I have misjudged reserved people in the past.“I think I shall try to get to know her a little better.” She asked Caroline to excuse her, and joined Mrs Annesley and Mrs Lanyon. Mrs Annesley appeared to be forty, and was a genteel, agreeable-looking portly woman with a double chin. She greeted Elizabeth with an open countenance; Mrs Lanyon scarcely nodded.
After comparing her impressions of Pemberley with Mrs Annesley, as it was a first visit for them both, Elizabeth addressed Mrs Lanyon. “Your brother is a lively young man. Has he been friends with Mr Darcy for long?”
“They met six years ago.”
“And you? From dinner, I gather that your friend Mr Utterson is a newer acquaintance of his, but how well do you know the Darcys? This is not your first visit to Pemberley, is it?”
“It is.”
When she did not elaborate on their friendship, the visit, or even share her opinion of the house, Elizabeth said, “And have you known Mr Darcy and Miss Darcy as long as your brother has?”
“No.”
Elizabeth turned to look at Caroline, who shrugged and rose to get a cup of tea. She tried again with Mrs Lanyon. “I am looking forward to joining Caroline and Louisa as we travel north with Jane and Charles. I understand that you and your brother and Mr Utterson also intend to be at Scarborough in September?”
“We do.” When Elizabeth shifted in her seat, Mrs Lanyon added, “Lewis and I will then go on to Haddingtonshire.”
“I thought I detected a hint of a Scottish voice, although it is more pronounced in Mr Balfour.” Elizabeth smiled.
“Yes”—Mrs Lanyon’s eyes flashed—“my father is a Lowland Scot, and I grew up in Scotland. I spend every autumn with my father and brother at Hyde House.”
Elizabeth could not understand her defensive tone, and tried a different course of conversation. “You pass most of your time in town, then?” A nod. “Were you educated there as well, as your brother was, rather than in Scotland?”
“I was.”
When she said nothing further, Elizabeth added, “I believe Caroline and Louisa were also educated in a seminary in town.” Mrs Lanyon only nodded. “I did not have the pleasure of such an education. I was not placed in a school, nor did I have a governess.”
Mrs Lanyon widened her eyes and tilted her head. “I am sure you were instructed to show yourself to advantage, the same as Miss Bingley,” she added with a tone of frustration.
Elizabeth sought for something pleasant to say. “I shall have to hope that my accomplishments pass muster amongst such fineexamples as Miss Darcy, and Caroline and Louisa. I have not heard the former, but she is often praised in my hearing. Do you play or sing?”
“I play.”
When it was certain Mrs Lanyon would say nothing further, Mrs Annesley praised Miss Darcy, who they learnt played and sang all day long, and Elizabeth and Mrs Lanyon said everything that was appropriate.Mrs Lanyon is cold and has nothing to say beyond the most commonplace inquiry or remark.
Elizabeth parted from them, certain that Mrs Lanyon would not miss her, and returned to Jane and Caroline.
“Jane, when you are next in town,” Caroline said, “I think a Parisian mob cap of fine lace with a silver-grey ribbon would be more the thing.”
“I am happy with my cap. I think it rather similar to your turban, and yours is handsome,” Jane said.
Elizabeth was duly impressed with the way her sister managed Caroline, for the latter smiled smugly and patted Jane’s hand. Jane had the patience and sweetness of temper to get on with anyone if she chose to. Caroline then asked Elizabeth in a low voice, “How did you find Mrs Lanyon? Mrs Annesley is more genteel, is she not?”
Elizabeth had to agree. “For a woman of her age and situation, she has astonishingly little to say for herself.”
Caroline took a sip from her teacup and looked at Mrs Lanyon, who was now standing on the other side of the room with Miss Darcy and asking about the dormouse mentioned at dinner. “She is familiar with dear Georgiana for someone so little acquainted with the Darcys.” Jane and Elizabeth exchanged a look.Caroline would not dare call Miss Darcy ‘Georgiana’ in her own hearing.Caroline shook her head. “She tries too hard; it is unseemly. Some might consider it a fair match, but I think it would be offensive for her to marry a second time.”
“Mrs Lanyon?” Jane asked. “Why?”
It was the wordsfair matchthatbrought an unsettled feeling to Elizabeth’s stomach that she could not rightfully explain.
“Her first marriage was one of affection, they say. I see no reason for her to seek a second with Mr Darcy. It is not as though she is innarrow circumstances, and there are younger women who would have him, ones whose fortune did not come from India.”
Jane looked to Elizabeth, although whether it was from the idea of an alliance between Darcy and Mrs Lanyon, or Caroline’s forgetting where her own fortune came from, she could not say. Jane asked, “What would Mr Balfour say to the match?”
“Mr Balfour would not mind it—what man would not want his sister to marry his friend?—but what right has a widow to marry another eligible young man?”
“Has, has Mr Darcy distinguished her, that... that you have seen?” Elizabeth asked, looking at Mrs Lanyon and better understanding Caroline’s dislike of the stern widow.
