Beginning, Next Section
Author’s Note: This is a sequel to A Clear Path, which in turn was built on Cheryl K’s Crossing Paths.
The greater part of this story takes place in the
canonical
Pemberley, and the events occurring there are are
recounted in
text formatted in black. Events occurring in the
alternate
Pemberley are formatted in blue.
Chapter 1
Monday, 16 May 1814
It was a warm spring afternoon, and Georgiana Wickham was playing with her daughter on a small lawn in the gardens of Pemberley. The wind carried the scent of flowers and growing plants, and lifted the hair off their foreheads in a most delightful manner. Annie ran back and forth between the blanket upon which her mother sat and the bed of daisies that graced the edge of the patch of lawn. She had passed her first birthday three months ago now, had been walking (or running) and talking well over a third of her young life, and was daily increasing her competence at these endeavours.
"Look, Mamma, pretty!" she gurgled.
"Yes, love, it is pretty!" Georgiana sighed with contentment. All was well, she reflected. Her disastrous marriage to George Wickham was behind her (though this would not be officially known for several years yet), and she basked in the love of her brother and her new sister, and especially of her Annie. The best thing, maybe the only good thing, that unmitigated scoundrel ever did, she thought. Her memories, and perhaps her conscience, reproached her gently. George wasn't purely evil! Then she laughed at herself. I've been around Jane Bingley too much! George was a bad man, and I need make no apologies for thinking so.
Anne had lifted up from the ground a dirty twig, with a cobwebby leaf adhering to it, and was bringing it over for her mother to admire. Georgiana dutifully thanked her daughter for it, and daintily setting it aside, caught the child to her and kissed her. She smiled at Grace, the nursemaid who waited by the edge of the lawn with extra clothing, napkins and other supplies that might prove to be necessary, happy to see her little charge enjoying her mother's company. Truly, Mrs. Wickham dedicated so much time and energy to the personal care of her daughter that the nursemaid's job was a very easy one.
"Look Mamma! Unca Dahcy, Aunt Dizzy!" Sure enough, Fitzwilliam and Elizabeth were coming towards them over the lawn. Elizabeth's arm was securely tucked in her husband's, and she was looking up at him with a bewitchingly mischievous expression on her face. As Annie raised her arms and ran towards her aunt, Elizabeth stretched out her own arms and came running towards the baby, caught her in them and lifted her into the air, burying her face in Annie's neck between her ear and her shoulder, and making her squeal and struggle with her kisses.
"Lizzy! You keep forgetting your condition!" Georgiana remonstrated.
"No, I remember very well," Elizabeth retorted. "But I will not pretend to be sick when my body tells me all is well, or weak when I am perfectly strong. It will be several months yet before my size shall so encumber me, and even then I do not expect that it will render me immobile, as Jane and Kitty were." She gave Annie another noisy kiss on the neck, and set her down. "You are as pretty as a painting here on the lawn, Georgie! How wise of you, not to waste such a beautiful day!"
"And, it would seem, you and Fitzwilliam are determined to exercise similar wisdom, and utilize the day to the full."
"We are indeed, my dear." It was Fitzwilliam Darcy's first contribution to the conversation. "We just stopped by to greet the two of you, and will continue our ramble into the woods. Unless you care to join us?"
"No, I will just sit here and enjoy Annie's antics," she replied lazily. "I am sure the two of you will be able to entertain each other adequately without my interference." Elizabeth's blushes still came so easily, she reflected. It was entertaining to provoke them.
"That we can," Fitzwilliam agreed, equably, and led Elizabeth on past the blanket, up to the north end of the lawn, where, down a path between flowerbeds, stood the gate Fitzwilliam had had placed across the entrance to the garden maze. It was cleverly contrived so that a key was needed from the outside, but anyone inside could easily open it without a key. They continued on about a quarter of a mile into the thickly wooded area beyond, quite away from the established paths, to where one of their favourite glades lay. It was a small and very private clearing at the top of a hill, with a large rock to sit on and various other desirable characteristics. The Mistress of Pemberley immediately alluded to one of them, saying, "Please, may I, Fitzwilliam? It is such a perfect day for it! And as you know, prominent among your unspoken wedding vows was the promise not to restrict me unduly!"
"But Elizabeth! What would the neighbours think?"
"Pish tosh! As if you care a pennyworth what the neighbours may think. They will not see, and you are not about to blackmail me, nor I you, my love! We each know far too many disreputable facts about the other. You could join me, you know …"
"Well, if it's a matter of picking disreputable activities to enjoy together, I can think of others even less reputable than what you have in mind."
"Your mind does always seem to run in such channels, sir. Even in my state! Disreputable is not too strong a word, is it? It is shocking, even." Strangely, Elizabeth no longer blushed when in privacy with her husband, though her eyes sparkled.
"Delightful is an even better word."
"Indeed it is. Perhaps afterwards, then. Please, Fitzwilliam?"
"Very well, my love. The limbs are, after all, very strong, and you are indeed sure-footed. You have my permission."
"Will you not join me?"
"Perhaps in a bit, my love. Meanwhile, I believe I shall remain below and" --he tipped his head very slightly and raised his eyebrows infinitesimally-- "enjoy the view."
"Fitzwilliam! Scandalous!"
"What, is a husband not permitted to lovingly contemplate his wife?"
"From such a vantage?"
"The view is quite … alluring, my love. It is a benefit of your condition which I had never considered: As you increase so delightfully, there occurs a proportionate, and most admirable, increase in the field of view."
Elizabeth was by now about fifteen feet above the ground, standing on a great branch which afforded, as both she and her husband knew by experience, an excellent view of Pemberley House and its environs. "Oh Fitzwilliam, do come see it with me! The foliage cannot become much more glorious than this, and the sky, and the wind …"
In a few seconds her lover had joined her, and had his arm around her, as together they looked out over their Pemberley.
Chapter 2
"Mamma, Mamma, pretty, look!" But now Annie got no answer. Her mother, and her nursemaid as well, were both fast asleep. The butterfly fluttered just beyond her reach, and she of course never hesitated in following it. With a baby's awkward-looking but efficient gait she toddled to the north end of the lawn, down the path past the flowerbeds and through the open gate, to the long spaces between high bushes that she found there. The butterfly flitted ahead of her: now almost in reach, now a yard or so ahead, now resting on a sprig of the hedge but fluttering off again just before she could touch it. It purposefully turned at each juncture of the maze, and did not go, overall, faster than Annie's short legs could carry her, or high enough to disappear from her sight.
"Pretty, pretty!" she kept saying as she followed it. It was a long way, and her right stocking crept down her leg as she walked, bunching uncomfortably in her shoe. As she came out between the bushes into an open space, she sat down and removed the offending shoe and stocking. She was about to remove their mates when the butterfly flew almost under her nose, distracting her attention. It flew over to a big stone thing, with water splashing in it, in the middle of the open space, and Annie, forgetting shoes and stockings, stood up and went after it. She did not know that she was approaching the fountain from the north (she did not yet know what a fountain was, or that this was one), but she could see that sunlight was shining on the water, and it dazzled her eyes, making her feel for a few moments that she was falling. But then she was all right. Only, the butterfly was gone.
