Chapter Two

'Shall you return to Pemberley, Darcy?' Bingley enquired, once compliments were paid and greetings exchanged. Rosemary tried not to smile. He was a very young man, Mr Bingley, agreeable, artless, enthusiastic, and eager to please. Too eager, perhaps. He lacked her husband's effortless elegance, and although handsome he was not striking; in addition he seemed almost ungainly, just rather rough about the edges. His build was not light, although at five foot nine he was barely Georgiana's height. He was impossible not to like, but she remained in some doubt as to what of substance there was in him.

'Not unless you are retracting your invitation,' Darcy replied.

'Excellent!' Bingley beamed. 'Of course, you must come as well, Lady Rosemary — if your health permits,' he added, uncertainly.

'Thank you, sir, I will be honoured,' she replied demurely. The proverbial bull in the china shop, Bingley exuberantly talked away, undeterred by his companions' long silences, until he remembered some appointment or another, at which point he was gone with hardly a by-your-leave. Rosemary took a deep breath.

'Your friend is very . . . enthusiastic,' she said carefully. Darcy laughed.

'Oh, yes, that is the word,' he replied. 'He is much more so since his engagement, however. He makes us feel about twenty years older.'

'Us?' Aldborough repeated, the Bingley-incited disdain on his face slowly replaced by his customary good humour. Darcy coloured slightly.

'Miss Elizabeth and I. We are friends, of sorts.' He shook his head. 'When do you wish to go into Hertfordshire, Rosemary?'

She glanced at Georgiana. 'As soon as is agreeable to you both.'

'Darcy,' Aldborough interjected, 'do you mean to tell Bingley . . .?'

Darcy shook his head. 'No. I do not think any outside the family circle need know. Except — ' he hesitated. 'I have some friends, I think they — there is — they deserve an explanation, I think.'

'More friends, Darcy?' Aldborough shook his head. 'I never thought you to be so friendly.'

'One can hardly go eight-and-twenty years in the world without amassing a few,' Darcy said. 'After all, one chooses one's friends — unlike family.' He smiled at his cousin. 'They are a rather young couple — about five-and-thirty, I should think — and relations of the Bennets.'

'Oh, God.'

'Stephen!' Georgiana said sharply. Rosemary and Darcy favoured him with identical disapproving looks.

'Have I fallen into a nest of Evangelists?' Aldborough shook his head. 'These relations, where can we find them?'

'Gracechurch Street,' said Darcy, as easily as if he had spent his entire life consorting with tradesmen. 'Perhaps you might wish to stay here, Aldborough? Only Rosemary and I really ought to go, although Georgiana — if you wish it — '

'No,' said Georgiana, with a shy smile for her betrothed, 'Mrs Annesley may come down and chaperone us, you take Rosemary to see the Gardiners. Please give them my best wishes, Fitzwilliam.'

'Of course, my dear.'

Rosemary looked about in wonder as they drove through the town. Once they left the fashionable streets where she had spent most of her life, conditions swiftly deteriorated. She had never seen so many starving, dirty, utterly wretched people. She could not keep from asking her husband, 'Fitzwilliam, why is it like this? It is not at home, I have seen how your tenants live; surely it need not be this way?'

'No,' he said grimly, 'it need not; but it is, and one man — ten men, for that matter — cannot do a great deal for them.'

She shivered. 'I do not like town. When may we go to Pemberley?'

'As soon as Bingley is married, although we shall probably stop for a few days on the way.'

It was crowded, noisy, and dirty. Rosemary could not imagine how Darcy had ever met such people — whatever they might be, she simply had no idea what her fastidious husband had been doing here to begin with. He paid two of the boys to take care of the horses, and knocked on the door. Rosemary was unaccountably nervous, she knew from what he had said earlier that he thought very highly of these people, from almost the first moment of their acquaintance, he said, he had been struck by their good sense and pleasant, well-bred manners. Yet how did one speak to such people? She knew servants and tenants; and social acquaintances, and family, and others she might associate with as an equal. This, however, was utterly beyond her experience, and for almost the first time in their lives, she resolved to follow Darcy's lead.

Darcy gave his card to the servant, but nothing could have prepared her for the sight of two children, who peered around the corner then shrieked, 'Mr Darcy! Mr Darcy!' and launched themselves at him. She was even more surprised to see Darcy laugh and lift them up in his arms. The little girl kissed his cheek enthusiastically and the little boy seemed scarcely able to keep himself from jumping up and down, chattering madly about his latest adventure. Rosemary, who had spent little time with children in the last half-decade, was taken aback, but when the little girl smiled winningly at her, she could not keep from smiling in return.

'These, my dear, are Miss Amelia and Master Edward Gardiner,' Darcy said, still laughing a little. 'Now you two, you must stay still long enough to meet my wife.'

They both stared. 'You said you were not married, Mr Darcy,' Amelia said accusingly.

'And so I was not — then. We were just married two days ago,' Darcy explained, ruffling her hair. 'This is my wife Lady Rosemary Darcy.'

