Page 55 of Mr. Darcy Comes to Town

After taking a deep breath, Mary began her tale of woe. “Twice a week I volunteer at St. Michael’s Infirmary and Sanitorium in Meryton. I would go more often but Mama forbids it. I go on Thursday mornings and Sunday afternoons.”

“What do you do there?”

“I am not permitted to do any nursing, so I read to the patients. Sometimes I write letters for them. Not everyone has family to visit them, you understand, so I visit with them,” Mary explained. Georgiana nodded to show she understood, and Mary continued. “I read the newspaper, periodical articles, or poems. On Sundays I always read from religious tracts or from books of sermons.”

“That is lovely, charitable, work,” Georgiana praised. “Is that where you met your gentleman friend?”

Mary nodded, and shrugged, tears threatening, and then shook her head.

“Is he a doctor?” Georgiana ventured. She took Mary’s arm and squeezed it reassuringly as they slowly walked.

“He is a junior doctor,” Mary explained. “He is finished his schooling—he studied in Edinburgh. Now he works in his father’s practice here in Longbourn Village, and attends the patients at St. Michael’s.”

Georgiana frowned a little. “Then, you must have known him for some time?”

“All my life,” Mary said simply. “We all used to play together when we were children. He is an only child.”

“Is he…interested in you?” Georgiana asked hesitantly, steeling herself for the answer.

Mary shrugged and shook her head. “He speaks kindly to me, but…but he has never given me a reason to believe that he cares for me beyond neighborliness.”

“Would your parents object if he wanted to walk out with you?”

“I do not know. He is quite penniless. Not destitute, but I do not think he has the means to support a wife. Perhaps one day, but who knows when? My mama wishes us to marry…money.” Mary gulped and sniffed. “To be fair, she only wishes us to be comfortably situated. Mama will be happy if we can find gentlemen with an income of at least a thousand pounds per annum. Our portion is tiny.” She pointed into the woods. “Look at that red toadstool. How brilliantly polka-dotted it is—and quite poisonous.” Mary leaned her head against Georgiana’s arm, pushing her floppy bonnet off her head.

Georgiana felt the rush of warm harmony toward her new friend that comes when fellow-feeling is present.

“The toadstool is a magnificent size.”

“Hmm. What about you?” Mary asked, standing straighter. “Is there a gentleman you like?”

Chapter Nine

Georgiana coughed a little to clear the lump in her throat. “Um, there used to be someone. However, he proved not to be a gentleman.”

“Goodness,” Mary said, coming to a stop and staring up at her with wide eyes. “Whatever happened?”

“I…I thought he loved me. It turns out, all he loved was my money. He suggested we elope.” Georgiana paused when Mary gasped. “Dreadful, was it not? I thought it terribly romantic. Our plans were set. We were to leave as soon as…the gentleman in question…had finished his preparations. I was staying in Ramsgate—taking in the sea air—with my governess-companion.” Georgiana bowed her head, feeling awful about her younger self. “Mrs. Younge entered into all my feelings, so—”

“—you thought your decision to elope must be perfectly acceptable, in spite of how you felt in your secret heart?” Mary asked in a pithy voice. “Oh, how we can be deceived by our foolish elders.”

“You are right. I was deceived by her.”

“As was your brother,” Mary reminded her.

Georgiana’s frown deepened, and she heaved a sigh.

Mary tsked. “Pray, believe me when I point out that Mrs. Younge deceived a man older and more knowledgeable about the world than you were,” she said ferociously. “How old were you?”

“It was the summer before last. Five-and-ten.”

Mary tsked. “No older than Lydia—who thinks she is up to snuff, but is nothing of the sort.” She grasped hold of one of Georgiana’s hands and squeezed it comfortingly. “Since you are not married, something must have disrupted your plans?”

Georgiana nodded. “Fitz arrived the afternoon before we were to depart. My happiness knew no bounds. I never believed my brother would object to my elopement. How foolish I was!” she cried softly, hearing the anguish in her own voice. “In my joy, I told Fitz everything. I have never seen him so furious.”

Mary stiffened. “With you?”

“Oh, no. Not with me. He was ever so kind. Fitz explained how inappropriate eloping would be. He told me the…gentleman…was no gentleman at all, and that he had proven himself time and again that he was a fortune hunter.” Distressed, Georgiana pressed the back of her hand against her cheek.