Page 10 of The Shades of Pemberley

“If I can accomplish it,” replied Darcy, “I shall return before spring. It is still my intention that we will join forever before the season begins. You have met my friends in London, but now I believe we will have a much wider circle with whom we must become acquainted. As you are five times as sociable and comfortable in company as I am, I shall count on your support to ease our way.”

“That is a significant request, William!” laughed she, though Darcy caught a hint of uncertainty in her manner. “If I fail, then the fault for the Darcy family’s fall in consequence will be mine.”

“Never,” averred Darcy, looking into her eyes and showing her all the confidence he had in her abilities. “Even if we excite the contempt of the masses, it will not concern me a jot, for then we could retreat to our home and ignore society for the rest of our lives.”

“That sounds heavenly.”

“More for me than you, I am certain.” Darcy grinned.

“I cannot imagine that this business will change us much, my dear.

There will be a higher level of society, though I will not shun the friends I have now.

We will be more prominent, it is true. Nothing will change between us—that is the salient point, and one I shall hold to my heart.

“As for your abilities, as I have already told you, I have supreme confidence in you, and I pledge to do my part. If you think about it, I will be of more curiosity to those of high society, for I will be the new master of Pemberley.”

“Many young ladies will no doubt hate me!” said she.

“Yet I will love you all the days of my life. We shall brave the vipers in London together, already joined in matrimony, frustrating the legions of ladies hoping to find an easy mark, inexperienced in the ways of higher society.”

“I shall look forward to it.”

They spent several moments making their goodbyes, their affection for each other shared in the endearments and stolen kisses in which they indulged.

Darcy drank in the reality of her, storing these cherished moments for the weeks of their separation.

Much sooner than Darcy might have wished, he forced himself to bid her farewell and begin on the journey to the north.

Before he could depart, however, another joined them, his laughing countenance displaying his pleasure at finding them engaged thus.

“Darcy!” exclaimed Mr. Bennet as he approached them. “I thought I might find you here in the company of my wayward daughter, especially as she was nowhere to be found this morning.”

“Mr. Bennet!” greeted Darcy, accepting the man’s outstretched hand. “I might credit your comment if Elizabeth were not nowhere to be found every morning when the weather is fair enough for her to walk.”

All three shared in the amusement, though Elizabeth stood arms akimbo, as if annoyed with their teasing at her expense. Such comments were frequent enough that Darcy knew she was unaffected by their witticisms.

“Too true, Son. Too true by half.”

“Then it appears you are as acquainted with us as we are with each other.”

“Another truth.” Mr. Bennet chuckled and shook his head. “I shall not blame Elizabeth for wishing to farewell you in private, nor shall I protest, for I can see you are both still under good regulation.”

Mr. Bennet winked. “Now, have you completed your farewells?”

“Yes, we have,” said Darcy, looking to Elizabeth and seeing her nod. “I was just about to enter the carriage and leave, unwilling though I am.”

“Very well,” said Mr. Bennet. “You have a long journey before you. Ere you depart, however, I have a bit of wisdom to pass on if you will listen.”

The snort from Elizabeth informed her father what she thought of his wisdom , but though Darcy grinned, he nodded to his mentor. “I am pleased to hear it, sir.”

“What I would have you remember,” said Bennet, “is that you are a member of an old and prestigious family. Perhaps you are a member of a cadet line, but you are about to assume control over the main branch of the family legacy. Though I know nothing of this Colonel Fitzwilliam or his titled relations, I would advise you to allow no one to intimidate you or make you feel inferior. While they fancy their high and mighty positions allow them to look down on others, they are still mortals with all the infirmities the state infers.”

“Thank you, Bennet. I believe you have hit on the crux of the matter.”

“I know you are a firm and confident man, Darcy,” said Bennet, grasping his shoulder and squeezing with affection.

“Yet you go into a situation you cannot predict, and I do not think you have truly experienced the depth of pride to which many members of society descend. Keep your confidence in mind and meet these people with determination. I cannot think you will wilt under the pressure, for you are a good man and I am excessively proud of you.”

“I shall,” said Darcy, feeling emotional at the praise of this man who had been more father to him than his own had been.

“Colonel Fitzwilliam is known to me; he is a genial man—I do not expect any condemnation from that quarter. I do not know the earl, but I suspect he will be cordial at least. Once matters at Pemberley settle, I shall return, for I have unfinished business left in Hertfordshire.”

“That you do, Son,” said Bennet. “Then you had best be on your way. I have no notion of the adage about ‘sooner away, sooner to return’ is at all applicable in this situation, but I suspect it would be best not to delay.”

“I agree.”

With a final few words of farewell, including the proper kiss to Elizabeth’s hand now mandated by her father’s presence, Darcy boarded his carriage and departed. So reluctant to depart was he that he looked back until he could no longer see the pair standing by the road watching him.

Now, two days later, at the end of his long journey, the carriage made the last approach to Pemberley’s front drive, he took several deep breaths to both center himself and prepare for the trials to come.

While he lost himself in reminiscence, a pair had exited the house and now waited on the front steps.

While Darcy recognized the tall form of Colonel Fitzwilliam, the woman by his side must be Miss Georgiana Darcy, three years older and taller than she had been the one time he had made her acquaintance.

The moment to which his travel had built these past days, it appeared, was now upon him.

A few moments later, the gait of the horses slowed and then stopped, the carriage impacting the traces and slowing to a rest. Eager to escape the confines of the carriage, even if it was only to escape the frying pan by entering the fire, Darcy opened the door and stepped from the conveyance to face his destiny.

