3
They climbed a curving staircase and reached another level with wide halls stretching in both directions. The Colonel knocked lightly on a carved door which had musical symbols of notes and staff signs with clefs carved into the frame, to Elizabeth's amusement. 'That might have been done when the son and daughter were only children, by doting parents,' she mused. When they entered the spacious room, she heard a few notes of music from a pianoforte that ended almost as soon as the door opened. A young woman seated at the instrument turned with a look of panic on her face. Her hand flew up to her mouth to cover either a gasp of shock or horror, Elizabeth was not sure which. When the young woman saw the Colonel, her cousin, moving forward with a smile on his face, the look of panic began to ease and her hands dropped to her lap.
"Georgiana, dearest," the Colonel said in a soft voice. "I have a guest to introduce to you. This is Miss Elizabeth Bennet, who is going to stay with us for a while. She also enjoys greatly the pianoforte and singing," he added, hastily, hoping to soften the alarm that sprang into the young woman's face.
Elizabeth gave the briefest of curtsies so she could say quickly, "I am particularly fond of Mozart's waltzes. That was the one in b-flat minor you were just playing, was it not? I am sorry we interrupted just before the second movement. I love the change in rhythm he introduces there."
Georgianna's face lit up. "Y-y-yes," she stammered. "D-d-do y-y-you p-p-play also?" Elizabeth merely smiled and indicated she would sit next to the young woman on the piano bench (the most elaborately carved that she had ever recalled seeing outside of a museum). After a moment's hesitation in which fear began to show on Georgiana's face, she slid over and Elizabeth sat next to her. "Continue with the movement," she told the younger woman, softly. Almost hesitantly Georgianna began to play where she had left off. Elizabeth began to play, harmonizing perfectly with the chords of the Mozart piece as though the two had been playing together for years.
The Colonel was both stunned and delighted. He did not have a great ear for music, but even an untrained fellow as he (who could tell the make, caliber, and the model of a cannon from the sound of its roar) could hear a special relationship was forming before his eyes. Its origin was music but he was certain the professional Miss Bennet was preparing to build on that beginning to form a deeper bond, hopefully a healing bond, between the two young women. He almost cursed aloud as the door opened suddenly and a young maid stood there. "Mrs. Reynolds wishes to know if you will be wanting tea and refreshments now." He glanced at the two at the piano with a questioning look.
Elizabeth smiled at Georgianna. "I admit that that despite how refreshing our playing together has been, I would not mind some tea and cakes… if they are good cakes," she added with a twinkle in her eye which she hoped would allay the alarm she had seen in the younger woman's eyes at the intrusion of the maid. Her additional remark drew a girlish giggle from Georgiana. "T-t-they are v-v-very g-g-good c-c-cakes," she stammered, softly.
"Then we shall have tea and some very good cakes," Elizabeth told the Colonel, "but," she said to everyone's shock, "we shall have them served here in that lovely alcove with the table and chairs near the window there. I suspect it looks out onto the lovely gardens I saw as I approached the house. A most perfect setting for tea and very good cakes." Her motive was to continue the intimacy she had felt forming between her and her patient. A slight change such as a break for tea might strengthen it, but too great a change would disrupt it, she was certain.
The Colonel turned to the maid. "We will have refreshments served here, Mary," he said finally recalling her name. The maid curtsied and left. It seemed to Elizabeth there was a suggestion of resentment in the maid's eye, but at what she could not imagine. She would watch and wait. That after all was her profession… to watch and to wait, and hopefully to understand! She turned back to Georgiana. "While we await the tea and very good cake, tell me which your favorite composer...is it Beethoven or Mozart? Of perhaps someone else?" Her purpose was to continue a conversation with Georgianna on territory that was familiar to the young woman and might not raise any stress in her. She was gratified to see her face brighten again. "Oh, I-I-I c-c-cannot ch-ch- choose b-b-between-s-such g-g-geniuses," she stammered. With a sweeping gesture, she pointed to the neat rows of shelves on the walls, all housing musical scores and tomes. "I-I-I l-l-love a-a-all of th-th-them."
Elizabeth gave a low laugh. "I understand. It would be like asking of mother of ten to choose between her brood for her favorite. There may be one who gives less trouble, but then there is another who gives more joy, and so on. Impossible to say. You are quite right." Again her question and remarks were all designed to increase the sense of ease in the young woman. She thought she was succeeding. Time would tell.
Some noises in the hall announced the imminent arrival of their tea and Elizabeth looked at Georgiana. "As the hostess, perhaps you will seat us in our proper seats, my dear?" For a moment, the woman started to shrink but the placid smile on Elizabeth's face seemed to strengthen her and she rose, gesturing towards the window area with its array of table and settees. Elizabeth and the Colonel also stood and followed her towards the window area. Elizabeth gave the Colonel a small smile and he nodded his approval of what he had seen so far.