A/N: Slight correction to the timeline. Elizabeth met Wickham in the street on Tuesday. I moved the Phillips supper ahead a day so the last chapter and this are Wednesday 20 November—a week after Elizabeth overheard the Bingleys at Netherfield.
Wade
Darcy met the coach as it pulled into the drive, handed the ladies down, and gave Georgiana a hug and bows to everyone else.
"Welcome to Netherfield," Bingley said with something just short of his usual conviviality. "May I introduce my aunt, Mrs Ashford."
"A pleasure, ma'am," Darcy said with a courteous bow.
They spent a few more minutes with the usual niceties, then entered the hall.
Though not the host, Darcy said, "I have taken the liberty of requesting luncheon at the usual times, and Mrs Nicols tells me your guest rooms are ready. By your leave, I might suggest you wash off the dust of the road and we can meet in an hour for luncheon."
Georgiana looked like she would rather drag him into a room to talk about Elizabeth, so he relented slightly. "Shall I see you in a half-hour, sister?"
She nodded enthusiastically, and everyone save Bingley followed the housekeeper to their rooms. Bingley hung back a minute, and Darcy gestured to the study with a questioning look, which was agreed.
Once inside the room with the door closed and brandy in hand, Darcy began. "Is it done?"
"It is done!" Bingley said with a finality that sounded both assertive and sad to Darcy's ear. "I have acted as planned, and it went as expected. I doubt you can imagine the amount of caterwauling I have endured… but I prevailed in the end."
"Care to talk it through?"
"Not at this time. I would prefer to discuss it with Miss Bennet. Have I any hope?"
Darcy sighed, no more sanguine about being in the middle between the two than Elizabeth was, and finally answered, "I broached the subject with Elizabeth. She suggests tomorrow might be a good time to visit. If there was no hope at all, she would have suggested next week."
Bingley looked momentarily disappointed but resigned.
Darcy thought to throw him a bone. "As I mentioned in my letter, I made a grand gesture, and it worked out for me. I cannot say it would for you, but it is worth keeping in mind."
"I will take it under advisement. An apology is certainly due, so let us hope the Bennet sisters did not exhaust their stores of forgiveness."
"I believe the supply is extensive, but we shall see. You are your own man, the offence was different, and Miss Bennet is not Miss Elizabeth. Your path will be different from mine."
"I believe it will be. Can you tell me what you have learned about Miss Bennet?"
Darcy once again felt wrong footed, but finally spent a quarter hour telling Bingley what he had learned in his interactions with the Bennet sisters.
He finally ended with. "I believe their departure from Netherfield was a sort of catalyst. I suspect half of what I just said would not have been true before Elizabeth overheard us."
"Better or worse?"
"All for the better, I assure you," Darcy said with slightly more confidence than he felt.
Bingley nodded.
"Are you still planning a ball?"
"Yes, much of the preparations were underway under Caroline's direction. I cut the budget in half and my aunt will manage the affair. It will be on the 26th."
"That is less than a week. I suppose it will be sufficient."
Bingley shrugged. "I could have delayed but some rather expensive arrangements for musicians, flowers and the like were already underway."
"It will be fine," Darcy said with a confidence he did not necessarily feel.
With a quick motion, Bingley finished his brandy and left to clean up.
Georgiana entered the parlour nearly at a run, bursting with excitement. "Tell me about Miss Elizabeth, Brother!" she said without preamble.
He laughed, "All in good time, Georgie. I do not wish to endlessly repeat myself nor exclude your other guardian, so we shall discuss the Bennets over luncheon. For the moment, I can just tell you that she and two of her sisters are the kindest and gentlest people you will ever meet. There is not an unkind bone between them, though all three have spines of steel when it comes to protecting their siblings."
"That sounds wonderful. Are you courting her?"
"Yes, I am publicly calling on her. There is a funny story about that, which I will relay with luncheon."
"I thought she was one of five sisters?"
"She is. I mentioned the three eldest. The two youngest are quite possibly the silliest girls I know, but mostly harmless, I think. You will find them exhausting, but you will endure it and may even come to like them."
