Page 213 of What Change Entails

Mr. Darcy had asked if he had hope.

She had given him more than hope.

He would come if he could.

Elizabeth turned back to her sister. “You are right.”

Lydia’s face brightened with immediate triumph. “I know.”

“We have endured too much to fail now.”

“Yes. Though if he delays excessively, I shall write to Georgiana and demand action.”

“I have no doubt.”

Mrs. Gardiner returned before Lydia could outline what action might involve, which spared Hertfordshire an advance declaration of war. The horses were ready. The rain had eased. Mr. Gardiner had decided they would continue several more miles before stopping for the night.

Lydia rose with renewed purpose, seized a slice of bread for the road, and marched toward the door.

Elizabeth lingered one moment at the fire.

Then she followed.

The journey home was long, hurried, and broken by practical discomfort. They changed horses more often than Elizabeth’s tired body approved. They stopped at inns where meals were too hot, too cold, or too late. Lydia recovered enough spirits to narrate much of Derbyshire to anyone trapped within the carriage. Mrs. Gardiner slept whenever the road permitted. Mr. Gardiner grew increasingly preoccupied as they neared Hertfordshire, though he still found time to apologize for every inconvenience he had not caused.

Their arrival at Longbourn produced all the confusion Elizabeth might have expected after so many weeks away. The Gardiners’ children, who had spent the intervening weeks there, rushed from the house almost before the carriage had properly stopped. Mrs. Gardiner scarcely reached the ground before she was surrounded, while Mr. Gardiner submitted cheerfully to several embraces at once and attempted to answer three questions from three children.

Mrs. Bennet received Elizabeth and Lydia with cries sufficient to bring Hill, Jane, Kitty, Mary, and two maids into the hall.

“My dearest girls! At last! We have been all anxiety. Mr. Bennet, they are here! Hill, where is the tea? Lydia, how you have grown brown. Lizzy, you look tired. Did you travel comfortably? Of course you did not—travel is always ruinous. Kitty, do not stand there, take your sister’s bonnet.”

For the next hour, Longbourn surrendered itself entirely to reunion. Questions were asked faster than they could be answered. Lydia attempted to tell Kitty three stories at once. Jane embraced Elizabeth long enough to make conversation unnecessary, and Mrs. Gardiner listened patiently while her children supplied an account of everything that had occurred during her absence, including several events Elizabeth suspected had grown considerably in importance through repetition.

Mr. Gardiner’s business, however, would not permit them to remain even for the night. Their trunks were sorted from those belonging to Elizabeth and Lydia, the horses were given what rest could be spared, and all too soon Mrs. Gardiner began gathering her children for the remainder of the journey to London.

She extracted several promises from Lydia regarding her conduct and correspondence before embracing her one final time.

“You are behaving as though we shall be separated for years,” Lydia complained.

“With you, a week may contain enough mischief for several years,” Mrs. Gardiner replied.

Mr. Gardiner laughed, promised to write as soon as business allowed, and, after farewells had been exchanged all around, helped his family into the carriage.

Elizabeth and Lydia stood in the drive with the others and watched them disappear down the lane toward London.

Kitty seized Lydia instead.

“You must tell me everything.”

“I shall,” Lydia declared, embracing her. “But not in front of Mama, for she will interrupt, and not in front of Mary, for she will moralize, and not in front of Papa, for he will laugh.”

Mr. Bennet appeared at the library door with a book in one hand. “Then I am excluded unjustly, for I had hoped to do all three.”

“Papa!” Lydia darted toward him and kissed his cheek. “You shall hear a little.”

“I am honored beyond expectation.”

His attention settled upon Elizabeth.