The Darcys and the Sirens' Songs Read online

  “Of course.”

  Down the table, Darcy was surrounded by Louisa and Caroline, Bingley’s two sisters, a purposeful arrangement.

  “Louisa, tell us about what your baby boy is up to these days. He is about ten months now, isn’t he?”

  “Yes, as you will see today, Gil has just started walking, holding on as he goes.”

  “Oh? Do they start getting into everything at that age?”

  “Actually he was worse when all he could do was crawl and pull up. Now he is too busy trying to balance to cause much damage.”

  “So in one more month he’ll be back to destruction again,” Caroline guessed.

  “I’d say so,” Louisa said, grinning.

  “I’ve enjoyed getting to know Tommy Darcy,” Caroline said.

  “And I, the Bingley’s Louisa,” Louisa answered with a grin.

  “Next week you are coming to visit us for a few days. Perhaps Gil and Tommy can become friends,” Darcy said.

  “That may have to wait two or three years,” Louisa surmised. “Right now Gil has no tolerance for any child who infringes on his desire to be the center of attention.”

  “Makes sense,” Darcy said, laughing.

  *****

  After lunch the twenty moved to the ballroom, the only space in the townhouse large enough to accommodate such a large group, with room left over.

  The nursery maids brought the four Bennet grandbabies and the toddler Gil to be admired, passed around and coddled. After an hour the maids reappeared, ready to take the infants to the nursery and Gil to the playroom. The mothers would slip out a couple of times to nurse their infants, but mostly the wet nurses would feed the babies today. The occasional nursing by the mothers was to relieve them from getting too full and uncomfortable.

  Jane and Mary took a first nursing shift at three and then took over as hostesses, while Kitty and Elizabeth took a turn at nursing their infants at three-thirty. When Kitty and Elizabeth freshened and met in the upstairs hall to return to the party, to pour tea at four, they heard a crash in the front hall. Scurrying, they leaned over the bannister. Down at the end of the hall, Caroline and Lydia were in a pushing match. They had already knocked over a pair of Chippendale chairs, one of which was now sadly in two pieces. Bodies poured out of the two ballroom doors.

  Lydia grabbed Caroline’s hair yanked it viciously, causing Caroline to scream, as she slapped Lydia briskly across the cheek. They kicked at each other, sometimes connecting, sometimes not. Charles Bingley and Mr. Bennet hurried down the long hall. By now the two ladies were wrestling on the floor—hair pins flying, materials ripping, screams increasing.

  Fitzwilliam Darcy and Richard Fitzwilliam stood immobilized by shock. However, George, a late arrival to the hall, trotted straight for Caroline. Just as George reached his wife, Charles Bingley grabbed his sister under the arms and wrested her free. Mr. Bennet took a stance between the two Bingleys and Lydia, blocking the latter’s access to and even sight of Caroline.

  “What is the meaning of this?” Bennet shouted.

  Mr. and Mrs. Gardiner arrived to placate Mr. Bennet and his daughter. “Thomas,” Mr. Gardiner said, calmly, “let’s take Lydia into the parlor. We all need a cup of tea.”

  “Very well,” he said, assisting the frazzled Lydia to her feet.

  Meanwhile Kitty and Elizabeth, still standing at the second floor bannister, looking down, waved to their husbands. The two men flew up the stairs, just as Jane and Charles Bingley, along with Louisa and Gilbert Hurst, escorted Caroline into the library, as she leaned on George’s arm.

  “Fitzwilliam, what happened?”

  At that moment the bell cord sounded in both rooms. Mr. Chambers took one call, Mrs. Chambers the other.

  “Tea, please, Chambers,” Mr. Bennet requested , “and some water and cloths. Lydia has some scratches we need to address.”

  “Can I help, Father?” Mary asked, standing only a few feet away in the closest doorway of the ballroom.

  “Yes, my dear. Go upstairs and get a comb and a brush and some hair pins.”

  “Certainly, Father,” she agreed. She turned to Henry, who wrapped his arm around her. Mary smiled at him sweetly. “Henry, please ring for tea for your parents and the Phillips. I suggest a little singing around the piano. I will join you soon.”

