A Wife for Mr. Darcy

departed, including Mrs. Crenshaw, and it was safe to come to Netherfield. Lizzy thought it an excellent idea as her mother was driving her to distraction. All during her fitting, Mama had been buzzing around Mrs. Lyle making suggestions regarding the lace trim and rosettes that were being added to the hem and sleeves of the gown. After that, she went downstairs to check on Mrs. Hill’s progress with the preparations for the next day’s reception. From there she visited her three youngest daughters to make sure they had chosen their best frocks. Although Mr. Bennet had informed her several times that he was not in need of such information, Mrs. Bennet stopped by to give her husband an update on all that was going on.
    “Mrs. Bennet, I am only interested in what is required of me. I am to give Lizzy away, and then I am to get out of the way.”
    Georgiana greeted Lizzy as soon as she stepped into the foyer. Taking Lizzy by the hand, she led her to the drawing room and to a lady unknown to her. The visitor was sitting in the chair closest to the fire, her legs covered by a quilt, and with an exquisite black shawl decorated with red roses draping her shoulders. She had a complexion so fair that it was almost translucent, and her finely carved features and sky-blue eyes were framed by coal-black hair. Although she looked as frail as a China doll and kept a handkerchief in her lap to hide her coughs, she gave the impression of being someone who was made of sterner stuff.
    “Elizabeth, I want you to meet my dear cousin, Miss Anne de Bourgh.”
    “Miss Elizabeth, I am so pleased to meet you in person. I have heard so much about you from Colonel Fitzwilliam and Lord Fitzwilliam and from letters sent to me by Georgiana. Even Will, who is a terrible correspondent, wrote extensively of your attributes, and I can see that his praise of your beauty was not exaggerated.”
    Lizzy was deeply touched. Miss de Bourgh loved her cousin so much that she had left her warm hearth at Rosings Park to travel in very cold weather to see him married.
    “Elizabeth, you see we have another guest,” Darcy said as he entered the room. “Once I realized that there was a possibility that we might marry sooner than expected, I wrote to Colonel Fitzwilliam, asking that he bring Anne to London. In this way, the people dearest to me will be witnesses to the happiest day of my life.”
    Lizzy did not know if it was a combination of the strain of waiting for each other for all those months or the fact that this man of few words had said such a beautiful thing, but tears came to her eyes.
    “Miss Elizabeth, it is not too late to change your mind,” the colonel said. “It seems every time you and Darcy are together, he reduces you to tears.”
    “It is a small price to pay for such company,” Lizzy said, dabbing her eyes with Mr. Darcy’s handkerchief.
    “Richard, have you thought that it might be you who distresses Miss Elizabeth?” Darcy asked, and everyone laughed.
    Anne motioned for Lizzy to come and sit beside her on the sofa. “Lord Fitzwilliam sends his love and regrets, but he has decided to stay at Rosings Park to amuse my mother, and his presence makes my absence possible. My mother does not yet know of your marriage, and when she does, she will shout and carry on and threaten. But someone in every generation needs to shake things up, and this time, it will be Will. In my mother’s generation, it was a Fitzwilliam marrying a de Bourgh. Mama will tell you that the first Lord de Bourgh made his money in the importation of fine wines and spirits. Not so delicately put, he was a smuggler. But she chooses to forget that part of our history.”
    “Miss Elizabeth, when you go to Rosings Park,” Richard said, “and eventually you will go to Rosings Park because my aunt requires an audience for her orations and she will miss Darcy, Anne will sit quietly next to Mrs. Jenkinson, her companion, and say nothing. But appearances can be deceiving. On more than one occasion Anne has gotten the better of her mother.”
    “No more about my mother,” Anne said, interrupting. “I have come to Hertfordshire to visit with old friends and to make new ones. And before I forget, Miss Elizabeth, I visited with Mrs. Collins before leaving for London, and she sends her congratulations. She was not at all surprised to learn of your engagement. It seems my cousin was unable to hide his feelings for you. However, Mr. Collins does not know of the happy