Page 10 of An Offer of Marriage (Engaged to Mr Darcy #7)
AN UNHERALDED ARRIVAL
G racechurch Street was finer and more respectable than Darcy ever would have imagined.
Yes, there were warehouses in view—Miss Bingley had not been incorrect in that regard when she had sneered that Elizabeth’s uncle lived in sight of his business.
But the street was wide and the houses well-kept and large.
These were not mere merchants in Gracechurch Street, Darcy recognised, but prosperous owners of successful businesses, likely a banker or two as well.
Would it matter regardless? It is done. You are engaged to her.
His heart gave a little leap of pleasure, and he looked across the carriage to where Elizabeth had begun all the small stirrings that ladies seemed to do upon arriving somewhere: straightening skirts, smoothing hair, and gathering up reticules.
How he looked forward to learning all her little habits and patterns!
There was so much he did not know of her!
“Do you know what we did not discuss?” he asked as the carriage began drawing to a stop .
“What?”
“The date.”
“The…date? It is the tenth of April.”
That made Miss Lucas giggle, but she stopped when Elizabeth looked at her. It did make Darcy remember, however, that they were not alone and their wedding date was likely a conversation best had with privacy. “No, I meant the date we might marry,” he told her. “We will discuss it later.”
“Yes, that would likely be best,” she agreed.
She looked surprised when he moved to leave the carriage, and waved off his assistance in handing her down.
All the better; even raising his arm was painful.
A man opened the front door while they were all stepping down.
Within moments, two footmen had also emerged from the house and begun managing the ladies’ trunks.
Mr Gardiner keeps a butler and footmen? Darcy was amazed, perhaps more than he should have been given the size of the houses but…
still. He had not expected to find Elizabeth’s uncle in such an establishment.
Not far behind the footmen came an attractive, fashionably dressed woman who looked about Darcy’s own age. In a cultured, well-modulated voice, she said, “Lizzy? We did not expect you.”
“Forgive us, Aunt,” Elizabeth said, kissing the woman on her cheek. “Our visit was cut short in Kent. I hope this change of plans does not inconvenience you.”
The lady did not reply to that, instead turning her attention to Darcy and Fitzwilliam. “Kind sirs, thank you for seeing them to us.” She then took a step back which confused Darcy until he realised it was up to him to request the introduction.
“Elizabeth,” he said. “Will you introduce my cousin and I? ”
Elizabeth gave him another surprised look and then performed the office. Mrs Edward Gardiner, he learnt. The tradesman’s wife, from Mrs Bennet’s side. Be that as it may, he certainly would not have thought twice if meeting her in the highest of drawing rooms.
Mrs Gardiner was undeniably curious about the circumstances that had led to the nephew and son of the Earl of Matlock appearing on her doorstep; but, she kept to the matter at hand, urging them all into the house for some refreshment.
Very hastily, Elizabeth replied, “No, Aunt, thank you, but I am sure Mr Darcy and the colonel wish to be?—”
“Not at all,” Darcy said warmly, feeling pleased by her consideration. “We have time.”
“And I am fearfully hungry,” Fitzwilliam added. “I had scarcely a nibble in Bromley.”
“I daresay we may do something about that, then,” said Mrs Gardiner with a smile.
She promptly sent a footman to retrieve Mr Gardiner from his warehouse.
He arrived as they were all in the drawing room awaiting both the refreshments and the re-appearance of Elizabeth and Miss Lucas who had taken the opportunity to refresh themselves.
Darcy braced himself, anticipating a male version of Mrs Bennet, but nothing could have been further from the truth.
Mr Gardiner was pleasant and as genteel as his wife; he seemed about thirty-five years old and spoke in a clever, educated manner.
While awaiting the return of the ladies, he invited both Darcy and Fitzwilliam to come into his study for a look at some books he had lately procured. The library he had amassed was impressive and included titles Darcy himself had not yet got hold of. “You are an avid reader, sir?”
“I am. Seems I never have enough time for it these days, but I do enjoy it.” Mr Gardiner walked over to where he kept a decanter. He offered it with a silent gesture, and both Darcy and Fitzwilliam assented.
“Seems you ran into a spot of trouble?” he said as he handed both of them their drinks a few moments later.
“Sir?”
Mr Gardiner gestured towards Darcy’s face. “I hope the carriage was not set upon by highwaymen?”
Fitzwilliam barked a laugh and said, “Worse, our cousin Anne.” On Darcy’s quelling look, he only shrugged.
Mr Gardiner raised his brows. “That is surely not the scene I had imagined but forgive me, I do not mean to pry.”
“My cousin Anne, it seems, imagined that I might offer for her,” Darcy said delicately. “And was mightily disappointed to learn that I had proposed to Miss Bennet.”
