“No,” said Elizabeth. “No one knows anything.”
“You are ruined,” said Caroline.
“Well, I don’t think so,” said Georgiana. “He never even so much as kissed me. But he did say it wouldn’t matter if people knew about it.”
“Who?” said Caroline.
Elizabeth protested.
But Georgiana ignored the question and kept speaking. “I just don’t understand. If no one knows, why have I been so very isolated? I thought that was why everyone was keeping their distance, why there was no discussion of when I would have my first Season, why I had not heard from my brother in months. No?”
“I am ever so sorry,” said Elizabeth. “Your brother has not given me a satisfactory answer either.” She would have asked Georgiana about Mr. Wickham, but she did not think it was a good idea in the presence of Caroline.
This bothered her, then. Didn’t she trust her best friend?
No, she trusted Caroline, it wasn’t that. It was simply that some things must be kept to one’s family. Elizabeth was a Darcy now. She had a loyalty to her husband and she would not go about speculating on why he had been so awful to his sister in mixed company!
Elizabeth continued, “You say you have considered why there has been no discussion of a Season, so you would be amenable to a Season, you say?”
“We have missed the ball!” cried Georgiana. “It is held at the end of January for Queen Charlotte’s birthday. I cannot be presented at court, so therefore, I cannot debut into society, and I cannot have a Season.”
“That’s not true,” said Caroline immediately. “The Queen hosts regular drawing rooms, but even then, it’s not necessary. You must, of course, realize that neither Mrs. Darcy nor myself have ever been presented to the Queen.”
Georgiana nodded carefully. “Yes, I suppose that is true. Why, I remember hearing that Hortense had not been presented, not until after her marriage to the Earl ofAnswich.”
“If you want a Season,” said Elizabeth, “I think I can easily convince your brother of undertaking whatever expense there might be.” She sighed heavily, realizing that she had not spent enough time preparing for balls for herself. She had not had dresses made. But perhaps that wouldn’t matter, in the end.
She could not be sure if her husband had chosen a wildly inappropriate bride for the exact purpose of drawing attention away from his sister’s misfortunes, but she was considering using it as a strategy.
Truthfully, given the way everything had happened, there wasn’t much else available to her in the way of strategies.
“Of course I want a Season,” said Georgiana.
“It is only that you are still very young,” said Elizabeth, “and you might wish to wait until you are seventeen or eighteen—”
“No!” said Georgiana, horrified.
“Positively not,” said Caroline, shaking her head at her.
“Everything is so different here than in the country,” muttered Elizabeth. “It is not such a to-do for a girl to come out in the country. You simply start coming along when the family is invited to dinners and balls, and that is all. It is more that you are of age and may be included and less of an emphasis on the idea that now you must be married off right away.”
“That’s true in town too,” said Caroline. “But we are scheming this Season for Georgiana precisely because we are trying to marry her off right away, are we not?”
“Yes, I think I do have to get married,” said Georgiana. “Or… well… I thought I did, because of what happened, but then, if no one knows? Do I have to get married right away?”
Elizabeth focused on the young girl. “What sort of man would you like to marry?”
Georgiana chewed on her lower lip. “Well, do you want the answer of what I would truly like or what I think Ishould settle for now?”
“What you would truly like, of course.”
“I suppose he doesn’t have to be rich,” said Georgiana. “But he must understand how to conduct himself amongst rich people. I have enough dowry, however, that all would be well, even if he were not rich. So, I suppose that means all I must worry about is that he is kind and good and very in love with me and handsome and… and blond. With curls if at all possible.”
Elizabeth nodded gravely. “All right, well, duly noted.” If she had noticed that Georgiana had described Mr. Wickham, she decided not to say. What had happened between the two of them, anyway?
“It’s not in any order,” said Georgiana. “So, I wouldn’t say that’s how you must sort importance. I don’t know what elements of that are the most important, truly.”
“And if you had not had this incident,” said Elizabeth, “wherein you thought you were ruined, when, ideally, would you have liked to have gotten married?”