“COME, LIZZY,” SAID Mr. Bennet, interrupting Elizabeth’s contemplation of the point on the horizon she had last seen William’s carriage, “it is time to return to Longbourn.”

Obediently, she turned to walk beside her father. In part to take her mind off the yawning absence of her betrothed that now beset her, she turned to her father with a tease.

“This is unusual, Papa. You are not such a walker as to follow me to this far-flung corner of the estate.”

“If I had ridden a horse,” rejoined her father, “it would be more difficult to walk back with you.”

“And this was part of your purpose, to escort me back to Longbourn?”

Mr. Bennet chuckled, shaking his head with affection. “No, Lizzy, I am aware of your ability to traverse the paths of my property. I declare you are far more familiar with them than I am. On this occasion, a companion to keep thoughts of your lover’s absence at bay should be welcome.”

“It is,” replied Elizabeth simply. “I am also fortunate that today turned out so temperate; I cannot always walk this far in the dead of winter.”

“Fortunate, indeed.”

Mr. Bennet eyed her as they walked. “Now, Lizzy, will you not tell me what is truly bothering you?”

“Nothing of consequence,” tried Elizabeth, though she knew her attempt at misdirection was a miserable failure. “I do not wish William to go, but I know he must. Waiting will be hard, but I shall endure it.”

For several moments after her statement, they walked on in silence, Elizabeth content to look about at the beauties of the season, while her father considered his response.

Winter had always been the bane of Elizabeth’s existence, for it prevented her from enjoying the nature that she loved, leaving her confined to a house that was often tumultuous.

Yet she was not immune to its beauty on those rare occasions when she could escape the house when the cold gave way to warmer days.

That day was a little cold even for her, though there was not a breath of wind to pierce her dress and pelisse, to chill her with its biting fingers.

Thus, icy tendrils of frost decorated the branches overlooking the path, sparkling and dancing in the light of the morning sun.

By the midafternoon, she knew the sun would melt away those magical wands of beauty, leaving the bare form of the branches waiting for the warmth of spring and the return to life and their summer glory.

For a time, Elizabeth wondered what it would be like at Pemberley.

Derbyshire was not so far north of Hertfordshire that there must be a sizeable difference in the weather.

From several books she had read, there were several factors other than the proximity to the colder northern climes that contributed to the length of the seasons, rainfall, and other weather features.

Perhaps her father would have books that explained something of the differences she would find between the two counties; Elizabeth made a mental note to ask her father about it in the coming days.

“If you will not speak of it outright,” said her father, pulling her attention back to him, “then perhaps I should guess the reason for your introspection? Might I suppose it is brought on because of the prospect of the event changing everything you know?”

Elizabeth sighed ruefully. “It appears you know me well, Papa.”

“It was not difficult to guess,” replied her affectionate father.

“Change, though it is constant in life, is rarely welcomed by those caught in its throes. This is especially true for a young woman already facing the challenges inherent in entering the marriage state, who must also contend with the altered circumstances of her betrothed.”

“Yes, I suppose you are correct.”

“Then let me set your mind at ease, though I know you already understand the truth of what I mean to tell you.

Darcy is an excellent man and not one to be affected by the good fortune of sudden and unexpected prosperity.

He has promised to return as soon as possible, and I suspect we will welcome him long before we have any right to expect.

“A man so much in love with you will never forsake you, Lizzy. Trust your young man, for he will return as he promised.”

Elizabeth turned a smile on her father and nodded. “Thank you, Papa, for your trust in William. I will say, however, that my concerns were not about William’s constancy.”

“Oh?” asked her father. “Then please share your worries, my dear. I shall do my best to dispel them.”

“It is not anything in particular, I suppose,” said Elizabeth after a moment’s thought. “I wonder how matters will progress, especially when we must perform before those who will consider us imposters and upstarts.”

Mr. Bennet snorted with utter disdain. “Lizzy, that should be the least of your concerns. Had I any notion that you could not withstand those of society and put them in their place when required, I might reconsider whether I thought it wise to proceed with this engagement and damn the consequences.

“As it is, I do not doubt your abilities. Are you not the Lizzy Bennet who has always claimed that every attempt to intimidate brings out your obduracy and courage?”

Elizabeth smiled at her father. “I suppose I am, though I will note that boasts made in pride and conceit often wilt when subjected to the heat of scrutiny.”

“And do you suppose you will shrivel against such an onslaught?”

“No, I do not suppose it, Papa. I hope, however, you will allow me the luxury of such worries, even if I know I will meet those trials with fortitude.”

“I do not begrudge you in the slightest, Daughter. Do not let them consume you, for if you do, it may even affect your indomitable resolve.”

“I shall do my best, Papa.”

“That is all anyone can ask.”

Silence reigned for the rest of their walk back to Longbourn.

When they arrived, they went to refresh themselves and joined the rest of their family at breakfast, where Elizabeth endured the teasing of her mother and sisters, who knew exactly where she had been that morning.

Elizabeth bore it all with good grace, returning their witticisms where possible, ignoring others, and accepting the teasing when she must.

In the back of her mind, however, she could not but own that her father’s advice had improved her outlook and bolstered her confidence.

Not that her confidence would not have recovered on its own.

She appreciated her father’s support, and in the light of his assertions, she quickly learned to put such worries to the side and concentrate on maintaining a cheerful disposition until William returned.

Their wedding was delayed, not canceled.

No one would say that Elizabeth Bennet could not withstand trials in her life.

And she also had the proposed journey to view Pemberley to anticipate.