Page 111 of Sketching Mr. Darcy
G eorgiana and Mary travelled to Pemberley in the middle of February, together with Georgiana’s personal maid, four male servants to chaperone, and Titan and Lucky.
By Easter with Darcy’s help, Elizabeth had chosen and rented a building suitable for the school in Lambton and hired help for transforming one wing for girls and another for boys.
Having to travel often from Pemberley to Lambton—and eager to fully enjoy the blossoming lanes of their estate—Elizabeth Darcy learnt to ride under the strict protection of her husband.
She was given a beautiful white horse called Faith, whose good nature induced Elizabeth to become proficient in a short time.
In March, Elizabeth’s younger sisters joined them.
Surprisingly, Kitty and Lydia got along with Miss Darcy better than expected.
Georgiana borrowed from the girls’ energy while she lent them talent, wisdom, gravity, impeccable manners, and the beauty of Pemberley.
All were involved in Elizabeth’s excitement with the school project, and Mary declared that, were she to stay at Pemberley longer, she would love to spend a few hours a week sharing her knowledge with the girls.
Darcy carried on a regular correspondence with Mr Aldridge as well as with Lord Matlock and his cousin James.
He only travelled once in February, March, and April, taking James with him and explaining in detail everything he needed to know—just as he should have done years ago.
Then, starting in May, he transferred the responsibility to James’s shoulders, giving him only the support of Mr Aldridge and his son.
James expressed his frustration and displeasure in every letter and face-to-face meeting—with little success as Darcy remained unmoved.
James Darcy gave up neither his friends nor his habits, and he found Darcy’s insistence on managing the business disagreeable, boring, and useless as none of his peers did such things.
However, he felt guilty enough for Darcy’s past efforts and for what his cousin had to bear because of his friend Wickham that he accomplished his duty regardless.
His travelling—even if once a month—made him so tired that, when he returned to London, he slept several days to recover.
That reduced significantly the time he spent with his card-playing friends and consequently the debts he accrued in such activity.
Moreover, having felt first-hand the effort needed in making the money, he became more reluctant to throw it away.
At the end of May, the party grew larger again with more additions from the family.
The invitation from the master, passed to Janey, made the children cheer with joy and Janey cry with gratitude many days.
They travelled with Mr and Mrs Bingley and the Gardiners in two carriages filled with the voices and laughter of happy children. Mr Bingley’s sisters refused to attend in the presence of a servant and her children; somehow, their refusal distressed no one.
Once she arrived at Pemberley, Janey’s modesty made it difficult for her to adapt to being part of such illustrious company.
She asked Mrs Reynolds to give her some duties in the house to make herself useful.
But the children, with their innocence and genuine affection for the Darcys, soon became friends with the young Gardiners—and all with Lucky and Titan, who were the masters of Pemberley’s gardens.
The story of Libby and Peter’s bravery was much told and praised, and soon they became the small heroes of Pemberley and Lambton’s residences.
Mr and Mrs Bennet arrived at Pemberley at the beginning of July and stayed for two months.
Mrs Bennet was happier than ever before, having an apartment with beautiful views and two maids at her disposal, and she expressed her thanks and admiration for her son-in-law several times a day.
She kept as the deepest secret the nightmares in which she had forced Elizabeth to marry Mr Collins that November day, and the blame and guilt for her own foolishness almost eliminated her appetite for the exquisite Pemberley fare.
Mr Bennet spent most of his time in the library, enjoying the generous collection of books and brandy. His health seemed to be excellent, as well as his spirit every time he observed his beloved daughter and her husband displaying such true, complete understanding and affection.
In the last days of August, Lady Anne’s greatest wish came to life through the constant effort of the new Mrs Darcy. The school—new and clean, with a teacher hired for the boys and another for the girls—was ready to open its doors to the children.
Both Elizabeth and Darcy knew that the work was just beginning—that much effort was needed for the school to be properly valued by the children and their parents—but the biggest step had been made.
