“Well. I am well.” Jane reassured her, eyes shining. “I have just come from seeing Georgiana. This afternoon her gown will be returned from the dressmakers, with the adjustments we ordered. She is so excited!”
“I know. I promised to help her try it on the moment it arrives.Jane.”Elizabeth shoved the word into the sentence like a brick, stopping their chit-chat in its tracks. “Where were youbeforeyou saw Georgiana? Was it the same place where you hid last night? I did not see you at all after you left with Mr. Bingley.”
Jane managed to keep her serene smile, but she blushed cherry-red and looked quickly down at her shoes. Then she peeked up through her eyelashes, smiling in a way that Elizabeth had never seen before, but understood at once.
“Oh.” she breathed and shook her head. “Jane, tell me where you were.”
“I was…” Jane could not finish the sentence, “We were…”
“Together?”
A nod.
“All night?”
Another nod, a slight flicker in the eyes. Elizabeth finished the confession for her, in utter disbelief:
“In his room?”
“It is not what you think, Lizzie.” Jane defended herself at once with words that had clearly been rehearsed. “We are engaged. Or, rather, weshallbe engaged, but you must help us to speak to papa.”
“You know I will help you!” Elizabeth cried, “How can you doubt it? But Jane, you must not… oh dearest, what have you done? The shame… the scandal it will bring down on our heads…”
“Yes, I know. It is a scandal which mother will do anything in her power to conceal. Including, I think, standing up to Mr. Collins.”
Elizabeth was so stunned by this quiet, logical response that she had to sit down. The low brick divide between the roses and the honeysuckle was not enough to make her comfortable, but it did at least give her a chance to collect herself. The air smelled ofperfume and of fresh air, but she felt as if it was crackling around her. There was a storm coming, she thought… but the sky was clear.
“Please tell me that is not why you did it.” Lizzie begged weakly.
Jane sat beside her, taking her hand as she had ever since they were little girls. “No, it was not that. I confess that the thought made it easier for me to… um… to give myself permission. I gave myself to him out of love, Lizzie. It was wonderful. Why didn’t you tell me, darling? I had no idea that it was possible to be so happy.”
Elizabeth’s throat closed up. With tears in her eyes, she kissed her sister’s cheek. “I am glad for you both, dearest. Truly, truly glad. I will help you however I can, but I must make one request.”
“That I cannot tell our sisters about it?” Jane smiled crookedly, “Of course I shall not, my love. I have behaved sinfully and shamefully, and I would never forgive myself if our sweet girls were led astray.”
“You cannot tell Darcy, either.” Elizabeth warned, “You must ensure that Bingley does not breathe a word of this to him. He cannot even hint at it.”
“Yes, I shall. I promise.” Jane’s eyes filled with anxious curiosity, “We did not mean any disrespect to him, Lizzie, I promise. It just happened, and then… I know it can link him to the scandal, but we did not think it would go so far, and... do you think it will make him angry, Lizzie?”
“I fear it might.” Elizabeth drew a deep breath, “It is because of Georgiana.”
“Georgiana?” Jane’s eyes widened, “Do you mean that she… that her accident was…”
“I do not know for sure. I have gathered… fragments, Jane. Pieces here and there, from Mrs. Reynolds and from things which Darcy and Bingley have let slip. And there was a picture in the gallery of a man who was involved. I do not know everything, but… this is some of what happened.”
Georgiana had never felt so free as she did that summer in Ramsgate. She had taken trips before, of course, but those were in the company of her serious brother or her domineering aunt. Spending time with her cousin Anne was almost as intolerable as watching paint dry - something which, in their mornings doing watercolours together, Georgiana had ample time to discover.
Sometimes it was just her and Fitzwilliam. Georgiana preferred that, although she would never admit as much to Darcy. Her brother adored her, but Fitzwilliam humoured and teased her.
Sometimes when it was just the two of them, Georgiana imagined herself as a lady of age who could choose her own amusements with her own companions. True, she would probably still choose to be with her brother… but it would be on her terms. Georgiana Darcy yearned for a life where she was not always under a superior eye.
Her governess, Miss Beale, had left her a few months ago to marry a schoolmaster in Norwich. Georgiana wrote to her daily. She did not care at all for her aloof replacement - that is, until they travelled together to Ramsgate. There, Miss Darcy discovered that Mrs. Younge was an ally indeed. She was willingly blind to unladylike behaviour and permitted things which would have made Miss Beale’s face turn blue.
One evening, for example, Georgiana expressed her impossible desire to paddle barefoot in the sea, as the local children did. Before the hour was out, on a moonlit and secluded beach, the illustrious Miss Darcy felt coarse sand beneath her naked soles. When the icy waves lapped over her toes the girl squealed with childlike delight and then clapped her hand over her mouth.
But Mrs. Younge did not mind unladylike noises any more than she cared about decorum. She only wanted to make Georgiana happy.
Had she been more worldly, Georgiana would have realised that a woman who allowed one person liberties would doubtless allow any other person the same. Particularly a person whom Mrs. Younge was as fond of as George Wickham.
