I Met Mr Darcy Via Luton

by Fredrica Edward

  On the journey, Darcy stopped merely to change horses, down a tankard of ale, and relieve himself; arriving at Matlock as the sun was setting. He had apprised his Aunt Evelina of his arrival by letter, and she was waiting by the front door with Cousin Miranda as he dismounted.

  "Darcy, how good of you to grace us with your presence," the countess said as he came towards her. "I hope naught is amiss?"

  "No, Aunt," he replied as he pecked her on the cheek. "Good news, instead."

  He surveyed Miranda Fitzwilliam, the Viscountess Stanley, for a moment. She was still beautiful. Then he took the plunge, pecking her gracefully on the cheek in the same manner as his aunt. He felt not a flicker.

  Cured, he thought, At last!

  It was not seemly to have lascivious thoughts of one's married cousin. Perhaps he could finally speak to her as an adult.

  "Cousin Miranda, I hope I find you well?"

  "Well enough, Darcy, but agog to hear your good news."

  "And I am eager to impart it, but I must admit I am famished. I did not stop to eat," he replied.

  "Then come into the parlour and sit down," said his aunt. "There is some fruit on the table and the servants will bring ale. Did you come from London?"

  "No, from Hertfordshire; but the days are short, and a couple of the post horses were a bit sluggish. If only I could ride my own stallion all the way!"

  "Well, you could always arrange a string of your own horses from here to London," replied the countess. "They would love you at Tattersalls."

  "You know I am too much of a nip cheese to go to such extravagance, Aunt!" Darcy laughed.

  His aunt was a little surprised at this self-deprecation. She had not seen him so easy for… well, never!

  "Indeed," said his aunt, giving his bicep a squeeze. "You father would be proud of you." If only my own son would show some economy, but he seems to be determined to go to hell in a handbasket.

  The countess was, of course, thinking of Henry, not Richard.

  After they reached the parlour, Darcy downed some more ale and spilt his news. "I am to be married."

  "Why Darcy, that is wonderful! Who is the lucky girl?" asked the countess.

  "You would not know her, aunt."

  Lady Fitzwilliam pursed her lips. "I suppose you have already sought your uncle's permission?"

  "Of course, and he has given it," Darcy replied gently.

  "Has he met her?" asked his aunt.

  "No," replied Darcy honestly, "but she is of respectable birth. Her father owns a small estate in Hertfordshire."

  "And her dowry?"

  "A thousand pounds," replied Darcy.

  His aunt closed her eyes briefly. "Your father would not have liked that."

  This bald statement stung Darcy. "But surely my parents married for love?" he asked. "I have always been told so."

  "It is easy to love a beautiful earl's daughter," said Aunt Evelina. Indeed, she had once fancied herself in love with a handsome young viscount…

  "Did your uncle have anything to say on the subject?" she asked, betraying her thoughts by referring to her husband impersonally.

  "I believe he was mostly relieved that I am setting up my nursery."

  "True. And what of Richard?" she asked, seeking her favourite son's opinion.

  "If you are asking if Richard has met her, he has, and has agreed to stand up with me if he is able."

  "And what does he think of her?" the countess persisted.

  "I believe he thought he might be in some danger if I had not come before him."

  "Then she must be beautiful and vivacious," replied his aunt, sighing.

  "Yes," affirmed Darcy.

  She stared off into the distance for a moment before turning her mind back to practicalities. "Will you stay the night?"

  "Of course, if you will have me."

  His aunt rose and nodded once to him gracefully, before leaving to instruct the servants. Darcy wondered why she simply did not summon them.

  Selecting an apple from a dish on the table, he wandered over to his cousin who was standing, staring out the window.

  She spoke as he came abreast of her. "We would not have suited, you know."

  Darcy was dumbfounded.

  After a minute he regained his speech. "I did not realise you were aware of my preference."

  "It was mutual," she replied.

  More silence, before he finally managed, "I thought it merely the one-sided maunderings of a besotted youth."

  "I was too old."

  "Five years is not so much."

  "But look how long it has taken you to come up to scratch."

  There was a silence as he realised the conversation had strayed into the improper before Miranda broke it.

  "She is a lucky lady."