The first children to attend the school were Libby and Peter, whose residence—together with their mother and younger sister—had been established at Pemberley, so they could not refuse the master’s special request.
The Bennets and the Bingleys returned to Hertfordshire in September but received another invitation to spend Christmas at Pemberley, which they readily accepted.
Mrs Bennet carefully shared with Meryton society all the details of Mrs Darcy’s splendid estate and her situation beyond imagination, and she did not forget to mention—repeatedly—how wise Elizabeth had been to accept the right marriage proposal at the precise moment when Charlotte and Mr Collins happened to visit.
Mr Collins, though, was too devastated by the irrevocable loss of his noble patroness and barely heard anyone around him.
However, Mrs Bennet was content with the glances of jealousy from Sir William and Lady Lucas as well as several other families of the four and twenty she had been visiting.
***
Pemberley, 27 December, 1812
Days, weeks, and months flew by, and Christmas came to the Darcys with the celebration of their first year of marriage and the most wonderful gift they had received: their son, Alexander William Darcy, born six weeks earlier and about to be christened that day.
Pemberley was more animated than in many years, full of people, joy, and decorations.
Both Elizabeth and Darcy’s families and some friends were gathered together, including James Darcy, Miss Anne de Bourgh, Lady Mary and Mr Hasting, Lady Isabella—smiling on Colonel Fitzwilliam’s arm—and Mr Bingley’s sisters.
Elizabeth’s present felicity was enhanced by the news that Jane expected a child herself and Mr Bingley had purchased an estate only thirty miles away from Pemberley, which would bring her beloved sister close to her again.
In the splendour of her apartment, Elizabeth glanced at her image in the mirror. The dress fitted her well enough, as well as the set of garnet and diamond jewels that she had worn one year ago during their first appearance as husband and wife at Lady Matlock’s ball.
She was ready to leave the room when her eyes fell upon the diary started eleven years earlier and filled with her fears, hopes, wonderings, questions, sadness, and joy.
She opened the first page, and her eyes smiled with tears as she read the notes written such a long time ago.
She spotted the clumsy sketch she had made of the man she thought had appeared from nowhere to save her life—and her puppy’s—and whose features none of them could remember back then.
That man had returned to her life ten years later to save it once more and to change it forever.
The drawing was complete now—she had long ago sketched his face and his character—and every feature was clearly drawn in her mind and soul.
That man was her destiny, her pride, her happiness—her husband.
She closed the diary, brushed her fingers over it, and put it in the drawer. She had given it to her husband to read on their six-month anniversary, and now she did not need it except as a sweet memory. There was nothing she thought or felt that she could not reveal to her husband.
She sensed Darcy entering and spotted him in the mirror behind her. Her heart, her lips, and her eyes smiled at him, and he came closer, wrapping his arms around her and placing a soft kiss on her neck.
She met the depths of his dark eyes, so full of love, passion, generosity, and tenderness—all the traces that finally completed the sketch she started eleven years before.
“You look beautiful, my darling. Truly beautiful.”
“Are we expected?” she asked, turning in his arms to face him.
“Perhaps, but you are worth waiting for, no matter how late—although our son might feel your loss soon.”
She smiled and gently caressed his face.
“Did you see how dashing he looks? Mrs Reynolds said he is even more handsome than you were at his age.”
“It must be true, since he mostly resembles you.”
She laughed and briefly brushed her lips to his.
“I have the love of the present and the future masters of Pemberley—what else could I wish for? I still wonder what I did to deserve all this.”
“You deserve everything, Elizabeth, as you generously give everything. You are my love and my joy. You have brought so much happiness to my life—to our lives, my dearest, loveliest Elizabeth.”
“And you, dearest Mr Darcy, are just as I wrote in my journal eleven years ago: the hero of my heart,” Elizabeth whispered as she took her husband’s arm and elegantly descended the main staircase of Pemberley to the ballroom and their awaiting guests.