The Gardiners' Rented House
Dawn
The Next Day
"Miss Elizabeth?" Molly said.
"Yes?" Elizabeth asked, looking up from her plate of food. She had woken surprisingly early, disturbed by strange dreams, and was now reading the beginning of one of her new books, a peculiar title from America entitled A History of New York.
Molly wiped her hands on her apron and said, "That young lady you met on the beach, Miss Darcy, is here and wishes to see you."
Elizabeth jerked in astonishment and glanced at the clock on the nearby mantle, which pointed to the seventh hour of the day. "Miss Darcy?"
"Yes, Miss. She seems upset. May I show her in?"
"I will see her immediately," Elizabeth exclaimed, leaping out of her chair and hurrying out of the room to the front door, where Georgiana Darcy was standing on the stone stoop, wrapped in a green pelisse, a simple straw hat on her head, her face pale and tear streaked in the morning light.
"Miss Darcy! Do come in, my dear, come in!"
Georgiana did so, and Elizabeth, observing that the poor girl was trembling, said, "Come into the front room, and I will stir up the fire. Molly, please fetch tea for our guest."
The maid did so, and Elizabeth pushed the girl into the wingbacked chair nearest the fire, threw a log into the grate, and poked the wood until it flamed up sufficiently to throw out heat before turning toward Miss Darcy, whose face was drawn with anxiety and fear.
"Miss Bennet," she sobbed. "I do apologize, but I did not know where to go, and I was so frightened. I do apologize for intruding…"
"Nonsense," Elizabeth interrupted, as Molly hurried into the room. "Do drink some tea and settle yourself, and then we will talk. You are safe here, I promise you."
/
The Dining Parlor
An Hour Later
"I see what you are saying," Elizabeth said, studying the two letters purporting to be from Fitzwilliam Darcy. "The writing looks quite similar, but it is not identical. Moreover, my dear, while I know we have only met recently, let me assure you that no honorable man would wish you to run away to Scotland at the age of fifteen for a marriage over the anvil."
Georgiana, at the urging of her young hostess, was eating tea and toast, but at these words, she placed her bread on her plate and stared at Elizabeth, her blue eyes swimming with tears. "I simply cannot understand it! How could George – Mr. Wickham, be so cruel to me? Why go to such great lengths to trick me?"
"I assume you are an heiress, Miss Darcy?"
"I have a dowry of thirty thousand pounds, yes, but is that enough money to provoke such a betrayal?"
Elizabeth lifted her eyes from the letters to regard her friend with amazement. "Thirty thousand pounds! My dear friend, that is an enormous dowry! You are quite an heiress!"
"Am I? I confess that I have not thought much about it. It just shows how stupid I am."
"You are not stupid at all," Elizabeth said sternly. "Mr. Wickham may be the most handsome, charming man I have ever met. It is no wonder that your head was turned."
"You were not fooled by him, Miss Bennet."
"Yes, but he was not trying to entrance me. Please believe me when I say that you are not at fault in this matter. It was Mrs. Younge and Mr. Wickham who cruelly plotted against you!"
The door opened at this juncture, and Georgiana turned toward it with fearful eyes, which gave way to relief at the sight of a woman of some five and thirty summers, dressed neatly in a soft blue morning gown, with a white matron's cap on her head.
"Aunt!" Elizabeth said, standing up. "Did you hear that we have a guest?"
"I did," Mrs. Gardiner said with a welcoming smile at the young woman. "Would you please introduce us?"
"Of course! Miss Darcy, my aunt, Mrs. Gardiner. Aunt, Miss Georgiana Darcy."
The two ladies curtsied, and Georgiana rushed into speech. "I do apologize for coming so early and without an invitation, but I did not know what to do!"
"My dear Miss Darcy, has Elizabeth told that you I grew up in Lambton in Derbyshire?"
"She did."
"I never met your esteemed parents, but the Darcys were known and loved as wonderful overseers of the estate, along with being extremely generous to the poor and needy of the area. It is truly my honor to assist their daughter. Now, I realize that you are in trouble, but I do not know the details."
