Darcy sat on the rug in the parlor, building towers of painted wooden blocks with his ten month old son, William. The baby gurgled happily as he knocked the tower down. After a few minutes of building and knocking down towers, the babe started crawling towards the lit fire in the hearth.
"No, William," Darcy chuckled, grabbing his adventurous son. "The fire is warm and fascinating, but deadly. The garden is much safer than the fire." He carried William to the garden and set him down on the grass. In his mind's eye, he could see Elizabeth showing their son the leaves of a bush. He closed his eyes for a brief second, savoring the picture that might have been. A happy gurgle interrupted his thoughts. His eyes snapped open and to his surprise, his son stood on his feet with his arms raised as if someone was helping him. William took one faltering step, and Darcy hurried to his son, hands held out to catch William should he fall. Again, his imagination cued a picture of Elizabeth holding their son through his first steps.
That night after putting William to bed, Darcy headed towards his study. He gazed lovingly at the portrait of his wife on the mantel. The painter failed to capture the merry twinkle in her eyes, but there was merriment in her face. He tried to remember the sparkle in her eyes and the mischievous twitch in her lips. It was all a faded memory. Bowing his head, he wept. A soft knock interrupted his grief. It was his sister.
"What troubles you, brother?" she asked gently, taking his arm and leading him to a chair.
He dried his tears, sighing, "I am forgetting Elizabeth. Sometimes, she feels so near as if she was present. At other times, I cannot remember the life dancing in her eyes. Must William not know his mother?"
"Perhaps it is time I told you something," Georgiana answered after a heavy silence. "When William was still a newborn infant, I often heard echoes on the stairs at nights. It was not like that of a footman or servant. It was more angelic. On full moons, I thought I saw her shape in the nursery." Though she knew the truth, she dared not voice it so openly to her brother.
Darcy's face hardened. He muttered darkly, "Ghosts do not exist. You must be going mad."
Georgiana gazed at the dancing flames. She replied softly, "Perhaps that may be so, but unusual circumstances warrants unusual happenings." She rose and bid her brother goodnight.
Two months later, Darcy received a letter from the asylum where he and his cousin Anne placed Lady Catherine. The letter simply requested the presence of Mr. Darcy for a single day as Lady Catherine would not stop asking for him. Darcy reluctantly agreed to go after his sister persuaded that he may learn something beneficial.
It was the anniversary of his wife's death when he arrived at the lunatic asylum. It seemed like a respectable establishment. Vegetables and flowers thrived inside the walled gardens. The house itself was covered in ivy, flowers bloomed outside a few window boxes. Some windows were barred with iron, but others were not. Richard Fitzwilliam had chosen well.
Upon entering, Darcy gave his name to the warden and showed the letter. He was promptly admitted to a well-furnished room with one wall made entirely of iron bars. On his side of the bars, it was almost cheery with the crackling fire, yellow curtains, Oriental rug, and vases full of blooming flowers. On the other side, there was only a wooden chair and barren, white walls. One of the attendants explained that some of their patients became quite violent when a visitor came. Darcy waited five minutes until he saw his aunt approach and rose to his feet out of habit.
"You look well," he said stiffly after a few minutes of awkward silence. Lady Catherine did look quite well. She still bore herself as a queen would, but her hair was grayer. She was also less ostentatious in appearance. Her clothing, though well made, was of a simple and rather becoming cut for her.
"Tolerably well," she answered coldly. "There is a matter of great importance I must speak to you about. Firstly, I must apologize for my actions last year. I confess I was insane at that time, but I have recovered my senses."
Darcy hardened his gaze, answering through clenched teeth, "I do not know how one can forgive considering the wrong done."
Lady Catherine glanced at her nephew sharply. She said in subdued tone, "And I must live with the guilt. Guilt sometimes unbearable, but I have the forgiveness of one to make the guilt more bearable." She paused to give her nephew a chance to speak. Finding he had no response, she continued, "I have the forgiveness of God and Elizabeth."
"The forgiveness of Elizabeth?" Darcy cried, rising to his feet. His face flushed with the anger that coursed through him. "Do not mock her name in such a way."
