An Unlikely Acquaintance

Part 14

"Wait!"

Caroline Bingley's cry brought the entire party to a standstill, all eyes fixing on her.

"I have said we will call on Miss Markham," she said, pronouncing each word slowly as if they were just that moment occurring to her. She smiled. "Charles, you cannot disappoint her! You know how eager she was that we both should call!"

Charles frowned as if he did not know this for certain, but was not disposed to argue with his sister over it.

"Very well," he said, with a reluctant bow towards Georgiana, Mary and Mrs Gardiner. "Forgive me, ladies, it seems I must leave you to your enjoyment and undertake for my sister."

He had begun to steer Caroline away, but not quickly enough that the rest of the group missed the lecture she immediately began delivering that to call on Miss Markham when he had been generously invited was in no way undertaking for his sister.

Georgiana's eyes danced with amusement and she leaned closer to Mary, with whom she continued to walk, to whisper something that made plain Mary blush and laugh, before reasserting control of her features, with no small degree of effort. Darcy winced, certain that his sister's words had not been entirely complimentary and feeling that he perhaps ought to caution her against them. Then again, perhaps Caroline Bingley is deserving of such an unflinching assessment. He knew just how eager Miss Bingley was to keep her brother from forming an attachment to Jane Bingley, had even allowed himself to be drawn into her plans and assist her, but what harm could there be in going to a concert with a whole party of people, one of whom merely happened to be Miss Bennet's sister? Especially when Bingley had been eager to accompany them. Darcy's stomach turned to recall the disappointment on his usually merry friend's face, and he could not help but feel some degree of responsibility for Charles' suffering. Was he not as much to blame as Caroline for forcing a retreat to London? It might sever an unsuitable connection, but at what cost to his friend's happiness?

"How pleased you must be, Mr Darcy, to have your sister here with you," Mrs Gardiner remarked, as they walked after the two younger ladies towards the concert hall. She had been watching him carefully, considering what she might say to draw her silent, scowling escort into a conversation. He glanced at her, but there was no challenge in her eyes, merely kindness. He softened.

"Yes, Mrs Gardiner. It is a wonderful surprise."

"Surprise?" Mrs Gardiner's eyes twinkled at his choice of word. "Did you not invite her then?"

"Oh, yes. I did, of course, but it was not part of my plan originally. I had intended to go directly to Pemberley and join her there, but..."

"London is so agreeable to young people, though! And see, how she and my niece cling to one another though they are only a moment or two acquainted." She smiled, leaning confidingly close to Darcy and speaking in a whisper. "It does my heart good to see it, for Mary is a solitary creature -"

"She has so many sisters!" Darcy's response was made before he could stop it and he coloured as if by making such an observation of the Bennet family he was also confessing his affections for one member of it. Affections I do not have, he reminded himself, swallowing against a lump in his throat and wondering if, by sheer repetition, this might become fact. The opposite seemed to be occurring, for every private denial he made of Elizabeth Bennet's presence in his heart, she seemed to grow in stature there, taking up more of it.

"That is not the same as one quality friendship," Mrs Gardiner explained. "You are the same, surely? Preferring the company of one or two treasured friends to a dozen acquaintances."

Darcy nodded, thinking how surprising it was that this woman, who was still little more than a stranger, seemed already to understand him so well. He glanced at her, suspecting some degree of witchcraft, but her features were clear, her intelligent eyes fixed on him. He sighed. They were like her niece's, those eyes. Oh, not to look at. They had not the brightness of Elizabeth's, nor shared their colouring, but there was something in the way they moved, the thoughts they concealed, that reminded him starkly of Elizabeth and this time he did not bat away the thought before it could even take root.

"How much longer will Miss Mary remain with you?" he asked, at last, thinking of Georgiana, and wondering how soon this new friend of hers might be wrenched away. There would be no keeping her from Hertfordshire, in that case. Already he could see how eager she was to make the journey to visit Richard, and Darcy was fast reckoning on excuses he might make to keep her here. Georgiana might be safe enough from Wickham with the distance of a county between them, but there would be no protecting her from him if they were both in Meryton. Darcy's features fell and Mrs Gardiner's canny eye saw it, misconstruing the gesture.

"Yes, we shall miss her when she goes! Do not fear, she will stay a little time yet." She sighed. "I confess I have grown so used to having her at the house, helping with my children and offering me companionship I shall be sorry indeed to see her depart."

"How many children have you, Mrs Gardiner?"

This was a savvy question, Darcy knew. There was no woman alive who could resist a detailed discussion of her children when afforded the opportunity and Mrs Gardiner immediately obliged, beaming and describing each of her sons and daughters in turn.

"Here we are!" Georgiana exclaimed as they reached the promised concert hall. "Darcy, you must sit next to me, and Mary too, so I may temper my brother's reticence with your enthusiasm." She beamed, and Darcy wondered how long it had been since he had seen his beloved sister so content. If the acquaintance of one Bennet sister could do this for her, how much more would she be blessed to know all of them?

He stopped that thought in its progress, sensing quickly where it might lead. Yes, by some miracle, he might keep Georgiana from Wickham's clutches. He might enlist Richard to help him do so, as he had done before. Surely, in his capacity as a colonel, he would be more than able to dispatch Wickham on some errand and allow Darcy and Georgiana safe passage for a short visit to Hertfordshire. That might save Georgiana from danger but it would no more save Darcy. He was forced to admit, though he strove to avoid it, that his flight to London was only in part to aid Caroline in separating Charles and Jane Bennet. His friend was not the only one in danger of losing his heart, and Darcy's grasp on his own was still only tenuous.

No, we must avoid a journey to Hertfordshire at least for a little while longer. He looked at Georgiana, smiling to see her chatter with both Mary and Mrs Gardiner. It would likely spell disaster for us both!