Elizabeth explained, with some assistance from Georgiana, and by the end of their recital, Mrs. Gardiner was looking appropriately grave.
"There is no doubt that a great plot is afoot, Miss Darcy. You were wise to flee given that you can trust neither Mrs. Younge nor Mr. Wickham."
"I should have known better than to agree to his marriage proposal," the young woman said and began sobbing hysterically. "I was so stupid!"
Elizabeth hurried over to embrace her friend and, once the storm had passed, provided a clean handkerchief. Mrs. Gardiner, who had been waiting patiently, said, "I think that you managed the entire affair with great sense and courage. Now, did you leave a note or a message with a servant about where you were going this morning?"
"No, I crept out the back way and avoided the servants. I do not want to see them again! I want my brother!"
"And you shall have him," Mrs. Gardiner promised. "I guarantee that I will not permit them to take you away, though ideally, they will not find you at all. Lizzy, are they aware of the address of this house?"
"I never told them. Did you, Miss Darcy?"
"Pray call me Georgiana," the girl said, "and no, I did not. I am afraid they may realize that I have found shelter with you, though, and insist that I come away with them…"
"I think that unlikely, but if they do attempt to enter the house, they will find it difficult to get past our manservant, who is a brawny fellow. Moreover, I have no hesitation in involving a local magistrate. They have obviously been lying and manipulating you."
"I am confident I never mentioned the Gardiner name," Elizabeth remarked. "I cannot see how they will find you!"
"Oh, how I hope you are right, Miss Bennet!"
"You must call me Elizabeth, dear Georgiana."
"We will send an express to your brother immediately," Mrs. Gardiner said firmly. "For today, you must stay in the back of the house, and we will warn the servants, whom I trust completely, to keep silent about your presence here. Do not be afraid, my dear."
"Thank you," Georgiana said fervently, crying again, though this time with gratitude. "Thank you so very much, both of you."
/
Miss Darcy's Rented House
Three Hours later
"George!" Mrs. Younge hissed, grasping his coat and dragging him toward the parlor. Where have you been?"
Wickham gritted his teeth in frustration but allowed himself to be yanked into the small, stuffy, overly formal room. After his pleasurable time with Mrs. Younge the previous night, he had wandered off to a nearby pub where numerous military men had gathered to drink and play cards. He had attained his bed at four o'clock in the morning, and was resentful of being hauled out of it by a frantic message from his conspirator.
"I am tired, Dorothea," he said, collapsing onto an overstuffed chair. "Whatever is the matter?"
"Georgiana is gone!" Mrs. Younge snarled. "That is what is the matter!"
Drowsiness fled in an instant, and he sat up so suddenly that a spike of pain tore through his head. "What do you mean, she is gone?"
The woman turned toward the window, and now he could see in the morning light that she was terrified. "She did not appear at breakfast at the usual hour, but I thought perhaps excitement had caused her to fall asleep late. I finally went in at eleven and found the bed empty. George, she has run off!"
"Nonsense!" Wickham snapped. "Do not be absurd! She is affianced to me, and I assure you that she is completely, irrevocably, in love. Why would she run away?"
"If she did not, then where is she?" Mrs. Younge demanded, though she looked a trifle calmer at these reassuring words.
"I assume you have looked through the house?"
"Of course I have!"
"Perhaps she walked to the shops to search for a gift for her beloved?" Wickham suggested with a sly grin.
Mrs. Younge considered this and then nodded. "I suppose that is possible, but she has never done such a thing before."
"She has never been engaged before," Wickham said. "Now I will return to my bed for some additional rest and will come back in a few hours. I have no doubt she will be safely back at home."
/
Gardiners' Rented House
Three Hours Later
Georgiana watched as Elizabeth made her next move. The two young women were seated against the wall in the drawing room, the warm sun streaming pleasantly through the window, illuminating the cribbage board laid out on the table between them. The game was entirely new to Georgiana, but Elizabeth was proving a kindly and patient teacher, gentle in her corrections to Georgiana's contretemps and gracious in pointing out improvements to the girl's strategy. Georgiana was thankful for and pleased with the pastime, a break from contemplating her circumstances. Elizabeth said that she was learning well, and she was enjoying herself immensely as she studied the new game.
