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Chapter 34: The Language of Flowers

Miss Elizabeth and Georgiana seemed much more relaxed when they returned. Anne was with them and seemed happy as well. It fell to me to reminded Miss Elizabeth of the flowers. I plucked the basket off the table and brought it to Miss Elizabeth, giving her a little bow. She immediately arose and brought it to Anne who was sitting on her usual sofa. Anne had discarded her slippers and placed her feet upon the sofa, hidden under her skirts. Her navy blanket hung down over the arm of the sofa.

Miss Elizabeth brought the basket to Anne and said, "Miss de Bourgh, I neglected to give these flowers to you earlier."

Anne grasped the flowers from the basket and spread them across the empty spot on the sofa. She said, "Pretty flowers" as she petted the blooms as if they were the coat of a soft living creature. Anne's eyes were fixed on the flowers and I noticed that she had not thanked Miss Elizabeth for the gift. Miss Elizabeth started naming some of the flowers and telling Anne about the history of the forget-me-nots, but Anne did not appear to be listening.

A moment later Anne pulled a daisy out from the mass of blooms and began plucking the petals off it, flinging each one with great gusto to the rug below her (with some falling upon her slippers) and repeating: "He loves me, he loves me not."

When the daisy was half plucked, Anne set the flower upon her lap, grabbed another daisy and held it out towards Miss Elizabeth. Anne said to her, "You should do it, too."

Miss Elizabeth blushed and looked at me.

Georgiana said gently, "Anne, you are making a mess. This is an outdoor game." She got up and stood by Anne's side. She said, "May we put the flowers back in the basket and take them outside?"

I worried that Anne would reject this idea, but on this occasion, she seemed remarkably compliant. She nodded and twirled the two daisies by rubbing her hands back and forth. She seemed to ignore what Georgiana was doing until the basket was filled once more, but then she flung her stocking feet down and swung them back and forth, the balls of her stocking-clad feet sweeping back and forth, dragging on the rug.

"Put your slippers on, Anne," Georgiana instructed, even as Mrs. Jenkinson was coming to assist Anne.

Anne turned to Mrs. Jenkinson and said, "Anne will do it." She slid off the sofa, sat upon the floor and put her slippers on, unmindful of decorum. As Anne contracted her right leg to slide her foot into the slipper, I saw much more of her leg than I would have liked, including some of the whitish skin above the ribbon tie of her stocking. I averted my eyes before she slid the other shoe on, not looking back in her direction until a flash of movement told me she had risen.

Although there was no guile in her, it became ever more apparent to me how much Anne would need to be closely guarded, should that responsibility ever fall to me. How many men seeking fortune might take advantage of her innocent actions!

Georgiana led Anne in the direction of the garden. As Anne walked, she resumed repeating her rhyme and flinging petals as they headed for the door, with Mrs. Jenkinson trailing after them, moving awkwardly when she stepped with her weaker leg. I was glad for her sake that apparently Mrs. Jenkinson felt no obligation to pick up the discarded petals.

This left me with Miss Elizabeth under the supervision of Mrs. Annesley. No tea had yet been prepared so Mrs. Annesley settled herself in a corner with her knitting. What had before been a narrow strip of white knit yarn the last time she had supervised us, was now taking shape as a sweater. I felt a momentary desire to grab it, pull out the needles and unravel it.

Miss Elizabeth walked over to the opposite corner and took a seat on a settee, motioning for me to sit beside me. I welcomed the gesture and sat a respectful distance from her. She turned toward me and commented, "I have no need for childhood games . . ." adding with a small smile, "as I already know the answer."

"Yes," I responded, "I have made no secret of it. My intentions are as clear as I can make them. Now, do tell, do I need to play the game myself to find out the answer to what my fair maiden thinks of me?"

"I have no answer to give you as of yet." Miss Elizabeth responded, her face pinking in the most delightful manner. "However, Mr. Darcy, I give you leave to hope."

