Christmas at Pemberley

Part 17

"George...put Alexander down!"

Lizzy swallowed her laugh, barely able even to lecture her little cousin after the way he abruptly opened his arms and dropped his new friend head-first onto the ground. Thank goodness we are outside! The earth was hard from frost but nowhere near as hard as the church's stone floor would have been. Still, Alexander scrambled upright almost immediately, grinning and socking George playfully on the arm. Neither boy seemed to mind, and soon a very genial wrestling match had broken out, brought to a swift conclusion by Mrs Gardiner who pleaded with her son to remember that he was a guest in this village and if he wished to be welcomed back he might hold back from fighting with the residents.

"Right!" Georgiana said, ushering her last collection of children into the churchyard. She looked at Lizzy, frowning in surprise. "Why are you all standing around out here?"

"Mr Lambert is not here," Lizzy said, smiling at the way the gaggle of village children hovered around Georgiana like chicks around their mother hen. Absentmindedly, she straightened bonnets and tugged at shawls, shuffling the music she had brought from one hand to another.

"Well...I do not suppose he would mind us making a start all by ourselves," she said, at last, striding forward and pushing the door to the small church open. "Come along, children. We do not have very long and we have a great deal of work to do!"

This announcement was met with a chorus of excited giggles and groans from the children, but they all obediently filed in, avoiding Alexander and George, who lurked in the doorway intent on tripping people, until George caught a warning gleam in his favourite cousin's eye, and stood swiftly to attention, breaking character to laugh and chase Alexander across the threshold.

"George...!" Mrs Gardiner called wearily after him, shuffling the baby to her other hip and striding after her other children.

Georgiana hovered in the doorway, peering down the street as if looking for someone and Lizzy discerned the look in an instant. She laid a hand on Georgiana's shoulder.

"I am sure he will be along shortly."

"Who?" Georgiana spun around, hastening into the chapel. "I'm not sure who you mean, Elizabeth!"

Lizzy hid her smile behind one gloved hand, sure that Georgiana's use of her full Christian name instead of the more familiar Lizzy she favoured was indication enough that she had correctly read the situation. Georgiana was awaiting the arrival of Mr Lambert, although she would never admit as much. She bit down on her tongue, recalling more than one occasion that she had haunted the windows at Hunsford eager for a glimpse of Mr Darcy. She would have denied it, as Georgiana would now, and perhaps it was unkind to press her on a truth that was only too evident to Elizabeth. Let her keep her secret.

"Come along children!" Georgiana declared, clapping her hands over the collective chattering of the children and silence reigned over the small crowd for a moment. Georgiana began explaining her plan. She had made a small selection of popular Christmas songs and rhymes that they would work on perfecting for a performance on Christmas Eve in this very church.

"That is very soon, Miss Darcy," one little girl lisped, tugging worriedly at one auburn curl. "Do you really think we shall manage it?"

"I think you shall manage it admirably!" Georgiana smiled. "You are all very bright children, and you know all of these songs. It is merely a matter of learning to sing them together. Now, shall we begin?"

Clearing her throat, she began with a familiar melody, her sweet voice lifting and falling in time with the words that Lizzy knew off by heart. She found herself joining with the singing, albeit with rather less talent than Georgiana. She was not possessed of an particularly good voice, although she could just about manage to successfully carry a tune, especially the simple ones favoured by Christmas songs.

Next came the children, who joined in at once, a cacophony of keys and notes and timing that rendered the whole merely a chaotic noise.

"Stop, stop!" Georgiana yelped, holding her hands over her ears and grimacing comically. The children let out peals of high-pitched laughter and Georgiana smiled, pausing to consider the problem. Inspiration seemed to strike her almost immediately and she began patting each child on the head in turn, giving them a number.

"Everybody who received number one, please put your hands up!"

A ripple of pudgy hands stretched skywards.

"Excellent!" Georgiana beamed. "You can all go over here with Mrs Darcy. Number twos?"

A slightly smaller group raised their hands.

"You shall join Mrs Gardiner."

Mary led the charge, exclaiming delightedly that this was "her Mamarrrr and she was the most nicest lady there....except for Lizzy and Georgiana..."

The final group - the largest, Lizzy noticed with a grim smile of satisfaction - was left to Georgiana's tender mercies.

"Mrs Darcy?" Alexander, his hands shoved in his pockets, stared up at Elizabeth. "What are we s'posed to do now?"

"Well, Alexander," Lizzy said, glancing desperately at Georgiana who was already beginning to lead her small flock in a series of vocal warm-ups more technical than Lizzy could even manage to accomplish herself, let alone succeed in teaching to a group of children more interested in whispering and pinching one another than singing in tune and in time.

"Well, Alexander. Children..." she said, turning a bright smile on her group and feigning confidence she did not feel. "We are going to sing." Bending at the waist, she gathered her small flock around her and dropped her voice to a whisper. "And we are going to be the best of the three groups. What say you?"

The children blinked back at her, unenthused. Lizzy frowned, wondering what she could possibly use to motivate her group into action. Her eyebrows lifted. "I have a particularly plummy wedge of fruit cake at Pemberley. If our group is the best, I shall bring it for us to share on the afternoon of the concert. Is that encouragement enough to work your very hardest?"

The children cheered and Lizzy felt her spirits lift. She had never considered herself very gifted around children that were not related to her, and in numbers greater than two or three, but here she seemed to have captured the imagination of a whole group! We shall make a choir of you yet! she silently told her tiny charges, clearing her throat and beginning to sing, whilst holding her hands up like a conductor.