A Constant Love: A Pride & Prejudice Continuation, page 44
“I understand,” Elizabeth said. “However, you would make all of us feel much less concern for your health if you were to be seen by Dr. Alderman.”
“Please do,” Georgiana pleaded, and if Elizabeth’s concern had not fully moved him, Georgiana’s did, and he allowed himself to be led off by Mr Parker.
He left behind the post-chaise, which Elizabeth had sent round to the stable to see if something might be done about the spring. Darcy was out looking at some of the farms with Richardson, assessing the latest state of the fields, but she knew he would agree they should not send it back in such a condition. For sent back she felt it must be; he must take more than a few days here at Pemberley to recover, and could travel on in one of the Darcys’s carriages, although she hoped he could be convinced to remain at Pemberley until the wedding, for Georgiana’s sake.
He also left behind a tall, broad-shouldered man, dressed as a servant, and Elizabeth thought he carried himself rather like the seamen who had helped defend their house during the riots, although she did not recognise him. He gaped at her for a moment when she asked who he was, then said, “John Hawke, milady, Captain Sir Matthew Stanton’s valet,” pronouncing valet rather peculiarly.
“Very good to meet you, Mr. Hawke,” Elizabeth said. “I am Mrs. Darcy, and this is Miss Darcy. Mr. Parker will see that you have all you need once he returns.”
She and Georgiana returned to the drawing room, and Elizabeth knew that news must be sent on to the earl’s son that he should not expect his cousin within the next few days, but that it was not so proper for her to write it.
“Georgiana, you are acquainted with the Earl of Anglesey’s son, yes?”
“Only a little – I have dined with him once.”
“You at least have been introduced. Would you mind terribly writing a brief note to inform him that we do not expect his cousin will be ready to continue on his journey in the next few days? That is, if you do not find the topic too upsetting.”
“No, I shall write the letter.”
In truth, Georgiana did find the topic upsetting, but the letter was a welcome distraction over sitting and waiting for Dr. Alderman to arrive. Captain Stanton would be put up in an apartment down the hallway where Elizabeth and Mrs. Reynolds had determined the bachelors in the house party should be lodged; it was as far as possible from Georgiana’s apartment, and those planned for the other single ladies, and there was no reason Georgiana could contrive to place herself in that part of the house.
Dr. Alderman arrived, Dr. Alderman saw to his patient, and then came down to the drawing room to inform them there was no cause for worry. There were no new complications to Captain Stanton’s injuries – even the shocking arm wound was healing nicely – the gentleman was still suffering the effects of blood loss, and exhaustion. A fortnight of rest, and regular consumption of Dr. Alderman’s draught, should see him fully recovered.
“Come, Georgiana,” Elizabeth said, after Dr. Alderman had left. “I will go with you, so you may see him. I know I would be mad to, were I you.”
“Oh – thank you so much, Elizabeth.”
When Elizabeth knocked on the door, they found Hawke already there, holding a draught glass. He announced them, opened the door fully, and then stood awkwardly against the wall as they made their way in.
Captain Stanton had his bedcovers pulled up as far as possible, although it was still apparent he was wearing only a nightshirt. Georgiana stayed a half-step behind Elizabeth, her face quite pink, and Elizabeth realised her sister’s presence here must have felt as though it was going against all she had been instructed on over the years – to be in the bedchamber of a man, and a man not fully dressed, at that. Instruction that had likely been firmly reinforced, by Darcy and Mrs. Annesley, following Mrs. Younge’s laxity. Elizabeth also realised she must have a conversation with Georgiana similar to the one her aunt Gardiner had broached with her and Jane before their wedding, and Elizabeth would need to address the topic even more delicately, for nearly all of her knowledge on the subject came from Georgiana’s brother.
“Your Dr. Alderman and my surgeon Clerkwell ought to exchange notes,” Captain Stanton said. “That is the most vile draught I have ever tasted in my life. Clerkwell will be quite jealous.”
They all laughed, which seemed to relax Georgiana, and she took a step closer. “We were very worried about you – I am glad it is nothing rest will not cure.”
“Yes, I will admit I have not allowed myself to rest so much as I should have.”
“How could you, with such invitations as you received?” Georgiana said.
“Indeed. And then there was a very important matter concerning a lady that I had to attend to.”
Georgiana blushed again, and said, “I hope you will consider that matter fully settled, and take the time you need to rest. We will send a note to your cousin to let him know not to expect you so soon. You will have no obligations here.”
“Based on what I have seen so far, I can think of no better place to convalesce. I must thank you and Mrs. Darcy for allowing me to trespass on your hospitality far more than was expected.”
“Please,” Elizabeth said. “You are Georgiana’s betrothed, and welcome here as long as you wish to stay. You must let us know if there is anything you or your valet need to see to your comfort.”
“I will, thank you, Mrs. Darcy.” He spoke wearily, and both Georgiana and Elizabeth backed out of the room, saying their goodbyes, Georgiana feeling very much relieved.
