“We all saw her at her presentation, she seems like a nice sort of lady. My concern is if we reach out to her, how do we stop being in that libertine’s company?” Darcy worried. “I care not he is a duke; he is the worst kind of man.”
“That he is, but should his wife suffer for his crimes?” Lady Anne paused. “Because of the way my sister behaves, if my namesake was in the area would we shun her in case Catherine thinks it means we are accepting of her and her presumptuous behaviour?”
“You make a good point my love,” Darcy conceded. “All I ask is we are circumspect. Also, it is not quite the same as it would be with Anne, who is our niece.”
“I will see what unfolds, but I will discuss this with Elaine and Reggie as well,” Lady Anne averred.
“We have been away from Pemberly for months, should we retire and reacquaint ourselves with our chambers,” Darcy waggled his eyebrows suggestively at his wife.
“Robert Geroge Alexander Darcy, you are incorrigible. Do not change.”
The dignified master and mistress were seen on their way up the grand stairs with huge smiles on their faces as they walked hand in hand.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
On the fourth day after the express from Lizzy, the Gardiners departed Gracechurch Street; a rented carriage and a cart followed the Gardiner equipage. That evening on the Great North Road where the Gardiners and four Bennet sisters stopped to spend the night, they were met by the Lucas parents and daughters. With them were Frank and Hattie Philips.
Those travelling from Meryton had agreed to join the Gardiners and Bennet sisters and wait in Lambton until they were told it was safe to see Elizabeth. It had been far too long.
They were all determined. Somehow they would find a way to be in Lizzy’s company.
Chapter 19
Due to the fact not only was the parsonage in Lambton a large one, but the home belonging to the Lamberts in the town had no tenant currently, there was more than enough space for those arriving from Meryton and London.
The Gardiners and the two youngest Bennets were hosted at the parsonage while the rest of the travellers found themselves at the house just the other side of the green from where the church and parsonage were situated.
Kate and Lydia had found it amusing when they were introduced to Aunt Maddie’s younger brother, Uncle Adam, and his wife, Aunt Eve.
The two had two sons so far. “At least the boys are not named Cain and Abel,” Lydia remarked to Kate, thinking she had spoken without being heard by others.
“We certainly did think of naming them thusly,” Lambert jested, “but then Eve and I decided we did not want to chance history repeating itself with what had occurred in biblical times.”
“Adam,” his wife admonished him playfully. “Do not tell our nieces that, else they will think you serious.”
“Aunt Maddie, may we cross the green to visit our sisters and those residing at Lambert House, please?” Kate requested. The Lambert boys, three and one respectively, were napping, meaning the noise in the house had to be regulated.
“I wanted to speak to Sir William, so come girls, I will escort you,” Gardiner allowed.
Unlike Bennet, who Gardiner used to call his brother-in-law, Sir William had been secretly investing a small sum with Gardiner for some years now. He needed to tell the knight about a new and potentially lucrative investment opportunity he had discovered.
Once the front door clicked shut, Lambert turned to his sister. “In my ministering to my flock, I thought I had seen it all, but selling a child into marriage to a man older than her father for personal gain is something I could not have imagined before you told me of it.”
“What sort of parent does that to their own flesh and blood?” Evangeline wondered.
“It is precisely the reason Lizzy decided they were no longer her parents. If she refers to them at all, she will only call them Mr. and Mrs. Bennet now,” Madeline shared with her brother and sister-in-law. “The other sisters, except for Lydia call them the same as Lizzy. Lyddie does not refer to them at all. It hit her the hardest when she realised Fanny is incapable of loving any besides herself.”
“Have you written to Lizzy to let her know you are all in Lambton?” Lambert enquired.
“I did first thing this morning, it is on the way to Castlemere with one of our footmen who accompanied us from London,” Madeline responded.
“Did you know that estate is only second to Pemberley in size in Derbyshire?” Evangeline queried. “Chatsworth, the estate of the Duke of Devonshire has slightly less land than Castlemere. The Matlock estate, Snowhaven is about as large as Pemberley but part of it is in Nottinghamshire.”
“I am sure Lizzy will love roaming about the estate where she is residing. It will have to be her legs now she has decided not to ride until after she delivers her child,” Madeline opined.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
The Hilldale coach in which the three cousins rode was traversing Lambton on the way to Pemberley when they passed the village green.
