"Mrs. Darcy has invited me to tea this afternoon," said Georgiana as she, Bingley and her brother finished their breakfast.
"What time shall I take you over, Georgiana?" her brother asked.
"I thought I would ride over on my own," she said. "The Bennet girls do so all of the time."
Mrs. Annesley looked scandalized, and spoke quietly but firmly to her charge.
"The Misses Bennet are more familiar with the countryside," Darcy said. "They have grown up here. What if you took a wrong turning?"
"Then I will take the carriage," she said. "But I will go by myself."
Mrs. Annesley begged Darcy to disallow this, but Darcy refused.
"It is only three miles," he said. "And the coachman will hardly become lost. I'm sure she will not lack for escort."
Mrs. Annesley frowned, but relented, and that afternoon found Georgiana climbing into the carriage by herself, elated at her new-won freedom. Darcy watched with Bingley as the carriage pulled away.
"I suppose she wants to visit with Elizabeth without me," Darcy said.
"I understand it is different, when it is just ladies," Bingley ventured. "Caroline once told me they speak more freely of certain things."
Darcy pondered this. "Do you think Elizabeth speaks differently of me when I am not there?"
"I think Mrs. Darcy always speaks her mind, whether you are there or not," Bingley said, smiling.
"Probably true, but Georgiana is not to know that, I suppose. I imagine that she might not be so free in her opinion when I am about."
"Ah, well. Yes," Bingley said uncomfortably.
"What is it, Bingley?" Darcy asked, shifting his attention to his friend. Bingley merely shrugged, but the look on his friend's face made it clear that he would not brook his silence.
"Yesterday Georgiana asked me if Mrs. Darcy could come to stay here. When I said that Mrs. Darcy preferred to stay with her sister for now, she became suspicious."
"Suspicious? What did she suspect?" Darcy asked anxiously.
"She said that you would not have done what you did to Wickham if you had not been upset about something. She said that something was wrong."
"Damn," said Darcy, staring at the road where the carriage had disappeared. "And now she has gone to ask her questions of Elizabeth."
"I'm afraid so," Bingley replied.
"I'm doomed."
"I'm afraid so. Brandy?"
Darcy nodded and they headed inside.
Elizabeth beamed as the carriage door swung open and Georgiana climbed out.
"Miss Darcy, welcome. I am so glad you could come," she said, smiling brightly at her sister-in-law.
"Mrs. Darcy, I thank you so much for inviting me," Georgiana answered carefully, brushing her skirt straight awkwardly. It was strange not to have Mrs. Annesley fussing over her.
"Please, do come in. Tea is ready," Elizabeth said encouragingly. She could see that the young woman was somewhat at a loss to be unaccompanied, and had been surprised not to see her companion or the colonel with her.
The two women walked into the house and made their way into the sitting room where Jane was sitting at her embroidery. Soon Elizabeth had poured and sandwiches had been offered, though Georgiana only nibbled while watching her sister-in-law with studious gazes.
Elizabeth felt her observation and wondered at it to herself. Was Georgiana wondering what had made her cautious brother run away with her? Elizabeth set her cup down and resumed her embroidery, one of a large stack of napkins to be monogrammed.
Jane assiduously stitched her own monogram while politely inquiring of Miss Darcy's ride from Netherfield.
"And by that, I assure you she means to ask how is Mr. Bingley," Elizabeth interpreted to Jane's modest blush.
"He seemed well," Georgiana said, watching the byplay between sisters intently over her cup.
"Miss Darcy, how do you find living in town?" Jane asked after a short silence.
"I have liked it very well," she answered. "Miss Bingley and Mrs. Hurst have been very attentive, and my brother writes and visits quite often to make sure I am attending to my lessons and that I have company enough. But London is not as pleasing as Pemberly."
"Our aunt has spoken highly of Darybshire," Jane noted.
Elizabeth's interest was piqued at the mention of that great estate and she found herself inquiring after it.
