Late May – Early June

After Mr. Darcy's engagement to Miss Elizabeth Thompson was announced, Lady Matlock took it upon herself to invite six of the Ton's leading ladies at tea time and told them the details of her nephew's engagement. She specifically commented that she supported the marriage, because her nephew had been deeply in love with Ms. Thompson for several years…

"… He has known her since she was born since her parents' estate borders Pemberley. In addition, Miss Thompson has been a good friend of my niece since they were little girls. Darcy has been in love with her for so many years." She sighed melodramatically.

"Now I understand why he was never interested in another young woman."

"I don't know if I told you, but Miss Thompson's brother owns two estates and she has a dowry of £60,000." Lady Matlock shook her head, "She had two proposals of marriage, but turned them down as she too dreamed that when she came of age, she would see my nephew again."

Lady Maria commented, "She is a lively and very pretty young lady, and we became very close friends. Darcy is so in love with her… She plays the piano very well, and she speaks several languages."

"When are they getting married?" Lady Sofia asked.

"Darcy wants to get married as soon as possible, he says that he already wait many years to marry her; but Miss Thompson wants to respect the three months of mourning for the death of her uncle and therefore the ceremony will be simple." "I am going to throw a big ball in honor of the couple next January..."

For a couple of weeks, everybody in London talked about the love story of Mr. Darcy and Miss Thompson—there was no couple in London who were so much in love.

PPP

A week after his arrival in London, Mr. Gardiner finally received a letter from his partner with the details of two properties in Liverpool. One of them was a house in one of the commercial districts of the city with 3 bedrooms. The annual cost was 120 pounds which included the salary of a servant. The other was a similar house on the outskirts of Liverpool, but it cost £100 less. Since they wouldn't have a carriage, the option of living in the city seemed more suitable to Mr. Gardiner.

He was going to pay the lease of the house, and his sister and nieces would live on the £200 interest from Fanny's dowry. On the other hand, one of Darcy's servants, Mr. Carter, was already in Scotland looking for a cottage and a companion for Lydia.

Luckily in two days, he was going to leave with his sister and nieces for Liverpool, and then he would continue to Scotland only with Lydia. To be honest, Mr. Gardiner was looking forward to his sister and nieces living in his house once and for all, they were disturbing his peace of mind and he was even having problems in his marriage.

His sister was extremely irritable and sad because she had only seen Johnny twice since they came to 0London and when she lived in Liverpool, she probably wouldn't see him for a long time... Despite all her faults, it was obvious that Fanny adored her nephew more than her own daughters and she was suffering. Jane was sad and in a bad mood, and even had a very strong argument with Lydia whom she accused of being a whore that had ruined her future. Lydia complained all the time about how unfair it was that she wasn't allowed to stay with her mother and sisters in Liverpool and had to live with a stranger in Scotland. The only one who didn't complain or practically said a word was Kitty, who was very thin and looked ill...