The Darcys of Pemberley (4 page)

Recovering from his surprise, Mr. Darcy had
the presence of mind to inquire, “Where are you looking? In this
general vicinity, in Hertfordshire?”

“Actually, no,” said Bingley. “I have never
very much occasion to go into town anymore, so there is no need to
be this close to London. And we have found after living here for
some months that certain aspects of the neighborhood are not
completely … uh … agreeable. We would, therefore, like to make a
change.”

Although he did not say the words, his
meaning was clear enough. They could all appreciate the idea that
it is possible for a woman to be settled too near her family.

“Then where will you go?” Elizabeth demanded.
“Do not keep us in suspense! What is your plan?”

With a shy smile, Jane answered, “We were
thinking that some place in Derbyshire might be nice.”

The Bingleys could have been in no doubt as
to how their friends would receive this proposal. Exclamations of
delight immediately confirmed the general approbation of the plan.
Whilst the sisters expounded on their felicity, the men discussed
the logistics of the move and the task of making inquiries.

“My resources are entirely at your disposal,
Bingley,” said Darcy. “I will send word as soon as I hear of
anything suitable. What specifically do you have in mind?”

“You know that Pemberley has always been my
ideal, but I suppose it is not available,” Bingley said, laughing.
“And something on a more modest scale will do very well for us. Let
it be a place with a little charm, a good income, and within an
easy distance of our friends, and we shall be satisfied.”

“Again, as with the other matter,” said Jane,
“we must ask you to keep this confidential until we are able to
find the best way of telling my parents. I am afraid they will not
be as pleased with our decision as you are, Lizzy.”

“Indeed. I do not envy you the job of
informing Mama; she will likely go into hysterics. Our gain is
truly at her expense. I
should
be sorry for her loss, but I
cannot help smiling. Oh, Jane, to have you and Bingley close to
Pemberley – I could ask for nothing better!”

Pemberley

Another visit was paid to the Bennets on the
morrow, as had been promised. The day passed unremarkably, and
everybody got their fill of everybody else before the party broke
up. Since the Darcys planned to depart for Derbyshire early the
next morning, they made their final farewells amidst the fuss and
falderal of Mrs. Bennet, the benign resignation of Mr. Bennet, and
the warm wishes of the girls.

As the carriage drove away, Elizabeth looked
back to wave, saying farewell not only to her family, but also to
Longbourn. She had lived all but the last year of her life there.
Yet, despite the fond memories, she had forsaken her childhood home
without a qualm when she and Mr. Darcy married. Smiling at the
thought, Elizabeth marveled once more at the ease of her
adjustment. Pemberley had quickly supplanted Longbourn in her
heart. Her life and her future were there now, with her
husband.

“How glad I shall be when we are at home
again,” she remarked
en route
to Netherfield. “We have
scarcely been gone above a week, I know, but it seems an age.
Although it is always charming to travel and to visit friends, I
shall be even more gratified to return to Pemberley. It seems that
every day I spend there makes me less willing to bear any other
place.”

Darcy, sitting by her side, pressed her hand.
“It pleases me to hear you speak of Pemberley with so much feeling.
I daresay you love the place nearly as much as I do now.”

“Oh, yes, but then Pemberley stole my heart
the first time I saw it.”

“What a pity you cannot say the same for me,”
said Darcy dryly.

“Yes, a great pity,” Elizabeth mused. “As I
recall, it took much longer for me to discover
your
merits;
they were so well-concealed.”

Darcy raised an eyebrow. “If you were so long
in discovering them, perhaps the fault was not with the subject but
with the observer.
I
was much more astute. I accurately
assessed your virtues and wasted no time falling in love with
you.”

“That was no great feat, sir, nothing that
others before you had not been able to accomplish. Please remember
that you were not the first to propose to me.”

“Indeed. I had momentarily forgotten that I
had a rival for your affection. How ironic that, on this question
at least, Mr. Collins and I should have had the same taste.”

