On the Road to London
Two Days Later
A slight breeze attempted mournfully to stir the sticky air and the limply hanging green leaves on the oaks and the elms passing outside the carriage windows. Dust clouds billowed up from beneath the iron-chased wooden wheels and the horses' hooves as they trotted down the road. Sunlight filtered through the tan dust, casting dapples of shadows across the ground beneath the trees and a patch of flitting shade below the carriage.
"It was very kind of you to allow me to ride with you," Elizabeth said, leaning back luxuriously onto the squabs which faced backward, with Hannah, Miss Darcy's maid, at her side. "Your carriage is very well sprung."
"Yes, it is very comfortable," Georgiana responded casually. Elizabeth, observing her with tender affection, thought it likely that Miss Darcy had never, in her life, ridden in a vehicle which was not well sprung.
"I hope your aunt is doing well," the girl continued, glancing out the window. The vehicle carrying the Gardiners was behind them, but it was out of sight.
"I am certain they are very well," Elizabeth said. "The carriage is doubtless far more comfortable without my presence; the little Gardiners are small, but there are still four of them, plus the nursemaid!"
"Are you looking forward to returning home, Miss Bennet?" Darcy asked suddenly and felt his cheeks heat as she turned her intent gaze on him. What was it about this woman that made him feel a decade younger?
"Yes, and no," she replied. "I enjoyed my time at Ramsgate very much and will miss both the scenery and the company. But yes, I look forward to seeing my family again. It is trite, perhaps, but there truly is no place like home."
"I entirely agree," Georgiana said fervently.
"Will you be staying in Town for a few days before journeying onward?" Darcy asked, and realized, that regardless of his feelings about her lack of suitability, he was going to miss the lady quite dreadfully. If she was staying in London with her aunt and uncle, perhaps he and Georgiana could call on…
"I hope to leave tomorrow or the next day at the latest," Elizabeth replied, dashing his hopes. "My father does wish for me to return home and has been exceedingly patient. I was not meant to be away from Longbourn for so many weeks."
"I am certain the Gardiners are most grateful that you were visiting them when the sickness struck," Georgiana said.
"And I am grateful as well. I love my relations very much, and they have been kind enough to host me and my sisters many a time. I am pleased that I was able to serve them in return."
"What do you like to do in London?" Georgiana asked, and Darcy found himself leaning forward in anticipation. So far, Miss Bennet had proven the perfect woman except for her lack of connections, but surely she would now talk about shopping and purchasing gowns and…
"Oh, I like visiting the libraries and bookstores the most! I daresay I will never journey across oceans and rivers to foreign lands, but when a book is particularly good, I almost feel that I am present. Do you not agree?"
"I do!" Darcy said immediately, and his heart leapt within him as Elizabeth turned her dancing eyes on him.
"Is it not wonderful?" she said impulsively. "What a blessing to live in a time when books are more readily available than even fifty years ago. Indeed, it has been less than four hundred years since the printing press was invented! And now we have newspapers, and lending libraries…"
"I feel silly not knowing this," Georgiana said, "but how were books created before the printing press?"
"By copying!" Elizabeth and Darcy said simultaneously and then laughed together.
"By hand," Darcy continued a moment later. "The ancient scribes and monks very carefully hand copied the Bible and other great literature through the centuries. By all accounts, they did an excellent job with their task, but it was very slow. We all owe much to Gutenberg, the German who invented the printing press."
"I do not have that sort of mind," Elizabeth mused, "to be able to imagine a mechanical solution to something like printing, or weaving, or steam engines or the like."
"Nor do I!" Georgiana agreed. "It must be marvelous to be able to invent something."
"But no one is gifted in every area," the older girl remarked. "You are a remarkably talented musician. I am, I think well read, along with being an excellent walker! The Bible says that we each an important part of one body, but with different abilities and gifts that are all necessary. It is wise to be thankful for our aptitudes and at peace with our natural deficiencies."
"But surely if the deficiency is of import, we should strive to overcome it," Darcy argued.
Elizabeth's fine eyes shifted to his, and she said, "Oh, of course, if the deficiency in in a crucial area! I would imagine that you, as master of a great estate, would need to be at ease with writing and reading and maths, and if you struggled in such areas, which you doubtless do not, you would need to toil to overcome those areas of want to achieve at least a minimum aptitude. But there are, in my view, many accomplishments not worth bothering to achieve."
"Do you truly mean that?" Georgiana asked, casting a nervous glance at her brother, whose views on accomplished ladies were familiar to her.
"I do," Elizabeth said decidedly, turning her own arch gaze on Mr. Darcy. "I am aware that the members of the haut ton wish for ladies to play and sing and design tables and speak foreign languages, and none of those are bad things, of course. But to spend hours of one's time doing something that one either dislikes or for which one has no talent, merely because it is fashionable, is ridiculous. What do you think, Mr. Darcy?"
Darcy was thinking that he was more or less in love with this absurd, enchanting, incredible woman. Why could she not be an earl's daughter? Or even a baron's?
But she was not. She was no fit wife for a Darcy, and that came close to breaking his heart.
/
The Gardiners' London House
Two Mornings Later
The guest bedroom was small but neatly arranged, making best use of the space. A calming peach paper covered the walls, the delicately pink curtains neatly drawn and tied. Peach and beige cushions had been artfully arranged on chair and loveseat alike, and a porcelain vase of dried flowers sat on the coffee table. The fourposter in the corner was carefully made up, the counterpane perfectly smooth.
"Thank you, Owen," Elizabeth said to the strong manservant who lifted her trunk with ease and marched out the door of her bedchamber. Mrs. Gardiner, hovering outside the door, waited for the man to leave before stepping in and looking around.
"I think I packed everything," Elizabeth said in amusement, "or at least, everything that truly matters."
"I am certain you have," her aunt agreed, walking over to place an arm around her niece's shoulders. "I never had to worry about you three older girls, whereas Kitty and Lydia tend to abandon ribbons and hats wherever they go."
"They are young," Elizabeth said rather weakly.
"Indeed, but I do not wish to speak of them. Lizzy, my dear Lizzy, pray allow me just once to tell you how grateful I am for all your assistance these last weeks. I am not certain we would have managed without you."
"I will accept your thanks, but only once," Elizabeth returned. "You know how much I love your entire family, and I am very glad I was able to assist you. Moreover, it was delightful spending so much time with my little cousins."
The two ladies stood in silence for a minute before the younger lady said, "I should depart if I am to reach Longbourn by dinner."
"Elizabeth."
"Yes?"
"I was wondering..."
"Yes?"
"About the Darcys. Will you miss them?"
Elizabeth, to her supreme discomfort, felt her cheeks flush at these words. The knowing look from her aunt did not help matters at all, but she managed to say with commendable calm, "I will, yes. Miss Darcy is a lovely young lady. I am thankful that we will be corresponding."
"Miss Darcy is all that is charming," Mrs. Gardiner agreed, "but I was thinking more about her brother. It seemed to me that you and Mr. Darcy were on excellent terms these last days in Ramsgate."
Elizabeth felt tears rise to her eyes, and she turned away in embarrassment, not unmixed with sorrow. "He is a Darcy, Aunt, with an impressive income a year, a large estate, and near relations in the nobility. I do not think that he would…"
Madeline Gardiner bit her lip in contrition. She loved Elizabeth nearly as much as she adored her own children, and she thought Fitzwilliam Darcy, master of Pemberley, was a perfect match for her intelligent, witty, beautiful niece. But Elizabeth was correct; the Darcys were very highly placed in society, and Elizabeth was niece of a tradesman.
She did not know what to say, so she merely walked over to place a comforting arm around her once more.