wrecked my whisky.*"
"You wrecked your whisky?" asked Lizzy in mock alarm. "Perhaps I need a different teacher!"
"Twas not his fault at all, ma'am," interpolated the groom. "A rabid dog spooked the pony, and the vehicle was too lightweight to survive the subsequent ruckus when it tried to defend itself."
"Thank you for my driving history, John," said Darcy pointedly. "I can assure you, Miss Bennet—it was my one and only accident."
Outnumbered, Lizzy was forced to concede. The assignation was made for after breakfast. The pair walked slowly back towards the house together, taking a detour to view the lake.
By the time they neared the front steps, the Darcy carriage could be seen descending the drive and they lingered there to greet the returning Gardiners and the newcomer Mrs Annesley.
Georgie's former companion was a well dressed middle-aged lady, still in good health, who was chatting away with Mrs Gardiner as if they were old friends when the carriage pulled up. She had only a small trunk, so Lizzy was surprised over the next few weeks to see how well she contrived to appear in different outfits with an array of tuckers, kerchiefs and different coloured ribbons.
Lizzy had never met a companion before, nor had the Bennet sisters ever had a governess, but her sympathies were immediately extended to Mrs Annesley. She felt sorry for any lady who had to maintain authority over her charges while earning her bread—she imagined it must be incredibly difficult.
But when they all sat down to dinner a few hours later, Lizzy was pleased to find that Georgie was scrupulously polite to her old companion, despite resenting her presence.
The next morning set the pattern for the subsequent days. After breakfast, Georgie retired to the drawing room for her piano practice, with Freddy and Mrs Annesley in tow. At first, Freddy pored over the prospectus for the business he would be assessing in Manchester while Georgie's companion sat by with her tatting. But when Mrs Annesley fell asleep as Georgie played an adagio, Freddy took the opportunity to sneak over to his betrothed to kiss her on the back of the neck.
He was motivated at first by sheer mischief and a wish to remove the pout from Georgie's face. But the game so suited a lover of pirate novels that he found himself wanting to continue. For the next few weeks, the happy couple managed to surreptitiously kiss and cuddle each other playfully under the very nose of Georgie's companion.
Elizabeth was a little nervous during her first driving lesson. When Darcy sat beside her in the gig—which was indeed a very petite one, suitable for one stout fellow—they found themselves in quite close quarters, with their thighs touching. Upon glancing down to adjust her skirts, Lizzy's attention was drawn to Darcy's thighs, which were clad in very well fitting breeches. Tearing her eyes away, Lizzy could not but continue to be conscious of the spectacle, for Darcy's leg constantly reminded her of its presence by radiating warmth like a hearth. She tried to concentrate on her lesson but it was very distracting.
The groom had harnessed a very sedate cart horse, which practically did all the driving itself. It only remained for Lizzy to request it to 'walk' and 'whoa'. But she spent all her time fumbling with the ribbons and fluffed her one attempt at a turn.
In the afternoon, Darcy taught her how to handle the gig's driving whip. Reassured at finding herself once more on solid ground, Lizzy did much better at this.
On the second day, a more sprightly horse was harnessed and by the third day Lizzy was flying up and down the front drive, turning competently at the ends.
From the manor house, Mrs Gardiner watched the progress each day before joining her husband on the banks of the Derwent. She began to formulate her plans.
"Edward, do you suppose we might go to the Lakes after all?"
"Well, if Mr Darcy should invite as to Pemberley again, I suppose we could venture a bit further before returning to London."
"But we have over three weeks before we must return. My aunts are doing so well with the children. Do you not think we might have time to go as far as the Lakes if we travel with Freddy when he goes to Manchester on Monday?"
"But, Margaret, what can you be thinking? Surely Mr Darcy would be offended if we went careering off all over the country when we have been invited to stay here?"
"Edward, it was very nice of Mr Darcy to invite us to Pemberley. Indeed, I did not expect as much based on our flimsy acquaintance. Do you not think that he perhaps had another design in inviting us at all?"
"Please don't speak in riddles, Margaret. You will have to be more plain with me."
"I think Mr Darcy has a tendre for Lizzy, Edward. Did you notice how awkward they were together when we first arrived? And then Lizzy was so strange after the baron's death. I could not understand how it had affected her so, but then I began to suspect something had happened when she visited Mary. Don't you think it was rather extraordinary that Mr Darcy did all those things for Mary?—arranging the servants and the bath..."
"That is a lot of thinking, Margaret. I can see you have spent too much time fishing. Where is all this going?"
"I think they would get on better if we left them alone for a couple of weeks, Edward."
"If what you say is true, isn't it our duty to stay here to chaperone?"
"Oh, Edward! Elizabeth is twenty-one and quite capable of looking after herself. Don't be so gothic! Who chaperoned us?"
Mr Gardiner considered this. "I suppose Mr Darcy is an honourable man and it would be an excellent match if it happened. I just hope he will not be offended by us going off."
Meanwhile, after spending their first few driving lessons circumnavigating the tracks near the manor house, Lizzy and Darcy were out on their first country drive. Lizzy had been all concentration as she drove down a pretty lane by the river, but once they reached more open country, they continued the conversation they had started yesterday, of the time after his father's death when Darcy found himself master of Pemberley at the age of twenty.
"It must have come as a shock," said Lizzy sympathetically. "So sudden! In the prime of his life!"
