A Private Performance by Helen Halstead Read Free Book Online

sure you mean impudent.”
    â€œNo! Yet no-one makes fun of Fitzwilliam the way you do. He is not accustomed to it.”
    Elizabeth laughed. “I believe he very soon will be.”
    â€œI fear—I fear that you will make him cross.”
    â€œI daresay he will be cross at times.” Georgiana’s hand flew to her mouth, and her eyes widened. Elizabeth smiled and kissed her cheek.
    â€œMarried people always have quarrels, Georgiana dear. I believe I can face a row and survive. The sermons tell us to bow our heads meekly under injustice, but women did not have the writing of them. A woman had best assert herself a little, if she does not desire her husband’s contempt.”
    Georgiana looked earnestly at Elizabeth, wondering if she feared Darcy’s contempt, and puzzling over whether such a change in his feelings was possible. Elizabeth laughed and touched the frown creasing Georgiana’s forehead.
    â€œDear Georgiana, I do not make fun of Fitzwilliam from policy but because I cannot help it.” Her dark eyes were dancing, and her expression hovering between sweetness and irony. “Think you that he is so miserable on it?”
    â€œNo, indeed. I have seen him laughing more in these weeks than I ever saw in my life.” Georgiana sat mesmerised. She felt half in love with Elizabeth herself. She was excited and in awe and happy, all at once. Yet beneath the happiness was a tiny sensation of unease.
    â€˜How foolish am I?’ she thought. ‘There is nothing to fear.’
    Â 
    In Kitty’s head there was, as usual, nothing akin to anxiety, indeed, not a great deal of anything at all. She wrote her last letter from Pemberley to her mama.
    From Miss Catherine Bennet to Mrs. Bennet
    Pemberley
    Dearest Mama,
    My time at Pemberley is all but gone and I have so much to tell you.
    Just as I thought, the tenants were vastly amused at their party. We donned our warmest cloaks to cross the yard in our evening finery. Two footmen lighted our way. The rafters were hung with holly and every lamp in the place had been hung upon the walls. The old people were still at table, but the young were gathered about waiting for the dance to begin. How well I understand their impatience.
    Elizabeth danced with Mr. Darcy’s steward, and Mr. Darcy with his good wife. A young man came forward, pushed along by his friends, and asked me to dance. A great cheering went up when I accepted. Mama, he was as handsome a lad as would grace a red coat but, Lord, how he stank of the stables! We were all applauded as though we had graced a London stage. Lizzy, Miss Darcy and I gave presents to the children. Then it was all over, for us, I mean.
    I am to come back, with your permission, to Pemberley in the summer. There is to be a large party of guests staying here for Miss Darcy’s coming out. Lizzy has plans for a wonderful ball. What timesI shall have then! Mary may come too and sit out all the dances at Pemberley instead of at Hertfordshire.
    Pray give my thanks to Papa for his permission to stay in London with Jane and Bingley. I shall love it above all things.
    Aunt Gardiner said that I must not expect to spend much time with Lizzy in London, for she will be much occupied in her introduction to the high society of her husband’s circle. My aunt believes that Mr. Darcy’s friends will think he has made a great mistake in marrying her, when he could have married so very well, and that Lizzy will have to work hard to correct this view. Lord, what nonsense she speaks! I envy Lizzy the grand times she will have.
    Just think! The famous Twelfth Night Ball, which we read about in the newspaper every year, is to be attended by your own daughter! A wonderful engraved invitation arrived from Countess Reerdon for Lizzy and her husband. A dressmaker’s assistant is come from London to take Lizzy’s measurements and show her some designs. She has chosen a yellow silk and gold beads and tassels