Page 12 of The Countess and Her Sister

Miss Darcy joined Jane in admiring it. “Blue and silver are my favorite colors, too, Lady Jane, though William prefers greens and golds. Oh, but Miss Bennet, I hope you have purchased your own diary in a different color, else you might mix them up and accidentally discover all of each other’s secrets! ”

“Surely they share all their most intimate musings together already,” Rebecca said, passing them the other diary to examine, her eyes boring into Elizabeth.

Mr. Darcy handed Elizabeth the green and gold diary she had purchased for herself, his fingers brushing hers as he studied the delicately embossed pattern of leaves and vines. She flexed her fingers as she hastily withdrew from the accidental touch of his hand.

“It reminds me of the parklands around Pemberley in summer and autumn,” he mused. “I recall you were fond of walking through the woods of your own native county.”

“Yes,” Elizabeth said, her breath catching in her throat as she clutched the diary.

“Do you prefer summer or autumn?”

“Summer,” Elizabeth said at the same moment that Mr. Darcy gave the same answer to his own question. She laughed softly. “So far north as Derbyshire, I believe there are many who would say the same, sir.”

“It is the time that the land feels most alive,” he said, a dreamy look in his eyes.

“You would like it very well, if you remain so reminiscent of Hertfordshire. It is wilder and more vibrant. Even the air is more invigorating. We have a lake at Pemberley, it shines like a jewel when seen from the manor, and in summer when one treads close enough, it seems to beckon you to take a swim.”

Mr. Darcy recollected himself and cleared his throat.

“Lady Jane’s holdings – the young earl’s estate – is not twenty miles from Pemberley, and Montrose is very near, as well.

I am told your mother and sisters reside there.

Surely on your next visit north with the family, you must all have occasion to visit Pemberley. ”

“Oh, Pemberley!” Lady Augusta beamed at her nephew as she turned away from speaking to Richard. “We must all go north this summer! What do you say to that, Jane, my dearest?”

Jane had watched Elizabeth with neutral appraisal; she smiled modestly as she replied. “I would not be averse to quitting the city in a month or two.”

“We would all be delighted to go home to the north,” Rebecca cried. “You shall have to sample something of Derbyshire come winter, Lizzy – exchange your walking boots for ice skates!”

Elizabeth looked to Miss Darcy, if only to turn away from the gentleman at her side. “Do you enjoy skating in the winter, Miss Darcy? I have always considered it akin to strapping large knives to one’s shoes, and the notion of it makes me doubt my own agility.”

Miss Darcy giggled and shook her head. “It is perfectly safe and a great deal of fun, but I share your preference for summer pastimes.”

At Elizabeth’s side, Mr. Darcy shook with laughter. “Strapping knives to one’s shoes? You have been amongst the Fitzwilliams long enough to sound like Rebecca!”

“She was always as outrageous as the rest of us,” Lady Augusta cried, swatting at Darcy as she beamed with pride at Elizabeth. “She and Jane are so very different, and yet equally delightful; Lizzy is the lively thorn to Jane’s gentle rose.”

“The pair of them are perfectly complementary,” Rebecca agreed. “Do you not think, Darcy, that it is a most charming style of contrast?”

Jane looked askance at Rebecca as if sensing the mischief, and the dowager tittered nervously.

“I should hope today might be a day of discovering what we all have in common, child! And I have not forgotten that Jane and Georgiana have both been applying themselves to practicing the pianoforte. I wish you would look over the music there and select a duet to play for us! Jane, you play so splendidly.”

“Play for everybody?” Miss Darcy shrank back a little.

“Mamma will not rest until she is gratified by your success,” Elizabeth teased the girl. “But fear not – I shall follow with a very poor performance of my own, if you will indulge us all first. Jane has wonderful taste, and I am sure she will select something you will enjoy playing.”

“I would love to hear you play,” Richard agreed. “And if you do, I shall sing for you all when Lizzy plays next!”

Elizabeth gave her sister an encouraging smile as Jane led Miss Darcy toward the instrument.

She glanced over at Mr. Darcy, who had been staring at her for quite some time now.

She was on her feet in an instant. “I believe I shall further bolster your confidence by turning the pages for you, and I shall cough very loudly for cover if you miss any notes.”

***

Darcy chuckled as he watched Miss Bennet stalk away to join the other ladies at the instrument.

His pleasure at seeing Georgiana comforted by the effervescent creature’s presence was tempered by his own disappointment in losing her company.

She was far easier to converse with than her sister, whom he was sure he had only disappointed by his own pitiful introversion.

