Chapter Four

Reminder: Late Uncle Thomas is Michelle's father and the former Lord Canterbury. The new Lord Canterbury who threw out Michelle and her mother from Canterbury estate is his cousin. I have just made up that Canterbury is an estate near Milton Hall in Cambridgeshire and it may not be historically accurate but this is fiction so bear with me.

Milton Hall

17th November 1804

My Dearest, Darling Brother

Ah! You stare at the endearment in disbelief and wonder what mischief I have been upto that I address you so fondly. Fear not, brother, I have not done anything that you would not approve of. Your clothes and belongings are safe, I have not put any sort of insects in my bed to scare the maids, I have not threatened any guests with death and I have most certainly not said anything improper to Aunt Catherine. Since your departure, I have become the most docile, demure girl in all of England. You stare at my words with disbelief. Fine, I shall amend it to all of Milton Hall. Since, there are no young ladies to be found here, except yours sincerely, I am automatically, the most docile girl in Milton Hall! I am only guilty of slipping a disgusting arachnid in Lord Canterbury's coat while he met with Father in his study. I wish you had been here to witness the results. His face turned blotchy red and he jumped about, hopping like rabbit in order to get the repulsive thing out of his coat in the foyer. All of the maids were giggling while father stared at him helplessly and I watched avidly from behind one of the great curtains. He finally ran out of the house without even a 'by your leave.'

Father knows I was responsible for this but he hasn't punished me, for I know, that in his heart, he despises Lord Canterbury as much as I. He has treated Dear Uncle Thomas' family most abominably. He could have let them stay at Canterbury without any great expense to himself, but that greedy, spawn of the devil, threw them out. I do not think that he will visit us again. Brother, I had a favour to ask of you. You know that Michelle is my dearest friend and I love her like a sister but she does not tell me anything. She does tell me that she is happy and in the best of spirits but she never expounds on her living conditions, the neighbors or anything related to her daily life. She told me that Viscount Wentworth had visited her mother and her at G recently and since he is such a dear friend of yours, could you please ask him how she fares?

And, you had a hand in Father's lenient treatment of me too. Father was immensely relieved to receive a letter from you and since he thinks that I encouraged you to do so, he has turned a blind eye to my antics. And Mother is on the road to recovery as well. She has started looking after her herb garden again. Father asked her if he should tell our Darcy cousins and Aunt Catherine not to come for Christmas as she is not fully recovered but our dear mother, like me, is adamant to have amusement and gaiety at Milton once again. I, frankly, do not see how having the our dear aunt who bears an unfortunate resemblance to a harpy will lead to gaiety, but her sermons about the hundred ways to improve ourselves (herself excluded as she after all is a paragon of virtue and perfection) may serve to amuse us. But if she insults my drawings again as improper and distasteful for a lady, she may find a whole lot of nasty insects in her bed. I do not wish to draw trees and ponds and mountains. What are rocks and mountains when compared to people? I have included a sketch of Lord Canterbury and the spider for your perusal with the letter. May it make you smile in dark times.

Miss Price will have apoplexy if I write any more and post a thick letter for that is certainly an unladylike thing to do. After all, ladies are not supposed to write long letters as they are expensive to pay for. To prevent Miss Price from bursting a vein, I have given the onus of delivering this letter to you to Mr. Brian, one of our footmen, who travels to your town to visit his family.

I await your arrival at Milton.

Yours,

Allie

P.S. I wager my Christmas present from Lady Catherine shall be a book of sermons on proper behavior.

Milton Hall

20th November 1804

Dear Fitzee and Georgie,

I hope this letter of mine finds you in the best of health and spirits! Please pardon my excessive exuberance but I find that I can no longer control my enthusiasm as Christmas approaches. You do not know how eagerly I await your arrival at Milton Hall. Our grand home has been such a dreary place since Richard's departure. I am looking forward to the gaiety your visit shall bring. I know you stare at my words incredulously as the two of you are the quietest people of my acquaintance but your serene presence is enough to bring a smile to my countenance.

And Cousin Darcy, you truly cannot be miffed at me still for telling Richard the incident about your tailcoat. We as Fitzwilliam siblings, can never be expected to leave an opportunity to tease you. That is truly unreasonable. I know you think of Richard and I as your brother and sister and thus, it is our filial obligation to see that you remain firmly bound to Earth and do not think too much of yourself after all the adulation you receive.

And cousin, you must bring me a beautiful present to compensate for the horrid book of sermons on proper behavior I am going to receive from Aunt Catherine. You shall be glad to know that my partner in crime has been sent away to G by her cruel uncle and thus the mischief I may commit is greatly limited. You shall be mostly safe at Milton this year, I think. This shall be a family holiday so you shall also get some respite from the relentless pursuit of your dashing self by single ladies.

I remain,

Your wild, improper sister,

Allie

P.S. Georgie, I have managed to play a passable rendition of a christmas carol. Unlike last time, the dogs did not run away howling but merely flapped their ears in resignation and lay still. Unfortunately, that is the best I can do when asked to play the pianoforte so let us pray to the Lord, for all our sakes, that Aunt Catherine does not ask me to play. For if she does, I will have to insist that we play a duet together to save everyone from the hearing damage I am sure to inflict on them if I play alone.

Specially for April Fools Day

Pemberley's conservatory

Derbyshire

15th December 1804

Darcy sat absolutely still on a straight backed chair that dug into his shoulders, trying to stop his hand from twitching for then Georgiana would be terribly angry with him because she was making his potrait.

