Page 84 of The Cheapside Runners
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The couple decided a walk in Hyde Park was just the thing. It was about a mile and a half from Elizabeth’s home in Gower Street, so they decided to just walk. Elizabeth brought one of her famous ogres for propriety, even though she had often walked in far worse places by herself. She felt perfectly safe with Darcy for superfluous protection, but she wanted to avoid any whiff of scandal if they were observed.
They spent the first part of the walk marvelling over their unusual history. They’d never had a real conversation before the Netherfield ball and had not had an ordinary one, ever. Darcy advanced the theory that it was probably for the best, as any path that did not result in his reformation would have been doomed to failure. Elizabeth did not dispute that, and while she wanted to dig into his history with her uncle, she was in no hurry to do so. Conversely, Darcy very much wanted to know more about her years in the Runners, but once again, did not want to corrupt their walk with that discussion.
They spent the rest of the walk speaking about ordinary things, if only to prove they could if nothing else. They canvassed what they liked to do, how much and which subjects they liked to read, the obvious superiority of a plain dish over a ragout, their favourite sweet and tea shops. Elizabeth encouraged a rather long and rich description of Pemberley, and it struck her as a not too terrible sounding place to live. Darcy asked how she became a card sharper and laughed over some of the antics. He was slightly less sanguine to learn she had been taught by an unrepentant gamester but laughed at her stories anyway. He avoided his history with Wickham but told what he remembered about his mother.
In the end, walking four or five miles was not really a challenge for either and Elizabeth even dragged Nathaniel in to agree with her on a dispute over Shakespeare, since it was obvious she was right, and Darcy was wrong.
All in all, for the several hours of perfectly ordinary, mundane, courtship (as in devoid of interfering relations, rogues, gossips, scoundrels, or eight girls) the walk had much to recommend it.
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The next week saw the group settle into a routine. Jane’s letters were clever and almost honest (well, almost-almosthonest at least), so their stay had been extended until Easter if nothing changed, with Mr Gardiner having legal responsibility for them.
The school had no classes scheduled until after the new year, so they did not have to worry about making room for new students.
Their course curriculum had been thoroughly ravaged, but since they had some time, they decided to continue the rest of the lessons at a leisurely pace. Elizabeth assigned all but Jane and Georgiana to Mrs Rose and spent a few hours with each of the two who had suffered recent disappointments.
She found Jane retained the lovability and kind nature she had always enjoyed, but she gradually reduced her naïveté and tendency to think the best of everyone.
The first breakthrough came when Jane asserted the Bingley sisters were snakes in the grass, and a latter came when she called Mr Bingley a feckless weasel. Elizabeth suggested she might be taking the lesson just a bit too far, as only about a third of the problems they had as a couple could be laid at his feet. Elizabeth did point out that, as the head of his family, and in control of the purse strings, he most certainly owned his sisters’ behaviour.
In the end, Jane decided if he came calling again, she would sit him down and have an honest discussion, though she was not optimistic that he would either come calling or survive the conversation.
Miss Darcy had boxed herself into an endless cycle of her own making since Ramsgate, exacerbated by her brother’s lack of preparing her for the real world she was entering. Elizabeth did not blame him for it, since he did no worse than the vast majority of guardians (including her own), but it was unfortunate.
To Georgiana’s credit, after the takedown of Mr Wickham(whose identity she still fortunately did not know), she seemed to revert mostly to her original personality, which was too shy for Elizabeth’s taste, but not the end of the world.
After a few hours of conversation, Elizabeth quite liked her, and certainly did not consider adding another sister as an impediment to her courtship. She was a lovely young lady with a good heart, and with another year of Mrs Annesley’s tutelage, she would be fine. If she remained too shy, she could always lock her up with Lydia or send her back to the barn to smash targets until she got over it.
Mrs Annesley came over the next day, and never quite left. Georgiana did not feel any need to return to Darcy House, and her guardian liked her right where she was anyway.
The companion resumed lessons with Georgiana, which naturally included all the girls except Jane and Mary, much to the improvement of all.
Mrs Rose had no classes and lived in the house, so she joined in on the instruction, mostly to flex her teaching muscles with something other than their defence curriculum.
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For the next fortnight, Darcy and Elizabeth walked most days and even took a drive in Gardiner’s curricle.
Darcy obtained several suits of clothes matching Mr Gardiner’s style, and with a bit of training from Elizabeth about how to behave, he felt as invisible as she did. He even drove her by Darcy House just to test his luck. He was vastly amused when several of his own grooms did not give him a second glance. That wasalmostas amusing as when he did the same at Bingley’s house, where Miss Bingley stared directly at him and turned her nose up.That was the most fun he’d ever had!
He thought perhaps the old phrase ‘the clothes make the man’ might have been onto something.
One day, when they had become more comfortable andtrusting, she even dressed as a maid and wandered the street alone while he observed from down the lane. He was astonished by how well she pulled it off. She was invisible unless she wanted to speak to another servant, in which case she became their best friend in the world for the space of two minutes. She did, however, draw the line at his suggestion that he could dress as a footman. Even she had her limits.
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Colonel Fitzwilliam finally was brought into the secret at about the time Georgiana’s course was originally to end. Darcy invited him around for dinner with the redoubtable Mrs Black and quite enjoyed revealing all the secrets of the group. The colonel was as thunderstruck as the rest had been.
During the separation of the sexes, they were speaking of all the things Darcy had learnt, and the extraordinary turn of events.
“I told you, cousin. You have it bad.”
“You notice I never disputed you.”
“Now that you mention it, I suppose not.”