Georgiana Darcy was on a leisurely ramble through the gardens of Pemberley. It was a glorious spring day. Fitzwilliam and Elizabeth were somewhere outdoors as well, probably enjoying the woods together, she reflected with a smile. Elizabeth's advanced condition did not seem to greatly inhibit their desire to enjoy each other's company in privacy.
As she passed near the gate that Fitzwilliam had had installed over the entrance to the maze, she was startled to hear what sounded like a child's cry, clearly audible though coming from some distance away. "Mamma! Mamma!" were the only words she could understand; the child seemed to be trying to speak, but the sobs, coupled with the childish pronunciation and the muting effect of distance, rendered the words incomprehensible.
"Hello," she called. "Where are you?"
"Here, Mamma!" Further speech followed, within which Georgiana could only discern the word "water". Heavens, the child must be by the fountain, in the centre of the maze! Without another thought she ran through the open gate, mentally counting off the well-known turns, left, right, left-left-right, right-right-right -- Why on earth was that gate left open? It was well that it was not locked out, but for a child to be able to creep in is dangerous. And whose child? …
She arrived at the centre, to the sight of an adorable little girl, with dark hair and grey eyes, one leg barefoot but a shoe and a woollen stocking on the other. The child came running toward her with arms outstretched, crying "Mamma, Mamma!", but she tripped and fell flat on her face a yard or two before they met. Instantly Georgiana was there and picking her up, held her to her bosom, whispering words of comfort.
"Mamma!" was the only word recognizable within the little girl's wails for some time. But finally she sniffed, raised her head from Georgiana's shoulder, looked at her face, and said confidingly, "Pretty, pretty shine, Mamma."
"Yes, the sunshine is very pretty today," Georgiana agreed.
"Pretty water."
"Yes, the water is pretty as well."
"Love Mamma," the baby concluded, leaning her head once more on Georgiana's shoulder.
What a sweet little thing, Georgiana thought. She thinks I am her mother. I wonder where her mother is? "Who are you, baby?" she asked.
"I Annie," the child replied, earnestly.
"Where did you come from, Annie? How did you get here?"
"Pretty, pretty," the child waved her arms in the air, but Georgiana could make no sense of what she was trying to say, or even be sure that she had understood the question. There was nothing for it but to go back to the house and put the word out that a child had been found. Some mother must be desperate for her little darling. But where had she come from? Were there visitors at Pemberley today? This was not one of the servants' or tenants' children, of that she was certain. Her clothing was fine, even finer than most gentlemen's daughters would wear, she suspected. She looked around for the child's other stocking and shoe, but saw nothing of the sort, and, in the end, headed back through the crooked pathways of the maze.
As she closed the gate, and felt it latch behind her, she felt little Annie struggle as if to be let down, twisting and holding her arms out. "Aunt Dizzy!" she was crying. "Unca Dahcy!" Sure enough, Elizabeth and Fitzwilliam were coming onto the patch of lawn. Not knowing what else to do, Georgiana carried the baby past the flower-beds to the edge of the lawn and put her down, and she immediately headed to the Darcys, with her hands outstretched.
"Hello, precious," said Elizabeth, and made as if to go down to embrace her, but had to hold tightly to her husband's arm. He helped her to a kneeling position and sank down beside her, then they both held out their arms to the baby. She chose to run to Darcy, and sat on his lap, then turned and patted Elizabeth's tummy. "Aunt Dizzy big," she stated, emphasizing the last word. "Baby," she added, almost reverently, with the air of one confiding a bit of deep wisdom.
"Who are you, baby," asked Darcy.
"I Annie," she answered.
"I thought so," said Elizabeth. "Georgiana, where did you find this child?"
"I was walking here in the garden, and heard her crying in the maze. She was right in the centre of it, next to the fountain. Fitzwilliam, the gate had been left open! We need to talk to the gardeners about that. It is dangerous! I think we need to find this darling's parents --I wonder who they could be?"
Meanwhile Annie, distracted at hearing Georgiana's voice; had climbed off Darcy's lap and begun her toddling run back to Georgiana's arms, crying "Mamma!" Georgiana again welcomed her. It was sweet to feel the child's enthusiastic arms around her neck and her soft cheek against her ear and neck.
"Do you not know who this is?" Lizzy asked her.
"Do you mean … ?" Georgiana asked, as comprehension dawned.
"Yes. I never saw her, when I was on the other side, but I know her name is Anne Elizabeth, and … "
"Annie Dizbet," the child agreed.
"… she is the right age. She is calling us Aunt Lizzy and Uncle Darcy, and you Mamma. You found her right by the fountain in the maze. I do not think there can be much doubt."
Georgiana felt queasy. She knew, from what Elizabeth had told her, that in that other world --the other Pemberley, as they usually called it--, her counterpart had been married, to that rat George Wickham, and had had a child. The thought that this was Wickham's and her daughter was disgusting to her. And yet, the child herself --what a love she was. She turned her head and kissed the soft cheek.
"Should we … attempt to return her to her own world?"
"We must not be precipitous about this," cautioned Fitzwilliam. "I presume she came just like this, with a shoe and stocking missing?"
"Yes, I looked for the other but did not find it. Of course, I may have simply overlooked it in my brief search."
"Well. If it is on the other side, our counterparts there will have at least a clew that Annie has come to us here. As for going back… we know that the maze does not always let one through, and that even if one is successful at traversing the maze, the fountain sometimes functions as a doorway to the other Pemberley but not always. So, even if one of us …"
"Or two of us," Elizabeth interrupted.
"No, not at this stage, my love. I will not allow you, and our child, to risk this, so near to the date of the birth."
"Then, I do not think I can let you go either."
"But perhaps I should, my dear. Perhaps the other Fitzwilliam needs me again, like the time before."
"Maybe it was just an accident, and this little one," Georgiana gave Annie a squeeze, "happened to look into the fountain at the wrong time."
"I tend to doubt that," Elizabeth said. "Not of course that I think Annie tried or wanted to do this, but so far there always seems to have been a reason for the maze to let people through. Still, we should help her get back if we can: Georgiana on the other side will be frantic for missing her."
"I think I should be the one to go," Georgiana said.
"We need to think on it more," her brother replied. "But in the meantime, I also believe we need to head for the house. It is a good thing, my love, that we have a supply of babies' napkins already laid in for Andry --it looks as if Annie could use a change. It may soon reach your sleeve, Georgiana, my dear, so perhaps we should make haste. Shall I carry her?"
But Georgiana was not eager to relinquish little Annie. They walked together, as fast as Elizabeth's condition allowed, and made their way in through the family side-entrance. Once they were in the house, Georgiana hurried away upstairs to the nursery. The girl Fitzwilliam had hired as a nursery maid was not there, which of course was no surprise, as her official duties would begin only when "Andry" was born, but she had the necessary supplies all ready there. Georgiana knew little of the proceedings, but was able to figure out how to remove the soiled napkin and was beginning to clean the little girl up with a new one. By then Elizabeth, puffing a little, had arrived beside her. She had considerably more experience at this sort of thing, having cared for her cousins when they were of a similar age, but she contented herself with handing items to Georgiana as needed, encouraging her that she was doing the right thing, and once showing her how to hold the clean napkin in order to more easily pin it on, before leaving her to do it. At the conclusion of the process, the four of them, Fitzwilliam, Elizabeth, Georgiana and Annie, came into the mistress's sitting-room to consider the matter more fully.
Chapter 3
"Annie, did Mamma take you to the maze?"
