Page 16 of The Secret Diary of Anne de Bourgh

With that reassurance, I accepted the letter and sank to sit down.

Dear Cousin Anne,

I hope this note finds you well and will give you reason to feel better yet. Our cousin the Colonel is feeling much better, his fever broken just yesterday, and already he is sitting up in bed and demanding roast beef and ale.

That made me smile. I could just imagine Richard being an infuriating patient, hating to be bedridden.

He asked for news of you as soon as I walked in the door, and was gratified to hear that your health is greatly improved. Indeed, I told him that he should hardly recognise you when you meet again. I have been exhorted most vehemently to pass on his joy at hearing such excellent news.

I have consulted with Doctor Spears and Doctor Barnes, and they are both of the opinion that should his fever not return, I may remove Richard to Netherfield three days hence. I shall stay with him for the time being and will send a rider ahead to announce our expected time of arrival.

Until then, I hope you remain in both good health and good spirits,

Your devoted cousin

Fitzwilliam Darcy.

I looked up at Elizabeth. She embraced me. “Good news, Anne. Jane has rooms ready for him on the ground floor, so he need not manage the stairs. She will want everything checked again before he comes. Will you help her?”

“Very much, if Mrs Bingley would not mind.”

“Not considering your motives, Anne! I think if Miss Bingley did the same, Jane might well consider her to be the encroaching mushroom she is, but not you. Never you!”

“Lizzy!” I said.

“Miss Bingley gets on my nerves,” Elizabeth said, then stopped. “Oh dear Lord. I am complaining about my nerves. I am turning into my mother!”

I laughed, perhaps more from relief than from the joke. Georgiana tapped at the door while we were still laughing.

“Are you calling Lady Catherine a murderous madwoman again, Anne?” she inquired, and I could only giggle further and wave my hand at Lizzy.

Elizabeth caught her breath. “We have become dreadfully uncouth, insulting everyone.”

“And who are you insulting now?” Georgiana smiled at both of us. “Please tell me it is Miss Bingley.”

“Encroaching mushroom!” I choked out through my giggles, which set Elizabeth off again.

At dinner there was a ragout of mushrooms. Georgiana declined when Mr Bingley offered her some, saying:

“I regret that I do not care for mushrooms, Mr Bingley. I find them most encroaching.”

Elizabeth and I had to excuse ourselves before we began laughing again.

20 May

Elizabeth took Georgiana and me to Oakham Mount this morning. I managed the walk without tiring. In Meryton we met Kitty, who had gone to see her friend Miss Lucas, Charlotte Collins’s younger sister.

Miss Lucas had visited Rosings with Charlotte last Easter and scarcely spoken then. Here she laughed with Kitty over tea in a coffee-house, where we found Jane already waiting.

Jane introduced Georgiana and me to Mrs Goulding, Mrs Long and her nieces, Miss Mary King, and several others. Georgiana knew some of them from the wedding; they were all strangers to me, and I was anxious to be liked. They welcomed us kindly.

Before we left, Miss Sarah Long asked Jane whether she would give a dinner party, if not a ball, while she had visitors. Jane said she would send out invitations once Colonel Fitzwilliam was well enough; he was coming to Netherfield to recover.

“Shall you really give a ball, Jane?” Kitty asked as we climbed into Jane’s carriage for the return to Netherfield. I was glad to ride; the walk and the calls had tired me after all.

“We shall see, Kitty,” was all Jane would say, and with that Kitty had to be content.

23 May