Alina had sent her a beautiful drawing of her neighbor running about Milton Hall's foyer, covered in spiders with her letter and Georgiana was determined to make her a painting even more exquisite than Alina's drawing had been. So, he had been woken at an ungodly hour, deposited in a hard chair and told to sit in absolute stillness without so much as moving a hair. He had been sitting there for hours, his legs were stiff and his stomach was growling for sustenance yet every time he made to get up, Georgiana directed such a fearsome glare in his direction that he sank back into the cushioned seat immediately.

It was all Alina's fault, it was her drawing that had caused Georgie to take on the mantle of being the Darcy version of Da Vinci and he was determined that he would be buying all the volumes Fordyce had ever written and gifting them to her for Christmas as revenge. He would force her to read them by asking her questions about them in the letters he wrote, Uncle Damien read them he knew and thus, Alina would have no choice but to read the books.

Smirking deviously at his cunning, he got up from the chair to stretch his legs and was soundly admonished by Georgiana for his thoughtlessness.

'But Georgie', he begged plaintively, 'Aren't you finished?'

'I suppose,' she replied, doubtfully, appraising her painting. Whatever she saw made her so happy that she clapped her paint-stained hands in delight.

'Will', she exclaimed, 'I think this might be my best work.'

Rather pleased that it was his profile that his sister described as her finest work, he moved slowly towards her, eager to see the painting in question.

As he moved to stand behind Georgiana who looked at the canvas lovingly as a mother gazed at her new babe, he was confronted with the truly horrendous sight: There was an irregularly shaped figure, his head topped by a big black blob, his arms and legs being sticks that poked out of rather small, bright and garish clothes and he was covered in red dots.

'What are they?', he asked, revolted. This was not what he had expected at all.

'Ants,' Georgie replied, impatiently. 'I couldn't cover you in spiders or Allie would know I copied her drawing. Isn't it beautiful?'

'I..It is breath taking, Georgie,' he commented, lying through his teeth. 'It is so beautiful that I fear for its safety. Someone might destroy it out of envy. We must hide it in a safe place.'

'Really, brother?,' Georgie asked, her little face shining with happiness.

'Yes,' he affirmed, his expression pained. 'We must make sure that nobody lays their eyes on it.'

Two days later

Darcy was collecting the presents he had purchased for his family for Christmas when Georgiana burst into his room and ducked under the bed, mumbling furiously under her breath: 'Where is it?'

'What are you searching for, Georgie?', he asked amused at his sister's antics. 'Have you lost your Rosie too?

Rosie, his cousin Alina's favorite doll was now part of the Fitzwilliam family legend. Alina lost her doll once in every sennight and then turned the entire house upside down as she searched for it.

'I cannot find it', his sister exclaimed as she emerged from under the bed, her head covered with dust. 'I cannot find the potrait I made in the Conservatory.'

Darcy darted a nervous look at his desk whose second drawer contained the portrait, buried and safe from prying eyes under mounds of useless paper. Georgiana fortunately did not notice and collapsed moodily onto his bed.

'I was going to gift it to Allie for Christmas', she said, sadly. 'I thought that she would like pictures of us to look at when she misses us. So, I drew a picture of me too.'

She took out a folded square of paper out of her pocket and shook it open. It contained a picture of a small girl, smiling, her hair made into a conical bun and was captioned: For my dear sister, Allie. It was as nicely drawn as his potrait. Drawing was definitely not one of Georgiana's strengths.

Sighing, for he couldn't deny his sister anything, he took the drawing out of his drawer and handed it to her.

The sheer delight on her face was worth all the insults that were going to be directed his way when everyone saw the drawing.

End of Chapter Four

A/N: Soldiers were not paid a salary for the services rendered but instead received only a small bonus and any prize money they might win in wars. So, all gentlemen who enlisted in the army, especially men belonging to the peerage were given allowances by their family to maintain their lifestyle. Also, commission's were not cheap to purchase, with the commission for a Lieutenant-Colonel (which Richard incidentally is in this story at this point of time) being worth 3500-4000 pounds. So you might guess that Richard was in a financial crunch and this is why Alina sends a letter through the footman, for she does not want him to pay for the thick letter she had written. She is improper but she's a sweetie!

And if you liked this story enough to read till this chapter, could you please review and make my day? Please?

Love,

Mango

Response to Reviews on Chapter Three

Guest: I wish you had logged in, you stupid person. You gave me my first review dude. I had posted this story on 28th Dec and no one commented and I was like, 'Bloody hell, they don't like it.' Then you reviewed on Jan 6th. You're part of the reason I continued writing. Thank you :)

Phillipa Gordon: I love Colonel Fitzwilliam too. He's such a cool guy. I really wanted to give him a history you know. I've been researching about soldiers in Regency Era like mad and I found loads of interesting stuff like the max. age for applying for a commission is 21. So Richard is 22 when the story starts as he applied a year earlier.

Invisible Guest: Nice name. Thank you for your review. I was so happy to hear..uh, read your thoughts about the story. You asked loads of questions, so let me get started. Well, her real name is Aleyna-Marie, suggested to me by a Russian friend. You'll find out more about her heritage in the coming chapters. I've already answered that Alina is mature part earlier. Same for the dinner question. Ages are there in the timeline, I apologize for not posting it earlier. I don't know about the letters but I have been trying to show everyone's thoughts. And Michelle, we're going to meet her soon. I'm happy that you clicked on my story too :D You said you'll see me soon on another chapter, but I haven't heard from you. Looking forward to some contact. Thank you for your review!