Miss Bennet had a face of polite indifference until Georgiana added, “My aunt, indeed my entire family, would like to see my witless cousin Anne married to my brother, but he is rightly disinclined. Fitzwilliam is clever and generous, and Anne is too dull and self?—”
“Georgiana Darcy!”
“I am sorry!”
Miss Bennet turned away, likely to hide a smile, while Darcy glared at his sister. When his guest was composed, she said, “Mr Darcy, matchmaking is common amongst women. A brother ought to be pleased his sister knows his preferences. You ought not to hold it against your aunt, either. Sisters plan the union of their children before they have grown up themselves. My unborn daughters have been sworn to Jane’s boys for years.”
She was trying to put everyone at ease, and he felt grateful to her for it. Georgiana was too embarrassed to reply, and if he did not answer, they would sink into more awkwardness.
“I do not hold her hopes and wishes against my aunt, but I do wish she was not so loud in expressing them. Have you any aunts full of self-importance?”
“I do not. My aunt Gardiner is without question the best-tempered woman I know and is extremely kind to me.”
One uncle an attorney in Meryton and the other in trade in Cheapside, and a brother who buys and sells on the Exchange.Darcy refrained from shaking his head. Her connexions lessened her chance of marrying a man of any consideration in the world more than her lack of fortune.
Miss Bennet moved to the instrument, and Darcy began a reply to Colonel Fitzwilliam about how much time and money to invest into his task. He wished to deliberate maturely, but Darcy’s heart said to pursue Wickham to the ends of the earth. By the time he was finished with his letter, Georgiana was coughing excessively. Before Darcy could set aside his pen, Miss Bennet had ceased to play, propped Georgiana upright, and rung the bell.
Hannah entered, and Darcy asked her for something for Georgiana’s cough.
“Cook says to say we have no syrup of poppies or any laudanum.”
A proper housekeeper would have noticed and purchased more, and he would not have been troubled any further than settling the quarterly bill. To have a woman in a position of authority in every situation in the house had been too much of a risk while Georgiana had been pregnant. Perhaps he ought to consider hiring one now.
Before he could suggest that since he paid Hannah more than she was worth in return for her discretion, she ought to suffer a walk to Meryton, Miss Bennet spoke.
“I ought to be at Longbourn; my permitted hours of visiting are over, and the Collinses expect me home. I will tell Mr Lynn what you need, and the shopboy will bring it.”
The maid, to his great annoyance, curtsied and left. Darcy shrugged and stood. “He may not come until tomorrow, and Georgiana will need it to sleep tonight. I will go myself; it is not the first time. Can I ask you to stay with my sister until I return?”
“I shall be well on my own,” his sister said through a cough, “and Lizzy is only allowed to stay a few hours with me. Cook’s horehound mixture with milk and honey will help for the present.”
“Only if you are certain, my dear Georgiana?” Miss Bennet pressed his sister’s hand. “Then tomorrow after we take care of the garden, I will play for you, and you are not to talk unless it is to praise my singing.”
Their familiarity still surprised him at times, but there was nothing to fault in their nearer relationship. There was nothing objectionable about Miss Bennet, and Georgiana was in better spirits than she had been in nearly a year. He retrieved his hat and gloves while Miss Bennet took leave of his sister. They found themselves, therefore, walking in the same direction toward Meryton together.
“Your sister has had fewer coughing fits this week.”
“Yes, perhaps because of the time she has spent out of doors with you. It is now May, and the weather is improving enough for her to enjoy it more often.”
A marbled white butterfly crossed the lane, and Miss Bennet’s attention seemed to float away with it. She had a reflective expressionwhen he caught her eye again, and when he raised an eyebrow in question, she gave a shake of her head and a woeful smile.
“I find myself thinking of the past lately. My sisters and I caught butterflies as children; it is a fond memory. Or rather, Ichasedbutterflies, but I was afraid of crushing their wings and did not catch them. But I ran about with my sisters, noisily and just as happily.”
“My sister had a lonelier childhood, with twelve years between us. She watered rosebushes and kept a canary.”
“Georgiana is quieter and milder, reserved ... perhaps more like you?”
His memories of playing brave soldiers, throwing balls, and boyish pranks were not verbally acknowledged. “Whereas you were an open-hearted girl?”
“I once was. I was never remarkable for taciturnity, but ready civility has taken the place of childish prattling.”
“That is undoubtedly true, for although you say that all women are naturally matchmakers, you have one quality that makes you unique amongst women: when you have nothing to say, you do not speak.”
He smiled at the mixture of umbrage and amusement on her face. She kept up most of their conversation about childhood antics all the way to Meryton, and when they passed through the posts that divided the pedestrian path next to the toll gate, Darcy remembered their first meeting.
“I hope your days of swinging on the toll gate are well behind you. Sir William Lucas mentioned the toll collector once had to help you down.”
“I shall be after your sister to provide me with stories ofyouryouthful misdeeds. I should be glad you did not meet me near the gate with Mr Jones because he would have told you how I once fell from it and dislocated my collarbone.”
