Chapter 16 Happy Was The Day

Mr. Bennet’s preparations for the unplanned trip to London naturally delayed their party, but Mary and Elizabeth had stealthily arranged their trunks on Mr. Darcy’s carriage and placed their comforts in his vehicle. Thus when it was time to depart, the carriage assignments became settled without much debate, and Mrs. Bennet tried to argue Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth should not ride alone until Mary reminded her mother she would be present. Without further arguments or delays, they managed the nearly thirty miles changing horses twice. Once halfway, and again just before entering the city limits of London properly.

At the last stop, Mr. Bennet campaigned for the larger party to split, with his daughters joining him in the Bennet carriage and Mr. Darcy to continue on his way alone. Fortunately for Elizabeth’s desires, Mr. Darcy provided a more convincing argument that to rearrange the luggage at such a juncture would delay them further, and possibly risk not arriving until nightfall. As it stood, they all arrived at a most inconvenient time to Cheapside: the dining hour. A weary and exhausted party arrived at the Gardiner townhome, four-and-one-quarter-hours after they began the journey from Longbourn.

Mr. and Mrs. Gardiner accepted the ill-timed arrival of their family, and their acquaintance, Mr. Darcy, with the highest level of graciousness and polite society. They interrupted their dinner to usher all of the travelers into the parlor, directing their kitchens to bring refreshments straight away.

“You must be half-starved, oh Mary, how lovely to see you! I surely expected Jane, but you are a better surprise all the same!” Mrs. Gardiner greeted her nieces as her husband addressed the men.

“We did enjoy a hearty stew and bread at the last tavern,” Elizabeth assured her aunt as Mrs. Gardiner peppered Elizabeth with questions about the journey. Mary nodded in support of her sister’s answer.

“I am pleased to see that you have come to visit our humble abode, Bennet, for a happier reason than before. I believe we can find many a diversion to keep even you here for longer than a few days,” Mr. Gardiner teased his brother by marriage, earning only a sour look from Mr. Bennet, but a sly smile from Mr. Darcy. Just two months prior, Mr. Bennet had stayed a fortnight in the search for his youngest daughter, Lydia.

Mr. Bennet signaled to a footman in the corner to request a drink of whisky. He loathed traveling to London for a necessary reason and found no humor in visiting for a lesser one. “I am only here to sign the marriage contract and be gone.” Mr. Bennet said, shaking his head.

Mr. Gardiner laughed merrily, attracting the notice of the entire room. “That cannot be! Mr. Darcy has already written to me that we are to visit the theatre tomorrow evening, and visit his club next week.” The second event excited Mr. Gardiner more, for the honor and respect it meant for Elizabeth’s relations and the opportunity for more business connections. He turned to his lovely wife and gestured in her direction. “I also believe the ladies have plans to disturb the peace of my billfold,” Mr. Gardiner said, as he winked at Mary though she tried to shyly step away from the larger circle of adults.

“Your billfold has been left in peace far too long, dear,” Mrs. Gardiner teased her husband back and gave direction to the maids bringing in cold meats and ale for their guests.

“Shopping with Aunt is much better than shopping in Meryton,” Elizabeth said to Mary, also attempting to reassure her sister who appeared so physically uncomfortable. She was careful to make a mixed comparison of the person and location, to avoid criticizing their mother outright. Then she shot a look of appreciation to her intended, Mr. Darcy, ignoring the dour expressions of her father. She wasn’t fooled, as though her father may pretend to be vexed, visiting the theatre was one of the few London distractions that he enjoyed.

When Elizabeth caught Mr. Darcy’s gaze, she licked her lips, feeling entirely impressed by the man’s cleverness to take one of her passing mentions of her father’s interests, and turn it into an olive branch. Still, she was even more curious as to how he found the time to arrange so much, and then recalled how he had written several messages while they waited for her father to pack. She had not wished to interrupt his work, and so she had helped Mary finalize her trunks and packing all while parrying the whines and complaints of Kitty.

“And what screeching and leaping shall we subject ourselves to on this opera night? I also can’t say I wish to enjoy a crush,” Mr. Bennet said, performing well his own act of indifference. He feigned as though he might not attend at all if his mood did not suit.

