Page 23 of Done for the Best (Engaged to Mr Darcy #5)

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

ALL SWEETNESS AND AFFABILITY

“I cannot believe you are leaving again, Lizzy,” said Jane as they stood in their bedchamber, overseeing their maid who was once again packing Elizabeth’s trunk. They still had several days before they were due to travel, but Elizabeth imagined Lydia would consume the maid for most of that time with her endless indecision about what to wear.

“Nor can I,” she said with a little sigh. In truth, as much as Elizabeth enjoyed travel, particularly to new places, it had begun to wear on her, all the to and fro. If it saves Lydia from mischief-making, so be it, she reminded herself.

Moving to her closet, she retrieved a wrapped parcel, and brought it to the maid, saying, “This too, Sarah, and I suspect it might be breakable so?—”

“What is that?” Jane enquired, very nearly pouncing on the parcel as Sarah began to reach for it.

Elizabeth quickly retracted the parcel. “Nothing! ’Tis nothing!”

“The label says it is from Floris. Did you buy perfume? Can I smell it?”

“If I had wished to purchase scent, Floris is surely above my touch. I did not dare even enter the place, last I was in London,” Elizabeth replied with a chuckle.

“Then how did you get it? Why have you not unwrapped it?”

Elizabeth sighed. “Because…I am afraid of what is in it.”

“Afraid? You are making no sense to me.”

“Sarah, will you leave us for a few minutes?” The maid nodded, and left the two sisters. Elizabeth sank onto her bed, the parcel still in her hands. “Aunt Gardiner wrote to me…”

After a pause, Jane said, “Yes, and…?”

“She met Mr Darcy while shopping and spent a little time with him on Bond Street. Evidently, she and my uncle were subsequently invited to dine at Darcy House.”

Jane’s hand flew to her chest, her eyes wide. “In truth?”

Elizabeth nodded. “She told me only the barest sketch of things but said she would be happy to tell me more as I wished it. I have not yet had the courage to ask more.”

“Because you fear you might forgive him? Or miss him too much?”

Elizabeth did not reply to that directly. “Not only have I not had the courage to ask more, but I have also lacked the courage to open the parcel.”

“Do you know it is from him?”

“Who else?” She gave her sister a look. “My aunt suggested that I might expect something, indicating I ought not to let Papa hide it away in his study. This was what came.”

“I think you need to open it. Immediately,” Jane said firmly. “I will open it for you if you would like.”

“No, no, I…I shall open it. I shall.” Slowly, she unwrapped the paper. A missive fell to the ground; Jane picked it up for her then sat down beside her while Elizabeth gazed at the treasure she had unwrapped.

It was a pear-shaped bottle made of rock crystal with an ornate brass covering over the glass, which looked like vines and tendrils. It was, simply, one of the most beautiful perfume bottles she had ever seen—not that she had seen very many. Beside her, Jane breathed a sigh of delight, her closeness meaning that her breath went directly into Elizabeth’s ear.

“What does it smell like?” Jane asked. “Even if it smelt terrible, having this bottle alone would be well worth it!”

Elizabeth by then had removed the bronze-capped stopper. She held it to her nose, inhaling deeply of a fragrance unlike anything she had ever before smelt. “Exquisite,” she said, passing it to Jane to smell.

“Ohh! It is really just indescribable, is it not?” Jane glanced at the folded note. “And is this Mr Darcy’s hand?”

Elizabeth took the proffered note from Jane and glanced at it, then nodded.

Darcy had written her a number of letters, which she had publicly denounced but privately secreted away in her bedchamber. They had not been read, but neither had they been sent back or burnt. After the last had been received, she had told her father she wished him to write to Darcy and tell him to desist. She had not imagined her father would actually bestir himself to do it, but several days later, he informed her that he had done as she wished.

It seemed that Darcy had gone around that edict regardless. “High-handed,” she murmured, but she could not deny that the gesture pleased her. “Perhaps I am more persuaded by his wealth than I had ever imagined.”

“Persuaded or not, pray do open it,” Jane urged.

Elizabeth unfolded the paper, taking a moment to bring it to her nose. Even the paper smelt delicious.

Elizabeth,

I hope this small token will meet with your approval. The perfumer was instructed to concoct a scent that would answer some of your finest qualities—sweetness and light balanced with an agreeable piquancy of wit. What was created seemed very apt to me, and I hope you will enjoy it as well.

I must confess that in this endeavour I received the aid of two young but expert perfumers, Miss Gardiner and Miss Grace Gardiner, who were quick to guide me away from any errors of choice. Miss Grace also urged me to alter my own tastes in cologne, telling me that something in what I presently wore made her favourite cousin sneeze.

Elizabeth gasped.

“What is it?” Jane asked worriedly.

“Oh!” Elizabeth laid a hand on her head and chuckled ruefully. “Never tell Gracie a thing you do not want told to the entire world.”

“What did she tell?”

“She told Mr Darcy his cologne made me sneeze!”

“Did you tell her that?”

Elizabeth sighed. “Yes…I…I did tell her so. It was a bit of exaggeration—it sometimes made my eyes sting and my nose become stuffy—only when it was freshly applied, I believe—but I never actually sneezed. He always smelt very nice, of course…”

Elizabeth drifted into a recollection of the one time he held her, the time she had not given him any choice, thrusting herself directly into his arms and feeling his embrace. It had been nothing short of heavenly.