+++
Captain Stanton did rest, remaining in his chambers for the better part of three days with little more than word from Mr. Parker that his valet said he slept, sometimes waking to eat or drink a little, and wished to communicate his particular apologies to Miss Darcy that he was not well enough to see her. After the first day, Georgiana adjusted to the strange notion that he was here, in the same house as her, although she could not see him, and went about her time as normally as she could.
As before, the pianoforte was her greatest distraction, and the new music she had purchased in London gave her a new challenge, something to fully occupy her mind. She closed the last few notes on her first successful pass through one piece, and was considering playing it through one more time, when she heard:
“That last passage was exquisite. I beg you would play it again.”
It was Captain Stanton, and he so startled Georgiana that she gasped. She turned, to see that he was standing in the doorway and looking like a man returned to something much closer to health.
“I am sorry, dearest. I did not mean to startle you.”
“Oh, it is nothing – I am very glad to see you looking so much better. Will you not come in?”
“I will not. I understand your companion has left to join another family,” he said, motioning to the empty seats in the music room.
“So you will listen from the doorway?”
“I will, if you will allow it.”
“I am certain we can come up with some better solution,” Georgiana said, rising from the pianoforte’s bench to cross the room and ring the bell.
The solution she would have preferred would have been that he cross the room and embrace her and assure her that he would never again give her such a shock concerning his health, she realised, flushing. One of Pemberley’s footmen was at the doorway before Georgiana could continue her thoughts in this vein, asking what the lady wished for.
“Thank you, Henry. Is there anyone else in the household who might be available to join us here?”
“Mr. Bingley is at his new estate, and Mr. and Mrs. Darcy are out riding. But Mrs. Bingley only just broke her fast, ma’am – I understand she slept ill on account of the baby kicking,” Henry said. “Would you wish me to invite her here?”
“Yes, please do.”
Jane entered the room some time later, at the slowest of paces, and looking wearier than Captain Stanton, who moved at something closer to his pre-Polonais pace in helping her into a seat, and then sitting himself. They all talked for a bit, but then Georgiana was encouraged to return to her practise, and attempt her new piece again.
When she had finished, she turned to face her audience, and felt her heart swell at the look of pure admiration Captain Stanton gave her. Had she missed such looks before, or had he not been so open in his countenance? She could not decide, and her conjecture was interrupted by a deep sigh from Jane, who placed her hands on her belly, looking relieved.
“I believe you will have to teach this one the pianoforte,” Jane said. “This is the first time she has been completely still in a very long time.”
With such motivation, Georgiana was readily convinced to play another piece, and another piece, and then another, so that eventually Elizabeth, Darcy, and Charles Bingley returned to find them all there – Georgiana still playing, Jane asleep, and Captain Stanton very nearly so, but despite his lingering exhaustion, unable to stop watching his future wife with a faint smile on his face.
+++
Elizabeth, like the others, slipped out of the music room with her own lingering smile, and followed her husband to his study. She and Darcy barely had time to settle there, before Mrs. Reynolds knocked, and entered with the day’s post.
“Beg your pardon,” she said, looking concerned. “But the post just came and – well – there is a letter from Lady Brandon.”
“Thank you, Mrs. Reynolds. I shall let you know later if it contains any news that should be shared with the staff,” Elizabeth said, determining she should be the one to take the letter. If it contained any news of Colonel Fitzwilliam’s fate, she felt she should be the one to read it first, so that her husband might be spared the shock if it contained bad news. And yet she felt a degree of hope, for if the news were bad, surely Lady Ellen would not have written in such a steady hand, if she had been able to write at all.
Mrs. Reynolds left, and Elizabeth opened the seal carefully, unfolding the weathered paper to read a short letter, delicately written:
“My dear niece and nephew,
“I wish I had more news to share with you at this point, but unfortunately, I do not. Your uncle Andrew and I had a short, safe passage, during which Captain Shaw was most kind and attentive to us, and we did manage to find lodgings here in Brussels, although at a most exorbitant cost.
“We have been searching, but thus far to no avail, although we have not given up hope. Everything is such chaos here, and the wounded have been taken to so many places, that I do not believe we have searched even a fraction of the locations where Edward might have been taken, if he was wounded. It is exhausting work, and I did not ever think I would see such a scene in my life; the number of dead and wounded continues to horrify me, and I grieve continuously to know that every one of them is another mother’s son.
“We have inquired after Mrs. Darcy’s sister, as well, and I am sorry to say that we have no word of how she or her husband have fared, although we shall continue to ask as we make our inquiries for Edward.
“Please keep us in your prayers, and give my love to Georgiana and her betrothed.
“Yours most affectionately,
“AUNT ELLEN”
After reading the letter, Elizabeth looked up at Darcy’s distressed face, and said, “I am sorry, there is no word of how Edward has fared. Lady Ellen says everything is chaos, and they have not yet searched even a fraction of the places where Edward might have been taken.”
Darcy sighed, as she handed him the letter so that he might read it himself. “I suppose it is better than bad news, but I cannot tell you how I had hoped they would find him quickly.”
“I only hope they do not miss him entirely,” Elizabeth said. “Surely they will be bringing some of the troops home, and I would hate for him to make the passage without knowing his parents are there, searching for him.”
