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“Come,” said Mr Gardiner, taking the boy by his hand, “you must help cheer up your cousins because they are sad Uncle Matthew is gone.”

And so saying, Mr Gardiner nodded to Mary, who had taken Elizabeth’s place by their father’s bier, and led his son to the parlour where the two youngest Bennet sisters were sitting the rest of the Gardiner children down for dinner. Lizzy and Mrs Gardiner followed in their wake.

“So, your mother has retreated to her bed?” asked Madeleine Gardiner of her niece.

“She has been up,” replied Lizzy, “but we had to give her a second dose of laudanum this afternoon when we received more bad news.”

“Did you hear from Mr Collins?” enquired their aunt.

“No, that joy we still anticipate,” sighed Lizzy.

Casting an uneasy glance at her uncle, she continued. “We received tidings from Netherfield that the tenant had departed for London. It is an awkward business, but I fell off the terrace at Netherfield last night at the ball. A gentleman, visiting Netherfield from London, tried to catch me before I tumbled over and we both fell. Mother wrote a letter to the gentleman this morning demanding that he marry me. However, the departure of the Netherfield party to London has brought that scheme to nought.”

“I was wondering about your foot. I will have a look at it after dinner if you like,” said Mrs Gardiner, setting some milk in front of her youngest child. “And is there any substance to your mother’s demands?”

“No!” replied Lizzy. “We were merely standing on the terrace waiting for the supper line to diminish. I leaned on the balcony to adjust my shoe and the capstone slid out from under my hand. The gentleman merely tried to prevent my fall!”

“Perhaps Fanny is a little overwrought,” conceded Mr Gardiner.

“But Aunt Philips says everyone in Meryton is talking about it and the fact that Mr Darcy put his hands on Lizzy’s waist in the waltz!” asserted Lydia.

“Lydia!” exclaimed Jane, who had come into the room looking very pale, “those are merely the prescribed steps. There was nothing untoward in Mr Darcy’s dancing. Charles was admiring Mr Darcy’s form. He said Mr Darcy has been taught by the finest dancing masters.”

“Charles?” asked Mrs Gardiner, raising one eyebrow at her niece.

Jane blushed. In her rush to Lizzy’s defence, she had betrayed the familiarity that existed between herself and Mr Bingley.

“Mr Darcy, you say?” said Mr Gardiner, covering for his niece’s obvious embarrassment. “Not Mr Fitzwilliam Darcy of Derbyshire?”

Lizzy nodded in confirmation.

“Do you know him, Edward?” asked Mrs Gardiner.

“Yes, he is a member of the Royal Society. He is considered to be one of the finest minds of his generation; was Senior Wrangler at Cambridge. But Lizzy, he was there…” Mr Gardiner began, about to remind Lizzy of their jaunt to the Royal Society when his wife stepped on his toe.

“…at the last meeting I attended at the Royal Society,” concluded Mr Gardiner, suitably chastened.

Then shooting an apologetic glance at his wife, he appended, “What a small world.”

“What do you know of Mr Darcy, Edward?” asked Mrs Gardiner, filling a potential breach in the conversation resulting from her husband’s embarrassment. She knew that, like his sisters, he had a tendency to say more than was perhaps wise.

“He is a member of the Ton; is very active in the Society and has a large estate in Derbyshire…” enumerated Mr Gardiner.

“…and ten thousand a year!” added Lydia.

The basis of Mrs Bennet’s demands became clearer to Mrs Gardiner. “And you say there is nothing in it?” she asked Lizzy.

“Nothing!” replied Lizzy, only glad that her mother was not aware that Mr Darcy had been alone with her in a bedchamber.

Hill arrived with the soup tureen. Jane, taking her mother’s place at the foot of the table, began to serve, passing the bowls along. After a moment’s hesitation, Mr Gardiner took Mr Bennet’s place at the head of the table as both families filled the eight chairs that resided there, normally requiring extra chairs to be wedged in at the corners. As it was, they fit comfortably with little Timmy on Mrs Gardiner’s lap.

Between the serving of the meal and enquiries on their journey, Mr Darcy was soon forgot. It was not until after dessert when Hill advised the family that Mrs Bennet had woken, that Mr Gardiner reluctantly returned to the business at hand. Excusing himself, he followed Hill upstairs to see his sister.

Mrs Gardiner enlisted Kitty and Lydia to assist Nurse in getting the children to bed, offering instead to sit by the bier with Elizabeth and Jane. Mary, who had been keeping vigil, was sent off to have her dinner. After offering a short prayer for her brother-in-law’s soul, Mrs Gardiner tried to extract more information from her nieces.

“So, Jane, you have not been forthcoming about the tenant of Netherfield in your letters, only his sisters; yet I find you on a first name basis with him. How is this?”

“Oh, Aunt! It all happened so rapidly! I wrote that I stayed at Netherfield after I caught that chill…”