The Darcys of Pemberley (38 page)

Taking no apparent umbrage at the charge
leveled against him, Fitzwilliam returned his accuser’s steady
gaze. “Since I have often joked about doing just that, it is a fair
question. However, if capturing a fortune by marriage were my
object, I would have done so long ago. Plenty of opportunities have
been thrown my way, I assure you. Now, Darcy, I know this comes as
quite a shock, and I am sorry for it. But you cannot really think
of me so meanly, can you?”

“I would never have believed you capable of
such a thing before, no. Yet now I wonder. It would be wrong of me
to take such a chance with my sister’s happiness,” said he,
scowling at his cousin.

A small chink appeared in Fitzwilliam’s
usually imperturbable exterior, and he pleaded his case all the
more strenuously. “I wish there were some way to prove my
disinterestedness to you. All I can say on that head is that you
may name any terms you like for the marriage settlement. If I am so
fortunate as to win Georgiana’s favor, I will make no objection to
whatever your lawyers propose. It is truly her heart, not her
fortune, which I hope to capture. And I promise you, dear friend,
her heart will be safe in my care.”

Leaving the colonel dangling uncomfortably,
Darcy deliberated aloud and at length over the questionable merits
of the suit before him. Even when he eventually agreed to the idea
in principle, he postured and held out several minutes more,
arguing for a postponement of any application to Georgiana until at
least her nineteenth birthday. Yet, in the end, Fitzwilliam won
begrudging permission to speak to her.

“Wish me luck!” he said as he quit the room
with nervous excitement.

Only after he was gone did Elizabeth let
loose the tight reign she had kept on her countenance, allowing her
merriment to pour out in a low peal of laughter. “Something tells
me Fitzwilliam will need very little luck to carry his point with
Georgiana. Oh, but
you
, Mr. Darcy! You are too cruel! How
could you torture the poor colonel so? As if he were not exactly
the sort of man you yourself would choose for Georgiana. Now admit
it; you intended to give your consent all along.”

“Of course.”

“Then I think you might, at the very least,
have shown him some mercy in the end – told him he need have no
misgivings about a favorable reception.”

“Certainly not! I could hardly allow
Fitzwilliam to claim his prize without a fight; he would not have
respected me if I had. And it will do him good to be kept in
suspense of his success a little longer.” Darcy’s face relaxed into
a satisfied grin, and there was an undeniable spark of amusement in
his eye. “Nothing good can come from overconfidence, you know,
especially when addressing a member of the fair sex. I say this
with wisdom born of painful experience, having once been sternly
set down by a worthy lady in a similar situation. I would not wish
that kind of mortification on my dear friend Fitzwilliam.”

Elizabeth laughed all the more. Her delight
in picturing Georgiana’s happiness, once she was assured of the
colonel’s affection, made her quite giddy. She could not have been
more pleased for them both. “So, my love, despite how it looked at
the outset, you have proved yourself a good brother and a good
friend too. Are you truly happy about this yourself, then?”

“Happy? That is a bit much to expect of me so
soon, Lizzy. Let us just say that I am willing to accept the
inevitable without too much consternation. I suppose I should have
felt some acrimony toward
anyone
who threatened to remove my
sister from my care after all these years. However, if she must
grow up and be married, I could not hope to relinquish her to a
better man.”

~*~

Whilst the contest for her future joy was
being waged in the library, Miss Darcy sat at her pianoforte and
played on, completely unaware that her whole world was about to
change. She noticed when Colonel Fitzwilliam entered the room, yet
she did not stop. She knew he liked to listen to her, and she was
more inclined to play for him than talk to him just then. With that
thought in mind, Georgiana felt her misfortune at being very nearly
to the end of the piece. She soon finished, accepted the colonel’s
praise without a word, and was about to begin again when he
prevented her. He took both her hands in his and gently turning her
toward himself. To her total astonishment, Fitzwilliam then dropped
to one knee beside her.