She did not mention the far worse alternative; she did not need to, nor could she. It was certainly plain on her husband’s face, however, and she rose and made her way over to his chair so that she could embrace him. They remained there for some time, quietly, Elizabeth’s chest filled with a dull, hollow worry that she felt quite certain no embrace could do away with.
Chapter 19
Captain Stanton improved steadily, so much so that it should have been time for the couple to set a wedding date. Yet although Georgiana was clearly pleased to see him returning to health, she said nothing of the wedding, and made her way around the house with the same subdued countenance they all held, upon reading Lady Ellen’s letter. They had all been hoping that Edward would be found, well, and quickly, and the letter had intruded most painfully on these hopes with the reminder that it was very possible that he was not well, or even alive, and the news that he certainly had not been found quickly.
Elizabeth and Darcy had discussed what seemed a reluctance to move forward with the wedding from the couple, and had decided to bring up the subject when a suitable time arose. It did, one morning, when Charles had once again gone out to Clareborne early in the morning, leaving poor Jane to attempt to sleep late, following another fitful night’s rest, so that only the Darcy family and Captain Stanton were in the yellow drawing room together.
“Now that Captain Stanton is doing so much better, I wonder if the two of you have thought of setting a date for the wedding,” Elizabeth said, delicately, by way of opening the topic.
“It hardly feels right to do so, with Edward still missing,” Georgiana said, and although Captain Stanton was silent, it was clear by his countenance that his feelings on the matter mirrored hers.
“I am sure he will honour you for such sentiments, Georgiana, but I do not think he would wish for you to delay on his account. You will only have so much time before Captain Stanton’s leave runs out, and I would much rather you have the chance to spend it married.”
“We still have ample time, if Miss Darcy wishes to wait,” Captain Stanton said. “It hardly feels right to wed while one of her guardians is missing.”
“Your position on the matter does you both much honour,” Darcy said, his voice wavering. “However, if – if the worst does happen – if it has happened – you know that Edward loves you, Georgiana, and he would not wish for you to go through such a time without the comfort of a husband.”
Darcy blinked a few times, but managed his speech without tears. Georgiana, however, did not, and she looked very much like she wished for the comfort of a husband, when her fiancé could do nothing but give her his handkerchief to dab at her eyes.
“May I have a private audience with Miss Darcy, to discuss this?” Captain Stanton asked, when Georgiana had recovered a little.
“You may – a brief one,” Darcy said. “Mrs. Darcy and I shall wait outside the drawing room.”
They stood outside waiting, a respectful distance from the door, and the conversation inside was so subdued they could hear not a word of it, although enough sound of murmuring reached them to reassure that there was conversation going on.
The drawing room doors clicked open softly after some time, revealing Captain Stanton; Georgiana remained seated, and it seemed that she had cried some more during their private discussion.
“We will set a date,” he said. “Although far enough out that all the rest of our family and friends may join us, and perhaps even the Fitzwilliams, if Colonel Fitzwilliam is found.”
“And we do not wish for a large wedding,” Georgiana said. “Only those closest to us.”
“I understand, although I fear some of the local families will see it as a snub,” Elizabeth said, knowing that the only wedding out of the great estate for some time should have been a great social occasion for the families of the area.
“I did not think of that,” Georgiana said. “I would not wish for them to feel thus, but neither of us wishes to be married in front of so large an audience.”
“Perhaps we may manage an alternative,” Elizabeth said, thinking through the possibilities. “I know none of us is much in the mood for a celebratory ball, but with dancing and other entertainments to occupy them, people would not focus so much of their attention on both of you, although they will all wish to be introduced to you, Captain Stanton. We might hold it a few days before the ceremony itself.”
“You are right, I am hardly in the mood for a celebratory ball,” Georgiana said, glancing towards Captain Stanton, who nodded at her. “Yet I also know our role in society, here. Let us hold the ball, if it means we may be married more quietly.”
+++
As the time passed leading up to the ball and wedding, Captain Stanton was finally able to go on sedate little rides around Pemberley’s grounds with Georgiana, a groom following behind at a respectful distance. Phoebe, younger than Grace but not nearly so spirited, had been sent down from his uncle’s estate after Captain Stanton had sent word indicating he wished to remain at Pemberley until the wedding. During one of these rides, he turned to her and said:
“I have had word from my elder brother, David, that he plans to attend the ball and wedding.”
“Oh, how wonderful. I would very much like to meet him,” Georgiana said. “What of your father and younger brother?”
The look on his face was so pained, Georgiana immediately regretted her question.
“My father has already responded that he is not available to attend, and I expect Jacob will follow him in this. My younger brother has always been closest to him in disposition and beliefs – he barely knew the influence of our mother.”
They rode on in silence for some time before Georgiana finally said, “I am sorry to have reminded you of such a painful topic. I will not speak of it again.”
“You must never think any topic closed to us, Georgiana,” he said. “I will not deny that this one is unpleasant for me, but I would not withhold anything you wish to know about – not when you have been so forthcoming with me.”