"My father was never the same after my mother's death. They were very much in love. The doctor was indeed surprised that Father died of the influenza, but Mrs Reynolds says he died of a broken heart. My parents' marriage was a truly felicitous one. That is the reason I have been so careful when looking about me—their marriage is my model."
Lizzy did not wish to voice the converse—that her aversion to matrimony stemmed from her own parental model. So she chose a different tack: "I suppose some people are very careless in choosing a partner. I was very shocked by Charlotte's story—that Mr Goulding proposed to her from sheer pique when Jane became engaged to Mr Bingley."
"Is that so?" asked Darcy. "I did not realise. I hope they will be happy in their marriage but I fear it may not be the case."
"Exactly. So, in the interests of getting to know each other better, I think we need to be completely frank with one another."
"I have no objection to the truth," replied Darcy.
"So tell me," said Lizzy. "Do you keep an opera dancer?"
"Heavens, no!" he replied.
"And have you ever frequented the brothels near Covent Garden or anywhere else?"
Beside her, Lizzy felt Darcy stiffen. "Surely, at twenty-nine, you would not expect me to be inexperienced?" he enquired.
She glanced sideways at him before returning her eyes to the road. "Surely, at twenty-one, you would be outraged if I was anything but?"
"I see your point," he said humbly. He paused before going on, obviously choosing his words: "I certainly have not frequented such places, but I have been in them. Know that it is my intention never again to enter such a place once I am married."
"When was the last time you used such a place?" asked Lizzy.
Darcy shifted uncomfortably. "Last year when Richard was on leave. He had his birthday party at a place in Pall Mall."
"Colonel Fitzwilliam?" asked Lizzy.
Darcy nodded glumly. What other questions was she going to ask?
"And should I ever be with child—would you use such a place?"
"Heavens, no! There are ways to be intimate with a lady, even when she is with child..."
"Are there?" said Lizzy. "Because there seem to be quite a few gentlemen who are not acquainted with them."
"How do you know these things?" asked Darcy.
"You would be surprised at what ladies chat about when they are supposed to be showing you their watercolours," observed Lizzy, taking a sly glance at him.
Darcy merely raised his right eyebrow.
He offered to take the reins for a moment when they came to a shallow ford—the carriage had to be taken through it at speed to avoid being stuck in the mud.
"And those places," said Lizzy, once the reins were transferred back to her, "I have heard the women in them have diseases..."
"I can assure you, I have been most careful," said Darcy. "If you are really worried, I can have my doctor produce a certificate before the settlement."
"Your word will suffice," replied Lizzy as they crested a hill.
They drove on in silence before Lizzy got to the one thing that had been particularly bothering her. "The first time, does it hurt? Because I have heard that it does."
"Did Jane tell you this?" asked Darcy.
"Oh, no!" declared Lizzy. "She said it was wonderful! But you can never really rely on Jane—sometimes she is so caught up in determinedly seeing the best in everything that she seems to notice nothing!"
"I have heard that it can be painful for a lady," replied Darcy carefully, "but I have no direct experience. I would say it is largely dependent on the consideration of the gentleman."
"Oh," said Lizzy.
They were driving beside another field where wheat was being scythed. Darcy asked Lizzy if she would stop the carriage so that he might get down for a moment to pass on information from his steward regarding the threshing.
When Darcy returned, Lizzy decided to change the topic of conversation. While she had by no means exhausted the topic, she did not wish to harry him with too many questions at once. So she spoke again of the harvest at Longbourn, and segued into some humorous anecdotes of her her childhood.
Darcy had some anecdotes of his own, one of which involved George Wickham. They had both had their behinds tanned* for ruining their clothes, pelting each other with mulberries. Darcy insisted that Wickham had started the fight.
When Mr Gardiner raised the idea of taking the opportunity to travel further to the Lakes at dinner, Mr Darcy was not offended. He even went so far as to offer the Gardiners the Darcy coach for their journey. This they graciously declined. Freddy's valet was only taking a carpet bag to Manchester, so they would not be overloaded in Lizzy's carriage and were content to continue post from there.
So on Monday morning, they all assembled on the front portico to see the voyagers off.
Freddy took a moment to take Georgie aside.
"I still don't see why you have to go," pouted Georgie as he grasped her hands.
"I have to think about work sometimes, Georgie," cajoled Freddy. "I was lucky to be able to spend so much time with you, given the changes going on at the bank. I will be back in three days. Meanwhile, I want you to make a little sacrifice for me."
"What is it?" asked Georgie.
"Don't monopolise Lizzy while I am away. She and your brother are getting on famously, but they need some more time alone."
"I hate spending time with Mrs Annesley," whispered Georgie, so the subject could not hear her.
"You can spend some time with Elizabeth. Just allow your brother some time alone with her, like their carriage rides, while I am away. Promise?"
"I promise," said Georgie reluctantly.
Freddy kissed her hands. "I'll bring you something back."
They parted and Freddy climbed into the coach where the Gardiners and his valet were already waiting for him.
"Goodbye!" yelled Mr Gardiner to his niece as the carriage jolted forward. "Don't do anything I wouldn't do!"
Inside the carriage, Mrs Gardiner slapped his arm.
And then they were gone in a cloud of dust.
Footnotes
Turtle soup—Turtle dinners, or dinners at which turtle soup was the central dish, were a popular form of lavish entertainment in the second half of the eighteenth century and the early nineteenth. India Mandelkern, The Appendix
slowtop — stupid or slow-witted
whisky—a light one horse carriage similar to a modern trotting sulky
good clip—at speed
behinds tanned—to be smacked or caned thoroughly