Pemberley by Emma Tennant Read Free Book Online Page A

travelled to his estates in Yorkshire where a hunting lodge was made ready for their occupation. Pheasants, blackcock, partridge and other game were the quarry; and in years past the party had been exclusively male, the wives of the huntsmen being expected to greet their spouses on their return with a range fired for boiling and stewing, and a hot spit for roasting in the rare event of a deer.
    This year, however – and it pleased Elizabeth that it had been her doing – the wives were invited. Mr Bingley was one of the group; Jane, for all her energy and good nature, considered herself too far gone in her pregnancy to walk up the birds, as the other women eagerly looked forward to doing; and Georgiana Darcy came in her stead. Mr Bingley’s sister Mrs Hurst and her husband were also guests; and the party was rounded by Elizabeth’s uncle and aunt Gardiner. Of the latter two it could honestly be said that Mr Darcy had come to love them – indeed, as he often reminded them, laughing, if they had not brought their niece, the lovely Eliza, to Derbyshire on a visit, he might never have married at all! For all the sardonic wit of Miss Bingley and Mrs Hurst – who, as Elizabeth well knew, had done all they could to prevent her marriage to Mr Darcy – the friendship that had grown up between Mr Darcy and her aunt and uncle was real and strong. Miss Bingley might have jested that Elizabeth’s relations would look ridiculous indeed in the long gallery, next to Mr Darcy’s, and that he must make sure to have them painted and placed there; but Mr Darcy had responded to the challenge with the utmost gravity and had sworn he would commission an artist to come to Pemberleyand execute a portrait of Elizabeth alone; and one, too, of Elizabeth with her aunt and uncle. This last when completed would hang near Mr Darcy’s great-uncle the High Court Judge; a fact which Mr Darcy frequently announced; and, if Elizabeth had a dread of Miss Bingley’s comments at the time of her Christmas visit, she also knew she could count on Darcy’s contempt for the arrogance and condescension of Mr Bingley’s sisters. She could only reflect with some gratification, as they came near to the lodge, that she had softened Darcy in this way as in so many others. He had taken pains to lose his fiery insolence. He followed his heart in his friendships these days, as he had in his choice of a wife.
    The lodge was set in a rugged landscape, and Mr Gardiner, who was in the carriage with Elizabeth and Mrs Gardiner, took great interest in the rushing water they crossed, by means of a rustic bridge, in order to reach their destination. ‘There will be salmon there, I’ve no doubt,’ pronounced Mr Gardiner. ‘It has taken me close on a year, I confess, to learn to trust Mr Darcy; for there are many who hand out an invitation to an angler to fish their waters and then profess themselves astonished when he turns up. But your Darcy, my dear’ – and he smiled at Elizabeth – ‘gave me permission to fish the streams at Pemberley the very first time we met; and he has not once reneged on his promise.’
    â€˜I should hope not!’ cried Mrs Gardiner. ‘Lizzy’s cook has a fine way with trout and you have supplied the breakfast table at Pemberley more than once, sir!’
    Whilst Elizabeth smiled at her aunt and uncle’s pleasantries, she could not but admit to herself her extreme gratitude to the kindly pair for deciding to rent a house at Rowsley for the duration of the Christmas season. There were so many good reasons why Mr Wickham should not come to Pemberley as the guest of Mr Darcy and herself. It was Mr Wickham who had been, as Elizabeth recalled with agitation each time, the cause of her most glaring prejudices, for she had believed his account of cruel and unjusttreatment at the hands of Mr Darcy, when in fact Mr Darcy’s generosity to Mr Wickham had been outstanding.