Fear and sorrow still churned uncomfortably deep within her, but the first storm had passed, leaving her somewhat calmer. Elizabeth and Mrs. Gardiner had been unfailingly kind all morning, settling the girl's thoughts and turbulent emotions. She had been wary of Miss Bennet's aunt at first, having learned the woman's antecedents. As a very gently-bred daughter of a distinguished family, she had been warned for much of her life of the vulgarity that tended strongly among the lower classes. But Mrs. Gardiner had yet to display any distressing tendencies at all but was instead reassuringly genteel, and Georgiana had relaxed in the face of the woman's gracious, quiet welcome.
Then the young Gardiners had tumbled out of their nursery into the rest of the house, and all had become amicable pandemonium. Georgiana had never had much opportunity to be around small children, and having been a shy, solitary young girl herself, was entirely unprepared for the cacophony produced by several tiny siblings close in age as they bickered and tussled and colluded and laughed among each other.
The little Gardiners were not shy at all. Tiny Benji, still in his long skirts and pudding cap, had attached his grinning dimpled sticky-fingered little self to Georgiana as soon as he spotted her and refused to be removed. Susannah had trotted out a rather nice doll to show the attentive Miss Darcy, drawing focus to such delights as ringlet curls and painted mouth and starched muslin dress.
Tommy, seeing how stiff was his competition, had produced a slightly squashed frog out of his pockets, which was swiftly banished to the garden by his supervising mother. Phoebe had shot her brother a sanctimonious look and demurely brought her latest piece of embroidery to show off, the crooked little red cottage with its haphazard gray smoke proudly displayed on the snowy linen.
Georgiana had been slightly overwhelmed by the sudden rush of motion and high voices, as well as entirely charmed. Even little Benji, industriously chewing his fingers and, as a result, leaking a great quantity of drool, had not been enough to dampen her spirits – though her frock could not share the claim.
A creak from the hallway brought her head up automatically, her thoughts broken by an instinctive fear. But it was not Wickham or Mrs. Younge having tracked her down to drag her back into an ignominious marriage and disgrace but merely a maid passing through as she went about her duties. Georgiana relaxed and glanced down at the game, then let her eyes wander around the drawing room.
Mrs. Gardiner had clearly imposed her own impeccable taste on the room, but beneath the redecoration was a certain tawdriness. The slightly rickety furniture had clearly been moved from where it had long stood, as shown by the indents in the shabby carpet, and the curtains and wallpaper were not new. It was not nearly as nice as the house that Darcy had rented for her, but this one was comfortable and filled with love and laughter and affection, rather than the sly scheming and deceptive smiles of the one closer to the shore.
Georgiana knew that she could rest safely here, protected and welcomed, while awaiting the reply to the express that she had written earlier. Mrs. Gardiner had put it into the hand of a great strapping lass, a maid of her own household –she had assured Georgiana that she trusted her implicitly. It should arrive at Darcy House no later than the following day. Georgiana knew that her brother's business kept him busy, but she dared to hope that he would indeed come at once as she had implored in her letter.
She had apologized profusely upon realizing that in order to protect her Miss Bennet did not intend to go out of doors. It was a glorious day, and surely the children would be delighted by the beach, but the family could not risk being seen and accosted by Wickham or Mrs. Younge. Elizabeth had assuaged her concerns; she did not in the least mind staying close to home today and would be quite content to play games with her visitor and play with the children, perhaps in the walled garden out back.
Georgiana sighed softly as she made her next move. How grateful she was to have a friend like Miss Bennet!
/
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Author Note: I hope this update finds you all safe and well. Thank you for reading and commenting; it is very encouraging. :-) My family has had a rough time the last month with an older relative who fell and then us falling victim to covid again, but I'm thankful that everyone now appears to be on the mend.