“Usually at ten,” Mary averred.
“In that case,” Darcy looked at his beloved, “we will collect you at half after eight.”
“Please join us for the meal when you return Lizzy to the parsonage,” Mary invited.
So it was decided. After that Mary went back to her book and Elizabeth and Darcy debated books they had recently read. The spirited debate only ended when the coach slowed as the coachman guided it into the parsonage’s drive.
Mary gently woke her husband. Once their trunks were off-loaded, the Darcy footmen assisted the Bennet’s manservant to deliver them to the various bedchambers. With promises to see one another soon, the occupants of the two conveyances departed for the less than half mile drive to the mansion.
Sitting in his carriage, Darcy felt bereft of Elizabeth’s company but he could still smell her lavender scent. He opened the back cover of his fob watch and wound his fingers around her lock of hair, as he so often did.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
The anticipation of the walk with William had Elizabeth up and ready almost an hour before the front doorbell rang. Hearing the bell, she had to force herself not to run and open the door instead of one of Mary and William’s servants.
The housekeeper and cook in one person returned leading the Darcy siblings and Tiffany into the sitting room.
“Good morning Lizzy,” Georgiana managed before she hugged the woman she was sure would be her sister one day.
Tiffany replaced her cousin to hug her friend as soon as Giana stepped back.
“It is good to see all of you,” Elizabeth greeted all three, her eyes never leaving the face of the man she loved.
“Shall we?” Darcy proposed.
The three had not relinquished their outerwear on arriving knowing they would be back outside soon enough. The housekeeper assisted Elizabeth into her warm pelisse. She donned her fur lined gloves and her warmest bonnet.
The two younger girls led the way out of the parsonage to the path which led into the grove. The courting couple followed behind them, at a distance. He offered her his arm, and Elizabeth willingly placed her gloved hand on his forearm.
There were no evergreens in the grove so all of the trees were stark, their branches bare. There was long grass on the forest floor which had been turned brown and dormant by the occasional frost and the persistent cold. No snow had fallen in Kent but it was still rather cold.
“Where we all live in Derbyshire,” Darcy inclined his head to his sister and cousin walking ahead of them, “everything is covered by a thick coating of snow.”
“We had a dusting of snow at Longbourn after Christmas, but it did not remain on the ground very long, so thankfully I did not lose too many days of exercise to precipitation,” Elizabeth responded.
“I hope your celebration of the festive season was not as subdued as it was here,” Darcy stated.
“As would be expected,” Elizabeth averred. She looked around at the leafless trees. “I imagine this is a wonderous sight in the spring when everything is verdant. Do you have forests at Pemberley?”
“Very expansive ones.” Darcy was not boasting, just stating a fact. “From the gate posts to the house is over two miles, most of the way there are wooded areas either side of the drive. The house itself is on rising ground, actually built at the foot of a hill. The hill is covered with evergreen trees so it is possible to see green ery year round from the master suite, albeit with snow on their branches in winter.”
“It sounds like many more trees than here. Do you have a large formal garden?”
“Not as large as some; not nearly as much and not as ordered as Rosings Park’s formal gardens.” Darcy saw the quizzical look from Elizabeth. As she had not had thepleasureof seeing his late aunt’s attempt at ordering nature, he explained what she would see. “My mother loved gardening and her passion was roses. There is a large rose garden, and some beds of mixed flowers, but for the most part, nature has not been molested at my estate.”
Elizabeth was about to say how much she would like to see the forests at Pemberley but stopped herself. She did not want to seem to be angling for an invitation.
“I heard Miss Bingley go on about your library. Is it truly so extensive?”
“As I said then, it has been the work of many generations.”
“You, according to thatlady,have added to it yourself.”
“When in London, I lose myself in bookshops, especially Hatchard’s. I cannot help myself; I am always buying additional tomes regardless of the fact I would need multiple lifetimes to come close to reading most of the books in the collection.”
“My father is a bibliophile as well.”
“As is, I believe, his second daughter.” Darcy looked at his walking partner lovingly.
