Page 44 of Five Gentlemen at Netherfield (Pride and Prejudice Variations)

“It is not merely the money, but your youth,” Denny said patiently, “and while I do not pretend to speak for my fellows, it is reasonable that many young men would choose to be cautious under the current situation. Your father is ill, your uncles are entirely in control of your fortune, and you are only sixteen years of age. In any case, why would you wish to marry now? Would it not be more enjoyable to spend the next few years dancing and flirting and breaking hearts?”

She blinked at him, her eyes huge, her mind working in a most unaccustomed fashion. She was not in the habit of thinking about life, except for how to wring the most enjoyment that she could out of it. But she had wanted to marry as quickly as possible, and now Captain Denny said she was too young?

Was she too young?

“Ladies, gentlemen,” Mr. Phillips announced from the other end of the room. “It is time for dinner.”

***

Music Room

Pemberley

Evening

Three Days Later

Darcy relaxed across the settee, his arm draped across the carved walnut back, as his hand tapped the cushion in time with the music.

Richard sat in another chair nearby, politely attentive, while Mrs. Gardiner sat upright in a chair nearer the fire.

Mary Bennet sat at the pianoforte, her hands moving over the keys with an almost clock-like precision, with Georgiana watching intently and turning the pages of the music as Mary required.

It was Elizabeth, standing beside the instrument a little further down from the bench where the two younger girls sat, who brought the music to life with her voice and a fluid passion that made up in joy what it might lack in technical skill.

Darcy had recognized the book of music, as Georgiana opened it, to be one of Thomas Moore’s Volumes of Irish Melodies.

Darcy, having heard every one of Moore’s Melodies in various theaters and London drawing rooms multiple times, considered himself well-enough acquainted with them to make judgments on the various performances thereof.

He could say without reservation that Elizabeth’s performance was by far his favorite.

She was not as skilled as the classically trained singers at the theaters, of course, and did not have the advantage of the music masters that the young society misses of London did.

The concert-hall singers could nearly approach her passion, perhaps, but neither they nor the sitting room ladies of society had anything like Elizabeth’s sheer joy in her own singing and music, and that, Darcy concluded adoringly, made all the difference.

Nor did any of those other ladies look half so lovely, Darcy thought.

Elizabeth’s eyes sparkled, her cheeks flushed becomingly.

Gone was the pale, exhausted waif who had emerged from the carriage and leaned on his arm a trifle harder than she had probably meant to.

Good food, brisk fresh air, long meandering walks, early nights and late mornings and deep restful sleep had done their job to restore the worn Miss Bennet’s health.

Now, she sang with verve and passion, simply and without airs, without unnecessary embellishment or conceited showing off.

She sang, as she did everything, with her whole heart and genuineness.

It was refreshing for anyone jaded with the airs and graces so endemic in Town, which was no small part of the reason Darcy had fallen so deeply in love with her.

Elizabeth wore no mask, made no pretensions to any greater skill than she truly possessed, felt no need to deride those around her in order to build herself up.

She was simple, and honest, and kind … and wonderful.

Georgiana shifted to reach over and turn the page for Mary, and Darcy’s eyes and thoughts switched to his sister.

A warm smile graced her features, and his eyes lingered on the contentment on her face and the comfortable slope of her shoulders.

It was rare for his painfully shy sister to achieve any sort of ease in the company of those she had not known for her whole life, and some of those individuals, like Lady Catherine de Bourgh, still intimidated sensitive Georgiana.

Yet there she sat beside Mary Bennet, no shade of unease in her posture or clouding her face, enjoying the music and the companionship of the others in the room.

Darcy and their cousin Richard were at the top of the list of people with whom Georgiana felt comfortable, but the two Bennet sisters and their motherly aunt Gardiner had also made that list with gratifying rapidity.

Darcy was grateful for the burgeoning friendships there.

Georgiana had also expressed her delight in the young Gardiner children.

No more at ease with children than with adults, Darcy had spent little time with them, but he had observed them from the windows on occasion as the youngsters ran around on the lawn or splashed in the trout stream while attentive nurses and maids hovered nearby, or ran through the kennels in joyful romp with the litters of puppies, or carefully carried handfuls of kittens from their nests in the stable straw.

They were good children, kindly and gentle to small animals, sturdy and full of vigor and joy, shouting and running about in the vast open spaces of Pemberley.

It was odd to have children in residence, and Darcy had yet to weary of watching the sight out of the windows.

He had even begun to think, tentatively and curiously, of small Darcys running through the halls, the lawns ringing with the joyous shouts of the children of the house.

It was an appealing picture, especially with Elizabeth as their mother standing and watching with a glad smile.

He was broken from his thoughts as Miss Mary finished the song with a flourish, and the pianoforte and Miss Bennet both fell silent.

The audience of three clapped enthusiastically, and Elizabeth curtsied comically. “Thank you,” she said with a grin and then turned to her sister and Georgiana. “Now, I do hope you will play your duet together. It is beautiful.”

Georgiana flushed pink and looked at Mary, who looked back and said, “Shall we?”

To Darcy’s surprise and relief, his sister smiled and said, “If you think we are good enough, yes!”

“You are definitely good enough,” Elizabeth declared and walked over and sat down beside Darcy.

She smelled of lilacs and sunshine, though how could anyone smell of sunshine? Somehow she did, and his heart sped up. Oh, how he loved her.

The duet began, and she shifted a trifle closer to him, and he found himself lifting a prayer to God above that he would win this glorious woman as his wife.