Chapter 7 – Reunited
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After three days of travel, Elizabeth and Isabella finally reached Adlington Hall. Despite being winter, Elizabeth could see that the park still needed some work to be fully restored to its potential beauty, yet even as it was with parts of it wild and overgrown, it promised her many very enjoyable walks, and Annie, who knew her mistress well, giggled at the dreamy look that appeared on her face.
The house was comfortable, and larger than she expected, and the suite Isabella had chosen for her was much bigger than any she had ever stayed in. It was tastefully decorated in shades of green and sunny yellow, included a writing desk with all the supplies needed as well as an empty bookcase, ready to be filled with favourites.
Isabella gave her cousin a day to settle, before asking her to meet in the library, a beautiful double height room adjoining the ballroom, where newly delivered crates were waiting to be unpacked.
"Well Lizzy, we have a delightful task ahead of us. In addition to the books Georgiana and you helped me choose in London, I purchased a collection from an estate not ten miles away after the owner passed away – the heir wanting to free space in the house as he does not enjoy reading. His loss." Isabella waved her arms to show books piled in a disorderly manner on chairs and tables, and even some on the floor, on one side of the room.
Elizabeth's eyes widened, there must have been at least four or five hundred books, certainly more than her father had in his library, and that was in addition to the books her uncle had already collected for the library many years ago.
"So many," she whispered, "this is heavenly. Why did you not mention these while we were in London, we may have purchased some you already have, and you may already have some doubles from what uncle Jonathan had bought!"
Isabella laughed: "We only chose new books and old favourites. The new ones will not be in that collection, I am sure, and the other books can stay in our rooms to be perused at leisure without having to come to the library in the middle of the night. Any duplicate book we find can be set aside for now, we will decide later what to do with them. My first thought was to keep the most interesting ones and send them to Mary in London, if your uncle agrees; you know your sister better than me, so you can choose what to send."
They spent some time looking over the collections before them, getting lost in deciding how all these tomes should be organised, and starting grouping books by theme or authors as they went along.
After a couple of hours spent in that fashion, Isabella took Elizabeth through to a room that had not been included in the initial tour of the house. It was accessed via a small door partially concealed between two bookcases, and at first confused Elizabeth.
"Now, after spending time in the library," started Isabella, "I would like to discuss training in more unusual skills for ladies. As you know my training in some defensive arts was one of the conditions uncle Anthony put in place for me having my own establishment five years ago, and I quite agree with him. I know that you have practiced some of the techniques I attempted to communicate by letter or showed you in London, and this is good, but I now want to ensure your skills offer adequate protection for you when walking around an unknown neighbourhood such as this one. If you allow it, I also want Annie to be part of these sessions, as she will continue to accompany you wherever you go."
Elizabeth nodded, a little concerned that Isabella expected her current skills to be higher than she had achieved, yet excited about finally getting proper instructions and new worthy opponents to test herself against. In the past five years, she had asked many questions via letters, and had some basic training when visiting in Audley Street, but practice in Hertfordshire was limited as only Charlotte was willing to learn with her.
"Now, we will start with unarmed defence skills, including how to disarm an opponent carrying a blade, then move on to knife work, fencing and finally shooting. I have training weapons aplenty, and by the time your skills are adequate, appropriate weapons for both you and Annie will have arrived. We will meet here to train, with assistance with Miss Fairchild, Lucy, my former second companion, who is working as my estate secretary here but was trained by her brothers who are both in the army. We start every morning at ten precisely, from tomorrow."
"It sounds more regimented than military training!" Elizabeth exclaimed with a smile.
"Discipline is important when training, Lizzy, and unless I am mistaken, your Mr Darcy is an active type of man. You will be much happier if you can join him in his activities around the estate, and he may even enjoy having you as a new sparring partner."
They stepped out of the room via a side door during this discussion, and Elizabeth found herself near the back of the house and the stables.
"We will also be riding every day, as you absolutely need to become more confident and experienced at it, not just for your time here with me, but for Pemberley as that estate is enormous and you will need a horse to access all of it. I have had some riding habits made for you, and you will find them slightly unusual." Isabella smiled, "our clothes have a split skirt, allowing you to ride astride as well as side saddle. We will practice both, and again, I expect Annie to learn alongside us."
Elizabeth was stunned by that programme of learning, but also quite excited.
"There are so few opportunities to ride at Longbourn, and you remember Nellie, the only mare trained to use a side saddle; she is elderly and lazy, and makes riding practices very boring. I have never ridden astride; Papa would never have allowed it." Elizabeth hesitated before continuing, "Do you think Mr Darcy will approve? I did not think it was proper for gentle ladies."