"Mamma? Mace?" Annie did not understand. "Mamma." She hugged Georgiana anew.
"Into the bushes? Did Annie go between big bushes?" Elizabeth's hands mimed the high walls of the maze.
"Mamma. Bussies!" Annie laid her head against Georgiana once more.
"She may well mean that I brought her out of the bushes, not that her own mother brought her into the maze. Or, of course, she may be just repeating the words she hears us saying."
"True," Elizabeth agreed. "Well, she should be taken back. Truly I would be willing to go, and I do not want you to go without me, Fitzwilliam."
"But I am in earnest that you should not go at this time," Darcy replied. "Our child is due any day, and we cannot expect the Darcys on the other side to have made preparations for such an event. I am not willing to risk it, as long as there are alternatives."
"I want to be the one to go," Georgiana stated positively, "and I think I ought to be. Fitzwilliam, this is my responsibility --she is my daughter, in some sense, and it would not be the same risk to Pemberley, or to Elizabeth and little Andry, were I to tarry over there. Besides, it will be an adventure for me --a bit frightening, but not really threatening. Both of you have already come through the portal in the maze, safely in both directions: why may not I?"
"If she were to go, should not someone go with her, Fitzwilliam?" asked Elizabeth. "Not you, but someone else?"
"Whom should we send? Who would go?"
"I wonder if Ellen Ingram would do it? She has a bit of an adventurous streak in her. And she knows the story behind my pre-Christmas absence, of course, so she is used to the idea. And the other Ellen almost certainly knows the story as well. Especially if the other Fitzwilliam has met the other Elizabeth and brought her to visit Pemberley by now."
"Brought her to visit? They are already married!" Fitzwilliam exclaimed. "Annie recognized you as her 'Aunt Lizzy', did she not? I do believe you owe me ten pounds, my dear!"
Elizabeth smiled back at him. "It would appear so," she agreed. "When?"
"April?"
"March, at the latest!"
"Done!"
Georgiana was amused. "Wagering on probable wedding dates?" she inquired.
"Exactly," her brother replied.
"Not having met either of them," Georgiana said, "but judging by the two of you, I will say February."
"You will probably win," Elizabeth grinned. "A wise man once
recommended that I never underestimate the attraction a Fitzwilliam
Darcy feels towards an Elizabeth Bennet, and I may well have been
guilty of doing so yet again in this instance."
"In any case, and to return to the previous point," she continued, "Ellen --I mean the other Ellen, of course-- knew me so well, she would be less surprised than most of the servants, I think, if she should encounter herself over there."
"Shall you not want Ellen here in case Andry should make an appearance?" Darcy asked.
"Yes, of course, and so I shall want her to come back as soon as she can. But even if she were not able to, I should only want her. I shall need you."
"What is your opinion, Georgiana?"
"I should be happy to go with Ellen, and I think she would be a good choice as a companion for me."
"If we are in agreement then, let us send for Ellen."
When Ellen joined them a few minutes later she curtseyed respectfully, then looked with well-disciplined surprise at Annie.
"Ellen, do you remember what I told you about where I was those two weeks before Christmas?"
"Yes, ma'am, at another Pemberley, you said. A place where there is another Mr. Darcy, and even another Ellen Ingram."
"One thing I did not tell you was that in that world, Miss Darcy had married, had become Mrs. Wickham."
"Oh, my!" Ellen did not know what to say, and looked in some distress from Elizabeth to Georgiana to Darcy, and back to Elizabeth.
"Mrs. Wickham had a child, a little girl named Anne Elizabeth."
"Annie Dizbet," confirmed Annie, nodding her head decidedly.
"This is that child. She seems to have come through the fountain in the maze, just as I did, twice, those five months ago now. She of course knew nothing about it, but her mother, and her uncle and aunt, must be quite sick with worry about her. We need to return her to them."
"Yes, ma'am. Are you wanting me to take her?"
"Miss Georgiana plans to take her back, but we thought it would be better to have someone to accompany her. Would you be willing to do that?"
"Of course I …" Ellen began, but Darcy's voice interrupted her. "Think carefully before answering, Ellen. It could be dangerous. When your mistress crossed over last time it was two weeks before she was able to return. We do know that there is a Mr. Darcy, and Mrs. Wickham, and probably Mrs. Darcy, on the other side. They know what can happen with the maze, and will help you in any way they can, but they cannot control when you may be allowed to return. Moreover, we cannot be certain that they are all at Pemberley: they may be in Hertfordshire, or London, for instance. The servants at the other Pemberley should recognize you, however, and they will help. But the whole enterprise is not without peril."
"Yes, sir, I see what you are saying," Ellen returned. "Yet if Miss Darcy is willing to risk going, I am willing to risk it too. If nothing else, it would be an adventure! Only, Mrs. Darcy, I hate the thought of being caught over there when your time comes, as it should any day now. Perhaps I should not."
"And you know I would love to have you here, Ellen. And I hope that shall yet be possible --that you shall be able to go and return quickly. That has also happened in the past, though not to me." She smiled at her husband. "But if you are willing to go, I do think that you are an ideal companion for our dear Georgiana and for little Annie."
"Very well, madam." Ellen's smile made it clear that she was actually excited by this possibility.
"Mrs. Darcy and I have discussed this in the past," Darcy said. "Although the maze sometimes has seemed capricious in its functioning, and we know for a fact that it has proved dangerous for at least one person, it seems to be guided by a benevolent rather than a malicious will. When we have crossed in the past we have been enabled thereby to achieve an important good for our counterparts on the other side. So it is possible that your going there now will provide the opportunity for you to perform some helpful action or provide useful counsel. But we do feel that the power behind the maze is trustworthy--indeed, we had planned to attempt a crossing ourselves sometime after the child is born. We should not ignore that there is a risk attached to it however, or take it to be something to be endeavoured lightly or frivolously. In this case, however, returning Annie to her mother is certainly a good reason to attempt it. If you go, do not be afraid should you be unable to return immediately, but keep your eyes open for what good you may accomplish there, and trust that the path will open to you later."
Georgiana nodded, and Ellen dipped her head, saying "I understand, sir."
They all took a deep breath together. "Is there anything you would need to do to prepare?" asked Elizabeth.
"Not that I can think of," said Georgiana, "although perhaps it would be well to take some extra napkins and perhaps a blanket and a small basket of food for Annie, just in case we do not find anyone as quickly as we expect to." She shook her head slightly, as if finding it hard to believe what she was actually contemplating doing.
"You should have some money as well." Fitzwilliam asked their indulgence for a few minutes while he went to his room. He returned with five ten-pound notes which he gave to Georgiana and she placed in her reticule, and a five-pound note which he passed to Ellen. Her eyes widened. "It would be better for me not to have this 'soft', she said, "let alone such a great sum of money. Anyone would wonder where on earth I had gotten it."
"I am sorry, you are entirely right," Fitzwilliam responded, "except as concerns the amount. I will not have you short of funds, in case you were to need them." After another quick trip to his rooms, he returned with an equal amount in coins of smaller denominations, with a few more for Georgiana to have with her. Elizabeth had meanwhile found a simple reticule to hold them, which Ellen tucked into her blouse after it had been filled.
They decided, then, to meet at the gate to the maze in somewhat less than half an hour's time. Darcy suggested that Elizabeth remain above stairs, but she insisted that she wanted to be there with the others, and he acquiesced to her desire.