  If only I could tell Miranda how wide of the mark she is, Darcy thought guiltily.

  "I hope to make her so," he replied.

  Darcy spent the evening describing his fiancée and her circumstances to his aunt and cousin. He dwelt particularly on Elizabeth's work at Netherfield, hoping to convince the countess that his betrothed was no fortune hunter.

  In the end, his aunt believed he was engaged to an eccentric bluestocking. To her nephew, she expressed her intention to attend his wedding for his sake, but privately she admitted to a sense of curiosity about his bride-to-be.

  Darcy left for Pemberley first thing in the morning and was fortunate to find his rector at home. After a collegial morning tea, Mr Blakeney gave his congratulations and well wishes to the Master of Pemberley and promised to start reading the banns on Sunday.

  Chapter 55: The Darcys' travels

  At Longbourn, Georgiana waved goodbye to Elizabeth and Mary when they departed for Netherfield in the Bennet gig at eight.

  She had decided not to visit Netherfield today. While Darcy had not strictly prohibited her from visiting every day, he had made it clear that she was to be careful in her conduct around the soldiers. her brother had advised her to stay close to Elizabeth when she visited. Knowing Elizabeth was very busy, Georgiana did not wish to sit in her pocket, and so she resolved to spend the day at Longbourn with Kitty.

  In the morning, Georgie watched Kitty extract the active ingredient from willow bark in the stillroom; then looked on with envy as Lydia once more climbed into Mr Jones' gig and took the reins to drive the medicine to Netherfield. She wondered if she could convince her brother to teach her how to drive the phaeton they kept at Pemberley.

  Georgiana was surprised when Mary arrived home on foot, and unattended, for a late lunch, thinking that some disaster must have befallen her. She was astonished to find this was normal practice. It occurred to her that her own existence was rather cribbed and confined in comparison.

  When Mary declared that she needed to devote the afternoon to Longbourn's ledgers, Georgiana thought the rest of the day would be rather flat, but Kitty generously offered to show her how to make ginger beer, though they were not halfway through drinking the last batch. This proved to be more fun than the morning's efforts in the stillroom, as Kitty allowed her to help.

  When Elizabeth and Lydia arrived home in the Bennet gig at five, Kitty and Georgiana walked to the portico to greet them. Lydia was driving and made a great show of circumnavigating the birdbath at the front of the house twice before pulling up.

  "Ha, ha, Kitty!" she said, jumping down from the gig and doing a jig. "I'm allowed to drive myself now!"

  Elizabeth, who had taken the reins when Lydia dropped them, handed them to the groom and climbed out after her sister.

  "Yes, we will have to buy you your own whip, now!" said Elizabeth.

  "I met a donkey on the way to Netherfield this morning, and you should have seen the fracas Charlie made!" said Lydia, seemingly apropos of nothing.

  "Charlie," said Elizabeth, by way of explanation to Georgiana, "is Mr Jones's horse."

  "He hates donkeys!" said Lydia. "He made such a fuss. But Mr Jones said I handled him perfectly and that I am a ca
pital whip!"

  "All true," confirmed Elizabeth, shaking her head in amazement.

  "So I bags driving the gig tomorrow!" said Lydia.

  "You may have it with my blessing," said Elizabeth, "but with Napoleon harnessed."

  "Why can't I have Nellie?" asked Lydia, naturally wanting the less sluggish of the two horses.

  "Because she will be harnessed to Dr Gregory's gig, which he is loaning me 'til I am married."

  "Oh, well," declared Lydia nonchalantly. "Georgie, you can come with me tomorrow!"

  "I think she had better travel with me," said Elizabeth, smiling at Darcy's sister. "You can take Mary, Lydia."

  "Won't it be fun!" said Lydia to Mary, who had arrived to see what all the fuss was about.

  "What about me?" pouted Kitty, feeling decidedly left out.

  "Dr Gregory's gig has a backboard," said Lizzy; "or you could come over with Mr Jones."

  Kitty rather fancied she would travel later with Mr Jones rather than get dusty on the backboard, and she said so.

  The evening was spent very pleasantly with Georgiana and Mary playing duets on the pianoforte. Even Mr Bennet, who was not in general an aficionado of Mary's efforts, thought so.