"If you prefer, Lizzy, we can start with side saddle only and ask him when he joins us. I still want you to wear the new riding clothes I got for you, as they will make mounting and dismounting much safer when we are not close to the stables. Now, do you want to meet your new mare?"
Elizabeth could only nod. Belle had chosen a lively grey mare, named Neptune, for her cousin. "She is beautiful!" Elizabeth whispered, already in love with the beast.
The next few days were happy times for Elizabeth, although she missed her new fiancé more than she had expected. The days started with time in the library, which was now starting to look more organised and welcoming, followed by fight training and riding the beautiful mare Isabella had gifted her. Afternoon were spent in friendly, congenial company with Isabella and sometimes Miss Fairchild too, getting the house decorated with greenery for Christmas, exploring the grounds when the weather allowed, and preparing small gifts to exchange at Christmas. The only negative points as far as Elizabeth was concerned was Mr Darcy's continued absence and the uncertainty as to when he and his sister would arrive, but as it had been less than a week since she last saw him, she could bear his absence with equanimity.
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The above-mentioned gentleman, meanwhile, had spent some very fruitful days in London, and while impatient to see his betrothed – Elizabeth was his betrothed, how well that sounded – he used his days to get ready for an extended stay in the country. His solicitor had prepared a marriage settlement and a new will; he had retrieved his grandmother's engagement ring, an emerald and gold filigree ring, and his mother's wedding bands from the safe at Darcy House and had all of them cleaned, ready for a new owner; he had completed his Christmas shopping; he had taken Georgiana to see an exhibit on early musical instruments at the British museum. And he finally had given his Aunt Susan a full account of his meeting Elizabeth, and, helped by Georgiana a reasonably accurate description of the lady, her character, and her main qualities.
The countess was a little disappointed that her future niece had left town so soon after the engagement, but for now, satisfied as to her nephew's lady, she promised to help introduce her to the Ton at the little season in the autumn. She was less than satisfied by the lack of consent and support from Elizabeth's family; Elizabeth was the only lady her serious and sometimes even sombre nephew had even considered, and as a gentle born lady of good reputation, even without fortune, Lady Susan was ready to accept her for her nephew's sake. Although she did not voice it, she liked the idea of being the only grandmother figure in the future little Darcys' life, especially as her boys at four and thirty and nine and twenty respectively were not showing any inclination to marry, and her daughter Amelia, despite having been married three years full was still not increasing.
Two days after Elizabeth's departure from London, Colonel Richard Fitzwilliam finally arrived at Matlock House, to the relief of all his family. His last tour of duty, spent mostly in Spain, had been the most gruelling yet, and Richard was thinner than any of his family had ever seen, and sported a severe and only partially healed leg injury on the right. He would not speak of the battle where he was injured however, not yet.
The Darcy siblings were invited to dine at Matlock house that evening. Georgiana could not contain her joy at finally seeing her favourite cousin, her second guardian, again. Richard was pleased to see the improvements in her spirit since the summer, and the cousins spent many minutes sharing nonsensical and unimportant news and simply enjoying each other's presence.
During diner, as they sat next to each other, Richard was finally able to interrogate his cousin.
"So, William, I heard a lot about the Miss Elizabeth you are engaged to, yet none of the family except Georgie has met her. When do I get the pleasure? Or are you too worried she will realise she picked the wrong Fitzwilliam and decide to elope with me instead," he teased, "after all, I am the dashing, friendly one in the family."
The transformation he saw on Darcy's face at the mention of Elizabeth shocked Richard; his cousin had never appeared so happy and content, the worry lines that had been a constant feature since his father's death were gone; the dour gentleman was looking once more like the young boy he had grown up with. Richard's heart constricted, his last tour had been brutal, he had witnessed the death of so many friends, he had thought he would not feel happiness ever again; despite not believing in love, he felt jealous of his cousin for the first time in his life. He had never envied Darcy's money or his position in life and already shared his most important responsibility, Georgiana's care. But seeing love transforming Darcy so, make him shed years upon years of care and worries, returning him to the carefree teenager boy they had all loved so much, that was something Richard could wish for.
"Elizabeth is glorious, cousin," Darcy answered in a soft voice, "I am certain you will love her, and if you let her, she will become a good friend, as she has already started to be for our little Georgie. She left London but two days ago to spend the holiday at her cousin's estate, on the edge of Cheshire, about twenty miles from Pemberley, and Georgie and I will be joining them there shortly."