"I so long to meet them."
"Not long now," he whispered, then deliberately moved the conversation to what Georgiana had been doing in London, and how enthusiastic Mrs Annesley felt about her holiday.
Lunch was a more spirited affair than Darcy had previously been accustomed to, and Bingley noted the difference. Darcy agreed it was so, but he was uncertain if the change was the lack of Bingley's sisters, the addition of Fitzwilliam, or the fact that he had built up a tolerance at the Bennet table. Everyone wanted to know everything about Elizabeth, the Bennets, the neighbourhood… and they wanted it now!
Darcy lived through the mortification of explaining exactly what his offence had been. The look of horror on Georgiana's face told him a lot about how far he had strayed from the gentleman's path, and he could see her imagining being in that position. It was a valid concern, since the ton was like navigating snake-infested waters (which he dearly hoped Elizabeth could help mitigate), so she had the double dose of his own shame and additional fear about her upcoming experience.
He described his apology to stunned silence, and then the elder Bennet ladies work to repair his reputation to everyone's amazement. There as almost no limit to the questions about the events of the previous Sunday, with each surprise being different than the rest. All in all, it was quite a rousing story.
Darcy omitted certain details about who was present for which conversation, and certainly did not disclose that he had already proposed (in front of Miss Mary no less).
He readily discussed Elizabeth's request to remain silent for a few days, only to be caught out by Lady Catherine's parson. That story met howls of laughter from Fitzwilliam, who just could not help himself.
The colonel laughed himself silly then stopped abruptly. "Do you suppose he wrote to our aunt?"
Darcy groaned in dismay, not having given the matter much thought (mainly because his thinking was not exactly top-notch around Elizabeth). He indicated he could ask, but if the parson had done so, the deed was done, and they could expect a visit any day, so he was not going to spend much time worrying about it.
Georgiana asked how they were going to meet, and he said the best thing was to plunge right in. They would leave in a few hours to spend the afternoon with the Bennet family and remain to dine.
Elizabeth met the group from Netherfield in the parlour with some slight nervousness. She was well past any real fear of Mr Darcy, but every meeting, every discussion, every glance seemed to push her farther down a road at breakneck speed. Every new relative met was one more link to a man she had despised a week ago (if she could remember that far back).
Darcy looked around curiously at the rather small gathering and raised an eyebrow.
She smiled. "My apologies. You will only meet the three of us this morning. Apparently, I accidentally implied to my mother that you would not be here until dinnertime, thus allowing her to visit my aunt in Meryton with my two youngest sisters."
Darcy laughed appreciatively, and then made the proper introductions.
Colonel Fitzwilliam was about thirty, not handsome, but in person and address most truly the gentleman. Elizabeth found his gregarious and amiable manner slightly unnerving, somehow thinking that she may as well have let Darcy bring Mr Bingley since he brought his twin anyway.
Miss Darcy was genteel in her manners and as well-dressed as you would expect for a girl of her station not yet out, but the observation of a very few minutes convinced Elizabeth that she was only exceedingly shy. She found it difficult to obtain even a word from her beyond a monosyllable. As they all sat down to converse, Elizabeth could see that Mr Darcy showed something akin to nervousness about the meeting between Elizabeth and Georgiana, presumably because he put so much importance on their potential relationship. The colonel seemed ready to dive into any conversational difficulty to smooth things over, which had the advantage of reducing Miss Darcy's obvious nervousness, but the disadvantage of saving her the trouble of speaking overmuch.
Jane and Mary did their part to make the young lady feel welcome, while Elizabeth gave her potential additional sister the lion's share of her attention. Things proceeded in that fashion for a quarter hour until Elizabeth made a critical decision.
"Gentlemen, we appreciate you bringing Miss Darcy to our attention. Now go away."
Both gentlemen startled and Darcy momentarily scrunched his face until he belatedly worked out that he was experiencing the teasing he had observed but never been subject to.
He answered with a laugh. "Where shall we go?"
