They entered the house quietly, and Elizabeth escorted her companion to the breakfast room to greet her aunt and uncle.
“Look who I found wandering the park this morning,” she greeted her relatives cheerily upon their entry.
The Gardiners looked up from their meal. “Darcy! What a surprise to see you here this morning. How did this come about?” Mr. Gardiner asked as he looked between the pair.
“Quite by accident, I assure you, Gardiner,” Darcy stated. “I was riding in the park as I do most mornings since this is the nearest park to my lodgings. I noticed Miss Bennet walking and dismounted so I could approach her. We began to speak and were unaware of how long we did so. When she realised how long she had been away from your home, I thought to accompany her here to explain my role in making her late. And … I hoped to speak with you privately, Mr. Gardiner.”
Gardiner looked between the two young people. While he was only a decade or so older than the man standing before him requesting this audience, he suddenly felt much, much older as he realised the gentleman standing before him was about to ask his permission to court his niece. Having known Elizabeth since her earliest days, the thought made him feelold as he contemplated how to inform his brother of this new development.
“I appreciate your accompanying my niece to save her our chastisement, and I am glad Lizzy, you had the foresight to ask a footman to accompany you, as you are not always inclined to do so, despite our many requests,” Gardiner lightly scolded his niece. “Well, Darcy, I would gladly grant you an audience, but perhaps it might wait until after breakfast. Would you care to join us?”
Darcy seemed to recognise the invitation as a tacit acceptance of his suit. While it would not change anything about the conversation that would need to happen later, it made him feel somewhat less anxious about the coming interview.
The meal was consumed leisurely, although both gentlemen kept an eye on the clock. Before too long, they concluded their meal, leaving the ladies to their own devices and retired to Gardiner’s study.
“Now, Darcy, what would you like to speak with me about?” Gardiner asked as soon as both gentlemen were settled.
“Last night, before I departed, I asked your niece for permission to call on her. I … I should have asked you as well; perhaps I should have requested of you first, but …” Darcy stammered before coming to a stop, uncertain of how to continue and sure he had embarrassed himself dreadfully.
Gardiner merely laughed. “Calm yourself, son,” he said. “Yes, you may call on my niece. As my daughters are too young for this sort of thing, I have yet to have to grant a young man permission to call on one. I would say you should have asked the lady first, and now I give you my permission to call. My brother permittedme to speak for him in ‘the unlikely case’ that anyone sought his daughter’s hand while she was with me. He said it rather offhandedly, but I made him write a letter granting permission since I know how slow he is to put pen to paper in most instances. You may call on her and even court her if she agrees, as I saw how you seemed rather thunderstruck in each other’s company last night.”
Darcy was surprised Gardiner had found his feelings so obvious but was pleased to realise his friend believed his niece to be equally affected. “Thank you, sir,” he stammered. “I look forward to getting to know Miss Bennet better. Perhaps you should know she has also requested I call her Miss Elizabeth since she uses that name at home.”
Once again, Gardiner grinned at the earnest young man. “That is perfectly acceptable, Darcy. She commented on it last night, although she was very insistent on being addressed properly last night by your friend’s sister.”
It was Darcy’s turn to laugh a little. “Miss Bingley tries to keep her claws in me so she might have a chance with my brother someday. She would settle for me if she thought it would get her greater access to Pemberley, but she would much rather capture the heir than the spare. As long as I am the heir presumptive, she will pretend a closeness with me, though she would gladly throw me over if she got a more attractive offer. I am a means to an end, in her opinion, and were my brother to drop dead, I would find her giving an imitation of a lamprey very quickly.”
A clock chiming out the hour made both gentlemen aware it was time to depart—Gardiner to his warehouses and Darcy to his office. However, it was agreed Darcy could call upon Miss Elizabeth later that afternoon. In the meantime, the ladies had yet another shopping trip scheduled as they intended to preparefor the trip to the seaside in the summer. Mr. Bennet, in a rare occurrence, had promptly responded to his brother’s letter asking permission to escort Elizabeth there this summer and to keep her with them until the autumn. In fact, Mr. Bennet’s letter had seemed to imply Elizabeth could stay in London as long as she liked as neither her parents nor her sisters missed her presence.