Chapter 4
"All right-- how does one do this?" Georgiana, carrying Annie in her arms and with Ellen at her side, holding on to one of her arms, stood by the fountain at the centre of the maze. "How did you do it, Lizzy? And, I gather you've done it too, Fitzwilliam?"
"I looked at the fountain when it was frozen. The sun was shining on it the first time; the other time, it was the moon. I remember feeling dazzled and rather dizzy, and when I got over the dizziness, there, or here, I was."
"In my case it was full summertime," Darcy explained. "I remember also the reflection of the sun shining on the water. But I fell into the water, and got all wet in the process. Yet--Annie was not wet, was she, Georgiana, when you found her?"
"No, there was nothing to indicate that she had been in the water."
"So, perhaps it is seeing the reflected light that triggers the process."
"Well, let us go around to where we can see the sun's reflection," Georgiana said. She and Ellen walked back and forth by the water, seeing the sun intermittently reflected there, as it was peeking out only occasionally from the overcast.
"Water. Pretty," Annie explained. But nothing happened.
"It may be that I am supposed to go alone, just Annie and I," said Georgiana.
"Do you think so?" asked Elizabeth.
"Wait to one side, will you, Ellen, while I try?"
"Of course, ma'am," said Ellen, just as Darcy said, "Wait! Georgiana!" But Georgiana, with Annie in her arms, had already stepped back to where she could see the light reflected on the water.
Again, however, nothing happened. Georgiana, having prepared herself emotionally for the adventure, was feeling let down, and in fact all of them shared that feeling in some degree, though Darcy was feeling relieved that his sister had not managed to depart alone.
"Do you suppose it wants you and me to go, love?" Elizabeth asked.
"Perhaps," Darcy said, "but if we are to do that, shouldn't we make arrangements back at the house for a time away?"
"Georgiana and Ellen can let it be known that we have undertaken a journey, and the fact that they are not distressed will help cover for us. If all goes well, we can be back in an hour or so, as you were the time you went."
"But we should be prepared in case it takes longer. Let me think on this."
After a few long moments of silence, Annie suddenly said, "Aunt Dizzy!"
"Yes, sweetheart," two identical voices replied.
Chapter 5
The hair on Elizabeth's neck rose at the sound of her own voice, heard for the first time as others heard it. By the time Annie followed it with "Unca Dahcy," everyone had swung around and were staring at each other. Darcy and Elizabeth were standing up to their knees in the fountain pool, as Darcy and Elizabeth, along with Georgiana and Ellen, stared at them with dropped jaws. Only Annie took the situation in without hesitation. The two in the fountain, even though they were somewhat more prepared for the sight confronting them, found their breath coming short and felt their hearts beating madly.
Darcy held his hand out and Elizabeth laid hers in it as he helped her over the ledge of the pool onto the grass. Annie had been struggling in Georgiana's arms, and Georgiana set her on the ground, whereupon she ran over to her aunt, laughing and holding out her arms, so of course her aunt picked her up and kissed her thoroughly, tickling her and making her laugh. Darcy leaned over to pat the baby on the back. "Well, Annie!" he said, "We are very glad that you are safe!"
Annie turned and held out her hands to the other Elizabeth, and then, finally surprised, looked back at the one holding her in her arms. She laughed. "More Aunt Dizzy!" Puzzled, she looked back and forth between them, finally pointing to the other one and then looking back to the one holding her and commenting "Big Aunt Dizzy … Little Aunt Dizzy."
Darcy (the one standing next to her) laughed, and said, "Yes, Annie, but that doesn't work for your two uncle Darcys. Which one of us is the big one?" And with that he strode over to his counterpart, each extending his right hand to shake the other's and his left to grasp the other by the shoulder. "Fitzwilliam George Darcy, I presume?"
"Fitzwilliam Andrew, I suppose?" the other Darcy answered. "It is good to see you again."
"Again?"
"Yes. I have seen you before, though you did not see me and we have not met. We shall speak of that later, perhaps. My wife, of course, you already know."
"My lady!" He made her an elegant leg, in the old-fashioned style. "It is a very great honour and pleasure to see you again. May I present to you, and to your liege, my consort, the former Princess Elizabeth Bennet?"
Elizabeth curtsied to Elizabeth, then laughed at each other, and ran together, bumping bellies as they embraced. Annie perforce participated in the embrace, but did so with gusto.
"January, not February," Georgiana said to her brother in a stage whisper, and his wife answered, "You were right, my dear; between us we owe you ten pounds. Though we all clearly overestimated."
"Come," said Fitzwilliam George. "I am sure you know who they are, but all the same, may I present to you my sister Georgiana, and Ellen Ingram. They were just attempting to go to you, through the fountain, to bring Annie back to you. Georgiana, and Ellen, these are Elizabeth and Fitzwilliam Darcy."
The Darcys bowed and curtseyed in acknowledgement of the curtseys of the two women, while Annie clapped her hands.
"So, kitten, you have been creating quite a stir!" Fitzwilliam Andrew held out his hands to her, and she willingly went to him. "Your mother was very concerned. What are we going to do with you?"
"Shouldn't we take her back home right away?" It was little Aunt Dizzy speaking.
"Yes, we should, if we can. Though I must say I would enjoy passing a little more time here if it were possible; getting better acquainted and hearing each other's stories."
"So would we all. But as you say, it is right that you should try to get Annie back to her mother."
"Well, then. Goodbye, if that should turn out to be appropriate. It has been a pleasure to meet you." The Darcys bowed or curtseyed to each other, and little Lizzy and her Fitzwilliam, holding Annie, after once again bowing and curtseying towards Georgiana and Ellen, headed over to where they would see the reflection of the sun. Georgiana, however, ran over and kissed Annie before letting them go.
Once again, however, nothing happened. The fountain burbled softly, the light shimmered, and all remained where they were.
"That is all you did to get here?" inquired Fitzwilliam George. "You only had to see the reflection of the light? Did you not fall in the water?"
"No, we were looking, and considering whether we needed to climb into the fountain, when we suddenly found we were already in it, and here."
"Do you suppose the fountain wants you and me to be the ones to take Annie home?" big Aunt Dizzy asked her husband.
"Well, we can try. But what if we succeed?
"Do you suppose that would be the fountain's idea of a good joke, switching the master and mistress of the two Pemberleys?"
"It would be a serious thing, but I suppose we should be able to cope. We would have Georgiana's, and presumably Ellen's help to know details that would otherwise be beyond us. Frankly, I do not expect that it will let us through, but I am willing to try."
"Even if it meant Andry was born at the other Pemberley rather than this one?"
"Andry, you call him?"
"Or her. If it is a boy, it is to be Andrew; if it is a girl we have not decided, so we have, in fun, called her Andrea, and then shortened it to Andry."
"I am honoured. Very deeply so," said Fitzwilliam Andrew.
"Let us try it," suggested big Lizzy, "and trust the maze to let us through if we are supposed to go, and not to do so otherwise." She and her husband, carrying Annie, walked around to where they could see the reflection of the sunlight on the water, but once again nothing happened. Georgiana tried again, with and without Ellen present, with the same result. They even let Annie look into the fountain by herself; she laughed and splashed her hands in the water, but nothing else happened.
