Edited by SamH294
December 1813 – 1814
In December 1813, to the joy and pride of the Darcys, William Darcy was born. Fortunately, Elizabeth did not experience any complications during childbirth, and their son was born healthy. A few weeks later, Elizabeth resumed her activities as mistress of Pemberley.
Due to her nephew's birth, Georgiana decided to postpone her coming out for another year. Darcy and Lord Frederick supported her decision. Lord Frederick told Mrs. Campbell and other acquaintances that he was traveling with his son to Pemberley to meet the new member of the Darcy family and Lord Sebastian was to be William's godfather and Georgiana his godmother.
Finally, in late December 1814, Georgiana Darcy's grand coming-out ball was held at the Matlock home. Lady Matlock invited all the leading families of England and went above and beyond to ensure that everything was perfect; her niece's coming-out ball would be the event of the year!
Georgiana was very beautiful that night; she was wearing a light blue gown with silver embroidery and delicate lace that accentuated the color of her eyes. Her hair was tied back with hairpins and a diamond tiara, and she wore a matching diamond necklace and bracelet from the Darcys' jewelry collection.
As was to be expected, Darcy opened the ball with his sister, and Georgiana subsequently danced the second set with Richard, the third set with Lord Matlock, and the fourth set with Lord Frederick.
For several days afterward in the most important salons of London's society, there was talk about how pretty and elegant Miss Darcy was. Invitations to dinners, parties, teas, and balls quickly began to arrive for the Darcys as well as morning visits from ladies and also from gentlemen who wanted to get to know Georgiana better.
Over the next several weeks, Georgiana met several gentlemen; three of them showed interest in courting her but none of them interested her. The Darcys returned to Pemberley in late February.
March 1815
In March 1815, in a small and nice house in Kent, Mary Reight - formerly Mary King - read in the newspaper that Lord Sebastian was engaged to Miss Marianne Campbell. The news pleased her as she had owed Lord Sebastian a great debt of gratitude.
Over two years ago, Lord Sebastian visited her and proposed to arrange a marriage for her with Mr. Reight. Mr. Reight was an elderly man, who was ill with cancer, and he owed Lord Frederick a great debt of gratitude.
They discussed his plan and finally, he convinced her of the benefits of being a widow. In case she wanted to marry one day, she did not have to give any explanation for her loss of virtue. A few months later, she was widowed and she moved to live in Kent.
Since January 1815 a hard-working and honorable solicitor had been courting her, and she was very happy with her life.
September 1815
After Jane's wedding, Kitty Bennet did not return to live in Hertfordshire. She traveled to Hertfordshire from time to time to visit her mother and brother, but she felt that Purvis Lodge was not her home anymore. She visited Mary and her niece at 'The Firs' as well. They were living at the estate since Mr. Barton, partly at Lord Sebastian and Elizabeth's insistence, had bought the small estate at a convenient price.
Now, the Bartons had an income of over £1000 a year and they were saving money for their daughter's dowry.
Lydia hardly wrote to her, and the few times she did, she didn't seem very happy in her marriage. She complained that she was bored because Denny spent so little time with her and the other officers' wives didn't pay much attention to her. In addition, she had a one-year-old son and she had to feed him because she did not have the money to pay for a wet nurse.
Early in 1815, Jane introduced Kitty to her husband's acquaintance, Mr. Thorne. He was a young lawyer with an income of £300 a year, and within six months they married.