CHAPTER 4
Growing Up
That was not entirely true, as Mary Bennet did miss her elder sister quite a bit, and Jane missed her mainly for the contrast her younger sister provided when in company. A young man had come to Hertfordshire, several in fact, and Jane felt she shone all the more when compared to Lizzy. While Lizzy was pretty, she was not as beautiful as Jane, and where Jane was everything demure and ladylike, Lizzy was impertinent and challenging. In Jane’s mind, Lizzy was the perfect foil to highlight her own suitability as a potential wife for any of the gentlemen staying at Netherfield. Unfortunately, there were no women amongst their party, and the ones leasing the estate were a group of gentlemen there for the sport. The estate was close enough that they could ride to London for a day or two at will, though they participated in some of the local entertainments. Jane had met one of the gentlemen at a dinner at Lucas Lodge a few nights ago. He had called upon Longbourn once or twice but did not return, upsetting both Jane and her mother. She hoped to run into him in Meryton but had so far been unable to do so, and she wished Lizzy were there to aid her.
The entire family was surprised a few days later when Jane and Mary received letters from Elizabeth in London. These letters contained descriptions of an evening at the theatre and the unexpected revelation of a suitor. Jane was initially shocked her sister had captured any suitor’s attention. However, she learned he was a second son and an acquaintance of their uncle, so Jane dismissed him as someone of minor significance.
Mary, though, was delighted for her sister, as she knew how their mother and eldest sister spoke about Lizzy, especially when she was not there. As Mary listened to her mother and Jane speak of Lizzy’s suitor that afternoon, she stored up all that was said and was determined to share it with her sister. Mary knew Lizzy was aware of her mother’s opinion of her, but she did not know how Jane spoke of her when she was not there. She hoped Lizzy might marry away from home and never have to return to Longbourn again. If she did, perhaps Mary could go live with her elder sister or the Gardiners.
“You know, Mama, that this Mr. Darcy is a barrister. I imagine he is an older gentleman, perhaps as old as thirty, and I feel certain he wears spectacles and constantly has ink-stained fingers and sleeves. He will not have a handsome feature on his face, and in a few years, he will be stooped over and bent from all the time he spends at his desk reading the law,” Jane chortled.
Mrs. Bennet’s eyes widened, and she clasped her hands together in laughter. “Oh, Jane, my dear, you have such a vivid imagination! Imagine the love letters he will write! Each note will be a legal treatise, and Lizzy will swoon over clauses and the like.”
Jane chuckled softly, her eyes dancing with mocking. “Yes, Mama, and I am sure he will send her flowers with footnotes attached, explaining the botanical origins and their symbolic meanings.”
The two chuckled at such thoughts as none of these things would not bring either of them happiness in marriage. Not that they cared about Elizabeth finding happiness in marriage—they would both be shocked to learn this courtship would progress to its natural end. They were confident Elizabeth would somehowscare this suitor away, although perhaps an older, ugly barrister would be an ideal match for the chit.
As their laughter filled the room, Mary could not help but feel a twinge of … shame, or was it sorrow? Deep down, she knew her mother’s words were laced with bitterness, and Jane’s jibes reflected the strained relationship between the sisters. They revelled in their mocking dialogue, not caring if their words would deeply injure the sister who cared so much for others.
Finding she had enough, Mary slipped from the room and began to write a letter to her sister, apprising her of the state of things at Longbourn. She expressed great pleasure in learning of her sister’s suitor and reported on the glee displayed by their eldest sister and mother over imagining the worst possible suitor for Elizabeth. She did not ask for information about the gentleman but expressed her hope all would turn out well for her sister. Realising the gentleman had only asked to call on her, she tempered her excitement but warned her sister to be cautious about what she said to her elder sister in the future.
This letter was metwith uncertainty. “What do you think Mary means, Aunt?” Elizabeth asked after reading a portion of the letter out loud.
“I know you have always looked up to Jane as some kind of ideal, but you must realise that she simply does not care for you as you do her,” her aunt said, then sighed and turned to face her niece to speak seriously to her. “Jane has always been selfish; have younever noticed she refused to visit the tenants with you or put herself out for anyone else? She has had a few suitors, yes, but none stayed any longer than it took for them to determine all she had to offer was her looks. Jane has few accomplishments and little to add to any conversation. Men tire of her before they learn much about her, and if a man is interested in just her beauty, your mother will surely frighten them away with her efforts at matchmaking. When you visited us before, did you ever witness Jane assisting with the children or engaging in selfless acts? I have seen Jane’s expressions when a man’s focus shifted from her to you, and she had no choice but to maintain a polite smile.”
“While Jane may be a classical beauty with her blonde hair and willowy figure, many men are attracted to your own dark hair and green eyes. You are not as tall as your elder sister, but you have a pleasing figure men do appreciate.” She smiled as she watched her niece colour brightly at this.
“Why have I never noticed this?” Elizabeth asked.