Darcy looked briefly at their family around the table.
"Your father and Amelia's husband are tied to London due to parliamentary discussions and will be little available for the next few weeks, your brother is at Haddon Hall and is not planning to come to London. Why do you not come with us? You need to recuperate and heal, and the countryside will do as well, if not better, than London for this, and if we send him an express, we can pick even Henry up on the way if you wish and be all together for the festivities." Darcy looked straight at Richard's eyes, begging silently for his cousin to accept.
"Perhaps it would be nice to be in the country, although we will need to travel a little slower than normal as my leg needs movement every couple of hours." Replied Richard, surprised at how much he looked forward to spending some quiet time with Henry and William without the noise and bustle of London.
"William," his aunt exclaimed, "how can you take my son away so soon? Amelia and I will have so little company as it is." She sighed. "I know you boys will be happier in the countryside. Go and force Henry to join you, he has worked hard at Haddon Hall and will enjoy taking some time off with you. I expect many letters, and William, please ask your Elizabeth to write to me."
Two days later, the Darcys and the Colonel were on their way to Haddon Hall, to rest for a day there and pick Sutton up, before continuing to Adlington Hall in time for Christmas.
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Mary Bennet was settling well in Gracechurch Street; she had written Elizabeth a long letter, in which she poured all her frustration about their family in Hertfordshire, her hopes for the future and all her love for the sister that had indirectly allowed her to leave home and carve a new path in life with the Gardiners.
"Mary, dear," Aunt Margaret had just entered Mary's room, "have you finished your letter to Lizzy? Your uncle has some business in Mayfair and can deliver it to Isabella's house to be forwarded. We have also added a short note with your Aunt Phillips best wishes; I am certain she is not aware of the truth of your parents' actions. If the weather where Lizzy is for Christmas is good, you will get an answer before the turn of the year."
"Do you think Lizzy is staying with Belle, Aunt?" Mary asked.
"I do not know, but I hope so, yes. Your sister and your cousin have been close to each other since Isabella first moved to Longbourn, and they would have a wonderful Christmas together." Margaret hoped to reassure her sensitive niece.
"Can I see her after her birthday in May? I have been so worried for her after Papa supported the marriage to Mr Collins, and I need to see she is safe." Mary had unshed tears in her eyes.
"Of course, dear girl, we will ask her where she is as soon as she turns one and twenty, and if she cannot come to London, we will all go and see her wherever she is; Edward has already planned to take some time away from his business in June or July, so we can all travel together, for the children will want to see our Lizzy too." Margaret was gently caressing Mary's hair to soothe her.
"Now though, we need to make this year's celebration special for you, my dear. We will not leave London, and the music lessons you asked for are not starting before Twelfth Night, so we can do whatever you want before this."
"I have never been to the theatre," Mary shyly said, "Lizzy always said how much she enjoyed the plays she saw when in London. Of course, if you prefer not to, we do not have to go, I will be happy with anything you and my uncle wish to do for the festive period."
"I will ask your uncle to book some seats for us, dear girl," her aunt was pleased with this request, "we both enjoy comedies and histories, and I believe Shakespeare's 'As You Like It' is playing now if that tempts you."
Mary's smile was probably the widest that had ever graced her face, transforming her from the plain girl her mother had derided for years to a sweet and carefree young lady, ready to come out of her shell and enjoy life; maybe not as pretty as her older sisters, but still quite attractive. Margaret Gardiner was delighted.
Later that night, the Gardiners discussed the newest addition to their household while getting ready for bed.
"I am ashamed to say I never noticed how little self-confidence Mary had." Mr Gardiner sighed. "I do not think my sister has ever given her any positive attention or agreed to any of her wishes."
"You are correct, I think only Lizzy, and Isabella when she lived in Longbourn, ever listened to her." His wife answered. "She is a bright child, you know, and very well read as Lizzy shared all her favourites with her sister. Did I tell you that she asked to join me when I visit with the ladies about the orphanage we sponsor; all she misses about Hertfordshire are her visits and work with the rector."
"She has a good heart, if you want, I can allocate a little extra allowance so she can decide her own charity endeavours." Edward suggested.
"I believe she would love that, and I will introduce her to some of the patrons for other works, so she has a chance to follow her heart. We must make sure to describe her efforts and wishes in our next letter to Lizzy, as well as our observations for Mary's first foray in society when we take her to the theatre."
Margaret yawned and ended her thoughts with "Mary really wants to see her sister, and I must admit to being quite desperate to fully repair our relationship too. Please let us include Cheshire in our summer trip, my love."