Author's Note: WhimsyMom, one of the first to review the previous chapter, wondered whether she had missed a clue about what caused Georgiana to be upset, so I added a note at the end of the chapter saying (more or less), you didn't miss anything; the reason will be revealed in the next (i.e., this) chapter.
That didn't stop people from guessing, and that's fine, but I do want to make clear that I never intended for it to be a mystery you were supposed to solve, because I hate it when authors give a mystery with insufficient clues, and in this case I didn't give *any* clues, except that Georgiana was talking to Kitty and Lydia just before leaving Longbourn. There was no way to guess the answer from that, because it all depended on off-camera conversations. Most people guessed that it had to do with Wickham, but it wasn't him, as you'll soon see. But somehow, faithful reader Drealara guessed right, despite the lack of clues.
Chapter 28 - Georgiana Grows Up
Netherfield, Hertfordshire, Oct 21, 1811
"Richard, you cannot be serious. Miss Elizabeth is not interested in me, and Miss Mary is the last person in the world I would suspect of scheming with her mother." Darcy's denial sounded weak even to himself.
The colonel leaned back and smiled smugly. "Methinks thou doth protest too much."
Darcy scowled. "My God, how I hate it when people say that! It is always misquoted, and there is no good way to respond! If you say nothing, they feel they have won their point, and smile smugly, just as you are doing now. But if you continue to deny their accusation, they consider it proof that you are protesting too much, and they smile even more smugly."
"Come, Darcy, you cannot deny that you admire Miss Elizabeth. A blind man could not have missed the way you were looking at her this evening."
Darcy, who had gone out of his way to not show undue attention to Elizabeth, said stiffly, "You are mistaken. When did I ever look at her with anything more than normal attention?"
"Do you mean lately? You certainly did when she was playing that marvelous piece on the harp."
"When -" Darcy stopped speaking as he recalled Elizabeth's performance. He prided himself on his situational awareness, of not missing anything important going on around him. He had a clear memory of everything that had happened that evening, except - except when Elizabeth was playing. The only thing he could remember about those minutes was how mesmerizing the music had been. A troop of French soldiers could have burst into the room, and he would not have noticed. He realized with embarrassment that he might very well have been staring at her like a besotted fool.
"Well," he conceded, "perhaps I did let the music get to me. You will recall that my mother played the harp, and I have always loved its sound. I suppose I may have been thinking of her while E - Miss Elizabeth was playing."
The colonel did not miss Darcy's near slip. "Darcy, I suggest that thinking of your mother might serve you very well. I can see that you are fighting your attraction to Miss Elizabeth out of some misguided sense of duty, to your father or to Pemberley or to I know not what. But do not let your pride in your name, or your care for what the ton might think, ruin your chance at happiness. I believe that Lady Anne would have wanted you to marry for affection."
Darcy stood up. "This entire subject is ridiculous, and I plan to take Georgiana to Longbourn earlier than usual tomorrow so that we can return to Netherfield before Lady Catherine's parson arrives. I am for bed."
Richard's smile grew even more annoying, if that were possible. "Very well, cuz. But think on it."
Darcy let him have the last word, and walked rapidly out of the room and up the stairs, confused about Richard's attitude. He had thought that Richard had been playing up to Elizabeth, and that in turn, she was not indifferent to Richard. But Richard acted as if he had no interest in her. Was he trifling with her?
The thought made him see red, and so he almost collided with Susan, Georgiana's maid, as he turned the corner to the guest wing. She was standing in the hallway and looking agitated. He spoke to her quietly, so as not to wake his sister.
"Susan, what is the matter?"
"It is the young Miss, sir. She will not let me in to ready her for bed."
"She is still awake?"
"Aye, sir. Now and then I can hear her talking to herself, and I believe she is walking back and forth. She seems very upset."
"Go to bed, Susan. I shall summon a night maid if Georgiana needs help, but there is no need for you to stay up till all hours waiting for her."
