A Continued Affection

Part 16

Elizabeth could not help but admire Darcy's London parlour. Despite all she knew of him, he was still in many ways a mystery, and she had never once stepped foot inside one of his houses.

Leaving Jane to sit between her aunt and her mother, and trusting that the former would offer a suitable defence against the latter, Lizzy stood, walking a slow circuit around the room and remembering, with fondness, the route she had walked on Darcy's arm but a few hours earlier.

It is almost as if the past never happened. We might begin again: truly. Her heart raced in her chest at the thought of being afforded a second chance at the romance she had once believed lost to her.

"Elizabeth!"

Lizzy stopped, mid-stride and looked over to the piano, where Georgiana had left Mary playing with Caroline waiting her turn, skipping lightly across the room to join her.

"You do not mind if I call you Elizabeth?" Georgiana grew shy all of a sudden, and Lizzy felt a surge of affection for Mr Darcy's sister.

"Of course not, if I may call you Georgiana?"

"Yes, do. Let's dispense with formality, for we are all friends here, are we not?"

A raucous squeal emanated from the centre of the room, where Lydia and Kitty were attempting to dance, and instructing Mary to play something more lively or step aside and cede her seat to another. Lizzy winced, but Georgiana did not seem unduly concerned by Lydia and Kitty's high spirits. If anything, the sight of the two young ladies merriment made her own smile broader, sparked a flash of happiness in the eyes that were so like Darcy's...

Lizzy straightened and looked away, fearing that Georgiana might somehow tell, from her expression, that her thoughts continued to circle Darcy, her memories of their time together, her hopes, never entertained before now, that the future might offer them more than estrangement.

"I am so pleased my brother had the idea of inviting you to dine with us!" Georgiana sighed, expansively, as she and Lizzy began once more to walk.

"Oh?" This was a surprise, a revelation Elizabeth had not been anticipating. "Was it your brother's decision?"

"It certainly wasn't mine!" Georgiana smiled, and Lizzy, hardened by interactions with at least two younger sisters who were as fond of fiction as truth, wondered at the veracity of this statement. It would please her to believe it, to think that this evening's dinner had been Darcy's wish, that he had longed to be reunited with her, as she was with him.

Georgiana lowered her voice, smiling conspiratorially as she turned Elizabeth to face the piano.

"I think he fancies himself a matchmaker, for it is impossible not to see how perfectly your sister suits Mr Egerton."

Lizzy's heart sank, but only for a moment. Of course Darcy did not orchestrate his plans around seeing her again, but around settling his friend. Well, she could not fault him for that. Did she not, also, wish to see Mary happy? She turned to find Egerton's sisters, both of whom were lurking by the piano, quizzing Mary and admiring her by turns. It was more interest and affection than Mary had received from her own sisters, perhaps ever, and Lizzy felt a flash of guilt at so often considering Mary a nuisance, if not overlooking her entirely.

"They will make a happy pair," she conceded, trading Georgiana's secret for one of her own. "As will, I hope, my elder sister Jane and Mr Bingley."

"Indeed!" Georgiana brightened, faltering only as her eyes rested on Caroline Bingley. "If only his sister may be made to see it."

Lizzy glanced at her, more surprised than she ought to have been to have found an ally in Georgiana Darcy.

"I thought you and Caroline were friends," she blurted. "Surely you share her opinion -"

"Caroline Bingley and I share few things, least of all opinions," Georgiana murmured, before forcing a smile onto her face and waving in the direction of Caroline, who seemed to sense, by some mystical power, when she was being discussed.

Lizzy swallowed her laughter, liking Georgiana all the more for her honesty, and curious as to its cause.

"I see. I thought, from the way Caroline spoke of you, that you were firm friends, closer even than your brothers."

"That is all part of Caroline's scheme to win my brother's hand," Georgiana said, airily. Her features grew flat. "I have experienced many such friendships in my life, Elizabeth, and have grown rather canny to them. I know my brother is a fine prospect for marriage, but I despair of young ladies only ever seeking to know me to win my adherence to their suit." She laughed. "As if I have ever been able to direct my brother towards anyone or anything! He acts as he chooses, and I should certainly never seek to determine his steps." She paused, growing serious once more. "But I assure you, whenever a young lady does seek to befriend me with the end goal of securing William's hand, I place myself firmly in opposition, an obstacle in the path. I do not hold with manipulation, Elizabeth, and I quite rise up against it."

Lizzy nodded, fearing, then, that Georgiana somehow knew the direction her hopes had taken regarding Darcy, and that this was some canny, coded message, a warning. Before she could puzzle out its meaning, however, Georgiana brightened, slipping her arm through Lizzy's and tugging her close.

"That is why I am so pleased that you are here! I know there is no way on earth that you should have set your sights on my brother as a potential paramour." Her eyes sparkled. "That is one thing I must thank Caroline Bingley for: she is an excellent source of information. She told me, quite unashamedly, of my brother's disdain for you and I come to make peace. He can be cruel without meaning to be, and you must not dismiss our whole family because of my brother's dreadful first impression." She appraised Elizabeth carefully. "I have decided I like you, Elizabeth, and I should very much like us to be friends. I should like to have at least one friend who is not in awe of, or half in love with, my brother, and you are to be her!"

Lizzy smiled weakly but was not sorry when the door opened and the gentlemen returned, allowing her the chance to extricate herself from Georgiana's grip and return to Jane, where any and all romantic concerns might belong to another, and she could forget her own troubles for a little while.