Page 58 of Introducing Mrs. Collins
And with that, just two guests remained at Pemberley.
The house that had been brimming with activity had shed its guests quickly and efficiently over the course of two days, as if in harmony with the falling leaves outside its windows, and was left in a state of relative quiet and welcome peace. The household now comprised Mr Darcy and Elizabeth, Georgiana, and Charlotte and Colonel Fitzwilliam.
As the days moved onwards, this grouping proved to be an easy fit. The two gentlemen got on as well as they always had, and found their best conversations took place when they were occupied by other pursuits: playing a game of billiards or fishing in the lake. Charlotte and Elizabeth needed no such prop. They talked together with neither prompt nor pause, for hours at a time but also often sat companionably in silence, reading or sewing. Long walks in the day, and languid evenings in were enjoyed by the whole party. Georgiana seemed to find an affinity with Charlotte; she shared many of her traits, being easy in solitudeand a diligent reader, more interested in intimate conversations than in holding the attention of the group. She fitted in well with them all, content to be a little separated by age and experience. All in all, the household was so well suited, it could have been by design.
As the shadow cast by Wickham lightened day by day, Charlotte began to relax into the happiness of her situation, and in her stronger moments, she found that she was in her element. The days were passed too quickly until she must return, and she wished she could stop time and remain here, suspended from her life. Pemberley already seemed otherworldly in its aspect, and to imagine it existing outside of the ordinary progression of time, was only a small leap in her imagination.
The ease of manner between herself and Colonel Fitzwilliam was notable to the others. It was hard not to observe that they fell into step with a married couple without any difficulty.
‘I wonder at how acquainted Charlotte and my cousin have been in Kent,’ Darcy remarked to his wife one evening, after retiring to bed.
‘They met but two or three times while I was there. They must have met more often since then, to be so familiar. They talk very frankly with each other, do they not?’
‘They do; one might think they were long married.’
‘Except, if they were long married, they would not have the spark they have now.’
‘Oh, I don’t know,’ said Darcy, seizing her at the waist. ‘I think we shall have the spark for a few years yet’.
‘Oh,weshall. I shall always strive to be the exception to any rule,’ she said with a mischievous grin, and Darcy leant over and kissed her.
She let herself be distracted by him then, but she had already addedColonel Fitzwilliam?to a growing list of concerns that she had about her friend. But it was not the most pressing.
‘I keep thinking about Wickham,’ Elizabeth said to Charlotte, rather unexpectedly, as they sat in the parlour one afternoon. Elizabeth was attempting some embroidery, which always made her irritable.
Charlotte looked up, closing her book. Her silence invited Elizabeth to go on.
‘He must surely suffer some consequence to his behaviour. And yet, it is his attachment to my family that means he cannot. What disgraces him also disgraces my sister and myself. It infuriates me,’ she said, stabbing at her sampler.
Charlote nodded. She was well aware of the predicament and the injustice of it. ‘My hope – and I can only say this to you and you alone – is that, in his new position in the regulars, he is sent abroad and proves useful to his country.’
Elizabeth, not looking up, idly replied, ‘Yes, yes, I’m sure he will be of some use.’
‘And then gets shot.’
Elizabeth’s head jolted up. She caught Charlotte’s grim expression and laughed uncertainly. ‘Charlotte!’
Charlotte shrugged and held her look. ‘Do you not?’
Elizabeth grinned slowly. ‘I do.’
‘Pretty good chances of it,’ said Charlotte darkly, with the smallest grin.
Elizabeth chuckled, shaking her head in disbelief. ‘You always surprise me.’
‘I will take the compliment.’
A moment later, Elizabeth asked, ‘But are you well, in yourself? After what occurred?’
Charlotte took a moment to think, then replied with clear eyes and firm voice. ‘I am.’
The answer surprised even herself.
Ten days after their wedding, the new Mrs Darcy accompanied her husband on a long day of visits, in which she would beintroduced to his tenants, leaving a slightly depleted party at the house. As luncheon was cleared, Colonel Fitzwilliam asked if Charlotte or Georgiana would like to accompany him for a walk through the grounds. It was a bright day, though cold, and there was much he wanted to explore, he told them, as far as his legs would take him. Even though he was still unsteady, and his body tired easily, he could now walk without the aid of a stick, and he was keen to make the most of his new faculty. Georgiana declined, preferring to stay inside and practise the pianoforte, but Charlotte accepted.
The grounds of Pemberley were breathtaking; there was so much to remark upon, to delight in, as they progressed, that Charlotte and Fitzwilliam hardly needed to discuss any subject beyond what was in front of them. They walked through the herb garden, then the orangery, across the sweeping lawns, past the lake and beyond. At points, they were child-like, rendered so by the playfulness of the landscape; Charlotte jumped from side to side of a hillside cascade, Fitzwilliam splashing the water with a stick.
They reached thelabyrinth; a thick, tall hedge maze, known for its difficulty.