“And it was a difficult choice for me, you
know,” Elizabeth teased. “He was quicker to come to the point, but
you showed more perseverance. Mr. Collins abandoned the campaign
after only one refusal; you did not.
That
is what decided
the matter.”

“Well, it is pleasant to have everything so
neatly explained. But I must confess I am astounded that, with all
my good qualities, it was my constancy alone that won you. Nothing
else entered in?”

Elizabeth thought for a moment. “I suppose I
must admit to being somewhat influenced by your other manifold
attractions.”

“There, you see? I knew there was more to
it.”

“True,” she answered, with a playful grin.
“The fact that you were the owner of Pemberley, for instance, was a
circumstance highly in your favor.”

“Yes, of course,” conceded Mr. Darcy. “As we
have already established, you fell in love with Pemberley much more
readily than you did with me. I think I was perhaps fortunate that
you did not have to choose between the two.”

~*~

The next morning, immediately following
breakfast, the Darcys made ready to quit Netherfield and begin
their journey north. Jane and Mr. Bingley bid them Godspeed as they
set off.

Mr. Darcy had traveled the considerable
distance between London and Pemberley dozens of times before. He
accepted the inconvenience as a modest price to pay for the
privilege of living in Derbyshire. The roads had been much improved
over the appalling state that once predominated. Now, with a
quality carriage, good weather, and a little luck, the trip might
be accomplished in two days with reasonable safety – even tolerable
comfort if a room at a reliable inn could be procured when the
daylight fled. Yet one could not completely dispense with the
inherent risks, only seek to minimize them by due diligence.

Elizabeth left such worries entirely to her
husband. For her, travel still seemed something of an adventure,
since she had done so little of it. Although this route was
becoming familiar to her, she never tired of the scenery – the
green fields and rolling hills of the south, the deep shades and
rocky outcrops of the north.

By the middle of the second day, Elizabeth’s
anticipation increased as she recognized views and villages that
verified they were nearing Pemberley. Then she caught her first
glimpse of Lambton, where she and her Aunt and Uncle Gardiner
stayed the first time she visited Derbyshire. Elizabeth could never
pass through it without fondly remembering how that trip had given
rise to a fortuitous meeting between Mr. Darcy and herself – one
which rekindled his hopes and her interest in the possibility of a
future together. Now, reaching Lambton also meant she was within
five miles of her home.

When they at last arrived at the entrance to
the vast estate, Elizabeth asked that the hood be folded down on
the barouche to open an outlook to the drive ahead. It was warm for
October, and plenty of daylight remained by which to enjoy the
natural beauties of the park with its fine stands of tall trees,
grassy meadows, hills, and dales. Every turn brought a new
vista.

According to private tradition – one begun on
return from their wedding journey – Darcy ordered the carriage
stopped for a few minutes at the spot where the house itself first
came into sight. The view across the valley to the stately
structure was one of the best prospects anywhere on the property,
and a particular favorite with the young couple. Situated on rising
ground and framed by wood and water, the house looked at home in
its natural surroundings, unencumbered as it was by any awkwardly
artificial ornamentation.

From this point, the lane wound down to the
lazy stream that traversed the estate and widened out in front of
the house, forming a small lake. An old stone bridge straddled the
watercourse at a narrowing and carried the drive across to the
final approach. The carriage passed along this picturesque way and
through the arched gate, finally coming to rest in front of the
doors of Pemberley House itself. They were home.

Darcy and Elizabeth were only just out of the
carriage when Georgiana, who had been on the lookout for their
arrival, emerged to welcome them. She greeted and embraced each of
the travelers in turn, saying, “Thank God you have returned safely!
I know that I should not fret, but one hears such tales – accidents
and highwaymen. Did your journey go well, then?”

“As well as one could hope for under the
circumstances,” her brother replied. “It was hardly a pleasure
scheme, though it did afford us the opportunity to visit the
Bingleys and Elizabeth’s family. You continue in good health I
trust, Georgiana.”