"Oh, it is lovely," said Georgiana. "I am sure you will like it," then stopped herself. "That is, of course, if you are going to come into Darbyshire."
Elizabeth assured her that Mr. Darcy planned for them to remove to Pemberly after they had visited Hertfordshire.
"But I allow that we are staying for longer than he thought. Who knew that there would be such a wedding afoot? And Jane had never embroidered her trousseau, although I told her to many a time."
Jane smiled at her sister. "I told you, Lizzie, I did not want to do so until I was engaged. You will remember Samantha Carpenter — now Mrs. Forrester, who stitched her things when she was 12 and did not marry until she was 19. Her aunt visited a week before the wedding, took one look at the sloppy workmanship and insisted that she pull out every stitch and redo it all. She burned though as many candles as you like and nearly fell asleep at the alter."
"I know," replied her sister. "And this way your embroidery is as fine as can be. Though I imagine you thought you would have more than a month to do it all in."
"Is this why Mrs. Darcy must stay at Longbourn? To help you with your trousseau?"
Jane ceased her needlework and looked at her sister with some surprise.
"Lizzie does not need to stay if she does not wish," she said. "But she has been of great help."
Georgiana seemed a bit ashamed at this response, but turned to Elizabeth.
"Do you not wish to be at Netherfield with us, and with my brother?" she asked with wide eyes. Elizabeth could not help but laugh.
"First Mama, now you, Miss Darcy. I might think that there was a conspiracy to pry me from Longbourn."
Georgiana looked down, now thoroughly abashed. "I had thought that my brother would be happier if you were living with him — with us," she said quietly.
Elizabeth smiled tenderly at her sister-in-law.
"You are so good, to think of his happiness so. He and I will live together, one day soon, I think. This has just been all so quick. It will take me some time to adjust to being Mrs. Darcy. And I cannot bear to leave my family again quite so soon."
She rose and walked to Georgiana, urging her up.
"Now, Miss Darcy, might I ask you to honor us by playing?" She guided her to the instrument in the nearby room. Though she protested gently, Georgiana could not wholly disguise her pleasure as her fingers found the keys. As the last notes faded and she rose, Elizabeth pressed her hand warmly. "Miss Bingley did not exaggerate your accomplishment at the pianoforte," she exclaimed, beaming at the girl. Georgiana blushed fetchingly.
"I thank you, but might I beg you to play? My brother speaks so highly of your skill."
Elizabeth took the seat, though not without saying, "I'm afraid it will be a poor show after your fine display, but I pray you will tolerate me." Georgiana listened quietly as Elizabeth made her way though the piece.
"My brother did not exaggerate either," was her remark, smiling shyly at her sister-in-law who thanked her with mock gravity. They returned to the sitting room where Georgiana volunteered to help Jane with her trousseau. Jane protested, but Georgiana persisted and Jane, once she saw her neat handiwork, could not resist. The three sat long at the chore, chatting of town life, then of Jane's wedding plans. Time flew, and Georgiana did not refuse a dinner invitation. The gentlemen from Netherfield were expected, and the three ladies retired upstairs to dress, Georgiana into a gown lent by Jane, whose tall figure was a tolerable match for Georgiana's willowy shape.
Darcy had spent the afternoon nervously awaiting dinner at Longbourn. As the dinner hour drew slowly near, he forced himself to dress slowly before joining Bingley to ride over. They rode quickly, Bingley eager to see his betrothed and Darcy in agony to discover what had transpired between his wife and his sister.
Mrs. Bennet received them both with unseemly warmth, and they entered the sitting room with her at their elbows. Kitty was first to descend and greeted Bingley warmly, slighting Darcy with the shadow of Lydia's hauteur out of long born habit. But as Jane, Elizabeth and Georgiana entered, she remembered that her dowry depended on Darcy's largesse. Suddenly, her manner echoed her mother's fulsome gestures of solicitude.