Mr. Darcy cleared his throat. “The Theatre Royal on Drury Lane has reopened, and my family subscribed to a box. I believe the performance for Saturday night is Hamlet, sir.” Mr. Darcy said, and Elizabeth watched her father’s face most closely. The side of his mouth twitched involuntarily. The Bard’s play of a murderous uncle and hapless prince was one of his favorites.

In the slight lull that occurred between the announcement of the play’s title, Mary braved asking why the opera house had to reopen?

“A ghastly fire, three years ago,” Mrs. Gardiner explained, demonstrating she was well-informed on the delights offered by Covent Garden, even if she rarely visited. Such a part of town was mostly out of their social circle, apart from the few public displays put on by the Masters each season.

“If the performance is tomorrow, how shall we find time to purchase gowns for the occasion?” Mary asked, and Mrs. Gardiner reached out her arms to gently shepherd her niece over to the same side of the room as Elizabeth and her. This rough division by gender allowed the two groups to speak cordially about the plans for each group, though Elizabeth struggled to listen to both conversations at once. 

Mrs. Gardiner lowered her voice. “We may have to be resourceful with you, Mary, dear, as I did not know to expect you. For your sister, her measurements were already with my dressmaker, and so they have a gown ready for final alterations,” she explained.

“ . . . and a family dinner as well,” Elizabeth heard snippets from the gentlemen and wished so much she could join that conversation over talking about gowns.

“If Mr. Darcy only sent a message today, how was the gown already done?” Elizabeth asked her aunt, but Mrs. Gardiner shrewdly waited for a better time to answer Elizabeth’s query.

“We shall leave quite early in the morning,” she warned both girls.

Before Elizabeth could say much more and reassure her sister, Mr. Darcy announced that it was time for him to take his leave. Mr. and Mrs. Gardiner offered again for any refreshment he might need, but he announced that Miss Mary and Miss Elizabeth’s effects had been unpacked from his carriage, and his own household was expecting him.

A brief moment of awkwardness consumed the room, as Elizabeth wished to go farewell Mr. Darcy, but she did not wish to do so with so many people present. As she was about to approach him, her father interrupted with the thinly veiled demand for obedience.

“Surely, Lizzy and Mary, you’ll want to hurry up to your room and oversee the unpacking of your things. If we are to begin a grand schedule of diversions at Mr. Darcy’s behest beginning tomorrow, I believe it ladies’ custom to have all of their wrinkles fallen out of the skirts?” Mr. Bennet demonstrated how privy he was to the habits of his daughters, as he accepted a drink from the footman he had signaled earlier. Mr. Gardiner laughed at Mr. Bennet’s jest, and Mrs. Gardiner gently rubbed the upper part of Elizabeth’s back to reassure her that she need not take every bait dangled before her.

Bowing low in Mr. Darcy’s direction, Elizabeth leaned forward so that he might be at the most advantage to spy her cleavage. As she stood to witness the effect her gesture procured, she gave a short laugh at the poor man’s blush and then looped her arm with Mary to see to their room. Mrs. Gardiner farewelled Mr. Darcy and hurried after her nieces, eager to show them the improvements since summer when Elizabeth had shared the room with Jane.

“The papers in the hall are all the same, but I have pulled down the paper in the room, so please forgive the appearance. Mary, dear, I’ll have a maid bring extra linens. Ah, yes, here we are,” Mrs. Gardiner sighed at the shoddiness of the walls looking very rustic with multiple layers of wallpapering ripped in various stretches. “We did stop the workers abruptly this afternoon, I’m afraid.”

Elizabeth paused as the room looked very pleasant otherwise, and wondered how they knew to stop the work. “Were you clairvoyant, Aunt?”

“Clairvoyant? Heavens no! Mr. Darcy’s regular messenger arrived and explained you had left Longbourn,” Mrs. Gardiner explained. “He and you uncle are in regular correspondence,” she added, brightly, inspecting the wardrobes full of the handful of gowns both girls brought. There was plenty of room for more purchases.

“By messenger?” Mary asked, asking about the extraordinary expense Elizabeth didn’t dare to bring up.