"Thank you kindly, sir, but please do call me if I can be of help."
"I shall, Susan. Good night."
The maid curtsied and headed off toward her room, and Darcy walked the few steps to Georgiana's door and knocked softly.
"Go to bed, Susan! I shall see to myself!" Georgiana shouted through the door.
"It is Fitzwilliam, Gigi," said Darcy.
He could hear his sister stop pacing, and a moment later, she opened the door partway. She was still fully dressed.
"I just sent Susan away," Darcy said. "It was not kind of you to leave her standing out here in the hall."
Georgiana looked contrite. "No, it was not." She sighed. "It is just another example of my selfishness."
Darcy had no idea what she meant by that, but at least he had her talking, so he said, "Are you going to make me stand out here as well, or may I come in?"
Georgiana huffed, but she stepped back and swung the door wide, then walked over to a couch and sat. This was encouraging, for it allowed him to sit next to her. She could just as easily have prevented it by sitting in a chair.
Taking advantage, Darcy sat next to her and asked, "Gigi, what is wrong? Did something occur at Longbourn that upset you?"
"I suppose you could say that," she said quietly, looking at the floor.
"I am very sorry. Would you like to return to London?"
She looked up, her eyes flashing. "Oh, yes, that is just what I need!" she said, her voice dripping with sarcasm.
Darcy was taken aback; he had never heard his sister speak in such a tone. But before he could say anything, she continued, "Let me see, I should plan my schedule now. I shall rise at noon, spend two hours pouting and sulking, then three hours playing the pianoforte to please nobody but myself, then two hours moping and whining, and after dinner I shall simply sit in my room, feeling gloomy and ill-used by the world."
Darcy was completely lost. "Gigi, what do you want me to do? Anything in my power, just ask. Anywhere you want to go, just tell me."
Georgiana glared at him, but then her eyes softened. "Oh brother, I always say you are too good to me, but this time I mean it literally. You have coddled me and indulged me and acceded to my every whim, when what I needed was to wake up and realize what a charmed life I have."
She huffed again. "Look at me! I have a huge dowry; I live in the most beautiful home in England; I have a brother who loves me and would do anything short of killing for me ... why, I even have a cousin who I believe actually would kill for me! And yet all I do is sit around and feel sorry for myself. And why? Because I was foolish enough to believe myself in love with a rake? How many stupid young girls are disappointed in love, and yet do not go all to pieces?"
She stood and began walking back and forth. "Look at the Bennet sisters! I know not what their dowries are, but they cannot be much, for their father has a small estate, and five daughters to provide for. They have no brother or cousin to protect them. They live in a modest home, and mend their own day dresses and decorate their own bonnets. They do not have a tenth of what I have, but that does not prevent them from being cheerful and lively and active. And most of all, useful."
She stopped in front of him and glared again, but by now he knew that she was not upset with him, but with herself. She continued, "Miss Catherine and Miss Lydia were not at Longbourn for most of the day. Do you want to know where they were?"
Darcy nodded, fascinated by Georgiana's tirade.
"I will tell you where they were! They told me about it just before we left Longbourn this evening! They were in the Meryton assembly hall! And do you want to know what they were doing?"
Darcy nodded again, now quite sure that it was the correct response.
"I will tell you what they were doing! They were supervising the workers who were converting a storeroom into a schoolroom! From November through February, while the farm boys do not have crops to plant or harvest, they and their sisters will be learning reading and writing and numbers from the Bennet sisters and Miss Charlotte. While spoiled girls like me are in London for the season, going to teas and parties, they will be helping the children of shopkeepers and clerks and… and everybody! Miss Catherine is only a little older than I; Miss Lydia almost a year younger, but they are doing more to be useful in this world than I have ever thought about doing! I am so selfish and useless! I have never done anything for anyone! And yet I have spent the last four months wondering why I have such a wretched life!"
