This will be an interesting new dynamic to our society, she thought.I hope they liked me as much as I like them.
∞∞∞
The carriage door had scarcely closed upon Longbourn before Darcy turned from the window.
“Well?” he asked, attempting lightness and failing to disguise his interest. “You have met her. What do you think?”
Georgiana did not hesitate.
“She is very kind,” she said at once. “And she did not treat me as though I were foolish for not wishing to play.”
Darcy’s expression softened. “You are not foolish.”
“I know,” Georgiana replied seriously. “But some might think so.”
Lady Anne’s gaze rested thoughtfully upon her stepson. “She seemed genuine,” she said. “There was nothing artificial in her manner. That is rarer than one might suppose.”
Darcy inclined his head. That word—genuine—pleased him more than praise of beauty would have done.
Georgiana folded her hands in her lap, studying him with open curiosity.
“Brother,” she said, with disarming simplicity, “are you going to marry her?”
“Georgiana,” Lady Anne interjected immediately, “such questions are not appropriate for a girl not yet out to ask her gentleman, even if he is her brother.”
“I am sorry,” Georgiana whispered, shrinking back.
Darcy lifted a hand slightly. “If there is one lesson I have lately acquired,” he said, “it is that a measure of forwardness is not always a vice—particularly when the answer will influence your life so directly.”
Georgiana’s eyes widened. “Then?”
He held her gaze steadily. “I wish to,” he said. The words were quiet, but firm.
Georgiana’s face brightened instantly.
Lady Anne, however, regarded him more closely. “And yet,” she prompted.
Darcy exhaled softly. “There are matters to consider. Derbyshire is not Hertfordshire. To remove so far from her family would be no small change.”
“Distance is not always a misfortune,” Lady Anne observed mildly.
Darcy allowed himself the faintest, knowing breath. Images of Lydia’s exuberance and Mr. Bennet’s convenient retreat from household governance passed unbidden through his mind.
“No,” he agreed, with more meaning than the single word required. “It is not.”
Georgiana, however, looked troubled. “Would she be unhappy? I imagine she would miss her family very much.”
“I do not think she would be unhappy,” he answered at once. “But I must be certain.”
Lady Anne’s gaze sharpened faintly. “Certain of what?”
Darcy met her eyes. “That she understands what she undertakes.”
He did not elaborate further, yet both women knew the weight beneath the words.
“A change of county,” Lady Anne said quietly, “is not the only alteration.”
“No.”
