Once they set off, to make their leisurely way to Meryton to ensure Mrs Gardiner’s comfort, Georgiana asked the question which had been on her brother’s mind. ‘Lizzy, I wondered… last time William was at Meryton he made himself unpopular. Do you think that will cause problems for us?’
‘I should not worry about that. I have been writing to my family and told them how well your brother apologised,’ Elizabeth said with a teasing smile at Darcy, ‘and that I have quite forgiven him. I have also informed my mother that he and I are courting. I am certain that she has passed on that information to at least half the county.’
‘So, since you were the injured party and you do not hold a grudge, you think that your neighbours have forgiven him too? You do not hold a grudge anymore, do you?’ Georgiana abruptly rushed to enquire.
‘Not at all. I would not have agreed to a courtship if I had not quite changed my mind about your brother.’
Georgiana unexpectedly giggled. ‘Forgive me. I just remembered Richard telling me about the discussion they had about the different styles of proposals,’ she explained.
Elizabeth blushed and rushed to explain, ‘I am afraid that your cousin was going to be all noble and self-sacrificing because he did not wish to be a fortune-hunter, at least where my sister was concerned. Mary thought the only way to convince the Colonel not to be… ah…’
‘Stupid,’ supplied Darcy with a grin.
‘I was going to say noble,’ protested Elizabeth but her grin suggested that she might be mendacious. ‘Be that as it may, Mary proposed to your cousin.’
‘After she kissed him,’ Darcy reminded her.
‘Yes, well… she had to stop him from saying the wrong thing.’
‘So, she took the words right out of his mouth. Very ingenious,’ Darcy enjoyed teasing Elizabeth. ‘I also remember Deveril saying that the format of a proposal is a very personal choice. Which kind do you prefer? Traditional or reversed?’
‘I am certain that there could be still other ways,’ Elizabeth replied a little flustered at the direction the conversation was taking. He could not possibly think of proposing to her right in front of his sister and her companion.
Happily, Elizabeth was distracted from her panicked thoughts when Georgiana laughed as a thought occurred to her. ‘Perhaps a third way would be for the lady to propose, the gentleman to accept and then they kiss.’
Darcy suddenly grinned and raised a challenging brow at Elizabeth. ‘That works for me. Just think if ladies were the ones to propose, no gentleman would ever need to fear rejection.’
‘And ladies would not have to wait for gentlemen to stop dithering,’ Elizabeth shot back with an answering grin.
Georgiana and Mrs Annesley sat back and watched in amazement as their companions set off to vigorously debate which sex should be in charge. Each of them presented more or less logical arguments which the other just as logically or illogically refuted.
Before they knew it, the carriages pulled to a stop in Meryton. There was a quick reshuffle of passengers as the sisters all joined the Gardiners in their coach with Richard transferring to Darcy’s.
The three Gardiner coaches made for Longbourn, while the others continued on to Netherfield.
~T~
Mrs Nicholls, the housekeeper at Netherfield was ecstatic about the new residents within an hour of their arrival.
All of them were courteous and none were unreasonably demanding. She remembered Darcy from his previous visit and while she had heard of his faux pas at the assembly, she personally had had no issue to complain about him. She had also been pleased to hear that he had apologised to Miss Lizzy and was unsurprised that they were now courting.
Having the duchess in charge of the house was a breath of fresh air. The lady consulted before giving reasonable orders.
Mrs Nicholls had been pleased to agree that it was possible for her and her staff to prepare enough courses for a dinner party the following evening.
~T~
Mrs Bennet and her two youngest daughters were eagerly awaiting the arrival of the travellers but were disappointed when only family members arrived.
‘Where are the others? I was hoping to meet the duchess,’ Mrs Bennet queried after warmly greeting the Gardiners and her daughters.
‘They went straight to Netherfield. Even the best carriages cannot make a journey pleasant in this weather. We all wanted to get to our destination and warm up,’ explained Mrs Gardiner with a smile.
‘Of course, I understand, but I was hoping to invite them all to dinner…’
‘Mama, they will be calling on us in the morning after we all had a good rest, and we have had a chance to tell you all that happened in London,’ Jane soothed her mother.’
‘And we brought presents for all,’ announced Elizabeth, whereupon the youngest girls forgot all about the other visitors and even Mrs Bennet was mollified.
