Page 1 of An Accidental Meeting
Chapter One
Glorious. Pemberley was absolutely glorious.
How fortunate it was that the family should be from home just when Elizabeth most required their absence! Very accommodating too, which Mr. Darcy never was if he could help it.
Elizabeth Bennet smiled at the thought. However, if Mr. Darcy was overly proud, she had been ridiculously prejudiced, and she had to admit, if only to herself, that a part of her was sorry Mr. Darcy was not here so that she might apologise to him.
A very small part.
Mostly she was relieved not to see Mr. Darcy again, for she was quite ashamed of herself and would find facing him rather uncomfortable. What would he think of her if he knew she had come to tour his home after she had so cruelly refused his offer of marriage four months ago?
“Lizzy,” Aunt Gardiner said kindly, “are you well?”
Her aunt’s solicitude reminded Elizabeth that she had been right to refuse Mr. Darcy’s offer, for would the master ofPemberley ever have allowed the estimable Gardiners to visit them? Her uncle and aunt might be in trade, but she loved them, and they would have been lost to her had she married him.
“Perfectly,” Elizabeth replied.
Her aunt smiled, and Uncle Gardiner, who had been speaking to the coachman, joined them.
“Shall we apply to the housekeeper, then?”
This was quickly accomplished, and soon a slight, grey-haired woman had come to greet them.
“I am Mrs. Reynolds,” she told them. “Welcome to Pemberley.”
“Good day, Mrs. Reynolds,” Uncle Gardiner replied, and introduced himself. “This is my wife, and this is my niece, Miss Bennet of Longbourn in Hertfordshire.” Elizabeth winced when her uncle spoke her name aloud, but the housekeeper offered no sign of recognition. Of course not. What reason would Mr. Darcy have for speaking of her to his housekeeper?
“We understand that the family are from home,” Uncle Gardiner said.
“Yes,” Mrs. Reynolds responded. “However, we do expect them to arrive with a party of friends tomorrow.”
“Ah,” Uncle Gardiner said good-naturedly, “our timing has been fortuitous, then.”
Elizabeth’s mouth went dry. He had no idea how fortuitous.
Mrs. Reynolds smiled. “Indeed, it has.” She led them inside.
Mr. Darcy’s home was elegant and tasteful with none of the useless finery of Rosings, his aunt’s estate in Kent. Even the architecture was superior. After Elizabeth marvelled at the way the landscape was so beautifully framed by each window, they passed into a small room beside the stairs where a set of family miniatures were suspended over the mantle-piece. Aunt Gardiner examined them closely, and Elizabeth moved to join her. The one directly before her was obviously Mr. Wickham,and though the likeness was decent, she could not help but be unsettled by it. She wondered that it should still be on display here, but perhaps Mr. Darcy had not been at Pemberley since before his sister went to Ramsgate.
“He has turned out very wild,” Mrs. Reynolds was saying to her relations. Elizabeth did not need to be told who was being spoken of. She was somehow gladdened to know that the man was not well thought of here, even though they could not know of his planned elopement with Miss Darcy.
Aunt Gardiner tipped her head to one side and exchanged glances with Elizabeth. “And this one, Elizabeth,” she said quietly, gesturing to the miniature of Mr. Darcy, “is it very like?”
This prompted Mrs. Reynolds to question whether Elizabeth knew Mr. Darcy, and when Elizabeth had confirmed that yes, she did know the gentleman and that yes, he was very handsome, Mrs. Reynolds was satisfied. Elizabeth now held out little hope that Mr. Darcy would remain unaware that she had come, but at least she would be gone before he heard of her impertinence.
The housekeeper added a few more compliments of the master’s kindness to his servants and his tenants, and then moved ahead of them towards the stairs.
“This fine account of Mr. Darcy is not consistent with his behaviour to our good friend,” Aunt Gardiner whispered to Elizabeth as they began to climb the steps.
What could she say? That Mr. Wickham was not a good friend, but a villain? That he had taken all the undeserved preference of his godfather and used it to insult and injure the Darcy family? Even if she wished to do so, now was not the time. Elizabeth said something about perhaps being deceived, and her aunt replied, with a bit of amusement, that the source of their authority was too wise for such an error.
Aunt Gardiner only thought the evidence valid because Elizabeth had argued it, and her aunt trusted Elizabeth’s good judgement. Elizabeth wished she could still say the same. She guiltily pushed the thought from her mind as they walked through more rooms—Miss Darcy’s sitting room was of particular interest, for it was modern and elegant, having just been refreshed in complementary shades of light blues and golds.
“It is his way,” Mrs. Reynolds said approvingly. “Whatever might give his sister pleasure is sure to be done in a moment. There is nothing he would not do for her.”
The final part of the tour was the long gallery, which was adorned with family portraits. Mrs. Reynolds spoke at length about the subjects of each painting. The Bennets had been at Longbourn for nearly two hundred years, but if Elizabeth understood Mrs. Reynolds’s history correctly, the Darcys had lived on this land for more than twice that time. Normally she would have found the family history interesting, but today, another thought assailed her. The Darcyswerean old family, and their wealth and connectionsdidindeed offer Mr. Darcy a rather lofty perch in society. Was it surprising that he felt his position so keenly?
At last, they reached the final portrait. Elizabeth lifted her eyes to it and froze in place. There, in a painting nearly as large as the man himself, was the Mr. Darcy she had met in Hertfordshire nearly a year ago.
