Page 2 of The Long Road Back to Yesterday

“No, I am quite well. Let me put these aside, and I shall bring a few more.”

They searched another hour when Georgiana uttered a little shriek. “I found it!”

Darcy held out his hand for the sheet music.

“This was printed in 1750. It may be the arrangement we have been searching for.”

He rose and beckoned to the clerk. “I believe we have found the arrangement of Robin Adair we have sought. Would you permit my sister to play it upon your pianoforte?”

“Certainly, sir.”

He led the Darcys to the far end of the shop, where a handsome Clementi upright grand of polished mahogany stood against the wall. The young man arranged the bench, and Georgiana took her place. Darcy set the music upon the music desk. She arranged the loose sheets and played through the entire piece.

When the final notes faded, she looked to her brother. His gaze rested upon the far wall, and tears glistened in his eyes.

“Is this the arrangement Mamma used to play?”

“Yes, sweetling. This is the very one. As you played, I could picture our Mother seated in the music room at Pemberley, playing it from memory.”

Georgiana rose and wrapped her arms around his waist.

“Oh, Fitzwilliam, after all these months, we found it. I shall practice until I know it so well you will scarcely be able to distinguish my playing from Mamma's.”

He laughed and rested his cheek against her hair.

“I look forward to that, sweetling. Come, let us purchase the music. I believe you found several other pieces you wished to have as well.”

She laughed. “Yes. There are five other Scottish or Irish pieces I should like to purchase. They were all printed in the 1750s. Perhaps you will remember Mamma playing some of them.”

Fitzwilliam paid for the music, and while the clerk wrote the receipt, Georgiana drew him aside.

“Fitzwilliam, there is a beautiful Morocco leather portfolio. Will you purchase it for me? I should like to keep these special pieces in it.”

“Of course. Where is it?”

She led him to another corner of the shop. They examined several portfolios before choosing one of red Morocco leather, tooled with a gold design.

When they returned to the counter, the clerk handed Mr. Darcy the receipt for the music. Georgiana placed the leather portfolio beside it. After the purchase was completed, the clerk handed Mr. Darcy the second receipt. Georgiana slipped the music into the portfolio, and then Darcy tucked both receipts inside.

“Well, my dear, we have had a most productive afternoon. Let us return home and dress for dinner.”

Chapter 1: May Day

April 30, 1811

The three Bennet sisters left Mrs. Talbot’s house after paying a visit to the elderly woman and her granddaughter, Miss Mary King. Mrs. Talbot had been poorly, and they had brought her a jar of medicinal honey to soothe her cough.

Once they reached the road, Jane looked toward Meryton.

“Come, Lizzy. Let us stop in Meryton on our way home. We must collect the post, and I promised Hill I would purchase the cloth for the kitchen towels.”

Lydia ran ahead, and by the time Jane and Elizabeth arrived, their sister stood laughing with several officers of the Derbyshire militia.

“Lizzy, I do not like how forward our sister has become in the company of those men. She is but fifteen.”

Elizabeth frowned. “I have told Papa how badly she conducts herself, but he says the officers will pay her no attention, for everyone knows we are poor. A woman without a dowry holds little interest for men in want of money.”

She considered her sister’s behavior and then added, “She is no fit candidate for marriage, but because she is pretty and appears much nearer eighteen than fifteen, some man may decide to use her for his own amusement, and then we shall all be ruined.”