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“Oh, soon, of course,” said Georgiana. “Truly, even when my brother is not angry with me, I see him little. I am often alone, and I should like to be married to someone who truly dotes on me, who wishes to be in my presence often. And children, that would be lovely, too.” She gave Elizabeth a small smile.

Elizabeth thought that perhaps Georgiana should be shipped off to live at Longbourn with her sisters instead.

That might do her some good. Should she make a match for this poor girl or let her have the chance to be a girl, instead of giving her a household to run on her own at such a tender age and trying to turn her into a grown woman at sixteen?

But, well, regardless of what the best way was to do things, there was the way that society dictated, and who was she to cast aspersions on it?

“All right,” Elizabeth said softly, almost to herself, “I am working on a plan. If it goes well, I shall find a way to make everyone happy. ”

“I FEEL WE must talk about Georgiana,” said Elizabeth to her husband that evening in the drawing room.

“I know you went to visit her today,” said Mr. Darcy.

“I’m grateful you are looking in on her, I must say.

I love her dearly, but she and I have never been close, I’m afraid.

The distance in our ages, the fact that I know not what young girls such as herself even care about, it makes it all difficult. ”

Yes, Elizabeth knew it was about Mr. Wickham, but she had determined to leave the man out of the conversation if she could. Her husband did not seem to think clearly when it came to Mr. Wickham.

“I am curious about a few things,” said Elizabeth. “When do you wish to see your sister married, for instance?”

Mr. Darcy raised his eyebrows at her. “Well, she’s still quite young, I suppose, and I have neglected seeing to her coming out in society, so I suppose that must be delayed another year—”

“In point of fact, it is only February, and much of the activity of the Season is only now getting underway,” said Elizabeth.

“She likely has some dresses that will be acceptable for now as we are having new ones made up. It would not be impossible to have it all ready. We may or may not be able to get her presented to the Queen, of course. It depends on whether she will open her drawing room soon for young ladies to be presented. But I am told this is not entirely necessary.”

“She should be presented to the Queen, I think,” said Mr. Darcy. “I feel as if my aunt, Lady Matlock, should be involved in this conversation.”

“Well, you said she is out of town. When she returns, she will be.”

“I suppose you can’t simply send her a letter, considering you haven’t been introduced yet,” said Mr. Darcy. “However, you are related to her by marriage. Perhaps it wouldn’t go awry? ”

“You send her a letter, sir,” she said, shaking her head at him.

“I could,” he said, thinking about it. “You want to give Georgiana a Season, then.”

“I think she is very lonely, if you want to know the truth,” said Elizabeth.

“What I personally want is to put her somewhere in an environment of all young girls her own age and let them all giggle with each other and be young girls for a few more years. I think she could stand to be somewhere where she is safe and welcomed and happy, not in a ballroom. But that is neither here nor there, and I have no capability to move heaven and earth and create such a place for girls. Instead, I can make matches. So, she thinks marriage will make her feel less lonely, and perhaps she’s right.

I will find her a marriage, if I can. She wants someone blond with curls.

” Elizabeth smiled at her husband at the whimsy of it.

Mr. Darcy raised his eyebrows. “We are back to this matchmaking, I see.”

“We don’t go back to it, Fitz,” she sighed. “I am always thinking about it. It is what I do. And whether or not you think it is even possible, it does not change that fact that I know it is possible and that I am skilled at it.”

“I vex you. I see that.” He was chagrined. “I don’t mean to. I suppose it’s harmless.”

She knew it was, in fact, the opposite of harmless, and that her only worries about it were, in fact, the ways she could do harm to others.

But there was no point in this devolving into an argument.

“I have a plan for how I can maneuver into society when I have hitherto been hidden away like a bad secret,” she said.

“And I don’t know if you’ll like it, so I wish to speak to you about it before I implement it. ”

“Now wait a moment,” he said, sitting up straight in the easy chair where he was sitting and fixing her with a stern look. “A bad secret? Is that fair, Lizzy?”

“I did not say I was a bad secret, only that it could look that way. ”

“Oh, a politic sidestep,” he muttered.

“It occurred to me that having a marriage like this, one with a woman who is not entirely proper, it could be something to shift interest away from your sister. I thought I might lean into it. Instead of trying to be the most proper and perfect of wives, being seamlessly accepted into society, I thought I would attempt to be a bit improper.”

“What are you saying?” He sounded concerned.

“I worried you might not like it,” she said, smoothing her skirts over her knees.

“I would only be improper in ways that might make other women jealous, though, ways they might wish to be improper. Then it looks like freedom, and they are wont to accept me for embracing things they wish they could embrace but are too frightened to embrace.”

