Page 56

Book 2 Chapter 10

“Mr. Darcy, allow me to introduce my aunt, Mrs. Madeline Gardiner. Aunt, this is Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy of Pemberley in Derbyshire.”

Darcy was almost certain that Miss Bennet did not know either his first name or the name of the estate. But his thoughts were displaced by the certainty that he had met Mrs. Gardiner before, although he could not make the connection.

“To answer your unasked question, I am the reason Elizabeth knows your full name and that of your estate. I was born and brought up in Lambton. I was Madeline Barrie as was. My parents have a shop in the village.”

“That is it. It is your younger self that I am trying to picture.”

Darcy flushed.

“Not that I meant to imply you are old.”

“I understand sir. I am three years your senior and have not seen you since your father died. You have my condolences.”

He nodded in appreciation.

“So I have no secrets? All the misadventures of my youth have been exposed?”

Tinkling laughter.

“No, most are safe. You know what village life is like, always interested in what is happening at the big house. The only story I could recall, and which I told Elizabeth, involved you and your two cousins and the escaping frogs.”

Darcy laughed while mock holding his head in his hands.

“My cousin Richard and I were eight and seven and my older cousin Andrew must have been ten. We were led astray with his devious suggestions. We all caught the frogs but only Richard and I had them in our rooms. Andrew laughed for years about that. It made it all the way to Lambton, did it?”

“One of the maids on her day off described, in genuinely hilarious detail, trying to catch them all. You, your father, both cousins and three quarters of the household staff, everyone was involved. On her next day off she told us of the one frog that was the slipperiest of them all, it took 10 days to finally get him back out to the pond.”

“More than 20 years ago but I can still feel the floors under my knees as we crawled along chasing the hopping little things. It had seemed such a good idea at the time.”

“The best stories always do. Tea will be here shortly but if you will excuse me I need to check on the children. Marsha will sit at the door to satisfy propriety. I will see you before you go Mr. Darcy.”

“It is a small world sometimes is it not Miss Bennet? My aunt’s parson is marrying your sister and your own aunt knew me when I was younger.”

“It was a wonderful story, she has become a good storyteller from reading to her children. It was also fascinating for me, as one of five sisters, to hear what boys got up to. I do recall many boys damp round their cuffs and hems from getting too close to the edge of the pond. I never realised they were off capturing poor frogs.”

Madeline Gardiner did not harbour unrealistic expectations, but Darcy was in her parlour and she was going to give her niece every opportunity to spend time with him. Tea took longer to arrive than expected which meant the visit stretched longer than normal as they tried not to burn their tongues on the hot tea.

“You will have seen my reaction on Friday. When I told you the address here, I did not expect you to ask to call. I find myself pleased that you have chosen to, but we need to be understand one another, and each other’s position. Do you agree?”

“Completely Miss Bennet.”

“Before I get into some embarrassing details, tell me why you are here. I am the daughter of a gentleman.”

A very elegant shorthand to express her rejection of any potential offer to be Darcy’s mistress.

“I have spent the last four days thinking about exactly that question. But it is not just not just these few days, it ties back to my earlier behaviour. I had made a complete fool of myself at Michaelmas, without any blame on anyone else. I was a rude boor who in different circumstances would have been expected to stand and defend his honour. I made my apologies the next day to Miss Goulding and to the whole family but then scuttled back to London to lick my wounds.

“A period of introspection made me realise that I had been a complete, well let us say horse’s backend. As the winter solstice approached I resolved to return to Meryton and apologise again at the scene of the initial offence. I stayed for the whole dance, and danced all eight, the first with Miss Goulding. It was that night that I was introduced to Miss Bennet, your sister Mary, who also consented to dance with me.

“But I am never going to be close with anyone in the neighbourhood, my stupidity and rudeness will always hang over me. You saw that at the breakfast, there were not many who were prepared to remain in my company. You were. Now I know that we will talk of some of these missing details presently. Being kind to me at a wedding breakfast is one thing. Asking to call upon you is something else. As to the latter, you made me relaxed. You gave me a sense of happiness and you made me laugh.”

Darcy paused and took a sip of tea.

“That is sufficiently rare as to be notable. I am here to see if there is something more.”

Elizabeth nodded, albeit mechanically, her mind processing all that he had said, and had not said.