Darcy finally spoke. "They are doing this by themselves?"
Georgiana stopped pacing, and lost some of her certitude. "We had only a few minutes to talk, so I do not know all the details, but I gather that this is the first year they are the principals, although of course their sisters will be helping them as needed. The eldest sisters have been doing it for several years. You will not be surprised to learn that Miss Elizabeth started when she was much younger than I."
She seemed to tire, and sat down again. Darcy put his arm around her. She suddenly hugged him fiercely, then started sobbing quietly on his shoulder.
"Gigi, what do you want me to do? If you do not want to go back to London, would you like me to take you to Pemberley?"
Georgiana released him and straightened up. Then she looked at him determinedly and said, "I do not want to go anywhere. I want to help them. I want to stay here this winter and learn how it is done, and then I want to help in the parish schools in Lambton and Kympton when we go back to Pemberley. I want to use my education for more than painting tables."
Darcy beamed with pride, but then reality crashed in. "Gigi, I am so proud of you for this resolution, but I am not sure it is wise."
She stiffened. "You do not think I can do it?"
When her brother did not answer immediately, she jumped to her feet again, which caused Darcy to quickly say, "Georgiana, it is not that at all. I am quite sure you could do anything you set your mind to. Anything physically possible, that is. But … oh, my tongue is getting tangled. Please sit down and let me try to explain, and let me apologize in advance for not expressing myself well."
Warily, Georgiana sat down again, and Darcy began, "Gigi, I have come to believe that I am at fault for what happened at Ramsgate, because what you said a moment ago was correct - I tend to overprotect you."
"You think I am still a child. And I cannot blame you, since I have been acting like one."
"I am sorry to say that you are not wrong," Darcy began, and when his sister bridled at this, he hurried to add, "at least, the part about me treating you like a child, and at least until recently. It was very wrong of me, and I did you a terrible disservice. Not only in being wrong about you, but in being wrong about how best to protect you."
Georgiana's anger abated at this startling admission. As master of Pemberley, Darcy made many important decisions every day, and it was an important part of his personality to project confidence and certitude. She could not recall him ever admitting that he was wrong about anything of import.
Seeing her lose some of her tension, Darcy was emboldened to continue.
"Dearest, I have come to believe that what happened in Ramsgate was largely my fault, precisely because I indeed treated you like a child. I was overprotective, in the sense that I did not tell you about Wickham's character, for I tried to shield you from the fact that there was anything bad in the world. It was part of your charm that you saw only good in people, but that attitude served you ill, for it left you defenseless against a rogue like Wickham."
Darcy looked at her, and her nod made him feel as if he were not making a total hash of it, so he continued, "I do not intend to make that mistake again. Wickham is a scoundrel, to be sure, but to my knowledge, he has never forced a woman against her will. I would not put it past him, especially for a prize like 30,000 pounds, but as I say, I have no knowledge that he has ever done so. Oddly enough, I think that your susceptibility to his advances might have saved you from being forced, for Wickham always chooses the easier path.
"But here is where I must treat you as an adult, rather than a child. Here is where I must warn you that there is much evil in the world, and there are men who are much worse than Wickham. Men who will kill someone for his boots. Men who will force a woman for a moment's entertainment. And sadly, the chances are very good that at least a few such men will be in the militia.
"I am loath to distress you with such talk, but I do not want to repeat my mistake. You need to be aware that there are very bad men in the world, so that you will be on your guard. You know that your cousin Richard is the best of men, so you could be forgiven for thinking that anyone in uniform is honorable. But you must not think that. There are good men and bad men in every walk of life, including the military.
"I emphasize this so you will understand my need to protect you. Even with the militia here, I do not think you are in any more danger than you would be in London, for there are thousands of desperate men there, but neither can I afford to lower my guard. I take my responsibilities as your guardian most seriously, and so I must insist that you are never far from the people I have hired to protect you, the most important at the moment being Dow, Osmond, and Mrs. Annesley."