  So it was settled. Around eight in the morning, Dr Gregory's groom arrived at Longbourn driving his gig, and after a quick change of horses, four of the ladies embarked and set off.

  "Last one to Netherfield is a rotten egg!" yelled Lydia as she headed first out the gate.

  It was not Elizabeth's intention to involve Georgiana in anything so vulgar as a horse race, but when Napoleon slowed to a sedate trot just past Meryton, she could not help poking her tongue out as she and Georgiana whisked past.

  This caused some merriment on Georgiana's part, particularly when Lydia yelled some inventive insults at her horse as they were overtaken. "Skewbald slug" and "hairy sloth" may have been two of them; but as the distance between the two gigs was increasing, one could not be sure.

  The morning was rather frosty, and when they reached Netherfield, some of the gentlemen were found to be in the parlour playing cards. Mary headed straight to the library to resume her bookkeeping. All Dr Gregory's paperwork passed through the Netherfield library now that he had a dedicated half-time secretary. Georgiana followed Elizabeth into the dispensary to help distribute pills and draughts to the patients, although one ear wistfully attended the card game, which had become a little more raucous since Lydia arrived. Lydia was walking around the card table dispensing whispered advice to the players with the sole aim of preventing Lieutenant Entwistle from winning. That gentleman had earned the reputation of being something of a card sharp.

  When Kitty arrived around eleven thirty, the gentlemen begged the ladies for another game of pall mall. Elizabeth encouraged Georgiana to go off, as she needed to supervise the installation of a cistern in the roof, which would, no doubt, be a dirty job. Mary was convinced to stay at Netherfield rather than head off with Mr Jones as usual; and two teams were formed with Mary and Lydia joining one, and Kitty and Georgiana, the other. They were happily employed in this game when Dr Gregory arrived for lunch before his afternoon rounds at the hospital.

  When they came in for lunch, Georgiana was relieved that she had acquitted herself much more creditably than her first attempt at the game, although she was far from emulating the prowess of Lydia.

  In the afternoon, Georgiana followed Dr Gregory around as he visited the bedridden patients, refilling water jugs and receiving introductions where possible. She then helped Mrs Fletcher dispense afternoon tea in the parlour. After the cups were cleared away, Kitty suggested they take turns reading a novel aloud, a proposal that was happily welcomed by many of the soldiers, some of whom volunteered to read also.

  Elizabeth was amused when she entered the parlour prior to their leave-taking to discover they were reading the same copy of Cecilia that she had read to Jane during her illness at Netherfield over a year ago. The participants were reading a page each before passing the book on. Everyone was amused by Lieutenant Entwistle's falsetto, which really did sound like a woman, as opposed to the high-pitched caricatures employed by the other men. Even Captain Kirkby laughed.

  "Do not creep up on me at night with such a voice, Entwistle, else I might become confused," laughed Lieutenant Harboard.

  "Behave yourself, Lieutenant Harboard," replied Entwistle, in perfect falsetto. "There are ladies present!"

  Elizabeth thought this might be a good time to extract Georgiana and announced her intention to depart.

  Thus one of the most enjoyable weeks of Georgiana's life passed. It had never occurred to her how lonely she was before. She wished somehow she could live at Longbourn once her brother was married, but knew this was not possible. As a compromise, she hoped to invite some of the Bennet sisters to stay with her at Pemberley.

  Towards the end of the week, a letter arrived from her brother announcing his intention to be back in Hertfordshire in two days. An enclosed note was directed to Elizabeth. Georgiana handed it to her with a smile before sitting down on the piano stool next to Mary. Elizabeth quietly disappeared upstairs to read it.

  Sitting down on her bed, Elizabeth unsealed the note that had been written on a torn fragment of paper, presumably so that it fit neatly inside Georgiana's letter.

  I count the hours 'til I am near you again.

  Jane says thank you for the trunk and hopes to follow us to London.

  Bingley has one matter to settle here first.

  Save a kiss for me.

  F.

  Elizabeth held it to her nose, but it just smelled of ink and paper, so she tucked it under her pillow.