"I beg you to allow me to finish," Lady Catherine said sternly. "I may be in a madhouse, but I am still a lady and deserve such respect." Darcy nodded stiffly and seated himself. She continued, "What I am about to say will condemn me to stay in this house forever. Well, considering my actions, this place is far better than others. As I was saying, I saw Elizabeth on several occasions. It was only when the moon was full. She was far too pale to be human, yet not translucent enough to be ghostly. A bluish radiance emitted from her form. She did not quite seem a ghost, yet she was not alive. She wanted me to break the curse that made her into what she called a "living ghost". I am no witch, but my hatred must have made me one at that moment. Of course, I could not break it, but I begged her forgiveness, which she has granted. Now, I ask for yours."
Darcy's conversation with his sister from two months ago rose to his mind. He sat silently, contemplating both her sister and aunt's words. Finally, he said gravely, "I cannot give you my forgiveness right now, but I shall not discredit your story as being the ravings of a madwoman. Perhaps you are saner than I am." He rose to his feet and bowed, "Good day, Madam." He immediately departed the house. He arrived home the next day and immediately called for his sister to meet him in his study.
His sister came promptly, questioning, "Is everything alright? Do you not need to rest? How is Lady Catherine? Did she anger you?"
"Enough questions," Darcy answered wearily, seating himself in his armchair. "Order some tea and refreshments, and I shall be quite well."
Georgiana did as her brother bid. When the tea arrived, she poured her brother a cup. After sipping his tea, Darcy began, "She told me she saw Elizabeth in a ghostly form. Have you seen Elizabeth as well? You hinted at it when we last discussed this topic."
"Yes, I have," Georgiana answered boldly. "Jane has as well. We have been working to help her publish some of her stories and paintings. I am sure she visits Pemberley more than she says to care for you and William."
"Is that why I sometimes felt her so near?" Darcy wondered aloud. "I could not see her, yet I felt her presence. Is there any way I can see her myself?"
"The moon is waxing, and it should not be long until it is full," Georgiana replied. "I have not seen Elizabeth for two months, but Jane sends me word that Elizabeth is doing well."
For the next week, Darcy waited impatiently for the full moon. To ease the passage of time, he busied himself with extreme care over his son and estate. Then one day at breakfast, his sister ordered him to wait in the empty closet in the library that night after supper.
The day passed slowly. As soon as dinner concluded, Darcy excused himself to research historical records of the estate in the library. Naturally, his sister merely sighed and rolled her eyes while the servants did not notice anything amiss. Once Georgiana has finished feeding and changing William, she brought him to library. While Georgiana played with the active one year old, Darcy twisted his cravat a million times. The clock struck ten, and William began dozing in Georgiana's arms. Then he heard a strange echo coming from the stairs outside the library. It was most definitely not the footsteps of a human. After that, he heard nothing. Suddenly, he saw a nearly translucent figure with a faint blue light enter through a window.
Georgiana whispered loudly, "Elizabeth! How came you through a closed window?"
At this, Elizabeth burst into tears. Seating herself on an armchair, she sobbed, "I am becoming a real ghost! From what I have researched, ghosts pass through solids. I tried entering through the wall, but I suppose I am not ghost enough. But apparently, I am ghost enough to enter through windows. Ghosts are emotionless beings who wander the earth without purpose. I have already begun to lose interest in my activities and traveling. Half of the time, I follow the wind, not caring where it takes me."
Georgiana offered her the sleeping William, but Elizabeth shook her head sadly. "Do you think my brother has something to do with your changing state?" Georgiana questioned gently. "He once said that…"
"That's when I started changing," Elizabeth answered slowly. "I was in the Sahara when I suddenly felt a chill come over me. Of course, I knew something to be wrong since the Sahara is supposed to be anything but cold."
Darcy could not restrain himself. In as dignified manner as possible, he burst from his hiding place. Elizabeth rose, trembling like a leaf on a stormy autumn evening. Darcy stood in front of his wraithlike wife and began heatedly, "This will not do. In vain, I have struggled to convince myself that you had passed. But you, though I realized it not, had kept hope alive within me. I suppose you may be more dead than alive, but it matters not me. I beg of you to stay with me forever, even if I can only see you once a month."
Elizabeth had seated herself. Instead of shaking with fear and grief, she now shook with laughter. Soon, her laughter, which brought pictures of merry bells and springtime to mind, filled the room. She wheezed, though her wheezing sounded like the soothing rustling of the wind, "If I did not love you, I would declare your words to be quite offensive. And if I had not married you, I would have given you the same answered I did in Hunsford, though I regret my words that day."
Darcy glanced towards his sister questioningly, who smilingly remarked, "You did call her more dead than alive." At that moment, William stirred in his sleep, and Georgiana took the opportunity to put him to bed.