Mrs. Gardiner nodded, then shook her head at her nieces. “Girls, great men like Mr. Darcy dispatch regular messages and correspondence that would take forever by the post. Why, could you imagine,” she paused as she chuckled before she could get her example out, “could you imagine Mr. Darcy’s steward at Pemberley sending him the accounts by running to the local inn, paying the keeper, and waiting? Not only would some busybody peak into the missive, but some two weeks later perhaps he gets the letter if it wasn’t misdirected! Meanwhile, the poor man at Pemberley waits another fortnight for a response! The man would only be able to do business once a month!”

“And the letters could cross paths! Do this, Mr. Darcy writes, only for another update to arrive, contradicting the first order, so he writes another. Then another letter from his steward,” Mary surprisingly latched onto her aunt’s absurd musings, adding her own, throwing her voice to sounder deeper, more like a male. “Mr. Darcy, we are in an uproar, we did as you say, but now the Cook has put in his notice, and another letter just arrived, oh, very well, sir, I see you said to sack the Cook,” Mary giggled, making her aunt lose herself in laughter, the two of them imagining a comedy of errors as letters flew across the countryside.

Elizabeth did not join them in their mirth as she became pensive once she thought about it. In Hertfordshire, she had scolded that they sent messengers back and forth in the rain, suffering one of Longbourn’s boys a most terrible cold. But to him, such a matter was routine trouble, as routine as using horses to pull a carriage. And her conversation with him the night of the disastrous Netherfield Hall dinner came fresh to her mind. He had offered to send her letter to the Gardiners, likely the same way he had been conducting a correspondence with her uncle all these many weeks. But she had posted the letter, delaying his plans further for them to arrive in London! She had been so simple; and he was too much of a gentleman to expose her thus!

“What does Uncle think about Mr. Darcy?” Elizabeth interrupted their silliness, and Mrs. Gardiner offered a wan smile.

“Why is Jane not here?” she asked, parrying her niece’s query until her own was answered.

Mary answered first. “Jane has allowed Mother’s favoritism to inflate her ego and she takes all of her insecurity out on Lizzy, absolving Mr. Bingley and Mother, entirely.”

“Thank you, Mary,” Elizabeth said, curtly, though wishing she had spoked up first, she could not fault her sister’s accuracy.

“Lizzy?” Mrs. Gardiner asked, and her eldest niece in the room look away as her eyes welled with tears.

“Oh Lizzy, you must have suffered deeply,” Mrs. Gardiner started, rushing forward to embrace the young woman who had joined them for so many adventures, including last summer’s jaunt to the Lake District. “This is more common than you would believe, and one reason tradition holds younger sisters do not marry until the eldest is married off. First, Lydia ruined you all and we only just managed to salvage the circumstances. Now, with Mr. Bingley’s regard so obviously pale in comparison to his friend’s affections for you, it is little wonder that Jane would feel so off-balance.”

Elizabeth’s tensed her shoulders at her aunt’s touch and words. “So you defend her?”

“No! Most certainly not! From the letters your uncle has shared with me from Mr. Darcy, I would have to say that Jane has performed abominably.”

“And she trusts Caroline Bingley over me!” Elizabeth wailed, allowing herself to feel the betrayal of loyalties that stung her the most.

“That tart! Mary,” Mrs. Gardiner addressed her other niece as Elizabeth finally accepted her comfort, “when Jane called on the Bingley sisters, they were both exceptionally rude and never returned the call. That was this past spring,” she explained. Mary’s mouth dropped in horror.

Pulling back from her aunt’s embrace, Elizabeth angrily wiped her eyes with the backs of her hand and looked up at the ceiling to stymie her nasal symptoms. The candlelight slightly swayed as the movement in the attics disturbed the beams enough to affect the chandelier. Despite living near their warehouses, the Gardiner family wanted for very little on account of her uncle’s high profit margins. Feeling slightly dizzy, she closed her eyes and shook her hands out to restore her mood.

“Jane will suffer and it won’t be at my hand. Miss Bingley will find some way to jeopardize their wedding, especially now that Mr. Darcy has quit the neighborhood,” Elizabeth prophesied. Then she remembered her original concern. She gazed at her aunt and would not be put off this time. “What does Uncle think of Mr. Darcy’s character?”