"Enough," said Fitzwilliam George. "It appears that our wish for more time together has been granted. Most probably the power that controls the maze has some purpose we have not yet fathomed. Come along into the house, where we can discuss the matter."
"Only --do we want all the servants to see us all?" asked his wife. "And if not, how shall we work this?"
"Let me see: Georgie, let me have that blanket and some of those napkins, and I will enhance my waistline a bit, so they shan't wonder what happened to your baby, Lizzy." It was, of course, the other Elizabeth who was speaking. "Will you all excuse me for a few minutes?" She headed towards the opening of the maze, saying "Ellen, if you would be so kind, would you give me your assistance? I shall appreciate it." They disappeared into the maze, and soon emerged again, with Elizabeth's midriff padded up to Big Lizzy's size.
"More big Aunt Dizzy! Two big Aunt Dizzy!" Annie crowed.
"Perhaps the two of us should go back to the house first," suggested Fitzwilliam George. "We will attempt to make our way to your sitting-room, my love, as unobtrusively as possible. The rest of you should wait here in the maze, near the entrance where you can see the house but not be seen. If we succeed in arriving undetected, I will lean out the window and wave towards you, and leave what? --one of Andry's napkins?-- there on the sill, where it should be visible from the maze gate. Then the rest of you can come in. If one of the servants sees us as we come in, however, I will hang out … something else …"
"The crocheted blanket from my sitting-room sofa," suggested Elizabeth.
"Very well. If you see the crocheted blanket realize that our entrance was noticed, but only in passing, and it will probably be safe to come in after fifteen minutes or so. If I hang nothing out the window, wait for me to return to you; I shall endeavour not to be long."
They retraced their way through the maze, the two Lizzies with their arms about each other's waists, laughing softly to each other, and the two Fitzwilliams walking side-by-side in silence behind them, each occasionally looking at the other and cracking a slight grin, and Georgiana with Annie following them. At the gate Fitzwilliam George stepped up beside his wife and they were about to head across the lawn towards the private family entrance to the house, when Georgiana suddenly asked, "Where is Ellen?"
As befitted one in her position (and, to be sure, as was natural to one feeling as overwhelmed as she was at the sight of her master and mistress standing beside themselves and talking so calmly to each other), Ellen had stayed quietly to one side while the discussion regarding the removal to the house had been going on, and she was the last in the clearing beside the fountain as the party headed for the gate. As Georgiana and Annie disappeared around the first corner at the inner entrance of the maze, Ellen cast one last look at the water within the fountain, sparkling in the sunlight. She shook her head to clear it of a slight bedazzlement, and headed after the others.
When she had rounded the first bend she took a turn to the right into a long curved section that she believed she remembered, but then she had a fright. Although she hurried, Miss Georgiana and the baby were no longer in sight, when she came to the next intersection, and she could neither hear them nor remember which was the way out of the maze. Fearful that she had missed the turn, she turned back, only to find the way behind her barred by thick hedge. The long corridor was blocked off: as far as she could tell, it had been filled completely. "Miss Georgiana!" she called, with a considerable degree of panic in her voice. "Mrs. Darcy! Where are you!"
"I'm coming!" She was momentarily aware that it was neither Mrs. nor Miss Darcy's voice which had answered her, and that it sounded familiar, though it was not easy to place. She heard skirts swishing against the hedge, when suddenly a woman of her own height came quickly around a bend to appear before her in one of the openings in the maze. Ellen took one look at her own face and promptly fainted.
Chapter 6
"She was right behind me, I thought! Let me go back and get her."
Georgiana did as she had suggested, still carrying Annie, and calling Ellen's name as she went, but hearing no answer. Her brother followed her: Fitzwilliam Andrew remained with the Elizabeths near the entrance. They heard Darcy's voice, also calling Ellen's name, but after some time the calls ceased. Not long after that they heard Darcy and Georgiana returning.
"It's up to its old tricks again," he told them. "We did not make it half-way to the fountain; the maze is blocked seven turns from the center, as I count them. As before, it appears to have grown over solid: I jumped up, high enough to see across the tops of the hedges to the centre, but the path has disappeared entirely. There was no sign of Ellen, and she did not answer when we called. I think we must assume that the maze has decided that she alone was to go to your Pemberley" --he bowed towards the more recently enlarged Aunt Dizzy and Fitzwilliam Andrew-- "and it behoves us to await its pleasure for our own return. So, shall we?" And he bowed towards the house.
"But we should still proceed cautiously, as you had planned," Fitzwilliam Andrew responded.
"Yes, we should. Let us do so, then."
The Master and the Mistress made it into the house unobserved, or so they thought, and the Master leaned out the sitting-room window and waved towards the maze before leaving a napkin on the sill. He could see his counterpart's hand waving back above the bushes of the hedge, indicating that they had seen, and a moment later Darcy and Elizabeth, the latter walking more strongly than her obviously advanced pregnancy might have been expected to permit, strolled towards the house, with Georgiana and little Annie along to guide them in case anything was different in this Pemberley from theirs.
That's odd, thought Joseph Padgett, straightening up from the crouched position in which he had been pulling weeds. They come past here, going towards the house just as they are now, not five minutes ago, didn't they? And weren't the Mistress wearing a different-coloured gown? Yes, it were yellow like a buttercup, where this be more of a cream yellow. And the bottom of it be wet, as if she been wading in the pond or summat. Not that she wouldn't, as carefree and happy as she be! And the Master with her! He done soaked his boots as well. And there be Miss Georgiana with that child--whose child be that? And what done happened to Ellen?--she were with them when they first gone to t'maze, that I know for fact. What goes on here? He shook his head, shrugged his shoulders, and returned to his work.
Ellen awoke to the feeling of her cheeks being slapped, and none too gently. "Wake up, wake up, you silly!" Ellen was hissing at her. "What will Mrs. Darcy think? Sure and it's a shock, us running into each other like that, but what good will it do to carry on like this? Come on, wake up!!"
It took a couple of seconds for her to shake the cobwebs out of her mind, and her head ached, but she felt irritated at herself, and raised her hand to stop the slaps. "All right! All right? I'm awake again, now. Leave me alone!"
"Where are they?"
"Who?"
"The Master and the Mistress, of course! And little Annie!"
"When did you last see them?"
"It's been some time--not half an hour, though, I don't think. Well, it's been longer than that, maybe a couple of hours, since Annie disappeared. We were all, they and Mrs. Wickham and I, by the fountain. Mrs. Wickham and I were thinking to … do you know about the fountain, and how it can move you from one place to another?"
"I dare say I know more about it than you do, Ellen Ingram--I've been through it, and you haven't."
"Well, as I say, we were all there, except Miss Annie, of course; and the Master and Mistress just … disappeared. Mrs. Wickham left a minute or so ago, gone crying back to the house, and I was following her when I heard you call. You were scared out of your wits, weren't you."
"Not me! I was just … surprised. I'm not afraid of it; it just gave me a turn when it grew over like that, right behind me. Your Master and Mistress come through to the other side, and they were all right. I saw them."
"Well, that's good. But you--don't you tell me it isn't so: you were scared, and you were lost. Didn't you ever think to learn the maze? I learned it a couple of months ago."
"That was a good thing to do, I dare say, but, well, I didn't. I've had more important things to do with my time. My Mistress' baby is due any day now--I can't imagine why the fountain chose me to come here alone when she will need me. I was supposed to bring the baby -that other baby- back, with Miss Georgiana, but that didn't work."