Taking Georgiana's vacated spot on the sofa, Darcy flushed and buried his head in his hands, muttering, "Why can I not say things correctly?" He felt warm hands on his own. Looking up, he gazed in wonderment at Elizabeth. Her cheeks, though pale, were tinted with color. Laughter and life danced in her eyes. He stroked her cheek and touched her hair, affirming what his eyes saw. He cried joyfully, "You…you are alive! Oh, Elizabeth, if I had known sooner…"
"Am I 'more dead than alive' now?" she laughed with warmth. Her voice lost its bell-like quality, but it was all the sweeter to her husband.
He smiled lovingly, "You shall never let me forget that, will you?"
She shook her head and took his hand. She led him up the stairs. Instead of hearing echoes, they heard the soft thud of human feet. They passed the nursery, and Elizabeth kissed her sleeping son. At Georgiana's door, Elizabeth knocked. Georgiana came to the door in her nightgown, but her face lit up when she saw Elizabeth in human form. After hugging her goodnight, she bade them to not make too much noise. Darcy and Elizabeth merely smiled and continued to their room. Upon entering, they shut the door to the world.
Author's Note: And yes, that's it. I did warn you that this would be a two shot. Now here's some good news. I think that I left enough plot holes for me to return to expand on this story should I have the inspiration. However, if there are suggestions (and corrections) for what sort of events could have taken place, do let me know. I can only come up with a limited number of ideas.
I must thank you all who have taken the time to review, favorite and/or follow this story. It meant a lot to me and spurred me to write this chapter in practically one sitting. So, as a thank you gift, I'd like to know how you would title and summarize this story since Echoes on the Stairs does not quite fit. Let me know, and I'll rename the story and rewrite the summary accordingly and give you the credit. Again, thank you all for reading, and I hope you enjoyed this as much as I had enjoyed writing it!
Oh, and just in case you are wondering, I mentioned that this is inspired by a fairytale. I do not remember the title, but I do remember the plot. So here's the overview of that fairytale. A young woman and her brother are mistreated/abused by their stepmother and stepsister. So, they run away of course. After running for a while, they become thirsty (of course). The river tells them that drinking from the river would turn them into an animal. This happens another two times with the river warning them of the kind of animal they would become. At last, the brother becomes desperate and drinks. He becomes a talking young buck. Naturally, his sister, who was asleep when her brother drank from the river, becomes distressed. She places her handkerchief around the buck's neck (you know, to mark him as her brother and not a random wild buck). They come to an abandoned cottage and make their residence. After some time of living in happy solitude, the king goes a'hunting. And of course, the young lady's brother/buck begs to participate and leads the hunting party on a merry chase. This happens another two times with brother buck being wounded. The king, not wanting to lose his prize comes to the cottage and discovers the young lady and her buck for a brother. Being a young, unmarried king, he decides to marry the young lady as she was really quite beautiful. So of course they marry and have a son. Now the stepsister and stepmother hear of their stepsiblings' good fortune. (And fairytales don't tell us how and why or I just don't remember). So, the stepmother and stepsister disguise themselves as maidservants and gain admittance to the young queen's room while the king is away (and in my opinion, the steward was very foolish to let in two strangers into the castle in the first place.) Now the queen was still weak from childbirth. The stepsister and stepmother drag in a huge pot of water, close all the windows, and let the room become a sauna. Of course, the queen suffocates from the lack of fresh air and all that. So with the queen dead (I don't know what the step-relatives do to the body), the stepmother has her daughter take the queen's place in bed. Since the daughter is quite atrocious in appearance, the stepmother covers her daughter's face with a veil. When the king arrives home, he insists on seeing his wife. The stepmother tries to stop him, pulling the "Oh, she's not well enough" excuses. Unfazed, the king discovers the treachery and has the step-relatives killed (I think.) However, the queen is still dead. So, two days later, the nursemaid comes to the king and says that she's been seeing the queen's ghost come nurse the child, say how many more times she will come again, and disappear. That night, the king witnesses the queen come up, looking very much like a ghost and chained to a monster, nurse her child, and bemoan that this was the last time. Being the impulsive man he is, the king jumps out, crying, "You must be beloved wife!" (Or something like that.) And everything ends up happily ever after once the brother is returned to human form. Of course, I may have mixed up some details, but this is only the bones of that fairytale.