Jane and Bingley greeted each other with gently clasped hands and quiet words while Elizabeth and Georgiana greeted Darcy. Darcy noted the strange dress that he sister wore and warmed — if more warmth was indeed possible — to Elizabeth for providing for her comfort. Georgiana greeted her brother with enthusiasm, informing him clearly that she would now be spending her days at Longbourn, embroidering with the ladies to complete Jane's trousseau. Darcy hid his surprise at her enthusiasm for the project and congratulated her for her kindly plan.
"And I'm sure Bingley will thank you as well," he said with a slight bow toward that gentleman and just as slight a smile playing about his lips.
His friend, however, was gazing entranced by his fiancée's eyes and was in no position to hear or reciprocate.
Mary arrived just as dinner was announced and began the dinner conversation with a long observation upon a passage from Fordyse that served to keep the company in an uncomfortable silence until the fish was presented.
"And how is your embroidery coming along, Jane?" her mother inquired once she had satisfied herself that the gentlemen were served generously. "You know I would help her, but she and Lizzie have such excellent needlework," she explained. "And my eyes are not what they once were, of course."
Jane thanked her mother. "And Miss Darcy has helped considerably," the eldest Bennet girl continued. "I believe that she finished nearly all the hand towels by herself just this afternoon."
Kitty observed that Jane was lucky, that her initials would stay the same so she would need no new writing paper. At this, Jane and Bingley shared a shy smile and a look that conveyed that this was not the first time this had occurred to them.
Elizabeth once more smothered a feeling of envy at their carefree bonding and stirred the slender bones on her plate. She took a deep breath and smiled at her feeling, looking at Darcy who sat listening gravely to his sister as she brightly described their day together. The habitual grimness of his countenance softened as he listened to his sister, no small anxiety melting away as Georgiana described the scenes of felicity betwixt herself and Mrs. Darcy, praising warmly that one's kindness and graces.
The weeks before the wedding sped by with seeming acres of thread passing under the girls' nimble fingers. When the hovering solicitude of her mother proved too much for her own, much more robust nerves, Jane suffered their work to be removed to Netherfield, where the sisters sat at their chore in that parlor or in the warm sunshine. When the last napkin was laid in Jane's trunk, their mutual satisfaction defied words.
Mrs. Bennet, after much anxious waiting, felt her life's ambitions fulfilled — for the evening, at least — when Bingley invited his prospective parents-in-law to dine. Mrs. Bennet swelled at the sight of so much fine china and attentive footmen, exulting at her eldest being mistress of so much elegance and circumstance. Her subsequent visits to Lady Lucas proved more to the former's liking than to the latter's.
Georgiana provided terse replies to a few letters from Caroline Bingley, the first pleading for her return to town, the last bragging of her new conquests. Miss Darcy scarcely put pen to paper in response, the the correspondence quickly tapered off.
Kitty found a no more satisfying correspondent in Lydia, who wrote first to complain of the strangeness of her new school, then briefly to confide that she had attracted the interest of a young gentleman, the younger brother of one of her teachers. These letters were so short as to disappoint Kitty greatly.
Darcy met his wife nearly every day, and their sympathies and attachment grew apace. The two agreed between themselves that the day after Jane and Bingley married, they would travel together into Darbyshire. Georgiana enthused to Lizzie about the loveliness of the country and of Pemberly, but declined to travel with them, saying that she would return to London for some weeks before traveling hence. Both Mr. and Mrs. Darcy felt sure that she was deliberately allowing them to travel to their home alone, and each appreciated her shy courtesy. Georgiana could scarcely recall a happier time in her life than the busy, useful hours in Hertfordshire.
For her brother, however, the time did not pass so quickly. The hours he managed to spend with his bride, mostly walks after dinner, sped by. But the hours spent in the hunt, attending business or socializing with Bingley were slower than any he could recall, at least outside of Rosings.
Good news did come from that quarter in the form of a letter from Lady Catherine. She tersely acknowledged that the Collinses had agreed to take possession of Crockham in exchange for the Bennet estate. Mr. Bennet's satisfaction at the death of the entail was nothing to Mrs. Bennet's raptures on the subject.