Mrs. Jennings was too poor to keep a carriage, and as Miss Bennet spoke this bald truth aloud, she held my eyes with a look that clearly said,Take that, you rich and bumptious lordling!
Then and there, I knew I had met my master. I spoke more humbly thereafter, expressing a wish to make her known to my sister. To my surprise, she relented and agreed to a visit.
I did not know how to feel on the carriage ride back to Pemberley. My pulse still bounded noticeably, whether from trepidation or joy or the queasy feeling of having met one’s fate. In any case, I forgot to stop at the vicarage, and upon returning from my errand without having accomplished it, I sent a note with a footman instead.
My people, who are experts in the art of service, did not so much as widen their eyes at my preoccupation. Georgiana, however, noticed I was not myself.
“William, are you well?” she asked me in the parlor before the dinner gong sounded.
As she was always hesitant, afraid to annoy me, and overly conscious of herself, this softly spoken question grated on me to an abnormal degree.
Unfortunately, I was far too old to be Georgiana’s sibling in the true sense of the word. She came unexpectedly and late to my parents, and this rare occurrence of birthing a live child after the age of five-and-thirty contributed to the decline in my mother’s health that ultimately took her life.
This tragedy, of which we never spoke for its being utterly pointless in dredging up, had colored our existence. I could not look at my sister without seeing my mother, and I did not know how to speak to her without sounding just like our father. Truthfully, I was more her guardian than her brother, and this had served as an impediment to the establishment of any sort of real affection. She held me in awe, and I held her in trust like an expensive vase, preserving her for the purpose of marrying her to someone who would hopefully love her.
“Well enough. And you?”
“I am…Button will have her litter of kittens any day now.”
“Indeed? And what are your plans for another eight cats at Pemberley?”
I had meant for my question to be light and playful, yet this attempt was received as an expression of my general disapproval of cats. I have always preferred dogs.
“I will find homes for them,” Georgiana said earnestly.
“I did not mean to reproach you,” I replied, but the conversation was already suffocating for lack of air. Hopeless! I searched the face of her companion, Mrs. Annesley, for clues as to how to retrench.
“Perhaps Mrs. Wilkes will take a kitten?”
Ah. The vicar’s wife. Well done, Mrs. Annesley.
“I believe she is a kindhearted lady. When she and Mr. Wilkes come to dinner,” I said, “we can discover whether they would like to take one. But then again, we have half a dozen pups in the loose box to inflict upon our unsuspecting neighbors.” I smiled broadly, and Georgiana smiled shyly in response.
As arduous as nursing this conversation along had been, I had more ground to cover with my sister, and as I escorted her to the table, I said, “I would like to introduce you to an acquaintance of mine tomorrow if you will accompany me.”
Her shoulders slumped ever so slightly. “Of course. I have no plans,” she said.
“We shall meet Mrs. Jennings in Lambton. Her relation, Miss Elizabeth Bennet, known to me from Hertfordshire, is visiting. I happened to meet her unexpectedly yesterday and accepted an invitation to call.”
“Oh? I-I do not know Mrs. Jennings.”
“She is a very old lady, from what I understand, and no longer goes out or to church. I believe she will be grateful to have company.”
Mrs. Annesley, who had made arrangements for two weeks’ leave, then offered to alter her plans when she heard my sister might have need of her.
But after one glance at me for courage, Georgiana declined. “Do go, ma’am. My brother says Mrs. Jennings is very old, and in general, I find the company of older ladies more comfortable than younger ones.”
I smiled warmly to signal my approval of her effort to step beyond the shelter of her companion and said with a wink, “I, too, find older ladies more comfortable than younger ones.”
To my astonishment, my sister grinned at me, and for the first time in a great, long while, we enjoyed a joke as brother and sister.
Chapter Nineteen
There are innumerable advantages to being the master of Pemberley. There is also one distinct disadvantage: I have no privacy whatsoever.
I awoke with an extraordinary degree of anticipation. My mood could not be contained, and by visceral means alone, the whole house—from the butler to the scullery maid—became aware of my excitement. Unfortunately, this was interpreted as moment for urgency. My valet dressed me with meticulous alacrity, and my sister gulped down her breakfast and sat ready to leave nearly an hour early. The stable master hitched my most powerful team, restive from the lazy days of winter, and we veritably dashed off to Lambton to visit Mrs. Jennings.
A prompt, even a premature arrival, might be assumed as a lover-like attention by some, and in almost all cases, a lady expecting to receive a gentleman caller could be found sitting in an attitude of ready anticipation for at least three-quarters of an hour before the usual time for morning visits.
