The now furiously blushing couple were the last in, and even Killion, who never allowed emotion to show, had a slight upturn to the corners of his mouth as he closed the door. As it was a large party, Killion was assisted by two liveried Darcy House footmen to relieve everyone present of their outerwear.
As agreed earlier, Georgie as the mistress of Darcy House, until her brother William gave her sisters by marrying Lizzy in about four weeks, led the rest of the party into the music room where Anne de Bourgh, Bingley, and the Hursts were waiting for them to have a before dinner aperitif.
Lizzy and Darcy hung back so Lizzy could be introduced to Mr. and Mrs. Killion, the butler and housekeeper at Darcy House. Her tour was scheduled for the morrow at ten o’clock in the morning.
Both senior staff members were relieved at the genuine affection they noted between their Master and the, until recently, unknown Miss Elizabeth Bennet, and were impressed by the way the soon to be new mistress addressed them with warmth and interest.
They both said silent prayers of thanks the once dreaded Miss Bingley or one of her ilk had not succeeded in trapping the master into matrimony by way of a compromise or some other underhanded means.
Once the introductions were complete, the couple joined the rest of the party in the music room. At the appointed time, Killion announced dinner was served. Everyone filed into the large dining parlour and other than the master and mistress’s seats, the rest of the seating was informal.
Elizabeth, who had entered on his arm, was sat to the right of her beloved. The Bennets and the Gardiners were most impressed at the quality of the meal; grateful it was not unnecessarily rich or overdone.
The two elder Gardiner children, Lilly who was twelve and George who was ten, dined with the adults and displayed the good manners and class their parents and governess had imbued in them, the expectation of many similar dinners making Georgiana possibly the happiest of all.
Only two months previously, sitting in this room looking at the anger and despair on her brother’s face and trying to come to terms with her own humiliation and faults had made dining one of the quietest, loneliest times of the day.
Now looking at their expanded family, made so much richer with Anne’s presence and the woman Mrs. Hurst was becoming, Georgiana was practically overcome with too much happiness.
Before a tear fell, she felt the now familiar hand of Fanny’s reach over and take hers, the gentle squeeze reminding her she was as loved as she loved those with her tonight. When she glanced around, she saw only Darcy and Lizzy had noticed her almost overdone display of affection and saw her happiness was reflected in theirs.
Sometime later, after musical entertainment was enjoyed by all, the party broke up at a reasonable hour, given they had travelled that day, and all would need to be rested for the many activities which were packed into the immediate days to come.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
Lizzy’s eyes fluttered open, the last vestiges of the sleep state slowly leaving her body. As she stretched, she looked around the unfamiliar chamber and it slowly dawned on her where she was, and that the sun was streaming in through the cracks in the curtains.
She had slept longer than was her wont, most days awake and already starting her day at the crack at dawn at Longbourn so she could take a walk as the sun started its journey across the sky.
They had arrived home before eleven last night, but she had got to bed after one in the morning following a long, in-depth sisterly talk with Jane, neither of them noticing or caring how late it was. She allowed it was a better excuse than many for why she had slept, what was for her, so late that morning.
Elizabeth pulled the bell for her French abigail, Jacqueline Arseneault, who she called Jacqui. Being fluent in French, Lizzy was comfortable speaking to her in either language, though her Abigail spoke fluent English with a heavy French accent. The maid opened the curtains to let the sun lighten and warm the room.
“Ouimademoiselle,Lizzy, good morning to you. I trust that you slept well?” A cheerful Jacqui said as she entered from the servant’s passage.
“Good morning, Jacqui. It took me a moment to recognise I was not in my chamber at Longbourn. I hope you are comfortable in your quarters here?” Lizzy smiled at the excited nodding from her maid.
“What a glorious morning. I am so very much looking forward to my tour of Darcy House. If only it was my wedding day already.” She sighed with a dreamy far off look she always seemed to get when she thought about being married to her William. “I so love him, he is the best man I know,” Elizabeth stated aloud as she hugged a pillow.
“Up with you,mademoiselleLizzy. I will have water brought up for your bath so thatmademoisellemay be ready for her tour at her new home,” Arseneault informed her mistress.
“Thank you. After my tour all of us ladies are going shopping. As you well know, shopping is not my favourite activity, but it is for my trousseau, so it has a better chance at being fun than most of our excursions.” Lizzy’s face scrunched up playfully.
After her bath and her lady’s maid had helped her to dress into an elegant day dress, the maid gave her mistress a simple up do with some curls cascading down her long neck.
Once she was deemed ready, Lizzy knocked on the door connecting to Jane’s chambers, where her abigail, Antoinette de Chambé, informed Lizzy her lady had just gone down to break her fast.
Elizabeth entered the smaller of the two dining parlours which the family had chosen to use in the mornings as a breakfast parlour where she was greeted by her mother and her three sisters.
Her mother informed them their father had gone riding with Tom and James along the Serpentine in Hyde Park, and after that he was taking them to the museum of natural sciences, then to Hatchard’s where Darcy and the Earl would join them to peruse books while the ladies shopped. Their menfolk planned to meet them at Gunter’s for tea and treats later that afternoon.
At about five minutes before the hour, the ladies set out across the square to Darcy House. Fanny had agreed to join Lizzy on the tour and Georgie would wait with the three Bennet girls in the drawing room for Elaine and Marie Fitzwilliam, Madeline Gardner, Anne de Bourgh, and Louisa Hurst.
The Earl, the Viscount, the Colonel, Bingley, and Hurst would join Darcy at Whites until two of them would go to Hatchard’s and later they too would all meet the females of the party at Gunter’s. The whole party meeting at such a well-known place that members of theTonfrequented would send another clear message to any still in Town that they were a united, strong family unit just in case anyone still had doubts.
One of the many ironies was that had Miss Bingley behaved as she should have, she would have attained her goal of entering into the highest circles that she had always coveted.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