  She walked to the desk. So many things to finish in only two days…

  Sighing, she sat down and drew the plans for the hydropathy pool towards herself.

  Darcy arrived back from Derbyshire, as planned, in time for lunch on Friday. Like his trip north, he had ridden, with Finn setting out in the coach a day before Darcy departed from Pemberley.

  As Darcy required the carriage to convey the ladies to London, they swapped modes of transport at the posting inn at Longbourn, with Finn proceeding straight to London on a placid mare. After dismounting, Darcy walked straight to Longbourn House, leaving the coachman to follow behind. A postilion from the inn mounted one of the leaders–they would take the carriage to the house to load the extra luggage before unharnessing the horses.

  Once more, Mrs Bennet had an excellent cold collation ready: pressed tongue, a beetroot salad, a Dutch cheese and a fresh loaf of bread. As Darcy entered the vestibule, a boy, who had arrived with two tankards of ale for the gentlemen, scuttled out the backdoor with a penny in his hand. Mary poured ginger beer for the ladies.

  Eager to take his betrothed to London, Darcy began to wolf down his portion while he stared at Elizabeth, until Mr Bennet's cough reminded him of his surroundings.

  "Forgive me," apologized Darcy. "It's been a long trip."

  "How are things in the north, Mr Darcy?" asked Mr Bennet perfunctorily.

  "Very well, thank you," Darcy replied in kind. "My steward is a very capable one, so all was well with Pemberley. I gather you would prefer to hear how your eldest daughter fares in Yorkshire?"

  "Oh, yes, Mr Darcy!" replied Mrs Bennet. "How goes Jane with Mr Bingley? Is she well?"

  "I must confess she is a little thinner. You know that they moved onto the estate Bingley is leasing over a month ago. I'm afraid the cook they hired was not satisfactory, but I've recommended one of Mrs Reynold's daughters to them."

  "Poor Jane," said Mrs Bennet, "She is too sweet. No doubt she was being choused by the woman!"

  "I think the cook was merely incompetent, and your daughter did not have the heart to turn her off."

  "She was ever soft at heart!" agreed Mrs Bennet.

  After Darcy assured them that the single fly had been removed from the Bingleys' ointment, they were happy to hear that Jane and Charles were indeed just a day's journey behind him. The particul
ars of the new estate were discussed and compared to Netherfield. Mrs Bennet was satisfied to hear her daughter was as well set up in life as she had originally hoped when she had first deemed Mr Bingley a most satisfactory prospective son.

  When Mrs Bennet called for tea, Darcy demurred, citing his wish to gain London before sunset without unnecessarily jolting the ladies about. Mr Bennet privately rolled his eyes at this, but Mary and Georgiana got up with alacrity to make their way to the portico. Elizabeth followed more reluctantly, kissing her younger sisters goodbye and hugging her father, before planting a dutiful peck on her mother's cheek.

  Kitty and Lydia were slightly envious of the voyagers, but having stepped into Elizabeth's shoes at Netherfield, they thought themselves more as mistresses of the situation at Longbourn rather than the little sisters left behind.

  "Did I give you the keys to the dispensary, Kitty?" asked Elizabeth once more.

  "Yes, Elizabeth, and the list! I have it all here," said Kitty, reaching into the pocket of her apron. "Now go!"

  "Oh, Kitty, do take that thing off!" said Mrs Bennet, viewing the apron askance. "I had no idea you wore it to the table!"

  Mr Bennet frowned as Darcy handed the ladies into the carriage before retreating to his library. He wasn't about to hang about on the doorstep for the leave-taking.

  The ostler had been quick to bring the horses up from the inn and was adjusting the traces as they climbed into the carriage. Darcy's groom deemed them good to go, and with a crack of the whip, they were off.

  The girls skipped inside, leaving Mrs Bennet alone on the drive, waving her handkerchief furiously.

  Although it was dusk as they drove into Grosvenor Square, there was enough light for Elizabeth to appreciate the size of the Darcy townhouse in Mayfair for the first time, if not all of its architectural details. She goggled at the massive row of townhouses as Mary, who had visited before, informed her they were four stories high at the front, and five stories high at the back.

  Servants streamed from the door as the carriage pulled up.