George Wythe was feeling every one of his forty‑five years as he stepped down from the carriage after a long and unpleasant ride through the rain. The trip had been longer and more difficult than expected; although any reasonable man expected most things to be longer and more difficult than expected.
As he was helping his even older companion down, he saw Elizabeth Bennet run out of a large side door in the manor house, followed by his Margaret and another girl of about Margaret's age. That trio was immediately followed by a man of about five and twenty dressed as a leader – perhaps the stablemaster, head gardener or the like. He was followed by what were obviously a half‑dozen stable hands, and a like number of footmen carrying umbrellas and a few pallets.
The two groups quickly converged, and the unknown young lady stepped forward and began speaking animatedly.
"Mr. Selkirk, welcome back to Pemberley, though I could wish for better circumstances for your visit."
"I thank you, Miss Darcy. It has been some years, and I see you are all grown."
"Might I presume this is your father, Margie?"
The three ladies had been running ragged for the past four hours trying to be certain everything was in readiness, and they had adopted the use of Christian Names almost automatically the first time Lizzy and Margie spoke to each other.
"Yes. Papa, may I introduce you to Miss Georgiana Darcy. She is Mr. Darcy's sister. Georgie, may I make you known to my father, Mr. George Wythe."
Georgiana curtsied and said, "Welcome to Pemberley, Mr. Wythe. We are happy to have you here, and you shall always be welcome. Miss Elizabeth Bennet and Miss Margaret Wythe, might I introduce you to Mr. Selkirk. Mr. Selkirk, Miss Bennet and Miss Wythe. Miss Bennet is a trusted friend of my brother. Lizzy, Margie, Mr. Selkirk is the mayor of Sudbury."
Elizabeth laughed at herself a bit. She had thought she was stepping over bounds presuming to invite the inhabitants to Pemberley, but just as she had told Miss Darcy, they would have ended up here anyway if she had done nothing.
Two of the footmen stepped up with umbrellas and stood close to the gentlemen sheltering them from the rain while awaiting instruction.
Selkirk asked, "Is your brother at home, Miss Darcy?"
"No, Sir, but do not fret. Miss Bennet has assisted me, and we are well prepared for however many people you choose to bring. We should get out of the rain, so let us be quick about it. There are a few things you should be aware of, Sir."
"Yes, ma'am."
"First off, you should know that we have a few cases of Measles in Pemberley. We have isolated them in the guest wing of the house, and believe we can keep everyone separated adequately, but you must be absolutely certain everyone that enters the house understands they are NOT under any conditions to enter any corridors blocked by white sheets. I will have your word on this, Sir."
Selkirk nodded, put his chin in his hands for a moment, and asked, "Where are you planning to place us, Miss Darcy?"
"The ill and injured are to go into the Family Wing. The rest in the ballroom. I am sorry we cannot offer the guest wing."
"The ballroom will do splendidly, Miss Darcy. I will need to send men to Lambton for bedding and the like."
"Already taken care of, Sir. Just get everyone inside and out of the rain."
"Understood. Are there any other rules, Miss Darcy?"
"Just two, Sir. The first is that we expect proper behavior. We understand life is difficult for the villagers, but we will not accept that as an excuse for theft or anything else disagreeable."
Selkirk sighed, and replied, "That should not even need to be said, Miss Darcy, but you are correct to do so. There are always a few hotheads in any group who need it specified explicitly, and occasionally with fists. We will see to it."
Georgiana nodded, and then said, "One last thing, Mr. Selkirk. We ladies are sharing responsibilities, and between the three of us, we make one fair mistress. However, there must be one true leader, so I would ask you to impress upon everyone that enters my home that Miss Bennet's word is law."
Elizabeth just managed to stop herself from gasping and looked at Georgiana in consternation. She had to sheepishly admit that she had been outplayed. She obviously could not countermand the very first order from the true mistress of the manor, so apparently for the duration she was to act as more mistress than she really cared for.
Elizabeth stared at Georgiana to indicate that there would be discussion and possible retribution later; but then she was suddenly struck by a thought that made her gasp. Possible retribution later, was a thought that flowed right into her mind without the slightest twinge. It was as if she were planning to thump one of her sisters later. She had as much as tacitly admitted to herself that her relationship with Miss Georgiana Darcy would have a later. Perhaps, she might have to think on that… later.
She looked at the men and was disconcerted to see two men of her father's generation, one a mayor and the other a very successful businessman, looking to her for instruction. Yes, she was definitely going to thrash Georgiana Darcy, but for the moment, there was work and responsibility to be dealt with.
"Who do we have in the carriage, Mr. Selkirk?"
"We have two adults and five children who are quite ill, ma'am. Two have nasty burns, and the others are all done in from smoke. The apothecary bandaged them up, but it will not hold forever."
"Their families?"
"Following behind. One young boy is alone in the world. Both of his parents perished and he has no siblings."
Elizabeth nodded, and asked, "How old is he, and what is wrong with him?"
"Smoke, mostly. I believe he will recover well enough. He has maybe twelve years."
"Does he have any friends coming?"
"Yes, in about a half‑hour."
Elizabeth thought, and said, "Mr. Breton, the boy should be with his friends, but might you assign one of your hands to look in on him from time to time. Maybe take him to see the horses, put him to work when he feels up to it. It might make him brood less."
Breton said, "Even better, ma'am. I have a man of eighteen years who is newly married. I believe his wife would not be averse to taking him in until we find a better situation."
Elizabeth just nodded and carried on.
"For the rest of the injured, distribute them in the family wing as Miss Darcy said. She looked at two of the footmen, and then turned to get at the task."