"Anywhere that is not here. Go outside and have a chest pounding contest or a horse race; go play chess and drink port with my father; go back to Netherfield and play billiards; whatever it is men do while ladies are on lady's business."
The colonel asked, "When should we return."
"Two hours. It will be time to dress for dinner by then."
Darcy and the colonel retreated towards the door, and Elizabeth whispered, "I warned my father to expect you."
He nodded, and though he appeared to want to kiss her right then and there, he wisely refrained.
Once the men were gone, it still took a half-hour to get past Miss Darcy's reserve, but once she was comfortable things became much easier. As might be expected, she initially gave almost all her attention to Elizabeth, but some gentle prodding reminded her that she should pay attention to everyone in the conversation. Elizabeth took it as a good sign that she could be comfortable eventually, and thanked the fates she had enough sense to exclude her mother and youngest sisters from the introduction. She thought Miss Darcy might never have recovered.
They eventually landed on the subject of music, which all could speak of withs something approaching authority. It seemed likely Miss Darcy was the better musician of the three, which surprised no one. Darcy had asserted she had real talent, and she had both Mary's industry and the benefit of the best masters money could buy, so it was to be well expected.
On the other hand, the young lady seemed reluctant to perform, and if she was unable to stand up to the friendliest audience she would ever encounter in her life, she probably needed to work on her shyness with vigour.
They eventually migrated to the pianoforte, and Elizabeth had the brilliant idea to have Miss Darcy give Mary and her a shared lesson. Of course, she sold the idea as exchanging techniques, but nobody was fooled into thinking the exchange would be anything but one way. After another half-hour she made an excuse to leave Mary and Miss Darcy playing duets while Jane embroidered and went to seek her beau.
A lucky break caused Darcy to exit Mr Bennet's office just in time to see Elizabeth leave the parlour. Mr Bennet and the colonel were locked in a fierce battle of chess so neither man appeared to notice his exit, and it seemed likely Elizabeth had temporarily abandoned Georgiana to her sisters.
As they met in the corridor, Darcy became more nervous than the occasion seemed to call for, and he could see Elizabeth seemed to be blushing and feeling the same thing herself.
He smiled gently and held out his hand. She gave him hers in return, and he gave it a chaste kiss on the knuckles, which made her blush even more furiously.
"I am happy to see you, Elizabeth," he said gently.
She looked up, and after a moment of introspection replied, "You as well. In fact, I came to seek you out."
"Oh?" he asked curiously.
"Yes… your sister is quite lovely, and we all like her exceedingly."
"I suspect there is a 'but' hidden there."
Elizabeth chuckled. "Am I so easy to read, then …" and she gave a significant pause, and finally added, "… William." It was the first time she had used his given name in a sentence, and though it came out very awkward sounding, she gave a small smile of triumph.
Darcy wanted to lighten the mood slightly, so he ignored the awkwardness and laughed. "Yes, you are very easy to read. All you had to do was beat me over the head with my own bad manners for a month and I caught on immediately."
She laughed gaily, but Darcy strongly suspected she still found the speed of their reversal disconcerting. HE found it disconcerting, and he had weeks to accustom himself to the idea.
Darcy said gently, "It will get easier with time."
"I thought all women were supposed to be inscrutable and mysterious. Where did I go wrong?"
Darcy chuckled, then took her hand and gave it another kiss just for good measure. According to the rules of propriety, they were pushing their luck with how long they should be alone unchaperoned, but not by a significant margin.
"You will always be mysterious, but hopefully less inscrutable."
"You will have to work on your stone face as well, my good man."
"We were discussing Georgiana."
"Oh yes. As I said, she is a lovely girl and we like her exceedingly… but, gracious me is she shy. I am afraid the ton will eat her alive if she does not toughen up before her come out."
"I have a plan for that."
"Which is?"
He sighed. "Mostly, I plan to do as you instruct. There are things we will need to discuss privately about her background, and I will rely on your judgement about what to do."
"What if I judge the answer is to lock her in a cottage with my two youngest sisters until they average each other out."
