Chapter 23

23

C harlotte poured the tea. "Come, Eliza, you need to move around a little before you settle back down to more."

Elizabeth looked up and groaned. "Ooof! Yes, you're right." She stretched and pushed herself away from the pianoforte. "I'm only twenty, what on earth will I be like when I'm forty?"

Charlotte laughed. "Much the same, I expect, except you might find it necessary to move a little more often."

"You and I will have to be somewhere where you can ensure I behave properly — and have a larger space in which to move around and do other things to break up the work, Charlotte." Elizabeth peered in the basket. "Are we having a slice of cake, too?"

"If you want." Charlotte handed her the plates and Elizabeth reached for the cake knife.

"So what are you going to work on next?" her friend said, sipping her tea.

"I thought I could write some simple little tune for girls who are just beginning to play, and you could help write sweet little songs for them to please their families." Elizabeth hummed a short melody.

"That would be foolish, and you know it." Charlotte cast a stern eye at her.

Elizabeth pouted until the other poked her with a finger and shook her head.

"Why is it a bad idea?"

"Santorio is known as a serious musician, whose work is respected and valued. If he begins to write silly little simple tunes, you lose his reputation completely." Charlotte sounded exasperated. "Write the music if you must. But remember it will have to be published under another name and you will not have any of those loyal people who buy everything you compose. And you will have lots of competition. Everyone thinks they can write for children."

Elizabeth made a face at her friend. "Why are you always right?" She put the plate down. "All right, I want to finish that marching piece — it's a challenge to make a piano sound almost as if it could be a band." She smiled challengingly at Charlotte. "And after that, you tell me what I can do next."

"That's easy," Charlotte said smugly. "You write a beautiful piece for a young lady that is a single, complete work of itself, but then you add a more difficult section that turns it into a duet, and their master can play it with them."

Elizabeth stared at her. "That's a wonderful idea! How long have you been thinking of that?" Already a selection of crashing chords were pouring into her mind, and without listening for Charlotte's answer, she rose and went to the piano. She had to try it out. "It is a great pity I do not have four hands, my friend."

Over a cold lunch, she looked at her friend. "How are you , Charlotte? I'm afraid you must get terribly bored here while I am happily engaged. I feel very guilty about it."

Her friend shook her head. "It is nice to get out, Eliza. And this cottage is quite sweet. It almost makes me feel I have my own place here, rather than having to sit beside Mother and do what she wants me to."

"Perhaps we'll take a better cottage somewhere, you and I," Elizabeth said. "Then we can live happily as spinsters and need no one to tell us what to do."

Charlotte laughed. "To be properly independent and respectable, you'd need to be a widow. And in that case, you ought to marry Mr. Collins." She was obviously trying not to laugh.

"What do you mean, Charlotte?" Elizabeth shivered. "I cannot even imagine him touching me."

"Quite. You'd have him buried in the garden the same day, and be a completely respectable widow."

They laughed together. "I'd rather pretend to be a widow that go through all that." Elizabeth wiped her eyes before jumping up to put the kettle on the stove.

"Of course." Charlotte was imperturbable. "I know you have too much music still to write to risk the hangman's noose."

While she waited for the kettle to boil, Elizabeth decided to tell her friend what she had been thinking of.

"As soon as Jane is well and able to assist Mary more with the tenant visits, Papa has said I can go to my aunt and uncle in town for a month or so." She reached over and touched her friend's hand. "I love it there, but this time, I cannot countenance going unless you might come with me." She smiled anxiously.

"You like Aunt and Uncle Gardiner, don't you? and we can go to the theatre and museums and other places, and it will be much more fun if you are there." She leaned forward. "And we can discuss the financial arrangements with Uncle Gardiner, and talk about our investments and building our fortunes faster and better."

Charlotte looked intrigued. "I had never thought to be able to go to town. I would like that very much." She frowned. "Do you think they would mind hosting me?"

"I know they will welcome you," Elizabeth said. "I have not asked them yet, because I wanted to be sure first that you wished to come, but I will find out as soon as I get home. Jane will be well soon enough, and to get away from Mr. Collins would be wonderful."