Mr Gardiner’s brow furrowed, and he paused just as he was about to take a sip of his drink. “You proposed to Jane?” he enquired over the rim of his glass.
“Forgive me, no…Miss Elizabeth Bennet.”
“Of course, how stupid of me. Well.” Mr Gardiner looked between Darcy and Fitzwilliam. “A toast to you, sir. I could never admit it to my sister, but Lizzy is my favourite niece and I applaud your excellent choice.”
Darcy felt all the warmth of his words and for a moment could not speak, merely raising his glass and accepting the toast before taking a drink to pass the moment. If only he could be assured that his own family would be so sanguine!
The talk then turned to subjects more usual to a first meeting between acquaintances. Travel—the Gardiners had a trip to the Lakes planned for this summer. An expensive trip from the sounds of it. Darcy was again required to re-assess the man in front of him, and his means .
“Will your business suffer from your prolonged absence?” he enquired.
Mr Gardiner shook his head. “I have excellent managers. My thought, with every business I start, is that I would get it running smoothly enough that I might retire from it and spend more time at home. Alas, whenever that happens, I find myself launching some other new venture, and then turning my attention to that. I have concluded that I am simply not suited for a gentleman’s life; I enjoy occupation too well. ”
“How refreshing!” Colonel Fitzwilliam exclaimed. “It seems heresy to say so, but I have often felt the same. My mother is always urging me to take a wife, get away from the military life, but I confess…it all seems rather dull.”
He shot a grin towards Darcy. “With no disrespect intended to you or your ilk, Darcy!”
“I assure you, I have plenty of demands on my time,” Darcy replied, hoping he matched the geniality of the other two men.
“And likely more once you are married,” Mr Gardiner predicted with a droll look.
“Particularly once the ragamuffins are scampering about,” Fitzwilliam added jovially. “Then you will really know what it means to be busy!”
Mr Gardiner laughed heartily and raised his glass to Fitzwilliam. “Aye, aye, sir. There is a reason I can hardly finish a book these days!”
The housekeeper interrupted them then, informing them that the ladies had returned and were desirous of their company. Darcy needed no further urging; in such a short separation he found that he was nearly mad to be reunited with Elizabeth, his Elizabeth, once again .
What has become of me? he thought with amusement. I would never have thought myself a moon-calf for love, but here we are.
He stopped Mr Gardiner as the men rose and made to quit the book-room. “Sir, I had neglected to ask Elizabeth herself, but how long is she meant to remain here in town?”
“But a few days, although we did not expect her until the end of the month. Now she is here, I do not know if her father will insist she return to Longbourn immediately or permit her to remain in town.” He chuckled.
“I see by the turn of your countenance that my answer is not agreeable to you! I should think not, eh? Allow me to reassure you, sir, that for as long as Elizabeth wishes to remain with us, she may.”
Jane had not come to their shared bedchamber with her to refresh herself, and Elizabeth dearly wished that she had so that she might have explained why it was that Mr Darcy was acting in the way that he was.
He had entered the drawing room with her uncle, smiling and nodding as if the pair of them were old friends, and then he had come to the small sofa where she sat with Jane and wedged himself right in between them.
Jane, blushing, had hurriedly risen and gone a few feet over to the vacant chair where Mr Darcy ought to have situated himself.
Instead, Mr Darcy smiled and thanked her, saying in a low voice, “As I must be parted from her shortly, I fear I cannot bear to be even the shortest distance away from her now.”
Jane’s mouth fell agape, but she recovered herself quickly and mumbled some sort of agreeable syllables.
Though their arrival was unexpected, Mrs Gardiner’s cook had acquitted herself nicely, producing a veritable feast of fruits, meats, cheese, and bread.
Both Mr Darcy and the colonel were effusive in their praise of Mrs Gardiner’s hospitality which made her turn pink with pleasure and demur that it was all absolutely nothing and they must return on another occasion to dine with them.
“I do not doubt that Darcy here will wear out his welcome,” the colonel exclaimed jovially. “But I assure you, any invitations extended to include me will also be accepted with alacrity.”
This gave Elizabeth a jolt. Mr Darcy, dining with the Gardiners?
As if that were not shock enough, Mr Darcy leant towards Mrs Gardiner.
“My young sister serves as my hostess, although she is as yet unaware of any of this, I do hope that she might consent to arranging a small family dinner while Miss Elizabeth and Miss Bennet remain in town—Miss Lucas too, if she is so inclined.”
“Maria intends to return to Hertfordshire,” Mrs Gardiner told them all.
“She tells us that her elder brother is in town this week and has already sent him a note telling him he must escort her back to Hertfordshire. As for the rest of us, we should be well-pleased to accept Miss Darcy’s invitation, whenever she is inclined to offer it. ”