Pemberley (11 page)

Mrs Bennet leaned on Mary, who looked about her as if she, too, were about to faint from fear. ‘The rooms are so lofty and handsome! The furniture shows the fortune of the proprietor! I am quite overcome! Kitty, you never told me of the greatness of Pemberley!'

A figure could be seen to be approaching at the far end of the long gallery. As it grew nearer, Mrs Bennet and Mary, whose legs had given way beneath them, and who had lowered themselves on to a sofa, rose as best they could and assumed pleasant expressions.

‘My dear Mrs Bennet,' said Mr Darcy, for it was he, ‘please forgive my not being here to greet you on arrival.' And he took the hands of Mrs Bennet and her two daughters, speaking civilly and informally to Kitty, who had already been a guest at Pemberley. ‘My sister looks forward to your visit,' he said smiling, ‘and she has new songs and airs to show you.'

Kitty Bennet thanked Mr Darcy for this, but without appearing excessively excited at the prospect.

‘And where is my dear daughter Elizabeth?' enquired Mrs Bennet, in a tone intended to be affectionate but in fact sounding querulous, as if supposing Mr Darcy to be in charge of Bluebeard's castle, here at Pemberley.

‘Elizabeth sleeps,' said Mr Darcy.

‘She sleeps?' cried Mrs Bennet, this time entertaining the suspicions which only her voice had betrayed earlier. ‘She is not well then, Mr Darcy? I must fly to her!'

Mr Darcy replied that his wife was perfectly well.

‘Ah,' cried Mrs Bennet, whose features became suffused with colour, ‘you must forgive my slowness and stupidity, my dear Mr Darcy' – and she turned and winked behind her at her daughters in a manner which even Kitty found objectionable in the extreme.

‘I am told of the library at Pemberley,' said Mary in a small voice, to cover the awkward silence. ‘Is it permissible to ask to see it?'

Mr Darcy appeared as relieved as might be expected, and insisted on conducting the party to the library instantly. ‘You will condone my haste, Mrs Bennet – when you have just come from a wearisome journey and would prefer to see your room …'

‘It is a great honour to see the treasures of Pemberley in such a fashion,' said Mrs Bennet hurriedly, although her feet were swelled up and painful, and her mind exclusively occupied with the condition of her daughter Elizabeth. ‘It is Mary who will tell you all you wish to know on the subject of books,' she prattled on, as Darcy took the party to the end of the gallery and, thence, through an ante-room, to the library's new addition, still half built in walnut and elm by the estate carpenter, under the direction of Mr Gresham, who supervised, at that moment, the carving of a pediment and fluting of Grecian pillars by the workman.

Mr Darcy made introductions and Mr Gresham bowed and spoke agreeably of the plan, on being informed that his handicraft celebrated the life of the late husband of Mrs Bennet.

‘I cannot see the necessity for all this!' said Mrs Bennet, who was unable to refrain from showing pique at the efforts made to order and embellish the library at Pemberley in honour of Mr Bennet rather than herself. ‘Mr Bennet passed many hours in the library at Longbourn, it is true, but I can wager he spent more than the half of them sitting at his table and drumming his fingers on the top!'

Mrs Bennet and her daughters were shown to their rooms by the housekeeper, Mrs Reynolds, and each expressed delight at the beauties to be seen from the windows. Carriages containing the other guests could also be espied winding down the road through the park to the house, though these were then lost to sight under the portico and must needs remain a subject for conjecture until such time as the Bennets were ready to come down for dinner. An early dusk descended on the trees and wooded hills; and Mrs Bennet, when she had tired of remarking on the beauty and size of the grounds, said peevishly that she was famished, and that the dinner hour was bound to be a very great deal more advanced than at Longbourn. There, dinner was at half past three – and likely to be cleared before the cloth was laid, as Mrs Bennet surmised, at Pemberley.

Lady Catherine de Bourgh was greeted by her niece, Miss Georgiana Darcy, who must now, for all her shyness at social functions, stand in as hostess. Miss de Bourgh and Master Roper were of Lady Catherine's party; and all stood awkwardly in the hall, for Darcy had not yet made an appearance, which only served to emphasise the absence of his wife.

‘Is Mrs Darcy not at Pemberley?' enquired Lady Catherine, as Master Roper eyed the approach to the long gallery keenly and expressed satisfaction at the furnishings and general splendour of the house. ‘I was not informed that she would be abroad at this time.'

