An Unequalled Affection

Part 24

In the days after the duel, Mr Darcy gradually replaced his cousin as a regular caller to Longbourn, often bringing Georgiana with him. One day, he brought news that Mr Bingley and Miss Bingley were to return to London, but that they had given over their lease to Darcy for as long as he and Georgiana cared to remain there. It will not be long, Lizzy confided to Jane. I am sure he will wish to return to Pemberley soon.

This fooled nobody, least of all Jane, for although there had been no mention of the word marriage it seemed plain to all that it was only a matter of time before things were formally settled between Mr Darcy and Elizabeth. Jane was surprised to find she did not mind it.

Lizzy is so radiant, so happy and in love. It hardly seems possible to think that she spent so many months claiming she despised him. The same was true of Mr and Mrs Bennet, who both doted on Mr Darcy as if he were their own son. Jane smarted a little, recalling the partiality that Mr Bennet had once shown to Colonel Fitzwilliam, but his absence ensured he would not know how easily he had been passed over for his cousin and so she allowed the matter to drop from her mind as well. I am happy, she told herself. I am happy even though I must be alone and I am pleased to see Lizzy, at least, will have so good a chance at love.

One afternoon in particular, an aura of perfect peace rested over the Longbourn parlour, helped in part, by the absence of Lydia and Kitty, who had disappeared off to Meryton with Maria Lucas on an important bonnet-related errand. Mary and Georgiana picked happily at a duet on the piano, and Mrs Bennet was in pride of place before the hearth, clutching a piece of stitching she did not add to, and watching over her two remaining daughters and their handsome caller, who had taken a deferential, enthusiastic interest in her oft-shared recollections of her youth. Elizabeth was reading a letter that had lately arrived, and all at once she bolted upright in her chair and turned to her sister.

"Jane! Look at this! Charlotte has implored us to go and stay with her and I truly think I can put off doing so no longer."

"How nice." Jane's sewing was sorely neglected and she took care to work a stitch or two in haste before realising that Lizzy was staring at her in expectation. "What else, Lizzy? Charlotte wishes to see you and you may go. Nothing is keeping you here." She glanced in Mr Darcy's direction, but he seemed entirely oblivious to this conversation and Jane decided that if he did not care to complain about his soon-to-be-fiancée's plans to desert him in favour of a trip to Kent then she certainly would not say a word about it.

"No, Jane, she writes to invite us both." She thrust the letter under Jane's nose, snatching it back again before Jane could decipher even a single word. "And I think we should both go."

"Both go where?"

Mr Bennet had at last sacrificed the peace of his study for the peace of the parlour and hovered in the doorway, his eyebrows raised in expectation of some news.

"Charlotte has invited Jane and I to visit her and Mr Collins at Hunsford and we may go, mayn't we?"

"My dear Elizabeth, when have you ever required my permission to do a single thing you had decided to do?" Mr Bennet smiled, good-naturedly at Jane. "It certainly sounds like a pleasant excursion for you, Jane. Recall, you gave up the chance of London at Christmas. Why not take this, instead, and enjoy a change of scenery?"

He did not mention all that had befallen Jane over the last few weeks, but she knew he thought of it, all the same. Why not escape the unhappy memories and the whispered gossip amongst the neighbours?

"Perhaps," she mused aloud. Lizzy seized on this with enthusiasm, so that the decision seemed to be made before Jane was even aware of having made it.

"I shall write back at once and tell them to expect us. Oh, what a lovely time we shall have!"

"You cannot mean to go at once!" Mrs Bennet snapped to attention, this suggestion seeming to at last have punctured the happy bubble of self-directed conversation she shared with Mr Darcy. "What about - well - " she stammered, staring at Mr Darcy as if willing him to leap in and protest.

"It is nothing to me if you wish to go to Kent, Elizabeth. I have heard it is lovely at this time of year."

"Kent?" There was a crash of discordant keys from the piano and Georgiana turned to join them. "I have been saying we ought to go for days now, have I not, William?" She turned to Jane. "For you know, our aunt, Lady Catherine de Bourgh resides in Kent and lately dear Rich-"

"Yes, you are quite right, Georgiana, we are long overdue a visit to Rosings." Mr Darcy spoke more loudly than Jane could recall ever hearing him speak before, effectively silencing his sister and drowning out any other word she might utter.

"Perhaps you can time your visits to coincide," Mrs Bennet said, leaning towards Mr Darcy with a conspiratorial wink. "I imagine you shall not want to be apart too long, and if you have family...well!"

"Well, indeed, Mrs Bennet." Mr Darcy smiled. "Now, you left off telling me about a certain adventure..." This was skilfully done and almost immediately, Mrs Bennet dove back into the memories of her youth to draw out a particularly happy story she was fond of telling, for it painted her in a romantic light and was so pleasing to recall.

Jane frowned, certain there was some mischief afoot. Lizzy was a picture of calm, however, happily scribbling a swift response to Charlotte's letter, and neither Mr Darcy nor Georgiana nor Mary nor either of her parents seemed at all ill-at-ease. Perhaps I am imagining things. She sighed, turning back to her embroidery and thought, with an excitement she could not entirely deny, how pleasant it would be to escape Hertfordshire for a time. I should like to see Charlotte again, and I think I can even endure being around Mr Collins once more, if it means I may have something to think of other than my own romantic misadventures. She glanced from Lizzy to Mr Darcy and back again. And if I can have a hand in ensuring things go well with my sister, who knows. Perhaps we may return with an engagement agreed upon, at last!