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What occurred thereafter could only be described as a learning experience. Elizabeth had been more than willing to climb atop Darcy straightaway, however vague her notions of just exactly what was required, but Darcy had at first wanted to kiss and caress her. Slipping the diaphanous gown off Lizzy’s shoulders, he cupped and suckled her breasts before working the nightgown slowly down to her ankles. Satisfied with his progress, he encouraged her to ‘mount’ him, which Lizzy thought an interesting choice of words. But as she impaled herself with Darcy’s guidance, Elizabeth discovered it really was like riding a horse, just as the word implied. Darcy stroked her thighs and leaned forward to run his hands over her hips to clasp her waist, whispering endearments to her all the while as he undulated beneath her. It was at first a little uncomfortable, making Elizabeth think that perhaps men and women came in different sizes and that she and Darcy were ill-matched. But when Darcy belatedly drew his nightshirt over his head, wafting his distinctive scent upon her, she found things magically seemed to fit a lot better. Seeing his exposed chest, Lizzy was almost tempted to say that his areoles better matched cherries than her lips when the heat of the moment encouraged her to make a better comparison in juxtaposition. She heard him groan in response and felt his hand caress her bottom.
Elizabeth was briefly alarmed after she began to pick up pace when Darcy’s eyes rolled back in his head.
“Are you all right?” she panted.
“Yes!” he cried, arching his back and flinging his arms out wide with his hands curled into fists.
The truth was that the vision of Lizzy visiting him as his succubus during the boat trip had entered his head, briefly threatening to make him lose control.
“Keep going!” he said, bringing his hands back to clasp her thighs above her knees.
With all the exhilaration associated with running down a hill welling up inside her, Lizzy heard Darcy cry out and throw his head back, giving her a final push upwards that threatened to dislodge her.
Breathless, she collapsed beside him and burst out laughing.
“What is so funny?” Darcy asked as he clutched her to him, stroking her hair.
“Well! That was an experience! I really thought you were going to buck me off there!”
He sighed with satisfaction and kissed her forehead. “My love! What would I do without you?”
They fell asleep in each other’s arms with all the satisfaction of new lovers, steeped in bliss.
When Lizzy woke in the morning in the middle of an improper dream, she immediately detected the blood pudding and curling iron poking into her back once more and was well prepared to deal with it. Turning over to find Darcy awake, she suggested they put the bed curtains to the test and quickly scrambled to deploy them when he replied with an enthusiastic kiss.
Thus were Finn’s eyes spared any impropriety, although perhaps not his ears.
Chapter 54: Recovery
Every day, Darcy became stronger and walked a little further. He presented his first paper, a short one on a novel type of mathematical series, to the Royal Society in March. There was an outbreak of murmuring from the audience when Darcy rose from his wheeled chair to take the few steps to the podium unassisted. The hubbub quickly subsided as he reseated himself on a stool that had been placed there. He looked immaculate in his tailcoat, breeches, hessians and pink glasses. Finn had even gone to the trouble of tying Darcy’s cravat into a mathematic knot for the occasion. The enthusiastic applause at the end of Darcy’s speech could not have been attributed alone to the members’ wild appreciation for mathematics.
Jane became a regular visitor at the Darcy townhouse. Encouraged by her mother and driven by a fear that another such opportunity might not come her way, she lifted her mourning, often staying overnight when she attended balls of the Haut Ton with Georgie and Hildie. Sometimes Cherise joined their group. With Brunhilda’s sponsorship, Jane received a voucher for Almack’s, the subscription paid by her sister’s generous pin money. With her acknowledged beauty, fine dresses gifted by Georgie and Elizabeth, gentle manners and illustrious companions, Jane never lacked a dance partner. But it became clear to the eldest Miss Bennet that however pleasant her company, none of her beaux had more than dalliance in mind. Any thoughts of emulating the Gunning sisters, fuelled by her mother’s stories of the illustrious matches made by the two beauties, were gradually abandoned. Jane concluded that she had been a big fish in the little pond of Hertfordshire; that her beauty was not in the class of the Gunnings. The truth was that the fortunes of many aristocratic gentlemen had been severely tested by the shifting sands of industrial development and the depredations of clubs like Watiers since those Irish beauties had conquered London. Meanwhile, the two pretty heiresses of Jane’s party were pursued by a number of gentlemen. Jane could only be thankful that Mr Bingley was not among them. He seemed to have withdrawn from the lists.
