As Mr Gardiner returned to his wife, Darcy perched on a boulder where he could supervise Georgiana from several yards away. This time, Miss Bennet and Georgiana were seated near the Gardiner daughter, cheering on the little girl’s efforts to build a sandcastle all by herself. In the meantime, Miss Elizabeth was closer to the water, with the two Gardiner sons. The boys were darting about, and Miss Elizabeth was of course in motion of some kind—he kept his eyes squarely on Georgiana, but he could see movement from the corners of his eyes.
Darcy was pleased at the evident delight on his sister’s face, and he was surprised and pleased to hear both her and Miss Bennet speaking as well as laughing, although their murmuring voices remained unintelligible against the background noise of the ocean and the Gardiner boys.
Not so Miss Elizabeth’s voice. She called out to the boys in such clear, bell-like tones, he heard every word. And she always had interesting things to say—imaginative things such as, “And what, pray tell, is the name of the kelp monster?” andinformative things such as, in response to a question, “This is called a common periwinkle. See how the spiral is similar to the whelk, but the shell is much smoother?”
She was singularly fascinating.
The next two days,Darcy sent his sister to the bay with her governess and several footmen; he had much to do, as he was starting a new project with his man of business.
Mr Staniels was the most discreet and capable gentleman with whom he had ever had the pleasure of dealing. Thanks to him, Darcy’s life was made much simpler in many important ways, but also in a relatively unimportant one: Darcy was able to enjoy the game of chess again. He had two chess boards set up in the library of Pemberley, two smaller boards in Darcy House, and an easily transportable board that he travelled with. Staniels somehow had room in his office for four chessboards. The two men had to exchange letters often because of various investments and projects, and so they also played multiple long-distance games by writing at the bottom of each letter one or more chess moves.
Staniels was exceedingly clever, and he won almost a third of the games against Darcy. It turned out that Darcy did not mind being defeated, and he did not mind long-running games—as long as he did not have to sit around and wait for his opponent’s move.
This new project he outlined to Staniels was…unusual. Darcy knew that what he was asking Staniels to do could be viewed negatively, but Darcy was determined to do everything with meticulous care and upright motivations. There would be no risk of besmirching the reputations of innocents.Purchases would be made, properties would be leased, servants would be hired and trained, monies would be invested in the funds, invitations would be sent—but all by Staniels. Darcy’s involvement would remain unknown.
The second day of work on the new project was finally over, and Darcy relaxed with a happy smile at the accomplishment. He heard the butler greet Georgiana, who had apparently arrived back at Seaview Cottage, and he eagerly moved to greet her—but stopped when he saw the tears in her eyes.
“What has happened?” Darcy asked, instantly concerned.
“Nothing at all,” she said. “I mean, I had a very pleasant time with the Bennets and the Gardiners. But they told me that tomorrow is their last day here at Ramsgate. They promised to be at the Bay tomorrow, but they have to leave earlier than usual because of washing and packing.”
Darcy smiled, “Would you like me to ask Mr Gardiner if one or more of the ladies or children may correspond with you?”
“Oh, Brother, would you? That is a marvellous idea!” she said.
“Who is it you wish me to ask about?” Darcy asked. He assumed she would wish only to exchange letters with the oldest Gardiner child; he expected that, in her reticence, she would prefer not to attempt to keep in touch with the Bennet ladies, who were quite a bit older than her.
“I would most like to correspond with the Bennet sisters, and I would love to send little pictures, stories, and such to Miss Susan Gardiner, even though she is so much younger than I am.”
“Very well,” Darcy said. “I will go with you, and I will exchange cards with Mr Gardiner, and I will ask if you may write to Miss Bennet, Miss Elizabeth, and Miss Gardiner.”
The next morning, Darcy stuck to their plan, and Mr Gardiner immediately informed Darcy that he was in trade;he said, "I run Gardiner Emporium, which stocks high-quality textiles from all over the world.” Darcy nodded, since he had heard this from Jameson before he had even met Mr Gardiner. He still held out his card to Mr Gardiner, whose expression changed from hesitant to surprised to pleased. The man took Darcy’s card in exchange for his own, which was printed on high quality paper.
“Please, call me Gardiner,” he said. Darcy reciprocated, and Gardiner then happily agreed to allow the correspondence. “I should tell you that the Bennet ladies will return home soon after we leave. But if you write to me at Gracechurch Street, I will give you their direction once I have obtained permission from their father.”
Darcy nodded, and they settled down with Mrs Gardiner to watch the ladies and the children building their last misshaped shell-decorated sandcastle of the holiday.
Darcy kept his eyes trained on his own sister; let it never be said that he had no self-control. He could not help but hear all the voices, but the only time he glimpsed Miss Elizabeth was when Georgiana ran up to her as they were saying goodbye. Georgiana had tears in her eyes, and she seemed to give Miss Elizabeth the longest hug. He saw them nod to one another, and he wondered if they were promising to write.
He looked away, feeling a bit emotional as well.
I must do something to ensure that Georgiana has opportunities to meet girls and young ladies her age, he determined. He was not certain how he would go about it, but it was a project worth doing.
He had been working so hard on his latest project, but the fact was that everything was now in place, and it only needed time—quite a lot of time, as it happened—to mature. That meant he was wishing for a new project to distract him from thewait. Finding friends, or at least discovering opportunities for Georgiana to find friends, seemed a very worthy endeavour.
Two
Hertfordshire, England—October 1811
Charles Bingley dipped his quill pen a bit too deeply. Such an error was quite typical of his writing skill, but he excused himself that morning because he was just so eager to sign the lease. In a matter of moments he would accomplish the first step towards the goal his father had set for him—and repeatedly insisted he accomplish—from his early childhood.
He carefully tapped the pen on the edge of the inkwell, allowing much of the extra ink the pen had taken on from that overenthusiastic dip to flow back into the vessel.
Just as he was about to sign, a wayward gust of wind blew the lease agreement papers, causing them to fan out over the desk, with the top four or five landing on the floor.
Bingley scooped up the papers before Mr Philips had even stood up from his side of the desk. He fleetingly noticed something odd about one of the pages, but Mr Philips was saying, “Give them to me,” sounding agitated. As Bingley handed him the papers, he was surprised to see that the man was frowning at him, apparently blaming him—for the wind?
Bingley only felt a momentary pique at being blamed, for he was an easygoing man. He waited until Mr Philips had inspectedand organised the papers again, then put the stack carefully back down on the desk. “Ready for your signature, sir,” the man said.
