“Yes, thank you. I suspect we will get on well enough with one another.” His sister gave him a strange look and then laughed at his stupidity.What man would speak that way about his intended bride?He would have to act more like an avowed lover in front of everyone other than Miss Bennet.
“Oh, she is someone with whom you could converse with pleasure. I know you are often lonely here.”
“I do not much like this lonely kind of life, but I would sacrifice more for your health and happiness.”So much so that I am marrying adying woman I do not love for your comfort.“Miss Bennet is an excellent woman.”
“Lizzy has been a dear friend to me. Since you are marrying her, you should know ... I confessed my seduction by Mr Wickham.” She gripped his hand. “I know I promised never to speak of it. But Ihadto talk of it with someone. I would have no secrets between the two people I love most, and you should know that I told her of my ... my child I lost.”
That Georgiana had so wanted that innocent child, whilst he had deplored its existence, sliced Darcy’s heart. “I know; she told me when we agreed—when I asked her to marry me, and I have her assurances not only of her secrecy but of her vow to love you the same as she did before she knew the truth.”
“And have you told Lizzy. . .”
“Has he told me about what?” The Darcys turned to see Miss Bennet at the parlour door. “Forgive me, but no one answered my knock, and I could see you plainly through the window. I saw your cook in the kitchen garden, and your man is near the stable, but where is your maid?”
These questions could not be answered as Georgiana went to her future sister and told her all of her delight at their nearer connexion. Miss Bennet embraced Georgiana and heartily expressed her own joy in being able to spend every moment with her. In that moment, Darcy was struck. Miss Bennet loved Georgiana with an absence of condemnation. Everyone else in his connexion, he felt certain, would have censured and slighted Georgiana, would have thought her lacking all moral sense, and insisted she be removed from society without a single friend or comfort. Yet, he would never have abandoned his little sister all alone in that condition.
“Your silence on the subject of the Collinses’ ball makes me suppose your curiosity too great for words,” Miss Bennet said, pulling him from his reverie before turning to Georgiana. “I have brought him an invitation, though I have not been so considerate as to get him a partner.” She now gave him a playful smile. “You may stand behind me and be talked of and abused for not dancing until I tease you into it.”
“My brother is an excellent dancer, although he does not care for the exercise unless he is intimately acquainted with his partner.” Georgiana gave him a knowing smile. “He would likely prefer to dance with you over any other lady.”
He did not know whether to be gallant and agree, or be honest and refute this. He was saved from any reply because Miss Bennet quickly said, “No, I will not dance, but I will introduce Mr Darcy to any young lady in the room.”
He only half listened to the ladies talk. Miss Bennet and Georgiana had spent hours in the garden this April and May, but his sister’s skin was pale compared to her friend’s. Miss Bennet appeared that she would be tan before she died, but Georgiana had a striking pallor he had not noticed until compared to Miss Bennet.
“Fitzwilliam? Lizzy asked about the banns, did you not hear?”
“What? No, I did not hear.”The banns? Good God, the whole parish would know my name and my business.“I will get a common licence.” There was no bishop or archdeacon in Hertfordshire, so he would have to risk going to town.
The same thought must have occurred to Miss Bennet. “You would see the Bishop of London? And at what expense? The cost of travel, the ten shillings for the tax stamp, not to mention the cost of the licence itself!”
His eyes hurt from not rolling them. “You forget also the bond to support my allegation that there are no impediments to our marriage, so I hope you are, indeed, free to marry.” His sister was not watching him, so he did not smile. “As for the cost, I shall manage as best I can.”
“Mr Darcy, waiting three Sundays?—”
“Brings us to June. Rather close to summer, is it not?” He gave her a significant look, and he saw she understood him. She would be dead at the end of the summer; she did not have three weeks to wait.
“Very well, but do not think you will avoid the ball. It is set for Wednesday the twentieth. We could marry the day before it.”
“I am pleased you will marry sooner, but is it wise to be in London?” Georgiana glanced between them, biting her lip. “You are thought to be in Madeira, and although it is unlikely given that townwill be so thin ... depending on where you go, you might be recognised.”
Elizabeth laughed. “I think Mr Darcy can move about within miles of St Paul’s and none shall know him!”
Darcy thought of the booksellers in Paternoster Row on the north side of the churchyard who knew him by sight. “I shall not go anywhere I am likely to be noticed. It will be a quick errand, and I may as well see Colonel Fitzwilliam while I am near to him.”
“Would you bring him back with you? I would like to see him, and he could stand up with you at your wedding.”
“I will leave that for him to decide.” Miss Bennet asked the question, and Georgiana explained that her cousin and other guardian knew the truth and facilitated their ruse of being in Madeira.
“Fitzwilliam, you will not be gone long, I hope. The prospect of your detention in town fills me with anxiety.”
Miss Bennet moved to sit nearer to Georgiana before Darcy could blink. “My dear, you are not about to die while your brother goes to town for a few days! He shall be there and back before you can miss him.”
She then went to the hall and opened the front door. Darcy had heard the house-bell, but it would not occur to either him or his sister to answer their own door. Mr Lynn entered to assume Mr Jones’s attendance on the invalid. Georgiana entreated Miss Bennet to stay, but she had letters to write and promised to return tomorrow.
“When Mr Lynn is finished, you and your brother will have a great deal of unreserved discourse with one another, I daresay, upon the subject of our marriage, as well as upon many other family matters. Abuse everybody but me!” She smiled, curtsied, and was gone.
“She is a kind and gentle friend. She has a willingness to love people.” Georgiana prattled happily while Mr Lynn asked her the same questions that Mr Jones had asked. “How shall I bear so much happiness? My two favourite people united!”
“Your sister appears in better health than Mr Jones led me to believe. He supposed her to be in the last stage of a consumption, but other than appearing to have lost weight, I have no concerns. Her spirits are excellent. Perhaps the wasting has abated for the present.Times of remission are common with the consumptive. Plenty of fresh air, indoors and out, exercise, but not to the point of fatigue, I hope, ma’am?”
