In Darcy's Hands by Gwendolyn Dash

Author:Gwendolyn Dash [Dash, Gwendolyn]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pride & Printing Press

Chapter 12

“Do you really wish to see Pemberley?” Elizabeth asked with no small measure of distress. She was seated across from the Gardiners in their carriage. They were within five miles of their next destination—a Derbyshire village called Lambton, where Mrs. Gardiner had lived in her youth. Though Elizabeth knew the town to be quite near the estate in question, she had thought they might be spared a visit thither. “Can it possibly be the equal of Chatsworth? Have we not had enough of fine carpets and satin curtains?”

Their journey had been splendid so far, with good weather, fine conversation, and visits to stately houses and glorious vistas. Elizabeth had felt the cares of the past few months melt away as she took in the sights and enjoyed the pleasant, easy company of her aunt and uncle. They both knew of her recent change in fortunes, as her father had consulted with his brother-in-law when the news had first arrived, and her aunt took delight in imagining now the beaus who might present themselves, if not back home in Hertfordshire, than surely the next time she visited them in London.

The prospect, strangely, left Elizabeth feeling quite cold.

“If it were merely a fine house, richly furnished, I should not care about it myself,” her aunt said now “But the grounds are delightful. They have some of the finest woods in the country. And you need not worry on account of the family being at home, for they are surely spending their summer in some seaside resort.”

“My dear,” said Mr. Gardiner abruptly, “are there not enough trees to trip your memories in Lambton, without going all the way to Pemberley?”

Elizabeth gave her uncle a quick glance, wondering, suddenly, if he knew what had transpired between herself and Mr. Darcy. If, during her father’s conversations about her inheritance, he had mentioned how very nearly she had come to being married off with far less of a fortune, to someone who did not require it in the least.

Or perhaps he, too, was bored by the tour of great houses. Derbyshire was everything beautiful, but he still spoke of the Lakes as his most anticipated stop along the tour, although it was more than a week away.

Mrs. Gardiner frowned in disappointment, and Elizabeth felt a pang of guilt. She could not allow that she had any business at all at Pemberley, and yet, how could she deny her aunt the chance to visit a grand house she had heard so much about all through her youth?

“Let us plan on this,” Mrs. Gardiner offered. “When we arrive at the inn at Lambton, we shall ask if the family is at Pemberley. If they are away, there can be no danger. There, might that not suffice?”

Elizabeth was forced to admit that it should. And yet, was there not danger in viewing the place, even without the addition of its master? For Pemberley might have been her own home, had she truly desired it. She could even now be coming to the estate as a newlywed bride.

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