“I pity Miss Johnson,” she whispered. “They are so cloying.” And then, she added, “When might we pay a call at Longbourn?”
“That depends on whether you wish to go with an entourage or escape without detection.”
“You know my answer.”
Relishing my alteration in status from that of guardian to my sister’s ally in mischief, I whispered, “Should we go riding in the morning, then? Our excuse should be we hope to meet our cousin on the road from London.”
CHAPTER 34
The morning was deliciously chilly, but with no rain on the horizon, and without seeking anyone’s permission, Georgiana and I excused ourselves after breakfast and trotted down a lane so familiar to me that I felt as if I had fallen into another dream.
I did not precisely know what I expected upon our arrival except that my sister and her friend would be just as affectionate upon meeting again as they had been upon parting weeks ago.
What I didnotexpect was that directly after their warm embrace, Elizabeth exclaimed, “But how lucky we are, for not five minutes ago, you will never guess who rode up our drive and paid us such a compliment in stopping here first.” As she spoke, Fitzwilliam emerged from the house to greet us alongside the rest of the Bennet family.
What ensued was a dizzy mixture of both reunion and welcome in which my sister and cousin featured as objects of great delight, while I, being the least demonstrative and admittedly the least favoured, was consigned to the shadows. While some men might have been offended, I was grateful to be relegated to the role of spectator in what was shaping up to be a typical circus at Longbourn.
Once inside, still in the midst of this happy pandemonium, Elizabeth threw me a rueful look suggesting she was pretending to pity me, and she then came near enough to tease me, remarking that if I got any quieter, I might be entirely forgotten.
We were speaking privately while her sisters had gathered around Georgiana and Fitzwilliam as do birds around a fountain, and I said, “Butyouhave not forgotten I am here.”
“How could I ignore you when you are in that brooding pose,” she said with a toss of her curls, “for when you cast your critical eye around a room as you do, well, I confess that such a look only ever sparks mischief in me.”
“I begin to wonder what circumstances donotspark you to mischief,” I said appreciatively, but unfortunately, we had been so taken with our conversation, we drew Mrs Bennet’s notice.
“Lizzy,” she cried of a sudden, “have you seen Miss Darcy’s sash?” And then, more petulantly, “Of what are you speaking so seriously to Mr Darcy? You may not have the conversation all to yourself, miss. What is he saying?”
Before I could do so, Fitzwilliam came to Elizabeth’s rescue. “I suspect my cousin and Miss Elizabeth are debating some matter of literature, and he is privately conceding the point.”
“Oh fie, Lizzy! Always showing your book smarts,” her mother said, turning a flattering smile upon the colonel. “She will never attach a man by engaging him in a game of wits now, will she, sir? You must tell her so.”
“My dear ma’am,” he said, softening what he was about to say with a wink, “I have known many a man to fall in love with an intelligent woman.”
“Well, I suppose so, but just so you know, my Jane?—”
“Mary, might you take tea to Papa?” Miss Bennet suddenly said, effectively cutting off the flow of her mother’s assertions of the cleverness of her eldest child. “Tell him we have guests if he would finish his chapter and—Oh, there you are Papa.”
Mr Bennet had indeed emerged from his hiding place, greeted us, and took his tea, while Elizabeth went to her sister’s aid by drawing Georgiana away from her mother and artfully turning the conversation to a rumour that Bingley would give a ball. This topic was irresistible to most of the occupants of the room, and as a bonus, it provided my cousin with a convenient means to claim the first dance—if there was to be one—from Miss Bennet.
Even a ball could not be canvassed forever, and during a pause in the chatter, Mr Bennet, whose hearing was apparently acute even from his nearby book-room, surprised us all with a rare opener.
“I am curious, Lizzy,” he drawled, “upon what point did you debate with Mr Darcy, and has he indeed conceded to your opinion?”
Without hesitation I replied for her. “We speculated as to whether King John’s chamberlain was of Norman or Saxon descent, sir.”
“That old question? When, pray tell,” he said, turning to quiz his daughter, “did you have the leisure to engage in this debate?”
“In Kent, Papa. Do you not remember I told you Mr Darcy was there?”
“Ah yes, with his aunt, our cousin’s esteemed patroness. Yes, yes. Well, and what have the two of you concluded?”
“I cannot speak for Mr Darcy, but I myself have to agree with my mother that I should renounce my ambition to be literate, since I so quickly came to grief debating a man who has seen for himself the archives of the Royal Museum.”
She was so adroit in her use of words that only with great effort could I keep my eyes on the lady’s father as he examined her face and then shrugged almost imperceptibly. With that gesture, it seemed as though either she or I had passed some unspoken test, and he then appeared to forget I was in the room.This left me to marvel at how many lies could be so smoothly uttered in the space of a few minutes, and even as I thanked the stars that I did not stutter in the execution of a falsehood into which my cousin had inadvertently thrown me, I sent a conspiratorial smile to Elizabeth.
She blushed and faltered momentarily in her contribution to an animated discussion of plans for the coming days, a discomposure that pleased me to no small degree. Soon after, we stood to go, and the three of us left Longbourn on horseback after being cordially waved away by a knot of chattering girls.
As we went, Georgiana enquired of my cousin’s journey, and I was unsurprised to learn he had spent the night not fifteen miles from Meryton with an old friend. Fitzwilliam had friends scattered from one end of the country to the other, and in consequence, he rarely had to pay for rooms on the road. He was in an expansive mood, and to my eyes, he even seemed to have regained more mobility in his shoulder than when I had last seen him.
