A Wife for Mr. Darcy

also two whippets that had the run of the house and seemed to be on some sort of mission as they went from room to room, and Georgiana explained that they were Will’s dogs, David and Goliath.
    “When I come to Pemberley, they think Will must be here as well, so they just keep looking for him until he does come, or I go. He would never admit it, but they are part of the reason he comes home so frequently.”
    Georgiana had not prepared any events for the day, but she did ask a favor. “Mrs. Reynolds is to conduct a tour of Pemberley for some visitors from the inn, and I would ask that you join them. Our housekeeper came to Pemberley from Kent with my mother when my parents married, and she delights in telling people about the family and estate. I have heard her tour so many times that I have learned it by heart. In addition to telling you about the portraits and the dimensions of the room, she will mention that my brother is the best landlord and master who ever lived, that my father was an excellent man, and that Will is as generous with the poor as my mother had been. I will not repeat what she says about me, only that she is too kind.”
    All was as Georgiana had said it would be, with the housekeeper pointing out some of the exceptional pieces in the Darcy collection: a Van Dyke here, a Reynolds there, and a Greek antiquity nestled in a niche. Of particular interest to Lizzy was the family portrait painted when Miss Darcy was about five and her brother fourteen. When Lizzy said that Miss Darcy resembled her mother in all things except hair and eye color, Georgiana was elated.
    “Now that I have been out in society and have seen the best that London has to offer, I still think Mama was the most beautiful woman in the world. She was a little taller than you, perhaps five feet, four inches, with the tiniest waist, and she wore these enormous hats with an abundance of feathers. And I loved her dresses. Unlike the very straight lines of our frocks, hers were all frills and flounces, and I thought that she might take flight.”
    If Georgiana resembled the Fitzwilliams, her brother was all Darcy and a younger version of his father. When Miss Darcy showed her another portrait of her brother that had been painted three years earlier when he was twenty-four, she remarked on how much he had changed since becoming the master of Pemberley.
    “My father died while my brother was traveling on the Continent. Will once told me that he had left Pemberley a boy but had returned as a man. You can see it in his face; he is so very serious. The management of such a large estate and being responsible for so many others, including the servants, our tenants, and me, weighs on him because he always does the right thing even when it costs him personally.”
    The two ladies rejoined the tour group with Lizzy only half listening to Mrs. Reynolds’s recitations. However, there were two statements that did merit Lizzy’s attention: “Some people call my master proud, but I am sure I never saw any such thing. To my fancy, it is only because he does not rattle away like other young men.” Lizzy agreed that no one could ever accuse Mr. Darcy of “rattling away.”
    But it was her response to a second question that truly puzzled Lizzy. When asked if there was a Mrs. Fitzwilliam Darcy, Mrs. Reynolds had replied: “Not at present, and I do not know when that will be. I do not know who is good enough for him.”
    Had not Mr. Darcy gone to town for the purpose of beginning a courtship with Miss Montford? But if that were the case, then why was Mrs. Reynolds completely ignorant of the news from London? Lizzy looked at Georgiana, and seeing the confusion on her friend’s face, Georgiana knew what Lizzy was thinking, but could say nothing.
    A relaxing afternoon was followed by supper in the most elegant dining room Lizzy had ever seen. Robert Adam had designed all the public rooms at Pemberley, and his soft colors and classical embellishments lifted one’s spirits as soon as you entered the manor house. An aura of tranquility was present in every room, and for a man with as many responsibilities as Mr. Darcy had, Lizzy understood why Pemberley would be a welcomed retreat. He had confided in her that whenever he was troubled, he returned to Pemberley because the clean air and magnificent views provided clarity, and she wondered if, instead of going to London after the Netherfield ball, he had returned to his beautiful estate in Derbyshire, if