"So the child is over there, on the other side? And well?"
"I already told you so! Yes, she's well. She has her ma, as she thinks, and two each of her uncle and aunt, and is quite happy about it all."
"Well, that much is good news. Come, let's go on to the house and tell Mrs. Wickham."
Ellen shuddered. "It fair gives me the creeps to hear you call her that name. The thought of her married to that rat …"
"And on your side she's not, is that right?"
"That's right. But he's married to Mrs. Darcy's sister instead."
"Do tell! Let me guess--the youngest one?"
All this time the two Ellens had been heading towards the mouth of the maze. Heedlessly, they continued on, in the direction of the servants' entrance, and had covered most of the distance to the house when one of them suddenly hissed, "Ellen! What if somebody sees us?"
"Quickly, then, around the corner and up against the side of the house!"
Hidden in the bushes, one said to the other, "Wait now, until I go in and upstairs to the Mistress's rooms. I will throw a bit of water from the window down to the bushes here to the left of us, and then you will know to come in."
"Go, then." And Ellen stepped out, walking towards the house purposefully, as if she were returning from an errand the Mistress or Miss Georgiana had sent her on.
Done I seen what I thought I done seen? Joseph Padgett asked himself, straightening up from the flowerbed where he crouched, pulling weeds. Do that Ellen Ingram have a twin sister? I never heard tell if she do! It be more than uncanny, this. After Mrs. Kenton and the Mistress being dead ringers for each other, too! He walked to the corner of the house, where he had seen the two women disappear, and as he came around the corner, heard a scrabbling in the bushes. He plunged in, and caught, almost without realizing it, Ellen's arm.
"Miss Ellen!" he cried.
"Joseph!" she hissed. "Quiet! I'm supposed to be hiding!"
"Who from?" he asked, not quite whispering.
"Oh, everybody!" she answered. "Oh, look, there comes the water. I'm supposed to go in, now."
"Whaaat?" Joseph was thoroughly mystified. Someone had indeed thrown some water from an upstairs window, into a bush near them, but what had that got to do with anything?
"Yes! Listen, Joseph, don't tell anybody about seeing me here, all right? Pretty please?"
"Well …"
Before he could say more, Ellen grasped him around the neck, planted a quick, but somewhat sloppy, kiss on the corner of his mouth, ran from behind the bushes to the servants' entrance, and disappeared into the house.
Joseph was left in a state of total shock, though a few seconds later the shock began to be replaced with a reluctant grin. That Ellen was a looker, he'd always thought, not to mention a nice person -after all, would the Mistress have someone who wasn't for her personal maid?- but maybe she had some similar thoughts about him, under-gardener though he were. Just the fact that she done called him by his own name, rather than, as as the upper servants more usually did, "Padgett" … His grin broadened as he considered the matter. Then a frown grew: What about that beau of hers in Lambton -Giles Parker, wasn't it? Joseph didn't know him all that well, and liked him somewhat less, to tell the truth. Oh, well -the reminiscent grin reasserted itself. He shrugged, emerged from the bushes, and returned to the flower-bed that he had been weeding. If she had a secret she wanted to keep, he wasn't going to be the one to spill it. But he wouldn't mind catching her in the bushes again.
Chapter 7
Annie had held out admirably, but it was past time for her nap. By the time they entered the house she was beginning to act fussy, and as they approached the Mistress's sitting-room, her aunt offered to take her, change her napkin and and lay her down.
"No, no, I can do it!" Georgiana protested. "And I would love to. Does she yet sleep in a crib, or is she safe in a bed without railings at the sides?"
"She has become used to a larger bed," Elizabeth informed her, "and would be likely to protest vociferously if you should have the temerity to lay her in a crib."
"Should she like it if I were to lay her in my bed and lie beside her for a while, until she falls asleep?"
"She shall love it --her mother often does the same."
"Very well then," and without thinking Georgiana leaned over and kissed Elizabeth's cheek, turning red immediately afterwards, but Elizabeth embraced her fondly. "Please do not feel embarrassed, Georgie," she murmured. "As you know, we already love each other dearly, despite having met only a few minutes ago, and it is fine to demonstrate it."
Georgiana's display of affection had reddened Elizabeth's cheeks, however, and her eyes were sparkling as she and her husband stepped into the sitting-room to join their counterparts. The inhabitants of the room drew their breaths as they saw her. Big Lizzy suddenly gave a greater degree of credence to certain comments of her husband's to the effect that, while the Lizzy she saw in the mirror was more than tolerable, the truly beautiful Lizzy was the one that other people were sometimes privileged to see.
To the slight discomfiture this produced in her she chose to respond with a joking allusion, saying, in an affected and somewhat nasal tone, "Did you see her skirts, Louisa? I could hardly keep my countenance. Sixteen inches deep in water, I am absolutely certain! Why must she go scampering about the countryside simply because her niece had disappeared? And her hair, Louiser! So blowsy and untidy! I'm sure there are little bits of hedge in it!"
Elizabeth's expression actually exhibited a slight degree of chagrin at the close of this speech, for she had remembered, as the words were leaving her mouth, that quite possibly her counterpart had not given the same occasion for Miss Bingley's scorn, or had not been told of it if she had. But Little Lizzy's merry laughter reassured her that the impersonation was successful, as did her response: "Yes, if it's not mud above the ankles, it is water up to the knees! Incorrigible, we are! Only this time I have drawn Fitzwilliam in, and induced him to join me in disreputable behaviour."
Her husband's eyes glowed as her final teasing words left him momentarily speechless. But the other Fitzwilliam Darcy, for whom those words did not evoke the same immediate associations, commented, "I see, Mrs. Darcy, that you are as skilled at twisting your husband around your fingers as is my wife. Sir," and here he turned to Fitzwilliam Andrew, "Blast! What am I to call you? I can't call you 'Sir,' not without laughing, and if we call each other 'Fitzwilliam' or 'Darcy' and everyone else calls us both by those names, we shall engender no end of complication and confusion. Let alone the confusion that will ensue when we try to sort out which of our wives is being addressed! … As I was about to say, if you would care for some dry boots and breeches, I have plenty and I rather expect them to fit as if they had been made for you! For you as well, madam, my wife doubtless has dry footgear and garments fit for your use, including such as may fit more adequately over your now-enhanced figure."
"Oh, yes! Come with me, Lizzy!" Big Lizzy pulled her towards the connecting door to her bedroom, pausing to cast a mischievous look back into the room at her husband and Fitzwilliam Andrew, saying, "We shall return, Fitzwilliam, when Lizzy is suitably attired. Perhaps a quarter of an hour or a bit more. Your most obedient, sir!"
Turning to his counterpart, her husband smiled and nodded his head towards the hallway door. "I shall check to see that the coast is clear, and then we can sneak down the hall to my, or perhaps I should say our, rooms. It does feel odd, to be reduced to sneaking, in one's own house! I may be several minutes, if Enderby is in my rooms. I understand from Elizabeth that Enderby is your valet as well?"
Fitzwilliam Andrew nodded and smiled. Fitzwilliam George walked out into the hallway and down to his room. As he had suspected, Enderby was in the dressing-room, arranging a batch of newly starched and ironed cravats in their customary perfect order. Darcy considered inventing an errand on which to send him away, but considered that, in one way or another, it would shortly become necessary for him to know what was toward in the family apartments. It might as well be now.