“Dear Georgiana,” he began, “I am now at
liberty to tell you that which has long been in my heart. Will you
hear me?”

Although too overcome to speak in any case,
Georgiana had not the slightest objection to hearing whatever the
colonel might wish to say to her on bended knee. She nodded her
acquiescence, and he was sufficiently encouraged to go on. He
commenced by describing the major revolution he had experienced in
his feelings toward her over the last several months. He concluded
with the fervent hope that she could in some measure return his
earnest affection and consent to becoming his wife.

To suddenly find herself the object of
Fitzwilliam’s love was so wholly unexpected that Georgiana
hesitated in her answer, not from indecision but from disbelief.
The long-cherished wish that had lived on against all probability
of realization seemed to be coming true before her eyes. Whilst her
heart told her to consent instantly before she awoke from the dream
in which she found herself, her mind called for a point of
clarification.

“You say you have been in love with me for
some time now, Fitzwilliam. If I am to believe you, you must
explain something. Why have I never seen any sign of it, any change
in your manner, any gesture or word of peculiar regard? You have
continued to behave toward me just as you always have – much more
like a brother than a suitor.”

“Oh, my dear girl, if you only knew how
difficult it has been for me to show so little when I felt so much.
But I was honor-bound to speak to your brother before giving you
any idea of my true affection.
That
is the urgent business
that took me from London into Derbyshire. Nothing less important
would ever have induced me to leave you. Now tell me, dearest
Georgiana, do you think in time you could learn to love me? Please
say that I have some chance of winning your heart.”

With her one and only reservation very
satisfactorily overcome, Georgiana gave the gentleman to understand
that her heart in fact already belonged to him and to him
alone.

Meanwhile, Darcy and Elizabeth were in no
doubt as to the outcome of the interview taking place in the music
room. The only surprise proceeded from the rapidity with which
everything was settled. For it was not long after they heard
Georgiana’s playing cease that the blissful couple returned through
the library doors, arm in arm, to demand their congratulations.
Elizabeth thought how extraordinary it was that, in the end, the
work of ten short minutes effectively dispatched all the hopes and
fears of so many months’ duration.

Epilogue

For the next eight weeks, Colonel Fitzwilliam
remained as a continual guest at Pemberley, demonstrating the same
faithful devotion to Georgiana as before, only now in a different
role. He took himself away from her side only occasionally, and
with great reluctance, to pursue some improvement in his situation.
His prosperous love gave him new ambition to distinguish himself,
wishing to be found worthy of such an honor in the eyes of the
world. Though his personal income was not large, it was just
sufficient to enable him to stand for Parliament in his home
borough, and by such means he hoped to make a name for himself, for
his lady’s sake.

In truth, Georgiana cared nothing about the
size of her future husband’s fortune or his worldly status. That
she would soon be married to the man she loved and settled an easy
distance from Pemberley was more than enough to make her completely
content. She fairly danced about the house with a song always on
her lips. As far as she was concerned, Colonel Fitzwilliam could do
no wrong. The only man who could rival him for amiability and
perfection of character was her brother, who had, by giving his
consent to the marriage, once again proved his every virtue.

The wedding was to take place in October with
the approbation of all the relations on both the bride and groom’s
side. Even Lady Catherine de Bourgh condescended to write a
tolerably civil letter of congratulations containing only a gentle
hint concerning how things might have been done with more prudence
and taste had she been consulted. Far from alluding to any
resentment over Fitzwilliam marrying Georgiana instead of Anne, her
ladyship used the occasion to communicate her growing satisfaction
with her son-in-law. Dr. Essex’s education and profession, she was
now persuaded, afforded him a degree of respectability and prestige
as did not ultimately disgrace the family. She stated the
conviction, moreover, that with her guidance and patronage, the
young man would go far.

