If the apartment intimidated Elizabeth a little, the relationship with Mrs Forbes and the rest of the household did not concern her in the least. For years, she had been the one who mediated the frequent disputes between her mother and the servants.
For the moment, however, the housekeeper’s uncertainty only increased when Darcy instructed her to remove shawls and bonnets from the wardrobe in the bedchamber and scatter them about the sitting room. He opened several books and left them upon the tables, took a few roses and arranged them in a smaller vase beside the tea table, and before long, the room looked entirely different.
“Is it better now?” he asked with a smile as soon as Mrs Forbes had withdrawn.
Elizabeth nestled against him and sighed. “It is perfect.”
He then invited her into the bedchamber. Still, before she could say a word about the room, he took off from the drawers, jars and fancy small boxes, placing them upon the dressing table, along with brushes with gilded handles and perfume bottles.
“You may throw them away when you come. They have been there for ten years,” he said with a touch of melancholy. “But I brought you here for something else.”
With a slight pressure, a concealed panel in the wall opened to reveal an iron safe.
Before her astonished eyes, he began removing boxes of every size, some covered in velvet, others in silk. One after another, he opened them and spread their contents across the bed.
“What is all this?” she asked.
“My mother’s jewels. Which is to say, yours. These are what I forgot to mention when I was listing what I bring to the marriage.”
“Pemberley was quite sufficient,” she replied playfully.
“Yes, only my mother possessed an extraordinary collection of jewels. Many were her own, whilst many others had been inherited from both her family and mine.”
“And Georgiana?”
Darcy stepped closer and kissed her forehead without a word, once again struck by the woman he was about to marry and grateful for his good fortune.
“Georgiana possesses nearly as many,” he replied, attempting to imitate her lightly teasing tone.
“Put them back,” she ordered.
“Not before I give you something to mark our engagement.”
He did not permit her to choose. He searched quickly, clearly knowing exactly what he wanted, and eventually found it: a close-fitting necklace of a continuous row of emeralds.
He removed the cameo, then fastened the magnificent necklace about her neck and led her before the enormous mirror that dominated one wall.
Elizabeth smiled at him in the reflection and lightly touched the green stones, whilst he kissed her long swan-like neck.
At last, he invited her to leave, but Elizabeth began replacing the jewels and closing the boxes.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
“I am putting my jewels away,” she replied.
There was not the slightest trace of playfulness in her voice.
Slowly, almost imperceptibly, Elizabeth Bennet was becoming Elizabeth Darcy.
∞∞∞
No words were necessary for the colonel to understand what had happened. Georgiana had not revealed the secret in her short message, yet the moment he entered the library he understood. Without a word and with complete informality, he embraced Elizabeth and said, “Welcome to the family, dear cousin!” Then he embraced both Darcy and Georgiana.
“You may congratulate me. I am the one who proposed to Miss Elizabeth,” declared Georgiana with a mischievous but happy smile.
Mrs Cooper and Kitty were greeted by general laughter as Georgiana was telling her story, and the tale had to be repeated from the beginning.
“Mr and Mrs Gardiner send their apologies, but they cannot come.”