Jane was peering over her shoulder, clearly attempting to read the note. “He had it custom-blended for you! Do you have any notion of what this must have cost?”

Elizabeth shrugged, attempting to be nonchalant. “He is wealthy, as we know. I am sure he only wished to remind me of it.”

“Lizzy, stop.”

“I am only teasing.” She forced a chuckle and then returned to the page.

As I would not wish any part of me to be displeasing, I have forthwith had new cologne made for myself as well. Mr Floris assures me that my lady shall not be able to resist me with his latest concoction, and I can only hope, desperately, that it shall be one day true.

Until then, I remain yours — D

A contrariety of emotion beset her at the ending. The man does know how to end a letter in a heartfelt manner.

She took a deep, steadying breath and said, “I suppose I shall have to send it back.”

“Lizzy! No! I forbid it in every way.”

That made Elizabeth laugh. “Society forbids that I should keep it!”

“Society! Pah!” Jane cried out.

“We are not engaged, Jane. It would be highly improper, no matter how elegant the bottle or how delightful the scent.”

Jane took the bottle and smelt again. “Yes,” she said with an unusual note of satire in her voice, “do send it back. In any case, we can certainly make something of its like in our still-room, can we not? I shall go and see where Hill keeps the lily of the valley.”

“A lady cannot accept a gift from a man,” Elizabeth protested weakly over her laugh. “It would not be proper.”

Jane handed the bottle back to her sister, with a gleam in her eyes. “Were it me, I should keep the perfume and the man along with it.”

Elizabeth rolled her eyes. “My life long for a bottle of perfume. Am I really so cheaply bought?”

“It was decidedly not cheap. Perhaps you might at least forgive him?”

“On the basis of perfume?”

“On the basis of the fact that he loves you and would do anything for you.”

“Except tell me the truth. Even in this he has not been truthful!” Elizabeth waved the perfume at her sister. “This perfume was sent under the guise of a parcel from a shop! I am sure if my father knew it was a gift from Mr Darcy?—”

“He would not have done a thing and we both know it,” Jane concluded. “The officers were forever giving our younger sisters little gifts, and there was nary a blink from the book-room.”

Elizabeth winced. Was there no end to the examples put before her that Darcy had been, in fact, correct about her family? Then again, it was not his correctness in that regard that was in question, only his hurtful declarations about it.

“Do you truly think he was shopping with Mrs Gardiner?” she enquired. “I cannot comprehend that. He did not even wish to enter the house when he brought me to Gracechurch Street.”

“Write to her,” Jane suggested. “Then you will know.”

Elizabeth did write to her aunt, giving her direction in Brighton and saying she wished to know all. Mrs Gardiner responded with alacrity—evidently, she had wished fervently to write to her niece with the details of the events in London.

It seemed he had been searching for a gift for you, Lizzy, and had not met with success. Elspeth and Grace were quick to offer their opinions, and although I might have admonished them for speaking so decidedly to such a gentleman, Mr Darcy did appear to be grateful to them. I would not have gone into such a shop as Floris on my own accord, but it appears Mr Darcy thought it perfectly natural to escort us there and set about creating perfumes for not only you but the girls as well. And himself—I am afraid Gracie might have suggested you were not fond of his cologne.

Elizabeth, despite her prior intelligence on this matter, found herself blushing anew. With a fond shake of her head, she continued to read.

It was shortly thereafter when your uncle and I found ourselves invited to dine at Mr Darcy’s home. We accepted, of course, and had a wonderful evening with not only Mr and Miss Darcy but Lord Saye and his parents, the Earl and Countess of Matlock. You might have knocked me over with a feather when I saw them all, but I found them perfectly amiable. Lord Saye has a bit of a flaming character, but he kept us all laughing even if he seemed, at times, to vex his cousin.

There was more—Mrs Gardiner gave a detailed account of what they dined on and how late they remained—but Elizabeth was not wholly persuaded by it. “All well and good to invite them to Mayfair,” she scoffed. “See if he would dirty himself by going to Gracechurch Street!”

Then her eyes fell a bit farther down the page.

…brought his sister to drink tea with me while he and Lord Saye called on your uncle in his office. Evidently, they mean to make some sort of investment…

Elizabeth could read no more. Very well , she told herself. He has amended the part of himself that has unfairly judged the Gardiners. Who in their right mind would not like my aunt and uncle Gardiner! See how he enjoys an evening with the Philipses!

Then again, she reminded herself, she herself did not particularly enjoy evenings with her aunt and uncle Philips, not due to their station, naturally, but rather their characters. Her aunt was full of hilarity and high spirits, but when entertaining, she had a decided tendency to become vulgar. Even when not entertaining, the subjects she found suitable for polite conversation often provoked Elizabeth to blush or cringe. As for her uncle, he was stuffy and drank too much, though he could be depended upon to be silent.

Darcy probably would have met the Philipses in Meryton last autumn and perhaps had assumed the Gardiners would be much the like, she realised. He had probably imagined that the Gardiners would also be drunk, vulgar, and loud. But they were not, and he had revised his opinion when confronted with that truth—had even taken his sister to Gracechurch Street to call on them.

Reading on, Elizabeth learnt that Georgiana had been utterly charmed by the Gardiners’ children and had kept little Henry on her lap nearly the entire visit. Even when the baby had spit up a little on her gown, she had waved off any attempt to remove him.

What does any of this signify if you intend to never see him again?

Never to see him again. Why was it that the thought of that left her feeling so hollow inside?