Mr. Darcy's Proposal (20 page)

“I suspect you would like to refresh yourself and rest after our journey today. We will have dinner around 6:30. Until then, if you will excuse me, I have some business requiring my immediate attention.”

“Yes, thank you. I had not realized until this moment how fatigued I am.”

“I have asked Mrs. Reynolds to assign one of the maids to take care of you for a few weeks until we can find just the right person to fill that role permanently. I hope she will meet with your approval. Mrs. Reynolds said her name was Margaret.”

“I am sure she will be just fine,” Elizabeth responded.

“This evening after dinner, I will show you the library. I think you will be very pleased with all it has to offer.”

Elizabeth sensed the intensity of his emotion and was certain he would have liked to kiss her now they were alone. She was unsure how she might react if he did. Before she could make up her mind, he lifted her hand, but instead of kissing the back of it as he had done many times before, he turned it over and kissed the tender inside of her wrist. The intimacy of it caused her to emit a slight gasp.

“Until this evening, Mrs. Darcy,” he said. Elizabeth stared at his back as he walked away. Her heart was beating so loudly that she was sure it was competing with the clock on the mantel.

Twenty Five

Elizabeth entered her bedchamber looking around in disbelief at its size and elegance. Before she had time to begin investigating, she heard a knock. Mrs. Reynolds was at the door with a young woman who was staring uncomfortably at the floor.

“Please excuse me, Mrs. Darcy,” said Mrs. Reynolds. “This is Margaret. She will be acting as your lady’s maid for the first few weeks. She is a good girl and has been in service here for several years. Most recently, she assisted Sally in taking care of Miss Darcy as well as seeing to many of our visitors.”

The young woman curtsied to Elizabeth and spoke in a soft voice, “Pleased to meet you, Mrs. Darcy.”

Elizabeth looked Margaret over and saw a shy young woman who was more nervous about her new role than Elizabeth was about her own. Being the lady’s maid for the mistress of the house—even temporarily—was a major responsibility, and she must be worried about how she would perform. Elizabeth resolved to put Margaret at ease if she could.

“Margaret will unpack your trunk and see to it if you wish a bath,” said Mrs. Reynolds.

“I would like to lie down and rest for a while before bathing,” Elizabeth told her.

“Yes, mistress.” The young girl excused herself past Elizabeth and went into the dressing room.

“Thank you. Mrs. Reynolds, I would like to meet with you first thing tomorrow morning to begin learning about how this house runs.”

“Of course, Mrs. Darcy. This evening, if there is anything I can do for you, anything you need, please let me know. We are all at your service. The staff is very anxious to make you feel comfortable and welcome here.”

After shedding her traveling dress, she lay down on the big bed and began thinking about Pemberley. As her mind drifted over all she had seen, she began to wonder just what she had gotten herself into. It was difficult not to feel overwhelmed. The next thing she knew, someone was gently touching her shoulder. Although she felt a little awkward about being dressed and bathed by a servant, Margaret seemed to know just how to make her feel at ease. Clearly, she had been well trained, and they quickly began to feel comfortable with each other.

***

That evening, they took their meal in the small family dining room where the setting was more intimate. Darcy seemed in a pleasant mood but as usual, he said very little. After asking him a few questions about Pemberley, he began to open up. She discovered he was happy to talk at length about his home or about the history of the house.

One thing led to another, and he began to tell her about his first pony, a birthday gift from his parents when he was a boy. Whenever Darcy talked about his childhood, he seemed to grow lighter in his speech and manner as if recalling a time when he was more relaxed and possibly less formal than he was now. Elizabeth wondered what he had been like as a child and resolved to ask Mrs. Reynolds about that tomorrow.

After dinner, Darcy took her to the library. The room was enormous, easily four times the size of her father’s library with floor to ceiling shelves almost completely around three walls. The other wall was filled with tall windows to let in the maximum amount of light during the day for reading.

As they walked around the room, Darcy talked about how the books were arranged so that later she would be able to find what she was looking for at any time. He explained that he had recently employed a young man studying at university to catalog and organize the entire library.

“My family has been building this collection for many generations,” he said proudly, “and I am always looking for books worthy enough to be added.”

“I believe this room has the largest number of books I have ever seen in one place except for a few of the shops in London. It will happily keep me busy reading for years.”

“I have it on the best authority that you are a great reader,” he said smiling.

Thinking of her conversation at Netherfield with Darcy and Miss Bingley, she said, “Based on the number of volumes available here, I should be able to meet at least one item from the list of accomplishments you once told me that a lady should have.”

“Accomplishments?” Darcy asked.

“Surely, you must remember Miss Bingley’s list of requirements a lady must have in order to be considered truly accomplished. Her list included singing, drawing, dancing, and speaking modern languages. You added one particular item to her list as I recall.”

“I said that a lady should add something ‘more substantial by the improvement of her mind through extensive reading.’”

“Yes, that was it.”

“I did not like the way Miss Bingley treated you, and I was attempting to come to your defense.”

“Oh, yes, Miss Bingley took great delight in being as unpleasant as possible to me at every opportunity. You were much more patient with her than I could ever be. She was constantly trying to capture your attention and show herself off in what she thought was a favorable manner.”

“She did not realize that her efforts had quite the opposite effect. My comment about reading was made in the hope of letting you know that I respect women who are intelligent and have a liveliness of mind much more than those who have just superficial accomplishments to their credit. I hope you took it as a compliment,” he said.

Elizabeth blushed. “I was uncertain what you meant. At the time, I thought you took no notice of me at all except to disapprove.”