  “Yes, love. I’ll see to the tea. You go get the comb and the brush. Lydia needs them badly.” They both laughed and then blew each other a kiss.

  Down the hall, Mrs. Chambers and two servants arrived at the library with tea and a wash basin and cloths for Caroline and the others, who waited rather impatiently for the maids to leave so they could find out what happened.

  “We’ll pour ourselves, Mrs. Chambers,” Jane said. “Thank you. We will ring again if we need anything more.”

  “Yes, Mrs. Bingley,” Mrs. Chambers said, shooing the two maids out the door.

  Elizabeth, Kitty, Fitzwilliam and Richard stood back from the bannister, wide-eyed. Remembering Elizabeth’s query of a minute ago, Darcy said, “What happened? How should I know? But I’ll tell you what I consider the strangest thing of all—“

  “What?” the others asked in unison.

  “Bennet ended up in the parlor and not the library.”

  It took the other three a few seconds to register this comment . But then all four burst into uproarious laughter.

  “A little humor is in order right now,” Richard said.

  “I suggest that we four go to the music room and have a claret,” Elizabeth said.

  “A fine suggestion,” Kitty answered. “We’d just be in the way, if we knocked on either door.”

  Four abreast, they went down the wide staircase and walked quickly past both the library and the parlor doors to the music room. Darcy pulled the bell cord. Mr. Chambers, harried and disoriented, took a few minutes to locate the source of the ringing bell.

  “Oh, here you are Mr. Chambers.”

  “Sorry, Mr. D. The bells are all ringing.”

  “Claret please, and would you and Mrs. Chambers please join us for a glass? It is going to be a long day.”

  “Yes, sir. We’d like that very much.”

  *****

  Back in the parlor, Mrs. Gardiner was brushing Lydia’s hair and pinning it back up. Meanwhile Mr. Bennet and Mr. Gardiner were attempting to get a useful answer from the sniveling Lydia.

  “Edward, Lydia was to come to visit us tomorrow anyway. Let’s just arrange for the Phillips and Lydia to move the schedule up to today. Lydia can borrow a night gown and toiletries from me. We can send the carriage over to pick up her trunk in the morning,” Mrs. Gardiner said.

  “I agree. The Phillips should go on to Kitty’s. A change of pace will suit them. Our children adore their aunt and uncle, but they are a rowdy crew,” Mr. Gardiner explained. “My sister is spent. She and Hill were the main caregivers for Francine. She came to London for respite from strife, not a resurgence of it.”

  “Good. Kitty can see to their needs tonight. We will send their trunks over, when we pick up Lydia’s.”

  Mr. Bennet was furious. “Do you hear that Lydia? Have you no sense of proportion at all? We are guests. We are being cared for and catered to. Our main contributions were supposed to be enjoying each other’s company and helping with the arrangements in order to at least appear appreciative guests. The Darcys had a spectacular day planned, just as did the Fitzwilliams last night. You made yesterday, which was Christmas Eve I might add, uncomfortable, but today you have surpassed even that display of rudeness. You have ruined Christmas Day for all of us—including yourself.”

  “I . . . “

  “Such behavior has consequences. You will not be attending either ball.”

  “What!”

  “That is a reward for misbehavior that I shall never countenance.”

  “But . . . “

  “Quiet!” Mr. Bennet shouted. “The only reason you are not now on your way to Scotland is my concern for the driver and his footmen. I will
not send them off from the own Christmas celebrations. And if I send you back tomorrow, it will be six days on the road for them, which, thereby, interrupts their New Year’s plans. I refuse to do that.”

  Lydia remained silent with a scowl firmly planted on the face.

  “You go back January second, as planned. You will behave exceptionally at the Gardiners and at Jane’s. I intend to invite myself to stay at both places during your residence to insure that my orders are fulfilled.”

  “Now, Lydia,” said Mrs. Gardiner, “let’s hear your version of what happened. I am certain that it will not coincide with Mrs. Wickham’s.”

  “Caroline and I just happened to go refresh at the same time. Returning, we accidentally bumped into each other in the hall,” Lydia said.

  “Accidentally,” her father said. “I think not.”