Lizzy joined the ladies in their outings when they attended the theatre or the opera. Secretly she had vowed that she would not dance again until Darcy could be her partner, being positive that day could not be far away. The announcement of her marriage to Darcy in the papers had of course drawn the inevitable interest. When she sat in the box shared by the Darcys and Fitzwilliams, Lizzy occasionally caught fans being pointed at her or faces turned hastily away. She had heard second-hand rumours that Darcy had married a bluestocking who only ventured out of the townhouse to haunt Hatchard’s; that she even walked there on fine days! The truth was she was content for the moment in Darcy’s company, so absorbed were they in the first throes of their passion. A lock was installed on the study door.
Lizzy’s biggest concern for the announcement of her marriage was that it might affect her family’s tenure at Longbourn during the designated mourning period. But Mr Collins’ indignation was dampened by a polite letter from Mr Gardiner preceding the announcement and another from his betrothed shortly afterwards, reminding him of the value of his new powerful connections. This, combined with the fact that he hoped to hold onto the living of Hunsford after his departure via a curacy, convinced Mr Collins that it would be best to keep to his plan of spending the full year with Lady Catherine; to not be too hasty in ejecting his relatives from Longbourn. In her letter, which made very clever use of verb tenses and vague references to time, Charlotte assured him she had learnt much from Elizabeth during their time together and would continue to correspond with her until Mr Collins was ready to step into the squire’s shoes.
Nonetheless, it was several weeks before Mr Collins had the temerity to announce to Lady Catherine that he was now related to her by marriage. He finally judged the moment to be propitious after the successful marriage of Miss de Bourgh to her cousin the Viscount Stanley—this had been delayed a little when the viscount attempted another runner. Knowing nothing of the viscount’s shocking reputation, Mr Collins could only think his patroness over the moon after the nuptials. ‘Lady Stanley!’ he exclaimed. ‘How well it sounds!’ As the earl was in the room at the time, having come down to the quiet ceremony in Kent to give his blessing, Lady Catherine could only give a sickly smile at this reminder of Darcy’s escape from her clutches and swallow her spleen. Mr Collins was not invited to a card party at Rosings for over a week. But after the carefully guarded viscount was allowed to return to London, having spent ten days entirely sober for the first time in three years—most of them playing cards for penny points—Lady Catherine had need once more of a fourth at whist. Mr Collins was readmitted to the fold.
Anne was best pleased with the wedding present from the Darcys, although they could not attend, ostensibly because of Darcy’s health. Only Georgiana had ventured to Kent in the company of her uncle. The gift was a scale model of a Palladian manor, made by Mr Jacques Petit of Covent Garden to plans that Darcy had drawn up by Mr Trevor. Elizabeth had had the very clever idea of disguising the dollhouse Darcy had promised his cousin as a large jewellery box to avoid Lady Catherine’s censure and possible refusal of the present. The windows, doors and porticos of the front all concealed drawers. In one of these was a handsome citrine parure, chosen by Georgiana and Elizabeth at Rundell and Bridge. On top of the parure was a short note disclosing the model’s true function and the Darcys’ hearty congratulations upon her marriage. Anne gave a cry of delight upon reading it, had to pretend that her enthusiasm was for the jewels and crushed the note into her palm. After the house had been moved to Anne’s bedchamber, Georgie showed her cousin the secret button that allowed the back to open. They had great fun arranging all the tiny furniture that Georgie had brought packed in another box.
