Chapter 3

Georgiana had been excited to meet Miss Elizabeth Bennett, and it was not just excited, she was feeling like a child who was about to get the gift she always wanted, that gift was seeing her brother happy and in love. She was ecstatic when Aunt Catherine had invited the party at parsonage for dining in Rosings Park, as she had been unable to attend the parsonage with her brother, considering her Cousin Anne's health. Anne was feeling under the weather and Georgiana decided that it would be correct to look after her cousin, rather than visiting the parsonage, even though it meant she could not meet Miss Elizabeth.

In her excitement to meet Miss Elizabeth, Georgiana had made her maid to hurry up and get her ready even before the party arrived. When the guests were announced she almost ran through the hallway to meet the guests and collided with the maid carrying refreshments. After apologizing to the maid profusely, she convinced her not to mention the incident to anyone and went back to her quarters to change her gown and attended the party fifteen minutes late.

She would be lying if she said she was not expecting her brother to be a bit friendlier, taking part in conversation or at least looking politely at the guests. So when she found Darcy glowering at his Cousin Fitzwilliam and a lady, she assumed to be Miss Elizabeth, she was disappointed. After the necessary introductions were made, by Lady Catherine of course, she went to stand beside his brother, where he stood beside the window and gave him a glare of her own.

"Brother!" she exclaimed, almost inaudibly, "I thought you were starting anew!"

"I was supposed to," Darcy whispered back angrily, "but look at them." He beckoned at Richard and Elizabeth talking; both of them were smiling and laughing, no doubt enjoying the conversation.

"And?" Georgiana prompted him to elaborate.

"And they are talking and... it looks like they are flirting!" Darcy exclaimed, "Look at them, Ana... Maybe she likes him better, all we ever did was debate and never agreed on a thing."

Georgiana looked at her cousin and love of her brother's life, they really seemed to be flirting, and Ana was not unknown to the art of flirting, even though she was not out yet. First it had been Wickham and obviously there were novels, not there were novels about flirting or the like, but she was allowed to read romances, nothing explicit, of course.

"Oh brother, don't lose hope, at least let her know you feel partial towards her, and let her choose. And I don't think you will need to compete with Richard. You know how he likes to tease you so!" Georgiana reasoned.

Richard, their cousin, had overheard their conversation in the Library, that morning. He had agreed to help Georgiana in her endeavour, after he had heartily laughed at Darcy.

"Of course I would help you, Georgiana! All I want is to see Darcy happy!" he had said to her, the very morning. Georgiana trusted him, he was not only her cousin, but also her guardian, the one who had helped raising her with Darcy.

"What are you two whispering over there in the corner?" Richard asked from the sofa where he was seated beside Miss Elizabeth.

"I was explaining to brother, why I was late. I know he prefers punctuality and does not tolerate tardiness." Georgiana said with a smile and tugged Darcy along with her, when he did not move, she gave him a sweet but fake smile, as she mouths 'you promised' and continued tugging him to sit beside Richard and Miss Elizabeth on the sofa. Darcy complied whilst giving his sister an amused smile.

Elizabeth looked actually surprised to see Mr. Darcy smile. She had believed that he was incapable of smiling, and suddenly felt guilty, was she really so prejudiced? She asked herself as she looked at the way Mr. Darcy smiled at her sister, with the same amused adoration saying, 'you have your silly moments but I still love you', the kind of smile she had seen Jane give Lydia, Mary, Kitty and even her sometimes. Maybe even she gave those smiles to her sisters.

"I am glad to finally make an acquaintance, Miss Darcy." Elizabeth said, after a moment's uncomfortable silence.

"So am I, Miss Bennett," Georgiana replied with a smile, "I have heard so much about you that I wanted to meet you. It was really a charming co-incidence that I got the chance to meet you."

Elizabeth listened to the young girl in front of her. She searched for any hint of sarcasm in her tone, but it was nothing but cheerful and friendly, it seemed like the girl was really happy to see her. So, she turned her gaze to Mr. Darcy, who could be the only one who had told her sister about her. She gave him a questioning look but Darcy just shrugged and smiled.

Elizabeth was taken aback by the smile directed towards her.

"So, Darcy old man told us that you are a really talented pianist." Colonel Fitzwilliam said, giving Georgiana sly glance.

Georgiana almost sighed with relief learning that he was still by their side, and was going to help them.

"Well not at all talented, I would be better if I practiced daily but then again I never found myself to be that talented," Elizabeth replied, with a slight blush and modest voice, "on the contrary, Miss Bingley had assured me that Miss Darcy is really talented and practised pianist."

Georgiana felt her face heat up as all eyes turned to her and a slightly frantic emotion displayed in her eyes for a fraction of moment, it was for such a small span of time that no one had even noticed it except for Fitzwilliam, who promptly held her hand and squeezed it slightly in a comforting manner. The action did not go unnoticed by Elizabeth.

"I am- I am fine." Georgiana said, "I just like to play piano."

"And that is the best thing; to be good at something you must first like doing it." Elizabeth said, with a smile, "I am pretty sure you are really good at playing, if you like it a lot."

With that, Georgiana's mind was set to ease, the lady in front of her was in no way like Caroline Bingley or the ladies of the Ton, who befriended her and complimented her just to get close to Darcy.

The evening passed as the two ladies chatted amiably. Richard looked at Darcy pointedly to make more effort in the conversation and Darcy avoided Richard's gaze at all costs, because he was still angry at Richard's blatant flirting with his Miss Elizabeth.

Lady Catherine tried to disengage the conversation among the quartet more than once, but after the third attempt she sniffed and turned to Mr. and Mrs. Collins and Mrs. Collins' sister, Maria Lucas.

The dinner could have been a pleasant affair, if Lady Catherine, who was getting insecure at the increasing intimacy between Georgiana and Elizabeth, had not taken the dinner as perfect opportunity to undermine Elizabeth.

Her only mistake was asking Darcy of his opinion.

"... and I think that Miss Daniels of Kent is very talented at painting table, that is the most important quality in an ideal mistress, don't you think, Fitzwilliam?" She said.

Darcy looked at Georgiana, who nodded, and Richard kicked him under the table.

"It would be Aunt Catherine, if the husband wants a house full of painted table." Darcy said, innocently, receiving an amused glance from Miss Elizabeth. Richard almost choked on his food, Georgiana skilfully disguised her giggle in a cough and Aunt Catherine, promptly changed the topic and began to discuss miniscule details about the parsonage with Mr. and Mrs. Collins, exempting the others from conversation, and as Anne and Maria hardly talked, the four, as Darcy finally decided to be an active part of the conversation, passed the time talking amiably.

Darcy tried to be subtle and not overly-eager to express his partiality to Miss Elizabeth, like Georgiana and Richard had suggested.

It seemed to be working, because even though not completely frank, Miss Bennett was not at least trying to or avoiding conversation with him. Maybe, just maybe, he hoped, she had even started to change her opinion about him.

Thank you, everyone for your reviews, follows and faves. I am so glad you liked Georgiana, I was afraid of being criticized of keeping her Out of Character, but then Jane Austen never described her a lot. Anyways, Georgiana is going to be an important part of this story, as the title suggests. Please feel free to give your suggestions and criticism or PM me, I don't mind. I would love to hear from you guys and know how to improve myself.

Keep reviewing,

Love,

Anka.