"Enderby," Darcy said. "Do you feel well enough to sustain a shock?"
"I suppose so, sir," Enderby answered. "I am not ill, nor feeling particularly weak, if that is what you are asking."
"Please sit in that chair for a moment. I know you are not accustomed to doing so in my presence, but humour me!"
With a reproving glance, Enderby did as he was told.
"Very well. Do you remember those weeks when the Mistress was absent, just before Christmas?"
"Yes sir. Begging your pardon, sir, but with the state you were in during those weeks, I am unlikely to forget, sir."
"And you no doubt remember that I often went to the maze, even in inclement weather, during that time?"
"I do, sir." The disapproval on his face deepened by a shade: it had not been easy to have so constantly to clean the vestiges of the snow, mud, and foliage from the master's clothing and footgear, after those excursions.
"This is not to be spoken of unnecessarily, Enderby, and especially not to anyone beyond the family. However, the fact is that the mistress had taken her voyage through the maze, and later returned in the same way. We do not understand all about it, but there is another Pemberley which can sometimes, when the maze permits it, be reached from here. Another Pemberley, with another Mr. and Mrs. Darcy. I tell you this because the other Mr. and Mrs. Darcy have come to visit us and are at this moment here in this house with us. In crossing through the fountain, Mr. Darcy's boots, hose and breeches have got wet, and I am going to bring him here in a few minutes so that he may change his apparel."
"Very well, sir. I … I am to suppose that he is of a size with you, sir?" Enderby still remained seated, and looked as if it was better that way. He was struggling to maintain the correct attitude of imperturbable efficiency, but with this news assaulting his consciousness it was not proving easy.
"Yes, any of my clothes should fit him. … You do understand what you are about to see, Enderby?"
"Yes, sir, I believe so, sir."
"It may help if you think of him as a long-lost identical twin. Very well, then; I shall return … we shall both return directly."
George returned to Mrs. Darcy's sitting-room and with a smile gestured towards the door. "Shall we?" He looked carefully into the hallway before exiting, but no servants were in sight. "Enderby is in my rooms, but I have told him of your existence, so he is at least somewhat prepared for the awful sight." Andrew grinned back at him, as the two entered the dressing-room.
"Sir!" said Enderby. He had set out breeches, hose, Darcy's second-best boots, and a bootjack, and, fortunately, this had left him very near to the chair in which he had formerly been seated. He had the presence of mind to sit there again, despite the habits of many years which forbade him to do so. He concentrated on keeping his mouth closed. The palpitations of his heart were leading him to wonder whether he might not have become too old for his position. He controlled himself, finally, stood to his feet once more and inquired, "Is everything to your satisfaction, sir?" He was uncertain as to whom he was addressing.
"I am pleased to meet you, Enderby," said the gentleman with the water-stained boots. (It would take considerable labour to restore them to a state where they could be worn by Mr. Darcy, Mr. Enderby considered.)
"Yes, everything is in order," the other gentleman, Enderby's own Mr. Darcy, replied. "We will care for our own needs: please await us in the hallway for a few minutes."
Enderby bowed twice, once to each of the Masters, and withdrew.
"He looks as if he has seen a ghost," laughed the visiting Darcy, as soon as the door was closed behind the valet.
"I expect he feels as if he has," the other replied. He held the boot-jack to assist Darcy in removing his boots, and as he stepped out of his wet breeches and prepared to step into a new pair, he commented, "Your legs are not quite the little cat-sticks I remember from last time. I do believe you have grown up since then!"
"You have me at a total disadvantage," the other replied. "Not knowing when this meeting occurred, I have no idea what either of us looked like at the time. Am I mistaken in assuming your cat-sticks were much the same as mine?"
"No, you have the right of it." He grinned. "We can speak of that later--I presume your wife knows as little of the story as you do?"
"That is correct."
"It would be reasonable for you both to hear it at the same time, then. I have a question for you. How long after you met her did you secure her hand? And how long was it before you were married?"
"I met her on New Year's Eve, and we became engaged on the third of January. We married on the fourteenth."
"My heartiest congratulations! I told Elizabeth not to underestimate the attraction between a Fitzwilliam Darcy and an Elizabeth Bennet, but even I did not imagine that you could bring it about in so short a time as that! Surely you did not run off to Scotland?"
"No, we were married most respectably from Longbourn. I procured a special license, much to the delight of Mrs. Bennet, as you can imagine. I am sure, however, that, for both Elizabeth and me, it was the knowledge of how deeply your lady loved you, and how perfectly the two of you were suited for each other, that enabled us to dispense with the stage of uncertainty and questioning of our feelings that would normally have retarded the process. I knew I should love her before I met her, and her response to my admiration was most gratifying. I cannot imagine what you had to go through, not trusting your own attraction to her, and then the pain and mortification of finding how negative were her feelings towards you. My wife and I certainly had the easier courtship."
"That is true. However, my wife and I had enjoyed a full year of marriage while you had not even met each other. What is more, we shall be parents before you!"
"Enjoy your freedom while you have it! From what I have seen in the Bingleys' case, and from my observation of Georgiana with Anne Elizabeth, having a child will greatly reduce the amount of time you and your lady will have for each other alone."
"If one's wife is a loving mother, which ours will undoubtedly be, I expect that will be the case. We shall have to make what time we have alone count all the more."
"And of course you shall have time together with the child, and that also will be most pleasurable. Very well, I will confess that you have outdone me, and I am indeed somewhat jealous of the joy you are to experience. I am glad that my Elizabeth and I will not be far behind you."
As he was pulling on the second-best boots, the other Darcy signalled to Mr. Enderby, who returned to the dressing-room, bundled up the discarded clothing for laundering and took it along with the boots to his own quarters. There he would dry the boots out and restore their finish as well as he might.
His limbs now adequately clad and his feet dry-shod, Fitzwilliam Andrew was on the point of proposing a return to the sitting-room two doors down when a soft knock was heard on the door in the bedchamber, and Fitzwilliam George went to answer it. Elizabeth put her head through the doorway and said, "Oh, good, I had supposed the two of you would be in here. We are ready for you to return to my sitting-room, but perhaps you will prefer to go through the hallway, sir?" She dipped her head with a wide-eyed smile at Fitzwilliam Andrew as she said the last phrase, and he, recognizing the wisdom in only one of them risking being seen by any servants who might have entered the hall, and aware that he would have been somewhat embarrassed to pass through the other Mrs. Darcy's (or should he think of her as Mrs. Kenton?)'s bedchamber, readily accepted that it should be he that braved the hallway.
Entering the sitting room, he was caught up by the sight of his wife sitting there in an attractive dark blue gown he had never seen before. He crossed to stand beside her, saying, "You look quite beautiful in that shade, my dear. We must get you another such gown when we return home."
Her smile dazzled him, as it usually did. As the other Darcys emerged from the Mistress's dressing-room into the sitting-room, she looked over to the other Elizabeth and said to her, "I surmise that it has proven to be sufficient from your viewpoint as well?"