  “Well, to be truthful, my dress is still a little long. I tripped over the hem and fell into Caroline, who was just in front of me. She was inadvertently thrust into a chair. Caroline knocked the chair over and broke it – uh – when she landed on top of it on the floor.”

  “No wonder she was furious.”

  “Getting up, she slapped me, calling me a horrible name. I, in turn, began to pull her hair. The two of us knocked over another chair and began pushing and screaming. Finally both of us ended up on the floor. That is when the rest of you came out of the ballroom to separate us.”

  “And the name?”

  “Something horrible in French.”

  “What did the French word mean, Lydia?”

  “I am not sure, but it must have been bad if Caroline called me that after I knocked her over.”

  *****

  In the library, Caroline, much more calmly, gave her account of the encounter with Lydia. They began the same. “Lydia and I went out to refresh. We did live here together for a month. We had little to say to each other at the time, but in consideration of the very wonderful times the Darcys have provided for George and me, and which they continue to do through this generous invitation, I decided to be as nice to Lydia as my personality—you now that I will never become Jane—would allow. In fact, I was determined to be civil. On our way back up the hall after refreshing, she began mumbling about George and me, and so I hurried a little ahead. All of the sudden, I felt a push on my back. I fell forward and into a Chippendale chair. I broke it and ended on my knees. My knees and my chin were bruised. By now I was furious.”

  “Makes sense,” George said.

  “I got up, cursing in French. I was immediately confident that Lydia had no idea what I had said, so I then complained loudly in English. She grabbed my hair and pulled it. I began slapping at her hands and arms, trying to pull free. We scrambled, screamed, slugged and finally both fell together on top of one another . . . as you found us.”

  “Jane,” Wickham said, “I believe that you should go find Elizabeth and Fitz. I suggest that we all stay separate for the remainder of the afternoon. We can relax in groups of four, perhaps play whist in separate rooms. See if they agree. We can calm down and meet for cocktails as planned, then have Christmas dinner together and end with music. We may or may not wish to dance.”

  “I concur. In fact I believe the Darcys already had some intention of separating us into smaller groups for the latter part of the afternoon,” Jane said. “Since it is your plan, George, come with me. We’ll go to the parlor and retrieve Father. As he has been with Lydia, he will know her current state of mind.”

  “Excellent idea,” Charles said. “Gilbert and I will remain with Caroline. Louisa can go up to the nursery and play with Gil for a half hour or so. When everyone returns, we can read. We are in the library, after all”.

  “Your father will probably wish to join us,” Gilbert said, smiling.

  “Good. We can play whist or backgammon or even a little poker,” Wickham said with an even bigger smile. “Let’s go, Jane, and release your father from the parlor.”

  Jane and Wickham retrieved Mr. Bennet. As Wickham had intuited, Bennet was grateful for the respite. The three stopped in Darcy’s office for a little privacy, while they caught each other up on the debacle in the hallway.

  Mr. Bennet informed the other two that Lydia would be going directly to the Gardiners from the party that evening and that he would be accompanying her. “When she moves to your house, Jane, on the twenty-eighth, find a place for me. She is not to be out of my sight.”

  “But, Father, is it necessary for you to be displaced?”

  “I thought so,” he answered, sounding a little hopefully doubtful.

  “You were here today, Papa, and it did not deter Lydia. Let Aunt Maddie and me handle this Lydia problem. She will not get her way with either of us. Trust me. You stay and have a relaxing time with Elizabeth and Fitzwilliam.”

  “Thank you, Jane, for that offer. I think I shall.”

  “Good! Let’s find Chambers and see where Elizabeth is right now.”

  At the maids’ station, the three found that the Chambers were drinking claret with the Darcys and the Fitzwilliams in the music room. So they headed back down the hall toward the front of the house. As they neared the music room, they heard a piano sonata pouring into the hall.

  “Beethoven,” Mr. Bennet said.

  “Elizabeth,” Jane added.

  Mr. Bennet knocked on the door and then entered unannounced. Everyone looked up and smiled.

  “Bennet, Jane, Wickham, come in,” Darcy welcomed. Elizabeth ended her piece with a crescendo and a banging chord.

  “Claret?” Darcy asked.

