"Georgiana, am I ungentlemanly?"
I stopped looking through my music and stared at my brother. He did not look drunk. He had been rather dispirited of late, but neither now nor at any other time had I ever seen him inebriated. I knew from my friend Miss Grantley that most young ladies were not so fortunate. Her brothers woke up with dreadful headaches from drinking the night before, and then drank some more to get rid of them. "Of course not," I said. "Did Richard say so?"
Our cousin Richard was a very singular person. I could not imagine anyone else saying something so absurd. My brother could not possibly come to such an erroneous conclusion on his own, I had never seen him so much as falter. No-one was perfect but if my brother had flaws, I hadn't seen them. "No, no," Fitzwilliam replied absently. "Not he."
So someone had told him, as I thought. How ridiculous. If my brother was not a gentleman no-one was. "Well, whoever it was, he cannot have been very sensible, to say such a thing," I said. "I do not know a better man than you. What shall I play?"
I was not looking in his direction, but I could feel his smile from across the room. "You are too good for me, Georgiana," he said affectionately, and I laughed.
"Fitzwilliam, I am not — " honesty compelled me to amend, "I am not especially good. You are the one, my dear brother, who is too good for the rest of us."
"Oh no, Georgiana — "
And no doubt we would have continued our mutual admiration ad infinitum if the Marquess of Westhampton had not been announced at that moment. Lord Westhampton was one of my brother's dearest friends, a cousin on my father's side, but as I had only just come out I had scarcely seen him, he had no sisters.
"Darcy."
"Westhampton."
My brother sprang up and, with a warm smile, shook hands, and I quickly excused myself. Too curious for my own good, however, I hesitated at the door.
"— young lady," Lord Westhampton was saying.
"Georgiana?" Fitzwilliam sounded sincerely surprised. "Yes, I suppose so."
"That was little Georgiana?"
Little Georgiana indeed! "Miss Darcy to you," Fitzwilliam replied, his voice acquiring a trace of coolness. Lord Westhampton laughed heartily.
"Surely you do not suspect me of designs on your sister, Darcy?"
"Of course not — as such," said Fitzwilliam. "But, you know, one can never be too careful."
"I do not know, I have no sisters or daughters, and my only eligible cousin is the lovely Miss Darcy, who I have just been expressly warned off from."
"I did not say so," Fitzwilliam said calmly. One of the nicest things about my brother was that he was never cross and never raised his voice. "You may speak to Miss Darcy all you wish, if you do so with propriety, but I will not have her upset. She is not like other young ladies, with nothing but dances and millinery in their heads, she is sensible and sweet-natured and she deserves better."
"I see," said Lord Westhampton, almost gravely, "you are a most conscientious brother."
I slipped away, but the conversation rang in my ears, and as I lay in bed that evening, I felt I could have danced all night for all that I disliked it more than anything. I could not have said which gave my greater joy, my brother's sincere commendation, or my cousin's casual remark, the lovely Miss Darcy. I hugged my pillow to myself and laughed softly.
A/N: I have always had a peculiar fondness for Georgiana. I think will be the last of my regular vignettes, I have enough plot bunnies here to keep me going a long while.
adriennelane: Indeed I have. I'm glad you liked it.
June W: thanks. I'm glad it was sad, it was meant to be. I was so glad I had already done Anne's vignette, because hers was the original character I thought to tell this from, and it was devastating enough as it was. I'm glad you like Edward's response. I have had that particular line in mind for him since before I really had any idea of him except of 'the heir.' You must have been confused if you thought this was Fitzwilliam at first!
Teresa: It's not? Where are the others? I've only read one, "When Mountains Fall," but I would love to read some more. Especially the beautiful one. Mostly I've seen stories where Elizabeth dies first, and although I have one of those in the back of my mind, I needed to get this out first. I'm glad you could really feel Elizabeth's grief, as well as the other family members', Elizabeth has always been the hardest character for me to write. Your second interpretation was I think closest to what I had in mind. Elizabeth's loss was so great that she did not dare even acknowledge it, particularly with everyone else so blown to pieces — Fitzwilliam is one of those people, he is not charismatic but he is intense and overwhelming and has such a personality, he manages everything and everyone can rely on him and then — he is simply gone and it's as if the foundation of their world has been ripped out from underneath them. She could not bear her grief when there was so much to do and she did not dare face it afterwards, but Edward in his way was trying to help. Yes, he was trying to make her feel her loss, because she did not seem to realise it and he found that terribly disturbing. He also was struggling with some things that bothered me when I first read P&P, that didn't really occur to him until his father was gone and his mother seemed so indifferent because they were so happy and loving together. I'm glad you liked it and that it made you think, that's the best compliment a writer can get! I've had no trouble with your English, it's excellent.
Kyra3: I'm glad you thought I did a good job of it.
ann: Thank you so much! I hope I did a creditable job of it. Ah, I see what you meant now. I was a little confused whether you were saying you liked the originals, like Cecily, Anne (Darcy), etc, or the originals like Anne (de Bourgh), Mr Darcy, Jane, and so forth. I am so very glad you find my characters true to the original, that is of course my intent — that is why I started writing, I was so dissatisfied because the characters in most fanfic where not remotely like my own. Humour? I? Surely you jest. :) Don't worry, you make perfect sense.