A Wife for Mr. Darcy

weeks, they can cause a lot of aggravation and possibly damage to an estate you are leasing. I think we should come up with our own plan and not wait upon them to act.”

    When the Darcy carriage arrived at Longbourn, Lizzy could hardly believe that she was going to spend her holiday at Pemberley with its extensive gardens and views of the Peak, and she had to fight the urge to giggle at her good fortune. Once seated, she found that the Gardiners and she were to share the carriage with Miss Darcy’s little corkscrew-tailed pug.
    “I hope you do not mind,” Georgiana said. “Because I have been so busy of late, my little darling has been woefully neglected,” and she kissed his nose.
    Although the Bennets had four dogs, they were expected to earn their keep about the farm in return for much love and lots of meat. In town, many of the wives of the merchants kept lap dogs, mostly as an accessory, but some loved their dogs more than their husbands.
    “What is his name?”
    “His real name is Peeps, but Will complained that was such a silly…” and then she stopped. “It was decided that we should rename him Pepper.”
    For a few minutes, Lizzy’s heart sank. Miss Darcy had stopped in midsentence because she knew that she cared for her brother. Although embarrassing, she decided that she would not allow it to ruin her holiday. So Lizzy asked a number of general questions about Mr. Darcy, so that Georgiana would feel she could talk freely about him.
    It was a pleasant ride with Mr. Gardiner sleeping and snoring for most of the journey, and his wife nodding on and off throughout. For Georgiana and Lizzy, it was a time to share stories of dresses, dance partners, and sore feet. Lizzy also learned some of Georgiana’s personal history, including the death of her mother ten years earlier following a miscarriage.
    “One of the reasons I so love to go to Pemberley is because Mama’s presence is everywhere, and there is nothing sad about it. I shall show you her portraits. She was very beautiful.”
    She then mentioned that her father had died suddenly while Will had been on the Continent on the Grand Tour, and he had to return home immediately to assume the many duties and responsibilities of being the master of Pemberley as well as the guardianship of his thirteen-year-old sister.
    “Will can be impatient, but you could not find a better brother or cousin or friend. As Mr. Bingley once said, ‘When choosing up sides, everyone wants Darcy.’ I think that says a lot about a person.”
    Following an overnight stay with the Hulston family, friends of the Darcys in Derby, the carriage continued on to Pemberley, and when the coach turned into the drive to the estate, Lizzy experienced what her mother referred to as “the flutters.”
    As the carriage emerged from the woods and into the light, before her, glowing in the afternoon sun, was Pemberley, the ancestral home of the Darcys. Tears came to her eyes, and if asked, she would have been unable to say if they were tears of joy or sorrow.

Charles was positively bursting with pride as Jane laid out her plan to retake the high ground in the war with the Crenshaw children. A day earlier, his bride-to-be had arrived at Netherfield just in time to say good-bye to Caroline and Louisa. It was their intention to be halfway to London before their sister’s children arrived. Caroline’s parting advice to Jane was not to sit down without looking, and Louisa leaned out the window to remind Charles to lock his door when he retired for the night. And with that, they made good their escape.
    Part of the problem was apparent as soon as Jane was introduced to Mrs. Crenshaw. She was expecting, possibly six months along, and with half the day still ahead of her, she was already exhausted, and the children were prepared to take advantage of their mother’s fatigue. Unfortunately, for the youngsters, the servants had planned their own welcome. Instead of being free to run amok, they were marched out the back door by the three sons of Mrs. Smart, Netherfield’s cook, and into the park where Mr. Bingley’s grooms were waiting for them.
    But they could be contained only for so long, and during dinner in the breakfast room and away from the china, the four oldest Crenshaws came in and immediately began eating off their mother’s plate and out of the fruit bowls in a foraging expedition. When they came to Jane’s plate, she placed a napkin over it and informed them that what they