  “Please.”

  “We have a proposal,” Jane said. “George’s idea, and a very sensible one.”

  “Let’s stay separated into fours or sixes, until we reconvene for cocktails at six-thirty. After which we dine, followed by an evening of music. Dancing will be optional, depending on the mood by that time,” Wickham said.

  “An excellent strategy, George. I can see why you have advanced to major,” Richard said. ”Now have a second claret before you rejoin your foursome. Mr. and Mrs. Chambers will advise the others of our decision to relax in small groups until we meet for cocktails at six-thirty, followed by dinner and music in the ballroom.”

  “It is four-thirty now. A perfect chance to enjoy a round of cards, before a rendezvous for cocktails,” Darcy said.

  “A rendezvous, Fitzwilliam? That sounds -- almost romantic,” Elizabeth commented.

  “It does, doesn’t it?”

  “What has come over my disquieting cousin these days?” Richard kidded.

  “Hmm. I’d say love cures most infirmities, Richard, disquietude included.”

  “Indeed it does,” Richard agreed, clasping Kitty’s hand.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  On December twenty-eighth, the date of the Duke and Duchess of Sheffield’s ball, all the Bennet sisters’ households were ablaze with activity. The Peterson Spensers had arrived at noon at their townhouse and sent their daughter, Madeline Gardiner, word that they were resting from the trip and would see her tonight at the ball.

  The Garvin Masons had moved to their townhouse, and the Phillips had taken their place with Mary and Henry. Lydia had today moved to the Bingleys, so the Hursts had come to spend time with the Darcys, before moving to their own townhouse for New Year’s Eve.

  It would not be long until the Darcys and the Bingleys would be going home to their estates, as would the Garvin Masons and the Peterson Spensers. Mr. Phillips would be returning to Meryton to his law practice , Mr. Bennet to Pemberley and Lydia back to Downe Academy. Richard, George and Henry would also be going back to work, as would Edward Gardiner. The four Bennet ladies would begin new lives as mothers. The ladies had homes to manage. All their lives would hopefully now resume a normal pattern, despite the loss of the frivolous, but very beloved Francine Gardiner Bennet.

  That was still in the future, however. Tonight, the twenty-eighth of December, was the high point of the Christmas and New Year’s festivities. How had Darcy
pulled this miracle of getting the whole entourage an invitation to the exclusive event? No one knew, and Darcy wasn’t telling.

  In truth the working of this miracle had been quite simple. Darcy and the Countess of Sheffield each had something the other wanted. Darcy had a bereaved family to send to the heights through a spectacular night to remember. And he had one of the top thoroughbreds in all of England.

  The Duchess of Sheffield, Alexis Evelyn Carter Butler, loved all race horses, but she especially pined for one she had foaled and sold, Thunder on the Ground.

  When Mrs. Bennet died and the family decided to convene in London for the Christmas holidays, Darcy, knowing that Alexis loved his favorite stallion as much as he, wrote her, proposing an exchange—invitations to her ball for all his extended family in exchange for a fair price on his horse.

  The duchess jumped at the chance, asked for the list and immediately sent out engraved invitations, assuring Darcy could not rethink his offer. Thunder would be delivered to the Sheffield Stables in the good weather of the spring.

  Darcy was now the duchess’s new best friend. He was also pretty fond of her too. He hoped to visit Thunder on the Ground occasionally at his new home.

  “This is a once in a lifetime opportunity for both of us,” Darcy wrote the duchess. “Most years during the Christmas festivities, we will be far away at Pemberley, so unable to attend your renowned ball. Hence we especially look forward to the opportunity this year. As you may know, Elizabeth and I have instituted a Christmas in July holiday, which includes a hunt and a ball and presents for the poor. Please try to join us this coming July.”

  “Perhaps, we shall,” the duchess wrote back. “And you and your extended loved ones are always welcome at any ball I give, Fitzwilliam. I just wish Georgiana and the charming Lord Lawton and the Matlocks were here to be with us, and even that naughty Viscount Anthony. You did not need to bribe me to secure the invitations. I will always accommodate your requests. However, accept it I did. That will tell you how much I wished to have my precious Thunder on the Ground back.”