Both children stared at her gravely, then Edward said politely, 'My sister and I are pleased to meet you, Lady Rosemary.'

'Thank you,' said Rosemary, and on impulse leaned down to kiss his cheek. He giggled.

Amelia slipped down and curtseyed, then declared, 'Rosemary is for remembrance.'

Rosemary laughed. 'Yes, so it is.'

'You are very pretty, as pretty as Mr Darcy and my cousin Jane.'

She glanced sideways at her own cousin -- no, her husband -- who had coloured deeply, and could not help laughing even more. At that moment, a tall, dark-haired woman entered, the children returned to her, and she addressed Darcy with a smile.

'Mr Darcy, it is a pleasure,' she said sincerely.

'Thank you, Mrs Gardiner,' Ancaster replied. 'May I introduce you to my wife, Lady Rosemary Darcy?'

The Gardiners, when they heard the entire story, were all compassion and sympathy. Mrs Gardiner fetched tea, and briefly clasped Rosemary's cold hands. 'There, you both must take care of yourselves. What a tragedy, I am more sorry than I can say.' With a more serious look, she added belatedly, 'I hope you will both be very happy.'

'I am certain we shall,' Rosemary said, a little awkwardly. Mrs Gardiner's manner was distinctly motherly, for all that she was hardly older than either of the Darcys, and she fussed over them both as if they were children. Mr Gardiner gave them an understanding smile.

'You need not fear any reprisals from us,' he said, speaking very quietly to Darcy. 'I will confess to being disappointed, there is no point in denying that, but there was little enough choice in the matter. You are a fine man, sir.'

'So I am told,' Darcy replied, with a faint smile. 'Thank you, Mr Gardiner.'

'You are quite welcome. I am honoured to call you a friend, and I hope this unfortunate matter will not prevent our meeting again.'

'Certainly not.'

Rosemary smiled in relief. She had not understood how her deliberate, careful husband could have formed such a close friendship within a few weeks of acquaintance, not until she met them and was welcomed almost into the family. They were — kind. That was exactly the word. Spurred on by her gratitude, particularly to Mrs Gardiner (who instead of looking horrified when she began crying, as Rosemary's own mother would have done, gave her a handkerchief, plied her with more tea, and offered whatever comfort she could), she said, 'I hope, that whenever you are in the area, you will visit us, we would be delighted.'

'Thank you very much,' Mrs Gardiner said, surprised. 'Mr Gardiner does have some business in Yorkshire in December — '

'Then you must come,' Darcy said, straightening, 'if only for a few days. It would be an honour, I assure you. And, Mrs Gardiner, surely you would like to see Christmas in Derbyshire again, you have been gone so long.'

The Gardiners laughed heartily. 'You are a very wicked young man, tempting me with such delights! You ought to be ashamed of yourself!' Mrs Gardiner chided. Then, with a pleading look, she turned to her husband. 'Edward . . .'

'Well, we shall have to see closer to the season, but if my sisters make no demands on me, I see no reason we could not come. The inn, is, I believe — '

'Oh!' interjected Rosemary, 'surely you would not stay at an inn? Not at Christmas. You must come to Pemberley — Fitzwilliam, I am sure you agree?'

'Yes, of course.'

'Thank you very much,' Mrs Gardiner said gently. 'If it can be arranged, we shall be there.'

'I shall write towards the end of November, when I have a clearer idea of our itinerary,' Mr Gardiner added, and the Darcys stood. The sun was beginning to set.

'My dear girl — ' Mrs Gardiner took Rosemary's hands as they prepared to leave — 'take care of yourself, and your husband. He is a rare man, as I think you have discovered.'

'Yes, he is.' She held back tears once more, this time more successfully — 'Mrs Gardiner, I cannot thank you enough for your kindness, there is no reason you should treat me as you have — I know it is not what you and Mr Gardiner would have wished — '

'Never mind Mr Gardiner and I,' she said with a lovely smile, as the two men shook hands. 'You have suffered enough, my dear, you need not do so on anyone else's account.'

Rosemary smiled tremulously. 'Thank you, Mrs Gardiner. I hope we will see you at Pemberley this winter.'

'As do I. Edward, you shall not engage Mr Darcy on politics, we must let them go.'

Everyone laughed, and Rosemary could not keep herself from saying, once her husband had tucked a blanket about her and headed off to their house, 'I see, now, why you wanted them to know. Thank you for taking me, I like them very much indeed. It was so comforting, I hope we shall see a great deal of them in the future.'

'You are quite welcome,' he returned warmly, 'although my motivations were not quite as unselfish as they ought to have been.'

'So Mr Bingley's Miss Bennet is Mr Gardiner's niece? Is his sister much like him?' she inquired innocently, and watched with interest as Darcy desperately tried to keep from laughing on a public street.

'Ah, no, not particularly,' he finally managed, in a strangled voice. 'You shall see, next week, when we go to Hertfordshire for the wedding.'

Rosemary curled against him as he drove on. 'I suppose so,' she said sleepily.