Georgiana interrupted, "I appreciate everything you have said, brother, both your honesty in telling me about the evil in the world, and your trust in me. But what does that have to do with the school?"
"The militia will be arriving any day now, and it will be full of rough men. 'Rough' does not necessarily mean 'dishonorable', but as I said, there are likely to be some very bad men. I would not be surprised if, when they see that three pretty young girls are teaching the local boys their letters, they may ask to be included, for many of them will be illiterate, and probably many others would be willing to pretend that they are. It would put you in grave danger." He frowned. "I am surprised that Mr. Bennet would allow his daughters to be so imperiled. But then, I suppose it was different in previous years, when everyone knew each other. The militia makes it a more fraught situation."
Georgiana only said, "Oh," and her brother felt a pang in his heart as he watched her face, which had been so animated when she had been talking about helping with the school, went back to looking sad again. Then she brightened.
"Oh!" she said again, this time with more vivacity. "I heard part of a conversation between Mr. Bennet and Miss Elizabeth just before dinner that now makes more sense to me. They were talking about 'the other school', and the parson. It may be that the students will be separated by age or sex or both."
She jumped up and almost danced. "Yes, that must be it! That is why Miss Catherine and Miss Lydia are so excited about running the school themselves. In previous years, there was probably no need for more than one school, and the Bennet sisters and Miss Lucas helped the parson and his wife in the parish school. Now they will be on their own. They will be teaching only the local children whom they know, and the parson will have a separate school for the older boys and the soldiers."
She watched her brother anxiously as he pondered this. Finally, he said, "That sounds plausible, but we cannot decide anything until we know the facts. Let me talk to Mr. Bennet and the parson, and Miss Catherine and Miss Lydia... and Miss Elizabeth, I think. I am sure that the Bennet sisters will understand that a girl with your dowry must be more cautious in a strange town than someone who knows everyone in Meryton, and who knows whom she can trust." He looked at his sister again. "Remember, Gigi, my concern is not because I lack any trust in you, but because you are a slender young girl who could not possibly fight off a determined man."
He smiled at her. "What do you say we call it an evening, and go to Longbourn tomorrow and find out what we need to know? I promise that if it can be done safely, I will let you help with the school. But however it turns out, I want you to know that I am very proud of you, and that we will certainly find a way to get you involved with the schools in Derbyshire."
Georgiana hugged him again, and said, "Thank you, brother. You are the best man in the world!"
"I doubt that very much, but I do my best, for you deserve no less." He kissed her cheek. "I will summon the night maid for you. Good night, Gigi."
"Good night, brother."
Meryton Assembly Hall, Hertfordshire, October 22, 1811
The next day, Kitty and Lydia were putting the finishing touches on their classroom in the Meryton assembly hall. Since it was not too cold outside, and at present there was no heat in the building anyway, they had a window open so that they could hear when the stage from London arrived. It would be carrying their cousin to the Meryton Inn, where Mr. Bailey, the Bennets' head groom, would meet him with the wagon to take him the rest of the way to Longbourn. They wanted to get an early look at their cousin if they could.
They both rushed to the window as they heard a stage coming, but they were disappointed to see that it was not the London stage. It was from St. Albans, although that coach should have arrived an hour earlier. Lydia, whose eyes were slightly better than Kitty's, was the first to note that the stage had a new driver. The usual driver had looked as old as Methuselah even in their first memories of him from over ten years ago. The driver today, Lydia judged, could scarcely have seen 18 summers.
"Something must have happened to Mr. MacDougal," said Lydia, "for this driver looks too young, and does not seem very skillful at handling the horses."
Her evaluation was quickly proved accurate when a stray dog burst out of an alley a little way down the street and started barking at the horses, causing them to buck and rear. It was all the young driver could do to keep them from bolting. Then another coach entered the scene, and this time, it was indeed the London stage they had been watching for.
