“Has she been restored to her family’s good graces?”
“I suppose so. She signed her last letter with her title, Lady Louise. Which reminds me—” Mr Bennet hailed one of the trunks that were being carried up the stairs and rummaged through its contents. He returned with a stack of letters. “I believe this is yours.”
Elizabeth stared at the envelopes and counted five unopened missives.
“Do you not want your grandmother’s correspondence?”
Elizabeth snatched the pile from her father’s hands, hastened up the stairs to her sitting room for privacy, and ripped off the seal.
After a longish rant about the atrocities her grandmother had encountered at sea, Elizabeth skimmed through a pleasant visit to a friend’s house in Cuxhaven to her arrival at Ritterhof Castle. There were no wishes of felicity upon her nuptials. It would be just like her father not to mention anything of worth in his letters to his mother.
With a heart threatening to beat through her chest, she read about the reunion between brother and sister.
Dear Herman was not as ill as his letter implied but rather suffered from melancholy after losing his second wife. His first wife died childless some thirty years ago, and he had quite given up on marriage when he met Lady Wilhelmine and sired a son, his only child, who is four years your senior and very fond of parties and balls. He has been roaming the continent, leaving his father too much to his own desolation. I was at first very cross with the frivolous young man, but when I discovered that he was occupied on official diplomatic business, I could not quite fault him. He is the statesman of Rendsburg.
Either way, I cannot complain because it has brought me and my brother together again, even though five decades have passed. It is such a shame we allowed our father to drive a wedge between us. I have since discovered that Herman never agreed with our father’s cruel rejection of me, but he dared not gainsay him either. After he inherited Reimarus, as a compensation of sorts he recompensed my fortune in a gift to be willed to me upon his death. The silly fool did not even imagine that I would welcome his outstretched hand, and the letter I received had been written under the influence of a bottle of cognac. Herman is not used to over-imbibing and must have become quite sentimental. He did not even remember writing the letter, so my arrival came as a great surprise, though not an unwelcome one. He has since given me full control of my fortune, which has grown significantly over the years. Well, enough said about the vulgarity of wealth.
I am happy to relate that we are quite the pair. Spending our days sharing everything we can remember of the last fifty years. I predict we shall be thus occupied until the Lord reclaims us because I shall never set a foot on the deck of a ship ever again.
Here began another rant about the perils of the sea that Elizabeth needed not to read at the current moment. It was much more important to find her husband to impart the good news. She skipped down the stairs and encountered Tommy at the foot.
“Has Mr Darcy returned?”
“No, but Mr Augustus Darcy and Miss Clarissa Darcy have come to visit Miss Bennet and Miss Catherine, ma’am.”
“Oh,” was her ridiculous reply.
“Miss Bennet is practising with Miss Darcy in the music room. Miss Catherine and Miss Lydia are listening. Shall I escort the Darcys there?”
“Yes, and I shall join them.”
It was possible that the brother and sister had called and requested her sisters’ company for a nefarious purpose, and if so, Elizabeth would discover what.
The tableau in the music room was not quite what she had expected. Mary lit up with delight upon espying Miss Clarissa Darcy. The girls greeted each other warmly, immediately opened Fordyce’s Sermons, and bent their heads together over the book. It was heart-warming to watch Mary, who had never had a close confidante in Meryton, developing a strong friendship with another lady. Even though the lady in question had such a father. If she was to be honest, Charlotte had a ridiculous father, and Elizabeth had never held that against her friend. She would not do so in this instance either.
Mr Augustus Darcy bowed particularly low over Kitty’s hand and took his leave of the ladies. He had an appointment at court but would return to collect his sister once his business had concluded.
Kitty joined the girls, trying to look over Mary’s shoulder. It would be infinitely better if she were to emulate Mary rather than their youngest sister. Lydia was currently occupied with interrogating poor Georgiana, who looked more and more uncomfortable by the minute.
A pang of guilt touched her heart. With the ball, the rumours, and her newly wedded state, time to familiarise herself with Georgiana had not materialised. It was long-due and Georgiana was in dire need of rescuing.
“Miss Darcy?”
Two heads turned in her direction.
“I should have said Miss Georgiana Darcy,” Elizabeth corrected herself, chuckling.
Georgiana raised her eyes rather slowly from the floor. In Elizabeth’s defence, the girl was not easy to befriend. She was so shy and timid that Elizabeth felt like a runaway carriage when addressing her with the simplest question. Her folly at Ramsgate must still be weighing heavily upon her conscience, but there was not much she could do about that until the girl confided in her.
“I have household matters I need to discuss with you. If it is not an inopportune moment, I would be delighted if you would follow me to my sitting room.”
The girl rose with alacrity, which brought Elizabeth a strange sort of pleasure. At least her company was preferable to Lydia’s.
The ladies adjourned to Elizabeth’s private sitting room. Georgiana was wringing her hands as if she was bracing herself for a scolding. This would not do, but what could she offer a girl who regarded her as an ogre?
Elizabeth rose and rummaged through her bureau, finally finding the sheet she was looking for.
“This is a family heirloom.”