Then she said in a whisper so low I had to lean in to understand her words, "I still have your token and I have no wish to relinquish it, or ask for mine to be returned." Miss Elizabeth lifted her left gloved hand from her lap, turned it palm side up and with two fingers from her right hand reached under the edge of her glove as if grasping at something and lightly tugged. It took me a moment to understand that the bit of brown I saw was the end of my string. I barely recognized it before she poked it back out of view.

"And I yours likewise." I reached into my pocket and pulled out the edge of her ribbon before concealing it again.

We smiled at our shared secret; her dark eyes were bright, looking at me with an intensity that was both overwhelming and delightful. I broke our gaze first and sat in silence (but for the soft clicking of Mrs. Annesley's knitting needles and our breathing), simply enjoying being with her. I finally broke the silence to add, "I would like them to be bound together."

Miss Elizabeth answered, "I know. I do not mean to frustrate you. My mind is still adjusting to all I have learned. I still have doubts and concerns. Our time is so short, I do not wish to go."

I wondered if she was talking about today or leaving Hunsford. I answered, "I know you need more time to know what will make you happy, but I must ask, may I call with on you with Georgiana after we bring you to your Gardiner relatives in London and when you return home?"

"You may," Miss Elizabeth smiled again, "I confess I am glad that you do not expect to come to the point upon our arrival in London. However, I am not sure the reception you will receive at Longbourn. I am afraid that my past behavior will make it more difficult for you there."

She leaned in toward me a little and added, "I have written to my mother and father to tell them of my growing friendship with Miss Darcy and you. I was very surprised my father wrote me back because he is usually an indifferent correspondent. Besides bemoaning the lack of sense in our house with his most sensible daughters gone, he also seemed curious as to how my opinion of you has undergone such a drastic transformation."

"What did you tell him?" I asked.

Miss Elizabeth gave a little shrug and I tried not to notice how the motion made the top edge of her gown gap a little. "I did write him back, though I did not answer that part of his letter; it seemed to me certain things might best be discussed in person. I suspect Mr. Collins may have written him regarding your supposed intentions, which is why he hastened me home."

"I would gladly clarify all my intentions to Mr. Bennet should I have your permission. I am glad you gave me leave to call. I must confess I had great hope that your permission would extend to Longbourn and I have already secured from Mr. Bingley the option to temporarily rent his home. And now I must confirm it."

"How forward of you, Mr. Darcy. I must confess I am glad you have made such plans." She absently twirled a loose ringlet by her ear and my eyes focused on that movement, the play of light upon the curl as it moved. My hands desired to replace hers, to touch and twirl her hair myself.

"I have a great many plans," I answered, "and they do not end there."

I wondered what was keeping my aunt. Tea could not be forthcoming without her key. It was not that I needed any tea, tea had just been the means to the end of spending time with Miss Elizabeth and we were having a perfectly enjoyable time without it.

I heard my sister and Anne returning. Anne held Miss Elizabeth's basket but now it was filled with roses from the Rosing's rose garden. I wondered what had become of the wildflowers that Miss Elizabeth had picked. Anne stood in front of Miss Elizabeth with the basket but did not hold them out to Miss Elizabeth.

Georgiana prompted softly, "What were you to tell her?"

"You tell her," Anne told my sister.

Georgiana said, "Miss Elizabeth, Miss de Bourgh wanted you to have these roses." Then when Anne did nothing, she prompted, "Go on Anne, give Miss Elizabeth the flowers."

Anne nodded with a bright smile and handed the basket to Miss Elizabeth, who gave her a beautiful smile in return. "How thoughtful of you, Anne."

"Say it." Anne said to Georgiana. She bounced on her slippered feet, eager, waiting.

"Only if you say it with me, Anne." Georgiana replied.

Anne nodded and kept bouncing but her mouth remained closed. Georgiana began to recite, with Anne only joining in at the second half, "The rose is red, the violet's blue. The honey's sweet, and so are you."