Miss Darcy replied that Elizabeth was asleep; and that she was indeed at home.

‘Asleep?' said Catherine in astonishment.

‘Mrs Bennet and the Misses Bennet are arrived,' said Miss Darcy.

‘Ah, so dear Mrs Darcy entertains her family in her rooms,' said Lady Catherine in a grim tone. ‘This is exceedingly ill-mannered.'

‘Perhaps, Mama, it is a long time since she has seen them,' said Miss de Bourgh timidly.

‘Nonsense, Anne, you have no idea of what you say,' replied Lady Catherine.

Mr Darcy now appeared, and greetings took place all round. Master Roper, who was chubby and dark-haired, with a wide mouth that was none the less not good-natured, bowed low and was welcomed coolly by his host.

‘Many a time have I studied the plans and architectural drawings of Pemberley, but nothing had prepared me for the felicities and magnificence,' said Master Roper. ‘I have in my mind perfectly set out a plan of the pictures in the gallery, and I have no doubt I could place the exact spot, within an inch or two, where your latest acquisition by the late Sir Joshua Reynolds, purchased from the exhibition of his “130 performances” at the British Institution in Pall Mall, is hung. May I see if I am correct?'

‘Later, Sir,' said Mr Darcy in a tone now decidedly cold.

‘Mrs Darcy is with her mother and sister, I am informed,' said Lady Catherine. ‘I trust their journey was not too irksome.'

‘Not at all,' said Mr Darcy, surprised at the misinformation. ‘Mrs Bennet and her daughters rest after the journey.'

‘And dear Mrs Darcy will be down soon?' enquired Lady Catherine de Bourgh.

Here the door opened and Miss Bingley was shown in. ‘I came alone, my dear Darcy,' cried this young lady as she ran to the foot of the grand staircase, ‘for dear Charles and Jane take for ever to pack up their things and their child and their nurse and heaven knows what – and I had a carriage all to myself.'

Greetings were then exchanged; and in due course Miss Bingley, who had made effusions over Miss Georgiana Darcy that brought
colour to the girl's cheeks, enquired after the absent Mrs Fitzwilliam Darcy.

‘Mrs Darcy is asleep, it appears,' said Lady Catherine.

‘Indeed!' cried Miss Bingley. ‘I never saw dear Mrs Darcy so ill-looking as when I was out riding in the park recently – for, as you know, Darcy, it is impossible for me to resist coming all the way from Barlow for a gallop such as yours. Dearest Eliza was quite pale in the face, I have to say, her complexion quite gone and her fine eyes dull.'

Mr Darcy was about to reply to this, when he thought better of it and led his guests to the gallery.

‘After dinner Anne will delight us with her new songs on the pianoforte,' said Lady Catherine, on casting an eye on this instrument. ‘And my niece Georgiana will no doubt have added to her repertoire. Are we to assume as much from the Misses Bennet?'

Before any defence of the Bennet sisters could be put forward, however, Mrs Bennet herself appeared in the far doorway of the long gallery, her daughters on either side of her.

‘I do not think, my dear Mr Darcy, that I shall ever find my way round Pemberley,' cried she. ‘How many rooms are there, do you know?'

Mr Darcy did not reply to this, and his sister was left to perform the introductions, an office that would otherwise have been expected of his wife.

‘Indeed I recall your visit to Longbourn,' said Mrs Bennet to Lady Catherine de Bourgh. ‘You were most taken with the park, if I recall correctly.'

‘I have no such recollection,' said Lady Catherine.

‘I wager there are more rooms here than there are at Rosings.' continued Mrs Bennet.

‘Mama,' murmured Kitty, who had been long enough in the houses of both her elder sisters to know that this line of conversation would not be well received.

Mrs Bennet then turned to Master Roper and asked if this was
his first visit to Pemberley, for an awkward silence had fallen, in which Lady Catherine declared she would go to her room before dinner, and did so.

‘It is indeed, Ma'am,' replied Master Roper, ‘thought I am well acquainted with every detail of the place, from my early years. It is indeed like a dream come true.'

‘There will be no finer a setting for my grandson to grow up in,' said Mrs Bennet in triumph. ‘I understand your regret, dear Master Roper, at your ineligibility for such an upbringing.'

