Page 24 of Pemberley's Imposter
“Excuse me while I see to that.”
Mr Darcy relinquished his daughter into her arms and strode away to find his steward.
He came back promptly with a woodworker to remove the boards. Elizabeth wandered off to move her and her daughter out of harm’s way. At the end of the corridor there was a door leading out to a balcony overlooking the lake. Ellie squirmed in her arms; she loved the water and would likely have walked straight into it if she had been allowed.
Mr Darcy called them back as soon as the boards had been removed.
Elizabeth entered her old chamber, which had been left untouched in its entirety. The biscuit tray she had emptied still rested on the table she had left it on. There was surprisingly little dust in the unused room, but the air was suffocating nevertheless.
Mr Darcy walked over to the windows and threw them wide open, letting the gentle summer breeze waft through the stale air.
Elizabeth approached her dressing room and opened the door. By the noises coming from within, she gathered the servants’ entrance had received the same treatment. The connecting door to her husband’s adjoining room was boarded shut as well.
All her garments hung in a row with her shoes neatly placed underneath, and her stays lay in the drawers. It was as though she had never left.
Mr Darcy had been angry in the library, but he must have been hurt as well. Why else had he not burnt her belongings and redecorated the room to divest himself of all his memories of her?
“We can drive to Lambton and purchase new gowns and anything else you need on the morrow or any other day that would suit you,” Mr Darcy offered.
Ellie coughed on her arm. A footman came in with the chest holding the few possessions she had brought from Little King’s Hill, while a maid entered carrying a pitcher of water. Then everyone left, even Mr Darcy. Elizabeth let out a gush of air and put her daughter down.
“Let us wash and change into something less dusty, petal.”
Ellie sneezed her assent.
Elizabeth did not need any shopping trip to Lambton. Her old gowns fitted well enough to wear. She gathered what would suffice for the coming days and carried them with her to the nursery.
There was nothing she could do as Ellie’s chest had already been emptied and stowed away in the drawers. In the adjoining nurse’s room she found a cot and hauled it into the nursery. She did not feel like taking her eyes off her daughter for a single second. If Ellie was not allowed to stay in her chamber, Elizabeth would simply have to sleep in the nursery.
Mr Darcy called her to his study. An awkward conversation followed where she accepted the pin money he offered her. Her husband promised to settle a significant fortune on Ellie, which Elizabeth could not fault.
#
Rumours spread quickly that the mistress of Pemberley had returned.
Three days after Elizabeth and Ellie’s arrival in Derbyshire, curious neighbours poured in from far and wide. She received them in the blue parlour, which had turned Pomona green since she was last there. Elizabeth thought it a quirky fact that the old appellations were kept even though the rooms had altered.Old habits die hard.
The music room was now part of the library, although the pianoforte had not been moved. Not particularly practical if one wanted to read in quietude while someone practised their scales.
Approaching the yellow parlour, which had become blue, with Ellie on her arm, she could hear Mr Darcy speaking in a flat voice.
Elizabeth entered with trepidation and found Colonel Fitzwilliam and Georgiana standing in front of her husband. She fought off the revulsion threatening to consume her.Vultures travel fast. Word of a Darcy heiress must have reached them, and they had come to secure Georgiana’s claim on Pemberley. She trusted neither in the presence of her preciouschild. Elizabeth tightened her grip around her daughter, who squirmed at the fierceness of her mother’s hold.
“Papa!” Ellie cried, stretching her arms towards her father. The scamp had warmed incredibly fast to the dark and brooding giant of a man. She was dwarfed in his grasp as he received her plea with obvious pleasure. Perched on his arm, she hid her face in his neck, nuzzling her nose against his skin. Her thumb found its way into her mouth as she occasionally glanced at the intruders who had made her mother uneasy.
Traitor, Elizabeth thought and felt bereft and defenceless without Ellie to hold. Yet what struck her the most was the likeness between the father and his daughter. The resemblance was striking.
“Georgiana, meet your niece, Elysande, the heiress to Pemberley.” The latter remark was an obvious stab at his cousin, who had not taken his narrowed eyes off her daughter.
Georgiana stood indecisively; you could see the turmoil in her mind displayed on her countenance. Her gaze turned to the colonel for support, but he did not notice.
“I come with good news, Brother. Richard and I married only two days ago. I wished you could have been present, but we did not know where you were or when you would return, and we could not postpone it any longer.”
“I see,” was the only reply to be had. No offers of well wishes or congratulations left Mr Darcy’s mouth. A rattled Mrs Fitzwilliam waited in stunned silence, but none were forthcoming.
The colonel stepped forwards. “Does the child resemble you?” he questioned insolently. “I cannot see it.”
Darcy made no reply, only glared at his cousin.