Mr. Wythe said quietly, "Those that were burned the worst were taken into other houses in the village, Miss Bennet. The apothecary will stay there to tend them, but for those with smoke, he judged the clean air worth the ride in the rain."
In some ways, Elizabeth hated the fact that she was back to 'Miss Bennet' for Mr. Wythe, but she understood the necessity. Georgiana Darcy had ceded the responsibility to her, and it was up to her to carry it until one of the Matlocks or Mr. Darcy returned.
"We sent riders for apothecaries from Lambton and Kympton. One or both should show up soon. Are there more injured coming?"
"Yes. One more carriage full. Then about an hour back, should be the rest of the villagers."
Elizabeth nodded, and said, "Very well. The men all know what to do. Let us get you inside."
She turned to another footman who had come out from the ballroom, and said, "Nathaniel, this is Mr. Wythe. He is Miss Wythe's father. Please take his trunks to the Green suite. I hope you know where it is, because I have no idea."
Georgiana giggled a bit, and the young footman could not stifle a small laugh. Elizabeth laughed along with him, and said, "Off with you, young man."
The next eight hours seemed like they consumed a full two day. It all had seemed so simple! 'Open the ballroom! Get out of the way! All will be well! So Simple!'
Perhaps it all would have worked out if they had simply opened the doors and done nothing, but once everyone was told she was the effective mistress, it seemed like most of their ability to make decisions went out the window. To be fair, everybody knew they were uninvited guests, and nobody wanted to get on the wrong side of Mr. Darcy. When there was an important decision to be made, almost nobody seemed comfortable with just making it and implementing it. She would occasionally force Georgiana, Margaret or Mr. Breton to deal with something, but most of the time it was simplest to just decide, assign a responsible person, and move on to the next crisis.
By the time it got full dark, with the help of everyone who would have done the same thing without her help, they managed to get the fires lit in the kitchen and food cooking in prodigious quantities. True to her earlier instructions, they quickly had beef broth and porridge, and they had meat and vegetables a few hours later. She sent men to Lambton and Kympton to buy out everything the local baker could spare and ordered the same each day for a week. She even got so she did not flinch at the cost, after about the fifth time Georgiana chided her not to obsess about trivialities.
Finally, well after midnight, she had all of the guests asleep, or at least laying somewhere. She had seen all the injuries tended to. She had personally spoken with every adult for at least a couple of minutes, and most of the children had been given sweetmeats. Elizabeth wondered why in the world Georgiana thought it essential for Elizabeth to give them out, but after an hour, Elizabeth had just found she did not have the energy to argue with all the villagers and Miss Darcy.
Georgiana spent the same amount of time doing just about the same things, but in most cases, she made it clear that Elizabeth was the one in charge. Elizabeth eventually lost her temper and asked about it. She pulled Georgiana aside into an anteroom where they could speak privately.
"Georgie, that was an underhanded trick, assigning me responsibility like that. I do not mind, but I do wish you would have at least warned me."
Miss Darcy at least had the good grace to blush but stood her ground.
"Lizzy, have you ever felt like someone from your past was standing right in front of you talking to you."
Elizabeth got very uncomfortable with that line of questioning, particularly since this whole experience had started out with her taking her mother's advice.
She looked around to be sure nobody was listening, and said, "Yes, I admit I do. I would not ordinarily tell anyone this, but I sometimes see people standing in front of me dispensing advice. I realize it is only a trick of the mind, but it works, and I tend to listen… though like anything, the advice is not always good. Perhaps I will tell you one day of the time I took my… well, enough of that for now. I do know what you mean, but I would not tell very many people if I were you. It is generally best not to be thought mad."
Georgiana whispered, 'My father came to me right as I was walking up to the coach out in the courtyard. It is if he were standing there in front of me. Do you wish to know what he said?'
With some trepidation, Elizabeth said, "Go on."
≈ Someday, my peach, you will be the mistress of a household. You will be a leader, so you should think a little bit about what makes one. Sometimes, people will follow just because of your position. The Mistress would be followed without question no matter her qualifications. However… This is important. A leader is mostly someone that people will follow. When you are grown, I would hope you have learned to lead, and not just use your position as a crutch. People will follow you with their minds as the mistress of an estate, but they will follow you with their hearts if you are a person worthy of being followed. That is a leader. ≈
Elizabeth raised her eyebrows in shock, and then said, "I do not see how that applies."
"Can you not see, Elizabeth? I will be someone that people will follow someday. You gave me the best beginning for that earlier today, and I have complete confidence in my ability to do that later. However, according to my father, we needed a leader now. I just looked around and found the one person I was willing to follow."
Elizabeth had no idea whether to feel honored or annoyed, but the die was cast so it was time to quit whining about it anyway.
"I suspect your brother will be seriously displeased, but I will do my best."
"On the contrary, Lizzy. My brother will be inordinately pleased. He will be angry with himself for not being here, but he will be very well pleased that he was superfluous."
Elizabeth had to laugh at that, and the conversation ended as a maid came to them with two problems to solve. Elizabeth very pointedly crossed her arms across her chest in a stern fashion, and Georgiana made the decisions without complaint. Elizabeth was happy that Georgiana was starting to take back the role of mistress, but Georgiana just thought she was following orders as was right and proper.
Finally, well into the wee hours of the morning, Elizabeth got a maid to lead her to her chamber. She had sent Margaret to bed hours earlier, and Georgiana not much later, but she was not quite ready to sleep until she felt like she had seen that everything was as it should be.
The maid asked if she could stand five minutes of delay so they could pin a dress to be prepared for the morrow. Elizabeth was not very enthusiastic for the plan, but thought it was her duty to allow the staff to present their de‑facto mistress in her best light.
Twenty minutes later, she had washed up, and was asleep before her head hit the pillow.