‘I wish to visit the library,' said Miss Mary Bennet.

Several voices were here raised, with directions on how to reach the library – for Mary, told not to wear her spectacles by Mrs Bennet, was exceedingly short-sighted and could not find her way again – and embarrassment was momentarily deflected.

‘And here are Mr and Mrs Bingley,' cried Miss Caroline Bingley as her brother and his wife Jane were shown in. ‘Why, you have taken longer in coming from Barlow than if it had been London!'

Jane Bingley did not take long to note the absence of her adored sister Elizabeth; and went on to ask Darcy if all was well with her.

‘Dear Elizabeth was caught in last night's storm and drenched to the skin,' replied Darcy, smiling at her sister, for she was the only one of the company to ask simply what ailed his wife. ‘She had perforce to shelter in a gypsy caravan in a field, and consequently she is fatigued and suffering a head-cold.'

‘My poor Lizzy,' cried Mrs Bennet, who had heard this. ‘It is most inadvisable, in her condition, to go tramping the fields in a storm.'

‘I had no idea she went into the caravan where I used to play,' said Georgiana in a childish tone.

‘I used to join in your games, dear Georgiana,' said Miss Bingley, ‘when I came to Pemberley.' And here she darted a glance at Mr Darcy.

Georgiana and Miss Bingley laughed at he memory. Dinner was announced and the company proceeded to the dining-parlour.

Elizabeth woke and for a time had no idea of whether it was morning, eve or noon – the curtains were open, but a dark that could belong to either end of a winter's day gathered outside. If it had not been for a rustle of feet in the corridor and the sound of voices deep down in the house, she would have thought it time to sleep again, except for the absence of Darcy; and the cold bed showing he had been long gone from it.

There was a light tap at the door and Jane came in and paused, then held out her arms and went over to the invalid. ‘My sweetest Lizzy, are you very ill? I am so anxious for you, I had to come up.'

‘Oh gracious!' cried Elizabeth, struggling to sit up. ‘Why, they must all be here! Oh, my dear Jane, was your journey most uncomfortable, with your time so near?' And Elizabeth from weakness wept at the relief of her sister, and the fear for her, in so advanced a state of pregnancy, on the lanes from Barlow to Pemberley.

‘Nonsense, Lizzy, we proceeded slowly and all was well,' said the robust Jane. ‘And I am come to tell you that indeed they are all here, but Darcy says you are on no account to come down, he fears for
your
health, and they will all do very well without you.'

‘I am sure that is so.' Said Elizabeth with a smile, ‘although I know he does not mean it as it sounds. But' – and here she leaned forward and took her sister by the hand – ‘how does Mama fare, and Kitty and Mary?'

‘They are in raptures over the board,' said kind Jane, who had no wish to report Mrs Bennet's infelicities. ‘They are exclaiming at some of the dishes they have never before seen in their lives, and Lady Catherine even indulges them at it.'

‘And Miss Bingley?' enquired Elizabeth.

‘Oh, she is most genial. It seems she and Miss Darcy have become the closest of friends – they plan their costume for the Pemberley ball together, in whispers.'

Elizabeth rose at this and went to the cabinet to dress before Jane could arrest her in her course. ‘I am
not
ill, Jane,' she said with a firmness her sister could only recognise and obey. ‘I went out last night to the village and was caught in the storm coming back. I slept a while in the caravan, that is all.'

‘You slept in the caravan?' cried Jane. ‘I am horrified, Lizzy! There are gypsies near us now, as you know, and you could have suffered terribly at their hands!'

‘I have long decided to retain my freedom and walk as far afield as I please, on my own,' Elizabeth replied. ‘I had no fear of the gypsies' – and here she came to take Jane in her arms and hold her close – ‘I have more to fear here at Pemberley than in the fields, dear Jane.'

‘I have thought of you in the last days,' came Jane's soft reply. ‘Why do you not at least spend the remainder of the day resting when I can see you have a cold in the head coming on?'

‘I have nothing of the kind,' said Elizabeth, going to the door and holding it open for her sister to pass through. ‘And I shall not be frightened by some of the company at Pemberley. This is a stubbornness about me that can never bear to be frightened at the actions or sayings of others. My courage always rises with every attempt to intimidate me.'

So saying, Elizabeth descended the higher staircase, with Jane after her, and made her way to the dining-parlour where the company was assembled.