Darcy turned and took her hands in his. “Whenever you were in the room, I could hardly notice anything else.”

“If that was the case, why were you so often silent?”

“I was occupied with watching you, of course,” he said wryly.

“I left you speechless then,” she teased, giving him a flirtatious glance that was rewarded by a brief glimpse of one of his dimples. Darcy continued to gaze at her until she became uncomfortable and looked away.

“My father would have been quite delirious over just being in a room with this many books. If he had come to visit, we would never have seen him at all. I would have been sending all his meals to the library,” she said, moving over to one of the bookshelves. She ran her fingers along the spines of the books and found their beautiful leather covers delicious to her touch.

“I am sorry not to have known your father better. He was a very good man,” Darcy responded.

“He was, but I admit at times I thought he loved being with his books more than with his family.”

Walking over to the big table that served as a desk, Darcy picked up a small package wrapped in white paper and tied with a pretty ribbon. “I wanted to give you something to mark your first day here at Pemberley. Having discovered you do not value fancy gifts as much as some women do, I decided this might be more appropriate.”

Elizabeth could not help but be touched by his gesture. “Thank you,” she said, giving a genuine smile. “You seem to know me quite well.”

“As you recall, I now have many months of observation to guide me,” he replied. His smile was almost shy.

Removing the ribbon and paper wrapping, she found a slim volume of poetry bound in very fine leather. It was a collection of romantic poems. While she was familiar with many of the poets included in it, she had never seen this particular anthology before.

“I took the liberty of marking a few favorites,” he said.

Elizabeth found her heart softening to Darcy whenever he allowed this more thoughtful and gentle side of himself to come out, and she wondered if he knew the affect it had on her. Opening the book to one of the poems he had marked, she saw it was one of her favorite sonnets by Shakespeare.

“Thank you very much. This is the perfect gift. I will treasure it always,” she said quietly blushing as she scanned the familiar lines of the sonnet—’
Let me not to the marriage of true minds Admit impediments’
it began. She turned quickly to another poem he had marked.
‘Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day…
’ Elizabeth prayed he would not see the color that had risen on her face.

“Is something wrong, Elizabeth?”

“I am deeply moved by the thoughtfulness of your gift,” she said. On impulse, she went over to him and standing on tiptoe kissed his cheek lightly. Now it was his turn to blush.

“I am still fatigued from our journey and would like to retire now if you will excuse me,” she said, stepping back.

“Yes, of course. I have kept you too long while I carried on about the library.”

“No, no. I enjoyed every minute of seeing it for myself after all the times I have visited it in my imagination.”

“I believe I will stay here for a while unless you need me to escort you back to the suite,” he said.

“I think I can find my way,” she told him. She was a little relieved she would be spared the awkwardness of saying good-night to him at the door to her bedchamber.

“Good-night and thank you again for my gift.” Reaching the door, she stopped and turned back to him. “And thank you for making me feel so welcome here.”

“This is your home,” he replied.

“No, not quite yet, but I believe it may be in time.”

Twenty Six

On her first morning at Pemberley, Darcy sent a message asking her to join him in the small dining room that the family often used. When she arrived, he was already seated at the head of the table sipping coffee. He stood immediately as she entered the room. Peeking in several of the silver covered serving dishes, she was amazed that so much food had been prepared for just the two of them. As she began to put some food onto her plate, she noticed that he remained standing.

“Please sit down. Do not wait for me.” He sat but did not pick up his fork again until she had joined him at the table. “I have some business with my steward this morning. I left many things in his hands since we had to be away for so long, and now there are a few items I must attend to immediately. I am sorry to leave you alone this morning, but perhaps I could show you more of the house this afternoon. Would you like that?”

“Yes, thank you. I planned to spend time with Mrs. Reynolds this morning to start going over the running of the household. I do not want to make any changes until I learn more about how things are being done now. Mrs. Reynolds has taken very good care of you and of Pemberley for many years, and it is going to take some time for me to grasp it all.”

“You could just rest this morning. We were on the road for the better part of two days.”

“Yes, but it is something I want to do.”

He smiled, and for a moment she began to think that being married to this man might be more pleasant than she had first thought.

***

“Mrs. Darcy, I want to welcome you again,” began Mrs. Reynolds when she met with Elizabeth later that morning. “Mr. Darcy has instructed me to tell you anything you wish to know about the running of the house. He has also said that over time you may wish to make some changes in various areas. Of course, all you have to do is ask, and we will carry out your wishes.”

“I know you have been doing an excellent job of managing the house for a very long time. Even though I had heard about the grandeur of Pemberley, I was not prepared for the sheer size of the house and the staff. I am not sure how long it will take me to even begin to understand the way things are done here. I hope you will be patient with me.”

“We will take all the time you need. I would like to say I am very pleased the master has finally decided to marry. I did not think he would ever find a young lady who was good enough for him, but it was worth the wait. I think he has made a very fine choice.”

“Thank you very much, Mrs. Reynolds. I appreciate your gesture.”

“Oh, no, mistress, it is no gesture. It is what I truly believe.”

“Well, then I thank you for your encouragement. I hope you will always speak frankly with me. I value your insight and experience.” They talked for an hour or so as the housekeeper acquainted her with the staff and their duties. Finally, Mrs. Reynolds offered to take Elizabeth below stairs to view rooms such as the kitchen, pantries, and laundry. Although these were areas Elizabeth would seldom visit in the future, they were vital to the smooth running of the house. Generally, Mrs. Reynolds would be her link to the staff who tended to the daily needs of family and guests of this vast estate.