“I don’t know what you are talking about,” he said. “You speak as if propriety is a prison, and it is, in fact, what keeps everything functioning. If we tear it all down, we have no civilization left.”

“I don’t wish to tear anything down,” she said carefully. She sighed. “Are you regretting the fact that you told me that it was your duty to protect me from being too harsh on myself?”

“What?” He shook his head fiercely. “No, not at all. We are engaging in conversation is all, Lizzy. I would not have been as attracted to you as I am if you had not been quite intelligent. I would not be in a relationship with a woman who could not think, after all. I think that would be dull. I suppose I don’t understand, however.

Why can you not be proper in order to be accepted? ”

“Well, I am not proper, though,” said Elizabeth, spreading her hands. “You yourself have acknowledged this numerous times when talking about the match.”

He considered. He was still for a long moment, and then he nodded slowly. “I see. You will arrive at a ball, and even if you are the picture of perfection and good breeding and the best of manners, they will have already decided that you are wanting, because of your lack of connections.”

“Yes,” she said. “And so, I thought— ”

“Be what they silently accuse you of being,” he said.

“Yes, but not in a destructive way, sir, I swear! I thought… I don’t know.

I thought something to do with my dress, something to make it either more useful or more comfortable, something that is against the rules but in a trivial way, and in a way that will make them secretly wish they had a useful or comfortable dress and—”

“You’re very brilliant, Mrs. Darcy,” he interrupted, gazing at her with a fondness that reminded her of the way he looked at her when she wasn’t wearing clothes.

She felt herself flush, and she tucked her chin down against her chest.

“No, I have no objection to that,” he said. “Do what you will, and I know you will have the whole of society eating out of your hand in no time, my very brilliant and very winsome wife. I am in awe of you, truly.”

“You… stop it,” she said, because now he was going too far. She was not nearly as laudable as he said she was. But she was smiling. She liked it when he praised her. She could not deny that.

“But I am thinking of what you were saying about my sister, and… what if we don’t find her a match and what if we don’t give her a Season. What if I send her off to school?”

“To school, you say?”

“Well, that description of what you said, a place with young girls her own age where she would have companionship and not have to worry about a husband yet? It sounds like a school to me. And when I was that age, of course, I was sent to school. It’s different for boys than girls, of course.

She would not have the sorts of freedoms I did, but that is all for the best. She would, however, be safe and happy, I think. ”

“I had not thought of that,” said Elizabeth, who knew that there were schools for young women, of course. It had not been something within the reach of her family, who could not afford something like that, and it was not necessary for a girl to have schooling, not a girl of any class.

“I like it better, frankly, than marrying her off,” he said .

“Do you.”

“What’s that?” He glared at her.

She sighed. “I am sorry, Fitz! I don’t mean to take you to task, especially when you are just on the heels of so loudly singing my praises, but it is worrying that you are so eager to send her away from you!”

He sighed, too.

It was quiet.

He got up from his chair and came across the room to her.

She looked up at him, chewing on her bottom lip. She would not bring up Mr. Wickham. She refused to bring up that man!

He held out his hand to her.

She put her hand in his.

He pulled her to her feet and smiled as he looked into her eyes. “I shall speak to Georgiana, then, and ask her what she would like.”

“I only…” Oh, don’t do it, Elizabeth! Dash it all, it was coming out, “I wonder if the reason she was so agreeable was that he was paying attention to her, and if you keep treating her like she is a nuisance to be discarded, she is going to keep craving that, and she will be susceptible to any kind of man who will pay her that kind of mind, no matter what he is like.”

He winced, but he didn’t let go of her hand.

“Oh,” she moaned, pulling her hand away. “I cannot keep my mouth shut.”

“No, no, it’s all right. I am hearing what you are saying.

Perhaps a school in town. A day school. And she may accompany us to balls or to dinners in town, and she may dine with us every evening.

She can even come stay here if she likes.

No reason to have two households, so many servants, I suppose, if she wishes it? ”

“You mean that?”

“When I was her age, I really valued my independence,” he said.

“What is independence without freedom, sir?” she said pointedly .

“I’ll speak to her,” he said with a nod.

“Thank you,” she said with a small smile. “I’m sorry to pester you so.”

“You are very brilliant, as I have said,” he said, his voice dropping lower. “And I wonder how you would respond to the idea of being kissed all over your body in response to how much I admire that about you?”

She flushed again, pressing her body into his. “You… you…”

“Yes?” He waggled his eyebrows at her.

“Please,” she said, giving him a wicked grin. “Oh, please.”