“Oh yes. I suffered nothing more substantial
than worry and boredom while you were away. But, now you are come
back to amuse me, I feel on the verge of a full recovery.”

“I think you give us too much credit for
being entertaining,” said Elizabeth. “I fear we will disappoint
your high expectations.”

Georgiana laughed. “Good heavens, no! You
could not disappoint me because I require so very little. All I ask
is a bit more liveliness of conversation than I can expect from
dear Mrs. Reynolds. And I shall be glad to resume our musical
collaborations, Lizzy. I have carried on alone in your absence, but
it is not the same.”

“Not the same perhaps, yet I daresay the
quality of the performance did not suffer for want of
my
poor contribution. Your brother is the one to be pitied. For a
week, he has been subjected to my playing in place of yours.”

“You will allow me to be the judge of that,
if you please,” said Darcy. “Georgiana may be more skilled at the
pianoforte, but I have never heard a singing voice finer than
yours. I must, therefore, side entirely with my sister; your
individual talents display to best advantage when you perform
together.”

Elizabeth yielded. “Very well. I can hardly
stand against you both. I did purchase the music you requested,
Georgiana, along with a couple other pieces that looked
interesting. So we have some practicing to do.”

Proceeding indoors, they were met by the
elderly housekeeper Mrs. Reynolds and other servants to attend to
their needs. Darcy and Elizabeth presently retreated upstairs to
their private apartments to change from their traveling clothes and
wash away the dust of the journey. An hour or so later, they joined
Georgiana in the saloon.

The north-facing casements, which opened all
the way to the floor, captured an abundance of daylight year round
and a cooling breeze in summer, making the saloon one of the
family’s favorite rooms. Elizabeth crossed to the windows with
every intention of stepping out onto the porch, as she so often
did. But the light had faded with the lateness of the hour, and the
warmth of the fire appealed more than the freshening air outdoors.
She satisfied herself with the view from inside, surveying the vast
lawn below, dotted with a dozen oak trees, and then allowing her
eyes to recede by degrees up the slope and deep into the twilight
shades of the wooded hills beyond.

After drinking in her fill of the scene, she
settled next to her husband on the sofa, resting a hand on his. The
two exchanged a long, languid look that wordlessly communicated
their mutual contentment in returning to home and hearth.

“Oh, Georgiana,” said Elizabeth presently, “I
told you that your brother and I would provide little
entertainment, but we do at least bring you some news from the
Bingleys. And what excellent news it is too! Though it is a great
secret, it can do no harm to tell you. Mr. Bingley and Jane are
planning to move to this vicinity, to buy an estate and settle
permanently near here.”

“How marvelous! What a pleasure it will be to
have them so close at hand.”

Georgiana had known Mr. Bingley for years,
but Jane she had met only twice – at the wedding and again when the
Bingleys visited Pemberley the following spring. Yet Elizabeth felt
certain that the two only wanted a little more familiarity to grow
as close as sisters. In both she saw a similar sweetness of temper,
the same gentle, affectionate hearts.

Quiet conversation and a hearty supper
occupied the three Darcys for the remainder of the evening. Then,
weary from their journey, the travelers retired early.

Next morning, the couple lingered lazily in
bed, reluctant to forfeit its lavish comfort for the
responsibilities that awaited them. Darcy absently twisted the
loose waves of his wife’s chestnut hair round his fingers while
she, nestled up against him, pondered the dancing light and shadow
patterns cast by the lace curtains upon the wall.

At length, Elizabeth commented with a yawn,
“I suppose we really should rise and begin the day.”

“Yes, you are quite right; we should indeed,”
agreed Darcy without conviction.

Neither of them made any attempt to stir from
their cozy positions.

“What are your plans?” Elizabeth asked some
minutes later.

“I must confer with Mr. Adams,” he answered,
referring to his trusted land steward. “According to his
information, there are a number of matters that require my early
attention – a petition from one of the cottagers, another report of
poaching, and so forth.”