Page 67 of Miss Gardiner
The man smiled and told his fiancée, “You may do with it as you please, my dear.”
“And she is due a portion of my mother’s legacy,” Gardner added. “This began as a fund of seven thousand pounds and recently it reached twenty-five thousand. Elizabeth is due an equal share; there are nine children between my sister and my own brood.”
“What do you want to do, Elizabeth?”
Without hesitation, she replied, “Leave the money in place. We do not require the funds and once my sisters marry, I shall pay their portions out of my share to leave the legacy intact to grow for my cousins.”
After the discussions of the banns and settlement, they agreed to place an announcement in the papers. Then Mr Darcy mentioned an excursion to the theatre.
“I have no objections to attending the theatre,” Mrs Gardiner replied. “Charlie is old enough to be left with the Mrs Simple for an evening. And Nanny will be here.”
With Mr Gardiner’s agreement to the outing, Mrs Gardiner glanced at the happy faces of both her niece and Mr Darcy before she nodded. Georgiana smiled with delight.
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Two nights later, Elizabeth began arranging her hair when Aunt Gardiner came into the room carrying her long strand of pearls and a brush.
“My dear, I believe your hair must be up tonight and I thought that we should weave my pearls into it.”
When Mr Darcy called at the door, Howard let him into the house where Mr and Mrs Gardiner stood in the entry hall to greet him. After exchanging greetings with Mr Darcy, Mr Gardiner sent Howard up the stairs to summon his niece.
Darcy glanced up and froze as Elizabeth appeared at the top of the stairs. She looked radiant and he could not take his eyes from her. Her dress and hair were perfect.
“Elizabeth, you are lovely…”
“Good evening, William,” she murmured from the stairs before reaching the entry hall.
“Shall we?” he asked offering his arm. Mr Gardiner escorted Mrs Gardiner out to the carriage and the ladies climbed in first, followed by the two gentlemen. The carriage ride into the theatre was too short for Elizabeth but the laughter from Mr Darcy and Georgianakept her smiling.
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At the theatre, Mr Darcy led his fiancée, sister and guests up the stairs and then further up into the area for box seats. There were three chairs placed forward and three behind the first row. Mr Darcy placed Georgiana in the third chair, Miss Elizabeth in the centre while Mr and Mrs Gardiner took the seats behind the front row. Then he sat in the last chair on the front row while the lights went down, and the curtain rose.
In seats on the floor, Caroline Bingley sat with Mr Evan Robinson as her escort for the evening and with her attorney, Albert Belmont, who escorted Miss Gwendolyn Hobbs. Glancing at the boxes above the common floor, she immediately noticed Mr Darcy seated above her.
“Belmont,” she called over her shoulder. When he did not respond, Caroline turned and reached for the man’s arm. “Mr Belmont!”
Smiling at Miss Hobbs to apologize for turning away from her, Albert turned partially toward his client and hissed, “Yes, Miss Bingley?”
“Mr Darcy is here!”
This announcement made several people around them turn and look up to the boxes where they saw the man with an unknown woman and a girl. There were hisses from other audience members toward the couple as they continued to talk for a time but eventually, they fell silent and waited for the interval.
In the theatre box, Mr Darcy paid no attention to the people in the seats below him; his attention was captured by the musical performance and the young woman at his side. He kept glancing at her and noticed how her attention appeared to be fully engrossed in the performance of Mr Handel’s composition. But after a few minutes, she turned his way and graced him with a brilliant smile. Fitzwilliam Darcy felt his face stretch with the width of his own smile.
However, Georgiana studied the audience and watched the reaction of many people to the appearance of her brother at the theatre. She particularly noticed the agitation of Miss Caroline Bingley. After several minutes, Georgiana slipped into the back of the box and whispered with Mrs Gardiner.
At the beginning of the interval, Georgiana spoke up, “Brother, I believe we should remain in the box while everyone else is walking about.”
“Remain inside?” he asked, tearing his attention from Elizabeth for a moment.
“Yes, Mr Darcy,” Mrs Gardiner agreed. “Miss Darcy and I observed a good bit of reaction from the floor when your presence was noticed.”
“I am certain the reaction was for the presence of Elizabeth Bennet,” Darcy said returning his attention to his fiancée. Elizabeth blushed prettily and laughed.
“William, just because no one has met me before, does not mean I am worthy of their attention.”
Mr Gardiner spoke up, “We can refresh ourselves after the interval once the crowd is back in their chairs. They cannot pursue us on the stairs once the crowd is seated again.”