Mrs. Gardiner snorted. “Never can put you off for long! I suspect you’ve had tongues wag at you as no one understands Mr. Darcy very well in Hertfordshire, too colored in their opinions by his first lackluster performance, eh?” she wagered.

Elizabeth slowly nodded. 

“Your Uncle shared his letters with me at first because of the reports that alarmed us both, that you and Mr. Darcy were not receiving the support you two deserved. Then,” she paused and smiled apologetically at Mary, “then he shared them because he needed my help in some of Mr. Darcy’s requests. I hope the fabrics and silhouettes I have selected will please you, but we have arranged for an entire trousseau to be fabricated here in London, based on your measurements in spring,” she finished, as two very happy Bennet daughters crushed her in jubilation.

Over her shoulder, she managed to reassure Mary. “We will find something special for you, dear.”

But Mary shook her head, as she retreated to grant Elizabeth a chance to thank their aunt individually. “No, now that I know what all has been done. You should go to the dressmaker tomorrow with just Lizzy. She deserves it, and I will stay here with my cousins. I’m certain they haven’t heard all of Fordyce’s sermons about respecting their elders,” she said in a flat voice.

Elizabeth and Mrs. Gardiner exchanged glances and had not silently worked out who should respond first when they were arrested by Mary’s laughter.

“I fooled you both!” she said, triumphantly. “I meant what I said about staying behind tomorrow, but I promise not to sermonize to my younger cousins. If it’s too cold for the park, I’ll play songs for them on the pianoforte.”

“They would enjoy that so much, Mary, especially as they are about to lose their favorite partner in mischief-making to matrimony,” Mrs. Gardiner said, as she helped the girls locate their nightgowns. After a few more inquiries into how the family was doing in Hertfordshire while they changed for bed, Mrs. Gardiner finally left them to their privacy with one final thought.

“I am so glad you are both here, and Lizzy, your uncle and I could not be happier for your future,” she said, beaming with pride in her niece’s match.

Alone, Elizabeth was polite and offered Mary her choice of bed, even though she and Jane had long ago settled the matter. To her surprise, Mary selected the bed Elizabeth customarily slept in, and the arrangement solidified a reinforcement of her new status as the eldest sister in residence. She inhaled deeply and snuffed the candle, nearly asleep when Mary braved a question.

“Lizzy, have you ever been to the theatre?”

Elizabeth yawned and settled upon her back, tilting her chin down to release the tension in her neck across the pillow. “Not Drury Lane, it’s been closed for years.”

“Is it so many people?”

“I suppose so, but we will be safe with our aunt and uncle, father, and Mr. Darcy. I’ve never sat up in the boxes before though,” Elizabeth added, thoughtfully. When she had visited the theatre with her aunt and uncle in the past with Jane, they had great fun in looking up at the well-dressed and stuffy lords and ladies all prettily arranged in the boxes above. Now she was to take a place in that lineup, anxiety washed over her body, matching Mary’s nervousness.

“Kitty will be furious she missed this,” Mary said, with a yawn at the end.

Elizabeth smiled. She rolled over to her side to face Mary and agreed. 

“And you can hold it over her any time she annoys you,” she said, and the two sisters laughed.

Mary soon lightly snored, but Elizabeth stayed awake thinking about all that she had learned about Mr. Darcy’s communications with her family in London. She listened as heavy footsteps came up the stairs, one set she recognized as her father’s. He would take the proper guest-chamber, while the room she and Mary shared only displaced her the two eldest Gardiner children to cots in the nursery. Soon though, Master Gardiner and his younger brother would be off to school, and so visits would have to be timed around their holidays.

But then Elizabeth felt entirely silly again after she married Mr. Darcy, her family would stay at their home in London, not the Gardiners’ anymore. That happy thought sated her mind’s intent to puzzle out her future life even though she held such a scant amount of solid evidence. She had never been to Mr. Darcy’s London home, nor had she discussed much with him what their life together would require. Would they spend most of the year in the countryside? Would they be in London? Worse yet, would they travel so incessantly she would come to hate carriage rides? 

As her mind tormented her with more questions than answers, exhaustion finally won out and placed her in a fitful slumber.