She would insist that the plan be carried out exactly as she devised, and she would be there to see the looks on their faces just before they died as they discovered just how far superior she was to them. For the first time in many years, the former Lady Catherine de Bourgh laughed, although to anyone hearing her it sounded far more like a cackle.
George Wickham was sitting in his windowless room thinking about his plan to kidnap Georgiana Darcy. It hit him that if the old bat had them all killed, which he suspected was her plan, there would be no one to ransom Georgiana back to.
That was when he realized the full scope of all that implied. She would be heir to all of the Darcy estates! He would steal her away to Gretna Green and force her to marry him, and then it wouldALLbe his. It would be his ultimate revenge—to rule Pemberley and live like his mother had always told him was his due. Like his patroness, Wickham conveniently ignored or forgot that he was a wanted murderer who would hang as soon as he was arrested. He did not know it, but he had been found guilty in abstention and had the sentence of death waiting for him.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
The Bennets had been invited to Snowhaven for the celebration on the twentieth of June but had demurred. They decided that they would feel out of place celebrating the day that Lizzy was found by the Fitzwilliams. They were beyond grateful that she was, but the day represented sadness for them as much as it was a happy day for the Fitzwilliams.
William and John, who had not been able to visit the area because of their attendance at their respective schools, had been invited and accepted and arrived at the end of May. Letters were carried between Hertfordshire and Derbyshire almost weekly, as correspondence was now more inclusive than just moves for chess. Even though it was a rare time indeed for his daughter to lose to him, Bennet and Lizzy kept playing their games by courier.
The Gardiners would have been with them except that Maddie had presented her husband with an heir whom they named Edward Junior on the second day of May. He would, however, be called Eddie. It was hard for Bennet to believe, but his James would be off to Eton in August. That would only leave one son at home for just another year when Tom would follow his brother to school.
Both boys had learnt from tutors and masters as their older brothers had before them and were well prepared for school, hence Bennet’s decision to start them at thirteen and not fourteen, like many others. At almost twelve, Kitty was turning into a very accomplished young lady. She had a particularly good soprano voice and played the pianoforte very well, but her passion was drawing and painting. She had a natural talent for art that had been vastly enhanced by the art master Bennet had engaged. Miss Jones, the long-time governess for the Bennets, had taught Kitty well, and she was on her way to being prepared for her to come out.
Bennet told himself that it was at least six years distant. The Bennets would join the rest of the family from the north in Town for the little season. It would be the first time that they would all be back in town since the true connection between themselves and Lady Elizabeth Fitzwilliam had been revealed, so there was an expectation of much scrutiny by the Ton.
The last part was that which Bennet dreaded, but he knew that he would need to grin and bear it.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
Charles Bingley and the Hursts had been in half-mourning since the six-month mark had passed. One of the first social calls that Charles Bingley made after he switched to half-mourning was to the Longs at Longmeadow. They shared a common border and Bingley needed to talk to his neighbour about broken fencing between their properties. When he was shown into the drawing room, he almost stopped short, but his innate good manners caught him before he made a spectacle of himself.
Mandy Long was no longer a little girl. She had blossomed into a very pretty young lady. With light brown hair and light green eyes, she was nothing like the blond-haired, blue-eyed, willowy ladies that had attracted Bingley before. She had a fuller figure, but everything was in proportion. Her younger sister Cara was transforming into a pretty girl as well. If memory served, Mandy would be sixteen in another month and be out in local society, just in time for the next assembly.
“Welcome, Mr, Bingley,” his hostess said, snapping his thoughts from her older daughter.“Would you like some tea before you and my husband closet yourselves in the study?”
“Uhm…er…yes please, Mrs Long,” Bingley recovered. It had been a while since he had felt tongue-tied. The mistress rang for tea and her daughters helped her serve it. Bingley almost dropped his cup and saucer when Mandy delivered it to him and their ungloved hands grazed one another. Charles Bingley knew that he had never reacted to any female in this way before, not even when he imagined himself in love with the former Jane Bennet, now Duchess of Bedford.
Not long after tea, the two men excused themselves. Once the study door was closed, Long turned to Bingley and simply said:“Not until she is seventeen!” They then proceeded with their business as if not a word had been said on the subject of his daughter.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
One day after the two young men arrived at Snowhaven from school, they were sitting in one of the parlours with their sisters.“Do you like being a duchess, Jane?” John asked.
“So far it is not much different from just being Perry’s wife,” Jane replied.“When we all are in Town for the little season, I dare say then I will see a difference.”
“You are a cousin to the Queen and her family now,” William pointed out.
“True, but in a way, so are all of you as you are my brothers and sisters,” Jane reminded him.
“I would be happy to be like Aunt Anne,” Elizabeth offered.
“Do you mean married to a Darcy?” Jane teased.
“Jane, what…no…that is not what I mean,” Elizabeth spluttered.
“So, you would not like to be my sister, Lizzy?” Georgiana teased as William and John grinned, the Bennet siblings watching their younger sister squirm.
“I was not sayinganyof that!” Came the indignant reply.“What I meant is I would not mind marrying an untitled man like Aunt Anne did, to be out of the scrutiny of the Ton while being the mistress of an estate without all the pressure.” Elizabeth tried to extricate herself from the Gordian knot that she was busy tying.
“You mean like Pemberley?” William asked smoothly.
“Yes exactly, William!” Elizabeth did something she had not done for an exceedingly long time, she stamped her foot in frustration as it seemed every time she tried, rather than untying the knot, in her tongue, it seemed to get tighter.
“That will be enough teasing, Lizzy, from all of us,” Jane told the group seriously.
“Yes, your Grace,” chorused the three co-teasers while Elizabeth gave them a look of disbelief. She knew how she felt about Will, but she still had no clue of his feelings for her. That was the one puzzle that she truly needed to solve.