Lady Jane seemed to find him wanting, though her pleasure in meeting his sister was earnest and endearing.

But Miss Bennet managed to give Darcy every inducement to converse, while still seeming to possess no true expectations of him, and thus he had grown gregarious with her.

Indeed, he had rambled like a drunken poet when speaking of Derbyshire, and Miss Elizabeth had listened with her maddening style of disinterested magnetism, though she had previously told him she spent some time in that county already.

She was such a strange blend of encouraging and elusive, determined to draw him out and then withdraw herself.

Darcy could scarcely take his eyes from her as she turned the pages for her sister and his, who sat together on the piano stool.

She was making no attempt to draw his eye, she was merely existing so effortlessly, and yet her natural ease fascinated him.

He watched as Lady Jane began to falter over a few notes, and lifted her hand from the instrument, causing Georgiana to turn to her in confusion. Miss Bennet hummed the next few notes and leaned down beside her sister to guide Lady Jane’s fingers over the correct keys, nodding her head in time.

Lady Jane smiled up at Miss Bennet, who plucked a flower from a nearby vase and tucked it behind Lady Jane’s ear, grinning radiantly. And then the moment passed, and she merely smiled politely at Georgiana as she turned the next page.

She leaned against the instrument as if posing for a great renaissance master, a few loose curls hanging over her face with the same enchanting effect as the way her silk gown hung about her body.

The woman he had so stupidly insulted was a living, breathing goddess giving sanctity to the mundane; she ought to be captured in marble for all the world to worship.

By the time Lady Jane and Georgiana finished playing, Darcy realized he had scarcely listened to the music; he clapped along with the others nonetheless. And then he smiled as Miss Bennet took her place at the instrument.

Georgiana resumed her previous seat, and Lady Jane moved hesitantly, glancing between the space beside Georgiana, and the place Miss Bennet had been sitting.

Darcy tensed. Richard gently caught Lady Jane’s elbow and gestured to his own chair as he moved to the pianoforte, where Miss Bennet sat waiting for him.

Richard sat close to her, resting his arm around her shoulders as they looked through the music together, amusing themselves with a little argument over what they would perform.

It appeared that Miss Bennet triumphed, and to Darcy’s astonishment Richard retrieved a violin and began to play as Miss Bennet moved her fingers lithely over the keys.

And then, the two of them sang together, a rather rowdy song he suspected was of their own invention.

Richard acquitted himself well on his instrument, but Darcy truly marveled at the tremendous feeling in Miss Bennet’s performance.

Her technique was not perfect, but her voice was divine and her spirit made it one of the most enjoyable songs he had ever heard.

Again, he clapped at the end of the performance, his face feeling strange from the intensity of his grin.

Richard ushered Miss Bennet alongside him, watching with a smirk as she sat beside Georgiana without flinching, leaving Richard to join Darcy on the opposite sofa.

“You have all grown very accomplished during your years of removal from society,” Darcy said.

“What an impressive family I may boast of. But Miss Bennet, you did not tell me that it was you who taught your sister to play so elegantly.”

She blinked, her lips parting with surprise. “How did you know?”

Lady Jane blushed and gazed down into her lap. “I have been fortunate in my teacher – even now I sometimes require her assistance.”

“You have made exceptional progress, my dear,” Lady Augusta declared. “All of my children are exceedingly accomplished, even if they will not own to it.”

Rebecca laughed. “I am ready and willing to display my own talents! I have taken up the glass harmonica – there is something rather eerie in the sounds I can create – I should be happy to demonstrate – if you can bear it, Mamma.”

Before Rebecca could make good on what felt like a threat, Bingley was announced. Rebecca quit the settee and stalked over to the window seat, entreating Bingley to sit and take some refreshment.

“I have just come from seeing Henry Tilney,” Bingley said.

“Your cousin is a most amusing fellow, excellent company! He sent me along with a message for you, Darcy, and your butler said I would find you here. The Fitzwilliams are to dine with the Tilneys tomorrow, and the general wishes you to come and even out the numbers. Apparently, he is a stickler for that sort of thing.”

“The general is a stickler for every sort of thing,” Rebecca drawled. “You shall be in good company, Darcy.”

Darcy scarcely registered the bright smile Lady Jane bestowed upon Bingley – he met Miss Bennet’s gaze and felt entirely assured that she wished him to accept the invitation.

He had only to nod his agreement when the dowager instantly agreed that Darcy would be one of the party.

He was looking forward to the occasion already.