“What can you tell us of his sister?” she enquired.
“She is even less well-known than her brother—hardly ever comes into Lambton. Some say she is too above herself, and that is as may be, though I expect she spends most of her time in London anyway,” Mrs Whitaker answered.
“I do not blame her for that,” said Miss Tanner, “for she cannot have many friends hereabouts. The nearest estate must be three or four miles away from Pemberley, she is not yet out, and I cannot imagine she would be permitted to associate with other young ladies her age in the local towns or villages. It must be a lonely existence in that huge house all cut off from the world.”
Exceedingly lonely, Elizabeth privately agreed. It was unthinkably cruel that Mr Wickham, one of Miss Darcy’s few childhood friends, had used her so ill as to attempt to persuade her to elope at just fifteen years old. Pity allayed some of the guilt Elizabeth felt for agreeing to be introduced to her. Miss Darcy was the young lady who had usurped her dearest sister in Mr Bingley’s affections, but she hoped Jane would not object to the meeting. Her sister was too kind to blame a naïve, young girl for the carelessness and caprice of men.
That Mr Darcy wished to introduce his sister was something of a marvel. She would not have blamed him for doing everything in his power to keep them apart after her obstinate and ill-founded defence of Mr Wickham. Yet, not only was he desirous that they should meet, he also averred that so was Miss Darcy.
Such a wish could only have been born of her brother’s recommendation, giving rise to a suspicion in Elizabeth’s mind of Mr Darcy’s attachment to her remaining so steady that all her credulity and petulance had not been enough to completely erase his good opinion. She could not but be gratified by anyone admiring her so well, though she did not think it warranted the eruption of warmth that overspread her cheeks. She looked around her company to see whether she was discovered, but nobody was paying her any attention.
“What are your plans while you are here?” Mrs Whitaker was asking.
“We thought to keep our time free to renew some old friendships,” Mr Gardiner replied.
“You are very accommodating, sir. My late husband would not have been so obliging, I am sure. He always wanted to be off shooting, or drinking, or riding somewhere.”
“Time spent in good company is no hardship, madam. Besides, my wife has allowed me more than my share of entertainments on this trip. And you never know, I may yet find myself fishing at Pemberley.” He winked as he said this, evidently still not believing it likely.
“What about you, Miss Bennet? What do you hope to see while you are in this part of the world?”
Elizabeth was not expecting the first thought to pop into her head to be Mr Darcy. “Other than a bit of walking, I am at my aunt’s disposal.”
It was rapidly settled that the whole party would return to Mrs Whitaker’s establishment for dinner the next day, where Mr and Mrs Heyworth and a few other of Mrs Gardiner’s erstwhile neighbours would join them. After that, the evening seemed at a natural end, and Mr Gardiner excused their party.
It was a short walk to the inn where they were staying, and Mrs Gardiner was too full of rejoicing over the evening’s success to allow talk of anything else. That suited Elizabeth well; she walked arm in arm with her uncle, happy not to be called upon for more than the occasional nod or smile.
Her mind was engaged wondering what Mr Darcy was thinking at that moment. Now that enough time had elapsed for the shock of seeing her to wear off, had he remembered to be angry? She was amazed he had not been angry the moment he set eyes on her; she well knew how that sentiment looked on him, yet she had seen nothing of it in his countenance earlier. On the contrary, all she had perceived in him, other than embarrassment, was what appeared to be a concerted eagerness to please.
She smiled into the night. What she truly wondered was, after everything that had transpired between them, whether it was possible that Mr Darcy still loved her—and how she would feel about it if he did.
CHAPTERSIX
A LONG-AWAITED INTRODUCTION
The first of Darcy’s guests arrived as he was still eating breakfast. He did not need to look out of the window to know whose carriage he could hear rolling up the drive. He knew Miss Bingley would have obliged her brother to leave Derby unreasonably early to ensure they were here before all the others and able, therefore, to boast a greater intimacy with the family. He only hoped her desire to ingratiate herself had extended so far as to invite Georgiana to travel with her.
“Alas, no, Mr Darcy. Miss Darcy preferred to travel with Miss Ada today.”
“I do not believe she will be far behind us,” Bingley said, stepping around his sister and reaching to shake Darcy’s hand. “Most of the party were up and about by the time Caroline and I left. Except Pettigrew and Sedrick. I should not expect them until later if I were you.”
“Late night, was it?”
“I left them to it at one. And I should have gone to bed a darned sight earlier had I known I was to be dragged from my pit at such an ungodly hour.”
Miss Bingley tutted. “Somebody had to leave first, Charles, and it might as well have been us. We should have been waiting there all day if ours had not been the first carriage out of the stables.”
“I ought to have made Louisa travel with you and come at a more reasonable hour in Hurst’s carriage.”
Darcy noticed his housekeeper hovering nearby, waiting for the Bingleys to cease squabbling, and indicated that she should come forward.
“Thank you, sir. If I might just acquaint Mr and Miss Bingley with the alteration to their usual rooms?”
An increasingly familiar sinking feeling weighed in Darcy’s stomach at the reminder of the threat that now loomed over Pemberley. Bingley’s eyes widened as Mrs Reynolds explained that the east wing was off limits to all guests. Miss Bingley was more concerned with how much wardrobe space she would have in her new room, and, to Darcy’s relief, the housekeeper offered to take her there to inspect it.
“Upon my word, that sounds serious,” Bingley said when they were gone.
“It is precautionary only. I do not yet know the cause or the extent of the problem.”