"I have a half-dozen suitable cottages at Pemberley. Lock away," he said with a good laugh, which Elizabeth joined.
The rest of the afternoon passed uneventfully, aside from a rather serious scolding from Mrs Bennet about Elizabeth's failure to notify the matron she should be home to meet their illustrious guests. The scolding had as much effect as they usually did, especially since Elizabeth had already run through everything the matron could say in her mind far in advance.
The dinner was a rather raucous affair. The Bennet table was a noisy place at the best of times and adding a colonel in uniform to the younger sisters' usual antics was like putting out a fire with lamp oil. The colonel took the younger sisters' flirting with aplomb, which Elizabeth took to mean it was probably better than cannon fire. He related some war stories that she believed were paradoxically both sanitised and exaggerated. That end of the table had never been so entertained.
By Mrs Bennet's design, Miss Darcy was seated between Jane and Mary so Elizabeth could sit by Darcy… a plan the young lady had no objection to.
Elizabeth remembered all of the hundreds of questions that had run through her mind at her aunt's house, such as how they would dine at Pemberley, how any children might be raised, and the like. Nobody was really paying attention, and she would have had to stand on the table and shout to be heard anyway, so she gave Darcy a good long list of her thoughts and questions.
Darcy was more than happy to see that her thinking was moving towards what their life might be. He reckoned they were beyond questioning whether they might be compatible to questioning whether their life together might be to her taste.
He asked for a few clarifications, then replied. "Most of your questions have a very similar answer. We will dine wherever the mistress tells the servants to send our meals. Our children will mind their mother, so what boys or girls do will be mostly up to you. Of course, our sons will have to learn to be gentlemen and our daughters to be ladies. The former will be more my purview as they get older, but not when they are young. We have obligations in town for a couple of months per year, but otherwise we will divide our time in a way that we mutually agree. I envision a partnership, Elizabeth. If I wanted a docile wife who just did what I said, do you really think I would have had any trouble obtaining one a decade ago?"
To that, she had almost nothing to reply. The very concept of having a say in the life she was joining was something she had never anticipated, particularly when she was moving up so far in society.
Darcy could see her distress. "Chin up, Elizabeth. We will work it out together," he whispered, and boldly reached across under the table to squeeze her hand.
She smiled. "You say that with some confidence."
"Hardly… it is all bluster," he said with a smile, and they went back to their desserts.
The rest of the evening went apace. After dinner, Miss Darcy lost the protection of the elder Bennet sisters and was thrust headlong into the world of Lydia and Kitty, who were shocked and dismayed beyond measure to learn that the heiress simply bought all her bonnets and never remade them. After a sufficient amount of protestation about the basic unfairness of her upbringing, they convinced her to bring a few of her best bonnets the next day so she could learn all the important points of bonnet construction.
Elizabeth strongly suspected Lydia's motives were hardly altruistic, and Miss Darcy would return to Netherfield with fewer than she arrived with; but she thought it might be good training for the girl. She needed some adversity in her life, and an afternoon with Lydia Bennet could be roughly equated by learning to swim by jumping into the deep end of a pond.
The Netherfield party left in good time, with everyone satisfied with the meeting. The courting couple were both happy and relieved that one more obstacle to coming to some sort of agreement on their future was behind them.
As they walked to the carriage, Elizabeth and Jane pulled Darcy aside for a moment.
Jane said, "I understand Mr Bingley has asked to speak with me."
"He has," Darcy said, still not particularly comfortable with being in the middle.
"Has he made any grand pronouncements?" she asked, obviously aware of what Darcy had said when they returned to Netherfield.
"Not to me."
"All right. I will hear him out… but not alone."
"Naturally. Would Elizabeth and I as chaperones suffice?"
"We can be as attentive or as hard of hearing as you like, Jane," Elizabeth offered, and was struck by how comfortable she sounded standing next to Darcy with her hand in the crook of his arm making commitments for his future deportment.
"Bring him in the morning," Jane said, then curtsied and scurried away.
Darcy gave Elizabeth another proper kiss on the hand, and the party returned to Netherfield full of the day's news.