Monday 29th July
I had no idea, when I set out for Ramsgate this morning,
what lay in store for me.The weather was fair and everything promised an enjoyable day. I arrived at Georgiana’s
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house and I was pleased to find it neat and well cared for.
I was announced by the maid, the establishment being too
small to allow of a full staff, and found Mrs Younge in the
parlour. Springing up at my entrance, she looked at me in
consternation.
‘Mr Darcy.We did not expect you today.’
‘I thought I would surprise my sister.Where is she?’
‘She is…out…sketching.’
‘On her own?’ I asked.
‘Oh, no, of course not, with her maid.’
‘I did not hire you to sit at home whilst my sister goes
out with a maid,’ I said, displeased.
‘I would ordinarily have accompanied her, of course,
but I was forced to stay indoors this morning. I
was…indisposed. I…ate some bad fish…I was most
unwell. Miss Darcy was eager to continue her sketching,
however, and the weather being fine I did not like to
spoil her enjoyment. She asked if she might take her
maid, and I saw no harm in it. Her maid is not a young
girl, but a sensible woman who will see that she comes
to no harm.’
I was mollified. Mrs Younge did indeed look ill,
though at the time I did not know the true cause of her
pallor.
‘Which way did they go?’ I asked.‘I will join her. I can
sit with her whilst she sketches, and we can return
together.’
She hesitated for a moment before saying: ‘They
intended to turn right along the shore, so that Miss
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Darcy could finish a sketch she had already begun.’
‘Very well, I will follow them and surprise her.’
I went out into the hall, but at that very same minute
I saw Georgiana coming downstairs. I was startled. She
was dressed for indoors and showed no signs of having
been out sketching. I was about to ask Mrs Younge what
she meant by such a fabrication when Mrs Younge herself spoke.
‘Miss Darcy, I thought you had gone out already,’ she
said. ‘Here is your brother come to see you.’ Then she
added:‘Remember, a little resolution is all that is needed,
and you will achieve everything your heart desires.’
I thought her speech odd, but I took it to mean that
if Georgiana applied herself she would be able to finish
her sketch to her satisfaction. How wrong I was!
‘Fitzwilliam,’ said Georgiana, growing pale.
She stopped on the stair and did not come down. She
looked suddenly very young, and very uncertain. I was
alarmed, and thought she was unwell.
‘What is it? Are you ill?’ I asked. ‘The fish – did you
eat it, too?’
‘Fish?’ she asked, bewildered.
‘The bad fish Mrs Younge ate. Did you have some as
well?’
‘Oh, no,’ she said, twisting her hands.
‘You are not well, however,’ I said, noticing a sheen of
perspiration on her forehead and seeing how white she
had become.
I took her hand and led her into the parlour. Mrs
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Younge was about to follow us when I said to her:‘Fetch
the doctor.’
‘I don’t think – ’ she began, but I cut her off.
‘My sister is unwell. Send for the doctor.’
My tone left her no choice and she departed. I shut
the door.
Georgiana had walked over to the window, and was
looking paler by the minute.
‘Here,’ I said, taking a chair over to her and helping
her to sit down.
But she immediately sprang up again.
‘No, I cannot,’ she said unhappily. ‘I cannot deceive
you, no matter what he says.’
I was startled. ‘No matter what he says?’ I repeated, at
a loss.
She nodded seriously. ‘He says that if you know about
it you will stop us,’ she went on miserably.
‘Who, Georgiana?’
‘George,’ she said, hanging her head.
‘George?’
‘Yes, George Wickham. Mrs Younge and I met him by
chance on the seashore. He is holidaying here. We fell
into conversation and he told me how much it grieved
him that there has been some coolness between you
lately. I, too, have been grieved by it. I liked it much better when you were friends. It does not seem right that
there should be anything unsettled between you. I was
relieved when he told me that it had just been a silly misunderstanding, and that it had all been cleared up, so that
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there was nothing now to prevent us being comfortable
together. He reminded me of the time he sat me on my
pony and led me round the yard, and of the time he
brought me a pocket full of acorns,’ she said with a smile.
‘He said it was fortunate that we had met as it meant we
could renew our friendship. I said I no longer liked
acorns, so he laughed, and said that he would bring me
diamonds instead.’
‘Did he indeed?’ I asked. ‘And what did Mrs Younge
say to this?’
‘She said it was perfectly proper for me to entertain a
family friend. I would not have done so otherwise,’ said
my sister.
‘Entertain him?’ I asked, feeling more and more
alarmed.
‘Yes. He has dined here on occasion, and joined us in
the day if the weather was wet. He plays chess as well as
he ever did, but I am improving and I have beaten him
twice.’
There was some animation in her face as she said this,
but she faltered again on seeing my expression.
‘I have displeased you.’
‘Not at all,’ I said, striving for my composure. ‘You
have done nothing wrong.’
‘I did not mean to fall in love with him, really I did
not,’ she said imploringly. ‘I know I am very young, but
he told me so many pleasing stories about the future that
I came to look on our marriage as a settled thing.’
‘Marriage?’ I exclaimed in horror.
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‘He…he