As the countess had already appointed a date in March for the presentation of Princess Brunhilda and Georgie at court, she petitioned for Elizabeth to be included in the group. Luck favoured them when another lady was forced to withdraw, reputedly because of the mumps. Elizabeth received a compliment from Queen Charlotte on the arrangement of her hair, which she duly related to a chuffed Fairbanks. This innocent remark was almost the cause of a domestic dispute—the Queen, Fairbanks announced to Finn in front of a mortified Povey, had merely asked Miss Georgiana how her brother fared. In private, Finn had later reassured Povey that Miss Georgiana had looked resplendent in her court gown and that it was only natural that the Queen should devote her brief exchange with Miss Georgiana to her brother’s health. He begged Povey to forgive Miss Fairbanks during her settling in period. Thus was a potentially nasty feud nipped in the bud. In truth it was Princess Brunhilda who was shown the most favour, for the Queen had taken her aside for a short, whispered conference.
By April, Darcy had progressed sufficiently to allow him to attend Die Zauberflöte with his wife and sister. He walked up the steps himself, assisted by Colonel Fitzwilliam and Finn, who accompanied them along with the princess. Darcy enjoyed the opera immensely. In the absence of his sight, the music seemed to take on a new meaning to him. Mozart’s music in particular inspired some of his later work on mathematical series.
On fine days, Lizzy and Darcy began to take outings in a landaulet they had purchased, usually with the top down. Initially these outings were only to Hyde or Green Park, but they soon extended to Hampstead Heath and further. Sometimes they took a picnic basket. In late April, they made their first trip to Longbourn in the chaise, accompanied only by Jane and Finn. Georgiana had initially wanted to be included, but as the projected visit encompassed the date of Mrs Drummond-Burrell’s card party, which invitation had been already accepted, Georgie agreed it would be best not to cause offence by withdrawing. Hildie proposed she and Colonel Fitzwilliam should spend two nights at the townhouse to keep Georgie company. Fairbanks was initially most put out to find she was to be left behind, being convinced that her mistress could not do without her. But when Lizzy gave her maid an extra day off and a bonus, explaining her former home in Hertfordshire was quite a modest one where her sister could attend to her needs, Fairbanks recalled that she had not yet seen any of the great sights of London and gracefully acceded. She took the opportunity to visit Pidcock’s Menagerie on the afternoon of the Darcys’ departure and the Egyptian Hall on the following day.
Mrs Bennet showered Darcy with every attention—ordering his favourite dish for dinner, complimenting him on his dashing pink glasses and appearing to completely forget every nasty word she had ever said against him. Darcy had made such good progress by the time they departed for Longbourn that they decided not to take his wheeled chair. Though Finn hovered anxiously, Darcy was able to manage the stairs in the evening with only Lizzy to guide him.
Mrs Bennet decided to house the Darcys in Jane and Lizzy’s former chamber, directing Hill to make up Mr and Mrs Gardiners’ usual chamber in the guest wing for Jane. Lizzy’s discreet protests that Jane should take their former room were met with Mrs Bennet’s explanation of her decision, namely that Mary’s room had been returned to its function as a dressing room, so that she and her husband might be ‘private’, by which she meant they might avoid performing their toilette in front of each other. Having spent her entire married life sleeping in a separate bedchamber to Mr Bennet, Mrs Bennet could not approve of the Darcys’ sleeping arrangements, which she thought more appropriate to tradesmen like her brother and sister. Thus, Darcy’s trunk was bestowed in the dressing room, which was duly surrendered to the management of Finn. Elizabeth’s luggage was taken with Jane’s to the guest wing so that they might wait on each other.
After preparing for bed, the sisters kissed each other goodnight and Lizzy stole along the corridor to her former bedchamber with a single candle. She found Darcy reclining in bed staring at the canopy with a beatific smile on his face. This was a great relief to Lizzy, who had been anxious about how Darcy would respond to her mother, who seemed to have got progressively sillier since her father’s death. Lizzy had winced at several ignorant remarks Mrs Bennet had made during dinner and sincerely wished for the aid of the Gardiners’ presence to rein her in.
“A penny for your thoughts,” Lizzy said as she climbed into bed beside Darcy.
“I was just thinking of my first visit to your uncle. When I embarrassed myself so signally by fainting at the front door.”
“Yes,” said Lizzy, a little puzzled but playing along, “you certainly made an entrance!”