Charlotte nodded, "But can you leave Jane while Mr. Bingley is so attentive? Do you believe he is not just a beauty-hunter?"

"Oh, yes! I haven't told you, have I?" Elizabeth measured the tea leaves into the pot and reached for the cloth to lift the kettle. "Jane told me last night, that Mr. Bingley was very complimentary and listened to her telling him all about the perfumes she makes and the remedies for the tenants. I am reassured by it."

"That is good," Charlotte nodded. "If that is the case, then, if it can be arranged, I would like very much to go to town with you."

Elizabeth looked over her shoulder as she knocked on the door of her father's library. She had come into the house quietly through the scullery door, and was happy the sitting room door was shut. She could hear the voices of both Mama and Mr. Collins through it, so her father should be available to her.

"Enter."

She smiled as she went in. "Would you like me to order refreshments, Papa?"

"Since you obviously want to ask something of me, you had better do so, Lizzy." Her father took off his spectacles, smiling benevolently at her. "And make sure there are some of my favourite shortbread biscuits!"

Elizabeth laughed, and when Hill bustled in, she relayed the request.

She and Papa waited in silence for the five minutes it took for the tray to arrive, and she had the tune for the next piece running through her mind, so only noticed his amused expression when she startled at the door opening.

"Oh, I am sorry, Papa."

His gaze held a warning. "Always the dreamer, my Lizzy." As the door shut behind the housekeeper, he nodded. "Very well, what are you going to plead for now?"

Elizabeth took a deep breath. "Papa, may Charlotte come with me to town, if Aunt says she may?" She was disconcerted when he laughed, and frowned at him. "What is the matter?"

"Nothing at all, except that your uncle owes me a shilling."

"I beg your pardon?"

"Do not worry, Lizzy. Your uncle and I had a harmless little wager that you would wish to take your friend with you when you go."

"Oh." Elizabeth wasn't sure that she liked being quite so easily read by her father, but at least it had already been discussed. "Do you think they will mind?"

"I am sure they are expecting it, but it will be polite of you write to your aunt and ask as if you do not already know." He smirked. "I also think you wish to leave as soon as possible, is that right?"

Elizabeth nodded. "Yes, please, Papa. Although I think Mama may try to insist that I do not go while Mr. Collins is here."

"I know." Papa sipped his tea. "You are asking a lot of me, that I bear her displeasure once you are gone." Elizabeth glanced at his face and was relieved he was teasing her.

"Did Mr. Darcy call today?"

"He did." Papa smiled knowingly. "I wonder why you are so anxious to know?"

She felt vexed. "Only whether you had given him the music." She must not seem curious as to his gratitude, and felt an unwelcome wish to have him think well of her. She pushed the thought away hastily. Papa knew her too well.

"I did. He was gratified at the amount of time you had taken in order to please his sister and asked me to express his thanks until he was in a position to do so personally." Her father's gaze was steady, and Elizabeth felt herself blush.

"Hmmpf!" Papa shook his head. "I suppose that you will not mind that I will not furnish him with your direction then, when he asks for it?"

Elizabeth forced a laugh. "If you told him it is in Cheapside, I would be quite safe from him!"

"You will understand that it is certain he already knows, Lizzy."

"Has he already asked you about the society our relations inhabit?" She frowned. Why did it hurt that he looked down on her connections?

"Not at all. You have seen that Miss Bingley is very possessive of him, and has an unerring instinct to try to tear others down. I am sure she has found out, and am equally sure she has told her brother and Mr. Darcy." He leaned forward. "Do not automatically think ill of him, my dear. Remember that he is a good friend of Mr. Bingley, and he has a closer background in trade than we do. However, I do not like that he is so attentive to you."

"True," she kept her voice light. Then she stopped. She could not, in all honesty, wish that Papa would stop Mr. Darcy calling. She wanted to see him again. But she did not want to talk about it to Papa. But … "Papa, I am not sure about giving him the direction anyway. I still believe he is not aware that Santorio's publisher is my own Uncle Gardiner. If he discovers that, it is a small step to discovering me."

"Hmm. You may be right, Lizzy. I will think about it."

She would not go to the sitting room, and she climbed the stairs to her chamber. She needed to think.