Page 59 of The Winter of Our Discontent
“I do not know what your uncle has told you,” I said as a beginning.
Mary spoke for the both of them. “He could say very little, sir, except that we were to come to Derbyshire. I am afraid Lydia was in tumult and did not understand why she could not come too. My uncle could only spare us a moment to tell us we were to be taken to Pemberley. He took our sister away in the second carriage with my aunt.”
Elizabeth gently came to my rescue. “Uncle Gardiner did not think Mr Darcy should have to reckon with Lydia, dearest. Surely, you understand?”
Georgiana, to whom I had explained the whole debacle of the assembly in Meryton, looked at her lap. Both Mary and Kitty nodded gravely and turned their large, hollow eyes up to me.
“Your father has signed you both over to me as wards. I have a similar responsibility to Jane, however, since she is of age, a legal writ was not required. You may find this startling news, but you are my sisters, and I intend to protect your best interests, see to your comfort, and settle you here at Pemberley.”
“But what of Papa?” Kitty asked.
“He does not want us,” Mary replied bluntly.
“Mr Bennet is going to go live at Oxford.”
“Oxford?” Jane asked in a small voice. I had not yet related this bit of news to her.
“Your uncle has convinced him to leave Meryton. He has, as you know, become quite isolated, and your mother’s situation is terribly uncomfortable as a result. Mrs Bennet has been staying with Mrs Philips, and since Mr Gardiner is her brother, and in order to support her, he went to the trouble of convincing your father to leave the neighbourhood.”
“But where will he live?” Mary asked.
“He will let rooms and haunt the libraries,” I said, “and in time, he may even become a peripheral member of one of the societies of study there or even hang up his shingle as a tutor. It is apparently what he would have chosen to do if he had not inherited his estate. Your mother will be settled back at Longbourn where she belongs, with the addition of Mr and Mrs Philips to oversee matters at the estate.” My new wards would never be told of the patient negotiations their uncle had undertaken in order to effect this solution.
I sensed my wife shudder. She had lately confessed to me these changes had so altered her ideas of what Longbourn was, that she did not ever wish to return to see her fondest memories replaced by hard fact. Jane, too, appeared much affected by news of the permanent separation of her parents, but Kitty and Mary stared at me in a kind of hardened indifference. Their father, it seemed, had lost their sympathy entirely, and perhaps the inability of their mother to protect them from being sent to such a harsh school had dimmed their concern for her.
“How long are we to live here, sir?”
“As long as you like, Mary. All your life, in fact, if you are comfortable here. You will need time to regard Pemberley as your home, but that is just what it is—your home. You are sisters to my own sister, not my poor relations. But while you are adjusting to this change in circumstance, I mean to put you all to work.”
My reserve and general discomfort then dropped away. This was a subject I could expound upon with enthusiasm. I looked upon my newly expanded family as their eyes widened in surprise.
“Elizabeth has yet to regain all her strength, andPemberley is more like a town than a country estate. You will all be considered the ladies of the house, and Elizabeth will need your help to manage her multiple duties. She has plans for the school, has much to do with poor relief, sees to all our tenants and cottagers, pays particular attention to children everywhere, makes sure our doctor is comfortably situated, and keeps her ears on the prick for any rub in the workings that might need my attention. In addition, she oversees the great house, the household accounts, the kitchen gardens, the entertainment of company and morning calls, and I know not what else. This is entirely too much for her.”
My wife, perhaps a touch embarrassed to accept that she had her limitations, made a little huffing sound of protest. “Mr Darcy is determined to see me planted in his hot house where he will visit me occasionally to check for aphids.”
“This is true. Now, may I count on you all?”
55
ELIZABETH DARCY
“I hate to admit this, Mr Darcy, but you have a small streak of genius in you.”
“Small you say? There is nothingsmallabout me, madam.”
I sensed he was teasing me with some kind of innuendo I did not yet comprehend, and this annoyed me. “Hmm. You may be right. Perhaps I went too far and overstated the size of your genius. Should I instead have saidminuscule,sir?”
He chuckled and kissed my hair. We were settled by the fire in my room. Not a night passed that we did not retreat there to usher in the mysterious dark.
“Well, do not keep me in suspense. How brilliant was my dictate?”
“My sisters are terribly excited to be given responsibilities of their own. Even Georgiana, who I believe suffered a shock of guilt to hear the litany of my uses, is determined to take over some part of my duties.”
“What part is that?”
“I have put her in charge of our musical gatherings and morning callers. She is to be chief hostess until I regain my vigour which, come to think of it, I may not wish to do too soon.”
“You are teasing me.”