I almost rolled my eyes at the ridiculous rhyme, but Miss Elizabeth responded very sweetly, saying, "How very kind of you, Miss de Bourgh, roses and a poem. I am glad we are friends." I imagined I heard an unvoiced, "again." I wondered whether Miss Elizabeth was just being kind or whether was she truly enjoying those things. I regretted never gathering flowers for Miss Elizabeth myself.

Lady Catherine strode in, servants right behind her with all the makings for tea. Not waiting to find out what was going on in her absence, she took command of the conversation. "I regret the delay, but I had a staffing matter which needed my attention and tea was not foremost on my mind. There was a dispute between the dairy maid and the cow keeper."

It did not surprise me that she had become involved in that matter. Nothing was beneath my aunt's notice. She then regaled us with all the details of the dispute. Although I did not get to say much more to Miss Elizabeth, at least I was near her and we exchanged some looks over various parts of Lady Catherine's story. While it was not appropriate for Miss Elizabeth to raise and waggle her eyebrows as she did, and I had to work hard to stifle a laugh, I felt a closeness to her. She was treating me as at least a close friend.

My focus was so fixed upon Miss Elizabeth, that I almost missed it when Lady Catherine issued a dinner invitation. I likely would have not even understood it at all, had Miss Elizabeth not answered, "As for myself, I am happy to accept. As for the Collinses and Miss Lucas, I will certainly pass along your invitation and I would be most surprised if they should not be available to dine with you tomorrow."

Miss Elizabeth and I both lingered over our tea even after Lady Catherine had left to speak with her housekeeper and Mrs. Jenkinson had led Anne away. Georgiana and Mrs. Annesley were still present, but they were quiet, and it was almost as if they were not there.

When the tea was drunk and the biscuits all consumed, Miss Elizabeth still seemed reluctant to depart. Though she did eventually go, after saying, "Mrs. Collins is surely missing me by now," the basket of roses over her arm, I found encouragement in her hesitation. I wondered what I could do to woo her as she deserved.

I dearly wanted to walk after Miss Elizabeth, to accompany her back to the parsonage, but I resisted the impulse. I felt almost certain I would have not been able to restrain myself from proposing and I knew from her words that she was not ready for any such thing.

After Miss Elizabeth was well and truly gone, I wandered around Rosings for a little while until my legs led me to the hall which leads to the garden. It was this path which Georgiana and Anne must have taken earlier in the day to visit the rose gardens. Inside Rosings there was no sign of daisy petals and none were on the back steps either (Lady Catherine's staff is quite thorough in promptly cleaning, so I was not surprised, likely they had cleaned the salon as soon as we left it).

However, when I was well and truly outside, the stone path having ended, and had reached the turf just before Lady Catherine's formal gardens, I finally found a trail of daisy petals which began on the grass path. I followed the white petals, spotted a discarded denuded daisy, a little yellow center atop a green stem. Then there was a gap before the trail began again. I counted four daisy stems before they stopped.

Three more steps brought me to a modified trail consisting of other petals and blooms. Apparently, Anne had plucked bare every daisy. There were tiny blue petals, small yellow petals, individual blue bells and then ripped up shards of pink petals.

Just before the first rosebush, I found a heap of discarded flowers wilting in the sun. This, then, was where the wildflowers had found their final resting place (at least until a gardener might rake them under the bushes).

I began to pick through the pile and discarded sadly wilted and bruised flowers. I was not sure what I was looking for, except perhaps I wanted to salvage some of Miss Elizabeth's gathering work. As I sorted, I thought about how her small hands had plucked each stem.

Underneath several blooms, I found the yellow king cups. Just beneath them and to one side, I spotted a little cluster of forget-me-nots which I carefully pulled free. Each had five petals surrounding a small yellow center. I recognized that the small blue petals I had seen earlier had come from other forget-me-nots, and I was glad that these flowers had been spared.

I brought the flowers to my nose but was disappointed to smell almost no scent at all from the humble flowers. I almost discarded them then, was preparing to loosen my grip and let them slip to the ground but some impulse stilled my fingers from unfurling. I tucked the flowers in my pocket instead. When I was back in my room, I pressed them between the pages of the book of poetry I had failed to make much progress getting through.