The evening was fine, and the drive pleasant. As they went down the hill through the little town, Mrs Darcy exclaimed, “Oh, my dear, we forgot to find a tenant for the White Cottage.”
“I did not forget,” Darcy said, “but I like to rent it to someone connected with the family, and there is no one, at the moment, answering that description. I want a good tenant, for it is a pretty place.” The carriage was stopped so that they could see it. It was, indeed, pretty. It stood a little back from the street, separated from it by a small garden, with a good-looking orchard behind.
“Rent it to me,” Anne suddenly said. “It is just the sort of little place I should like. I will live there, cousin, and write books.” Everyone laughed.
By the time they got there, the rooms were beginning to fill. It was pleasant to see the kind of stir, the whispering, the smiles of gratification, as the word spread through the room that the party from Pemberley was come. Anne, who had been used to stiffness, embarrassment, and forced cordiality, suddenly realized that her dress was pretty, her jewels exquisite, and her hair very well dressed, and that these people were pleased to meet her. She was introduced here and there; she was asked to dance again and again; and greatest Of wonders, she had no difficulty in dancing, for her partners were so kind and forbearing! She hardly had time to think, and her spirits lifted, in spite of her distress. A ball was indeed delightful!
She soon noticed that Georgiana was not enjoying herself. At first, Anne thought she was missing Colonel Fitzwilliam, but she quickly realized that Georgiana was simply shy in a large company. She did not know how to reply to well-meant commonplaces, and was uncomfortable with those of lower rank. Her manner was stiff; she looked haughty, even plain. Anne remembered what it was like to be young, and trying to make a good appearance to strangers. There was something to be said, she thought, for being five-and-twenty years old.
After several dances, Anne found herself without a partner, and felt tired. Mrs Darcy was sitting at the side, talking comfortably to her neighbours. Seeing an empty chair beside her, Anne went to sit down. Elizabeth said, “We miss Colonel Fitzwilliam, do we not?”
“Indeed, cousin,” Anne said. She realized that she had not given him a thought; nor had she thought of his errand to her mother. The whole day, in every leisured moment, her thoughts had been with Edmund Caldwelclass="underline" He cannot marry—he meant to tell me that he cannot marry, not for many years; that he cannot marry me… I will live there, and write books…
“Anne, I have made three unexceptionable remarks, and you have not answered,” Mrs Darcy said. “I admit that they were all three very dull—but is something amiss?”
“Oh, no,” Anne said. “No, not at all… Oh, Elizabeth, who is that girl that Georgiana is talking to? Do but look at her!”
Both looked. Miss Darcy was standing talking to a pretty girl, and the change in her manner was remarkable. They were too far away to hear anything, but Georgiana was smiling, she was laughing, she was clasping the other girl by the hand, and the flush on her cheeks spoke of happiness.
Elizabeth turned to her neighbour. “Who is that, Mrs Hatherley, the young lady in the blue muslin?”
“It is Miss Rackham, ma'am; that is her brother, dancing with Mrs Shipton. His mama is sitting down, over there; she is a widow.”
“Of course, we were introduced just now,” said Mrs Darcy. “So those are her children.”
“They are but just come into the country. His uncle was old Sir William, a sad invalid, at Wharton Place, you know, ma'am. He died a few weeks ago, and this young man has inherited the title and the property, but they say it is in a terrible state, for the old gentleman did nothing to it. He is not at all handsome, but a very pleasant, well-spoken young man.”
But she had not time to say more, for Georgiana came over to them, bringing the pretty girl, and introduced her.
“She was at school with me,” she explained. “I was homesick, and Mary was so kind to me. It was the horridest place you can think of. I became sick, and then my dear brother came and took me away, but Mary was sick, too, at the same time, and I never got her direction—and here she is!”
Arrangements were rapidly made: they were to ride together, to draw together, and as soon as the weather should be wet, to play the pianoforte together. As they drove away, Georgiana seemed a different girl, and Lady Louisa made up her mind, when she gave her own ball, to include the young Rackhams in her invitations.
Chapter 15
The next day, Colonel Fitzwilliam returned. Lady Catherine, he said, was well and in good spirits, and sent proper messages to everyone. Sitting beside Anne, at their midday cold collation, he quietly told her, “I had no trouble in bringing her round, cousin, over the matter of your inheritance.”
“I thought she would be very angry. How did you do it?”
“I told her how wise she was, to do as she has done. I told her that she had shown very good judgment in entrusting you now with the bequest, for she obviously knew the difficulties that young women, with no experience in handling money, often have when they marry; and I reminded her that at that point there will be a large fortune to be managed. I happened to mention this in the Pump room, in the company of her friends, who smiled, and agreed, and mentioned several instances of young married women of very good families who had run into debt. She could hardly admit, in front of them, that she had been forced into doing what she did; and she did not at all object to their being reminded that she is a very wealthy woman. Now she regards it, first, as a settled thing, second, as a thing admired by people she respects, and third, as something she thought of herself. I am an army man, remember,” he said, smiling. “There are tricks that work very well when one is dealing with senior officers.”
The conversation became general, and he explained that he had stayed overnight in order to dine, at his aunt's invitation, with the Duchess of Stilbury, and her brother, Lord Francis Meaburn. Lady Catherine, he said, was in very good spirits; and, he added, was dressed exactly like the Duchess, that is, in the very latest fashion. He thought her petticoats might be a little thicker than was generally worn, but she had a huge poke bonnet, and a pair of black and yellow boots. She and the Duchess were the best of friends, and the rest of the town, both visitors and residents, looked up to them with awe. “I should like to know what Meaburn thinks of it all, though,” he said. “He is not the kind of man to sit down in a small spa town, drinking the waters and going to bed at eleven, because he loves his sister; he is more of a Brighton man.”
“I fancy,” Darcy said, “that money might have something to do with it.”
“I think it has everything to do with it,” agreed Fitzwilliam. “He was a Colonel in the—th, you know. I know some of the officers in that regiment, and I remember they told me that his extravagance was unbelievable. Eventually he was forced to sell out, because his gaming debts were so huge.”
“Did he not marry Lord W——'s daughter?”
“He did. They say he had run through all her money by the time she died. But tell me, cousin, what has become of Dawson? there was a sour-faced woman in her place. Did she leave your mother's employment?”
“Yes, indeed,” said Anne. “If you remember, whenever we went anywhere my mother would have her sit on the box, and she was always quite willing. As it turned out, she was in love with the coachman; we could hear the two of them, laughing. Then he left, and she eloped with him. My mother does not like to have new people around her, so she promoted Mullins, who was the sewing maid before. I was sorry, for Dawson was very good-natured, and Mullins is not.”
The languor of the day after a ball was being felt; Lady Louisa had left, and no one wanted to walk. They were sitting on the terrace, when a servant came and said that Mrs Caldwell was wanted. She returned looking rather flustered.