An Unlikely Acquaintance

Part 27

Now that the date for her return to Hertfordshire was looming ever larger on the horizon of her life, Mary could not help but feel that she would quite miss London.

"Mary!"

Georgiana Darcy appeared early to their meeting-spot, and any lingering melancholy Mary felt was soon spirited away by her friend.

No, it was not London she would miss, but Georgiana.

"You were not waiting long, were you?"

"I was not waiting at all!" Mary laughed. "I rather fear that you were waiting for me, although I do not think I was later than we said -"

"Not later, no! Not at all." Georgiana slipped an arm through Mary's, tugging her into motion. "I was merely eager to meet you and so arrived early. I thought we would take a lap of the park before going for tea, what do you think?"

"Of course!"

Georgiana could have suggested just about anything and Mary would have found the idea agreeable, for she was so unused to having a friend she certainly was not about to run her off by daring to disagree with her.

"My brother laughs at me for trying to fit so many things into a day. "Why must you have a raft of engagements and bounce from one to the next to the next..." Georgiana pulled a face. "Just because he is content to stay at home and never to see anybody or do anything."

Mary feared herself guilty of a similar flaw, determined to cram as much London into her day as she could before being forced to give it up that she dared not comment.

"Are you going to the assembly this evening? I have heard that the music will be splendid, and of course one never can have too much dancing, don't you agree?"

Mary's smile remained fixed in place, but she did not answer. She certainly had no plans to attend the evening's assembly, nor did she think suggesting as much would win adherence from her aunt and uncle. They had been faultlessly generous to her, insisting upon her enjoying every moment of her visit with them and urging her out of doors to explore even when her tendency might have been to stay at home and haunt the corridors of Gracechurch Street. Meeting Georgiana had been a mercy to them all, then, for Mary had been blessed with a friend to associate with and Aunt and Uncle Gardiner were freed from the need to entertain their quiet niece, not that either of them would ever have complained about such a task.

I do so love to hear about the adventures you and Miss Darcy have, Mary! Aunt Gardiner had remarked the other afternoon when she and Mary had found a quiet moment to take tea together. It makes me miss being so young and carefree! She had sighed wistfully, then, and Mary had looked up at her in concern, poised to comment that her aunt was hardly what one might consider old. Her features at that moment did begin to look the tiniest bit careworn, though, so Mary kept her musings to herself. She had made a silent decision not to talk too much of her adventures, for fear of being considered boastful, and she had tempered her eager gadding about during the day with a tendency to stay close to home of an evening. She did not object to her course of action for even now, and even with Georgiana, Mary could not honestly say that there was no enjoyment like dancing. London had not changed her completely.

"Alas, no," Mary said, trying to smile and wishing her features were just a little more compliant. "I must spend some time at home. My stay with my aunt and uncle is poised to draw to a close, and I shall soon return to Hertfordshire to my family." Mary could hear the tremor in her voice and prayed Georgiana was not so painfully aware of how perilously close to tears Mary was.

"Oh no! You cannot mean it!"

If Mary was resisting tears, Georgiana gave herself up to them, throwing her arms around Mary's thin shoulders and pulling her to her in a theatrical show of despair. "You cannot mean to leave me behind! Oh, Mary! Knowing you has made life in London bearable!"

"Nonsense!" Mary was touched by her friend's affections. She felt the same, and rather more accurately, for she remained convinced that Georgiana would have managed to be at home anywhere. She was that type of person. Mary marvelled, still, that she had been the one privileged enough to be considered a friend by so sparkling a young lady.

"When do you leave?" Georgiana asked, sniffing back her sobs and looking Mary directly in the eye.

"Oh, not for a few days yet." Mary paused, then named the approaching date.

"Then we shall have to do all we can until then!" Georgiana brightened, energised by determination and began ticking off on her fingers everything they simply must do, hustling Mary along beside her to begin immediately with their walk, so that they might make it to every park they favoured before Mary's departure date was upon them.