The driver of the London stage quickly assessed the problem and halted behind the St. Albans stage, directly across from the sisters' vantage point. He climbed down from his perch and shouted something to his passengers that the girls could not hear clearly, but it might have been "Back in a minute" as he rushed over to help the other driver control his horses. He kicked the still barking dog out of his way as he grabbed for the traces.
The girls watched closely as the older driver calmed the horses down, for they were interested in anything concerning horses. Then Lydia nudged Kitty and pointed at the London stage as a very handsome head emerged from its window.
The sisters moved closer to the window, but took care to remain out of the sunlight. "Mr. Collins is not so bad after all," whispered Kitty, and Lydia nodded vigorously.
The man looked down from the stage window and evaluated his situation. The step had not been lowered, and to make matters worse, the carriage had stopped next to a depression formed by the recent deluge, making the distance to the ground nearly a yard. This did not seem to bother the man in the least, for he opened the door and sprang down from the carriage as nimbly as a cat. His tan breeches were so snug that the sisters could see the muscles in his thighs bunch and ripple as they absorbed the impact of his landing. They found the sight very agreeable, going well with his broad shoulders and trim waist. The man looked around him again, now able to see more of the town, and seemed well pleased with what he saw, for his wide smile revealed approximately 50 perfect white teeth, as if just being alive were a joy. He agilely climbed to the top of the coach, retrieved a medium-sized piece of luggage, leapt back down, and set off for the inn, whose sign he had spotted during his survey of the street.
"La, Kitty," whispered Lydia, "our cousin is a very handsome man. Perhaps being married to a parson would bring one closer to heaven. Shall we finish here so we can go home and greet him properly?"
Kitty was all for the plan, but just as they were about to turn away from the window, they saw another face appear at the open door of the carriage.
In contrast to the other man's thick, sandy hair, this man had lank, greasy, black hair that seemed to have been combed over from one ear to the other. He peered about in confusion, for he was now quite alone, the driver still helping his colleague from St. Albans, and the other passenger halfway to the inn.
Looking down in dismay, the man feebly waved his foot out the door, looking for all the world like someone testing the temperature of his bath water with his toe before committing himself, but his foot did not come anywhere near the ground, and he seemed neither inclined nor able to leap down the way his fellow traveler had. He finally turned, knelt on the coach's floor, and backed out of the door, his abundant posterior pointing directly at the sisters watching in disbelief as he gingerly attempted to find the ground with incongruously spindly legs. When that strategy failed, he lay all the way down on his stomach so that he could lower his legs further out the door. When he finally oozed out of the coach far enough for his feet to reach the ground, he stood up to reveal an oddly shaped figure dressed head to toe in black.
"Oh Lydia," said Kitty, "I am sorry to say that I believe it more probable that our cousin is this man, not the handsome one. His clothes seem to indicate that he is a parson."
Lydia nodded glumly. "I was just thinking that this might be a good time to visit our aunt in Cheapside for a month or so."
They watched dejectedly as Mr. Bailey walked up to the coach and addressed the man. They could not hear the conversation that followed, but from the comical way the man in black bobbed up and down in greeting it seemed likely that this was indeed the man that Mr. Bailey had been sent to collect. The sisters turned back to their work in dampened spirits, but after a few minutes, their curiosity overcame them, and they decided to go back to Longbourn and see if their cousin was as silly as he looked. After notifying the building custodian that they were through for the day, they retrieved their horses from the stable at the inn and rode out of Meryton.
And just as they rounded the curve toward home, putting Meryton out of sight, the militia marched into the opposite end of town.
A/N: Wow, two chapters in a row that end with a mystery! Which man was Mr. Collins? And who on earth could the other passenger be? I'm quite sure nobody will guess, LOL.
Thanks to everyone who follows, favs, or reviews, especially with constructive criticism. No typo is too insignificant to tell me about, and thank you for doing it.
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