The news of the engagement was well received
at Heatheridge by Jane and Mr. Bingley, whose own generous natures
predisposed them to wish every person of their acquaintance the
same felicity in marriage that they themselves continued to enjoy.
Miss Bingley, however, could not entertain the idea with as much
pleasure. Although Caroline repeatedly professed delight at “dear
Georgiana” being so well married so young, her true sentiments
savored more of bitterness. At her age, to have yet another man who
had piqued her interest and excited her ambition slip through her
fingers and beyond reach was more than she could be expected to
endure with serenity.

The lovers and their wedding plans held the
primary position of attention at Pemberley for a full two weeks,
until another important personage claimed precedence. Whilst all
the focus had been on Elizabeth’s recovery and then on the
excitement of Georgiana’s engagement, another member of the family
had been waiting his turn to take center stage. Bennet Fitzwilliam
Darcy, upon his unceremonious arrival the first week of September,
instantly appropriated the chief place of honor and the total
adoration of all who met him.

It seemed only just and reasonable that
Elizabeth should be granted an uncomplicated delivery of her first
child after the trauma and pain she had so recently endured. And so
it was. Her pangs, while hardly trifling, were well within the
scope of what she could bear without desperation, and the memory of
which lasted only as long as she was in any doubt of the infant’s
safety and good health.

Mr. Darcy, who had been anxiously pacing the
hall, received the first information of his son’s arrival from the
child’s own lips. The robust cry suggested health and vigor, a hope
which was confirmed when Jane emerged to give the new father a
report. The fact that he had a healthy son and his wife was doing
well rendered Mr. Darcy completely speechless for some minutes. His
eyes alone expressed to his sister-in-law all he felt. After she
returned to Elizabeth’s side, Darcy offered his silent eloquence up
to his God in praise and thanksgiving.

Mr. Thornton and his little church in Kympton
hosted a flurry of special activity over the succeeding months.
First, and of foremost importance in the minds of those whose
prosperity depended on the Pemberley estates, the new son and heir
made his debut. He was christened with his mother’s maiden name, as
was his father before him, and generally touted as the very
reflection of Mr. Darcy, whose character and noble mien could
already be detected in the infant’s face by those who were
particularly perceptive.

One Sunday shortly thereafter, another
interesting, albeit less monumental, incident took place. Mr.
Sanditon created quite a stir that morning by bringing his two
young daughters with him to church for the first time. Few of those
present had ever seen the little girls before. So they, and by
association he, instantly became objects of fascination, especially
amongst the unmarried women in attendance. The gentleman, who had
often been viewed as proud and unsociable, appeared now in a more
sympathetic light. With his daughters easing the way, Mr. Sanditon
inspired and also admitted the kind attentions of a remarkably
suitable lady with whom he was to become very well acquainted over
the next few months.

A host of visitors came and went from
Pemberley that fall. Mrs. Darcy’s relations from Hertfordshire and
London arrived in September. Her father took particular pride in
seeing his new grandson who bore the Bennet name, especially
considering that he had no sons of his own to carry on the title.
Her mother never tired of basking in the splendor of such a fine
house and in the knowledge that her daughter was mistress there.
Aunt and Uncle Gardiner came as well, with their children, to renew
acquaintance with all their friends in Derbyshire. Since they had
much of the credit for uniting Darcy and Elizabeth in the first
place, they found a great deal of proprietary satisfaction in
seeing the first offspring of the match.

When these visitors were all gone away,
guests began arriving for Miss Darcy’s wedding. News soon spread
throughout the neighborhood that there would be nobility coming
amongst them, and the watch began for a very fine closed carriage –
a barouche with coat of arms it was rumored to be – which would
convey Lady Catherine de Bourgh to Pemberley. When the great lady
was assured that the place was free of riffraff, she did come,
bringing her daughter and son-in-law with her for the event. Her
previous visit having been long before the current Mrs. Darcy
presided, she keenly anticipated finding a serious decline in the
dignity and polish of the grand estate under the new management.
However, though she scrutinized the house and grounds down to the
minutest detail, all her efforts were frustrated; Pemberley was
just as fine as it had ever been when her own sister was its
mistress.