"Indeed, there seems to be no doubt of it!" she replied solemnly, then, seemingly unable to restrain herself, laughed merrily. She left Fitzwilliam George's side and walked over to Fitzwilliam Andrew. "Here, my love," she said, taking his hand and kissing it before gently setting it atop her protruding belly. Immediately he recognized that the bump was soft and compressible, very unlike the taut aliveness that he was used to feeling there. The two Fitzwilliams looked in dismay at each other. Clearly Little Lizzy had donned Big Lizzy's yellow dress, and they had bamboozled their husbands quite successfully. The two women laughed gaily, and their husbands broke out with somewhat shamefaced grins, and then were laughing as well.
"You have certainly established that we shall find it difficult not to become confused," Fitzwilliam Andrew said.
"Perhaps we should continue the topic you had begun, my love," said the blue-gowned Lizzy, smiling at her husband, "or was it you, sir?" with a smile for Fitzwilliam Andrew. "What are we to call each other? Since Lizzy and I are now, at least apparently, of the same size, the Little and Big appellations have ceased to function well."
"I still find it easy to think of you as Mrs. Kenton, my lady. Perhaps you and your husband should be Mr. and Mrs. Kenton," suggested Fitzwilliam Andrew.
"While you two retain the Darcy name? Hardly!" said Fitzwilliam George superciliously.
"Perhaps we two women should both be Mrs. Kenton," suggested Big Lizzy. "I could be Clorinda, and you Corinna, don't you suppose?"
"Pleased to make your acquaintance, Clorry! I am Corry!" said Little Lizzy, holding out her hand. Clorinda took it in hers, and the two women laughed at each other.
"Are you certain that you two did not break out the ratafia?" asked Fitzwilliam Andrew, but the Lizzies did not deign to respond to such an insinuation other than with attempted looks of haughty disdain.
"You two could be Andy and George," said Corry, when her laughter had subsided to a chuckle. "George is, at least currently, wearing the green-with-gold waistcoat --how convenient, all g's, George, green and gold-- while Andy's waistcoat has a greenish blue as its primary colour."
"Why not Andrew and William?" suggested Fitzwilliam George. "I am not that fond of my second name, as you know."
"Andy and Willy, then?" The two women went off into renewed giggles.
"Never! I had definitely rather be called George than Willy! Willy!" he said disgustedly.
"Perhaps we should call him Georgie, then--and cause yet greater confusion when Georgiana is with us," offered the other Lizzy, to renewed giggles.
"Seriously, George," began Fitzwilliam Andrew, when Georgiana came bursting into the room.
"Please pardon me for interrupting!" she said, eyes wide, "but there is news I am certain you will wish to hear. I have seen a carriage approaching, and even now it must be pulling up to the front of the house. I do believe the Bingleys are come to visit us!"
Chapter 8
"Jane and Charles? We did not expect them for several days, yet!" said Clorry. Then: "I say …"
"Yes, what an opportunity! With or without the padding?" Corry shot back.
"Without, and see if she notices?"
"Yes!"
Their husbands looked back and forth, slightly puzzled at first, but soon understanding what was being proposed. Then Andrew laughed. "Very well," he said. "I suppose I should be the one to accompany her. They do know your story, Mrs. Kenton?"
"Yes, they do, though I am not certain that they are yet convinced that it was more than a dream. All I had to prove it was the golden brooch with the maze-markings on it, which of course meant nothing to them."
"And the fact that your dream had taken you away for two weeks? … Never mind, I must make ready. Would you all excuse me?" Corry ducked into the dressing-room and returned a few seconds later, having discarded the cushion and its covering blanket which she had used to augment her silhouette.
Georgiana watched this with some surprise (though her genteel manners kept her mouth much more closed than it might otherwise have been). It had taken her some time to realize that the Elizabeths had exchanged dresses. With a small smile growing on her face, she came over to help little Elizabeth tuck the extra skirt length under the high waistband of the gown so that the hemline should not look uneven, and within a few minutes was escorting her and her husband out into the hallway. They were most of the way down the main staircase when Wilkins opened the door to admit the Bingleys. Elizabeth, forgetting her supposedly advanced condition, ran down the last few stairs and across the entry hall into Jane's arms.
"Lizzy, Lizzy! Be careful!" Jane's admonition was cut off by her sister's enthusiastic greeting. "How are you? But I can tell you are well!"
"As are you," said Elizabeth, holding her at arms length and looking her over with sparkling eyes. Three months along, she calculated. "Your condition becomes you well; your colour is good and your happiness is evident."
"But you, Lizzy, although you look wonderful, have you not lost weight? You look smaller than when I saw you last!" She leaned over to whisper in her ear, "Does this mean the child has dropped, and is now ready to be born?"
"We shall speak of that when we are upstairs," Elizabeth whispered back, then added in a louder voice, "Come, greet Fitzwilliam and Georgiana, and then let us get you to your room that you may refresh yourselves from the trip. Then come to my sitting-room, where we may all have a nice cose. I have much to acquaint you with, my dearest Jane!"
As Jane turned to her brother, he surprised her by performing a stately bow and kissing her hand, saying "I am honoured to meet you, my dear Jane!" She was not sure whether he was teasing her, which was indeed somewhat probable, given how thoroughly Lizzy's character had insinuated itself into her husband's, or whether he had mispronounced or she had misheard the word "greet" as "meet".
As they headed to the stairs, Elizabeth asked, "Tell me, Jane, how is it that you have come sooner than you had expected? Not that I am complaining, mind you, but I am interested to know."
"I do not know what it was, Lizzy, but I awoke this morning with the strongest sensation …" she paused on the steps to catch a breath, "… that I should be here, with you. I pestered poor Charles until he told his steward to handle the estate matters they were reviewing … as best he could, and called for the carriage. I do hope we are not inconveniencing you in any way."
"Of course not! I was just curious, that is all. It is indeed a happy chance that brought you here today!" They were at the top of the stairs now. "Your regular rooms are available, I believe--" she looked out of the corner of her eye to Georgiana, who nodded and smiled at her, "and we shall send the maids to spruce them up, but perhaps you will wish to visit them for a few minutes. We shall await you in my sitting-room. Oh, Jane, it is delightful that you are here!"
The Bingleys' rooms were the next suite past Georgiana's rooms, and as Lizzy began to walk with Jane towards them she accidentally stepped on the front of her skirt, which of course made the whole front of her dress come untucked from its waistband and hang down about four inches too far. She grasped it back up, saying with a smile that threatened to develop into a full laugh, "Oh, dear, how clumsy of me! I seem to have stepped on my own dress, and torn it! Pray excuse me, but Georgiana will show you to your room. But do come to us in my sitting-room, as soon as ever you may!"
She scurried into the sitting-room, where Clorinda received her with a affectionate laugh and said, "Now what? Which of us will receive her?"
"You, of course," said Corinna. "Andrew and I will absent ourselves. Perhaps we ought to step behind the curtain, as that would seem to be the traditionally sanctioned place to hide from Mr. Bingley! However, I expect we shall do better to simply remove ourselves to your dressing-room."
Georgiana entered the room at this point, and watched in amusement as they set the scene. Her sister-in-law, the blue-gowned Clorinda, moved over to sit regally at one end of the sofa by the window, and her brother took up his post standing attentively near her. Fitzwilliam Andrew bowed politely as he let his wife through the door into the dressing-room, and closed it most of the way, yet leaving enough of an opening that the two of them would be able to hear what transpired in the sitting-room. Georgiana sat on the sofa beside Clorinda, and smiled at her. She started to ask a question, but was interrupted by the muffled sound of a baby's sobs. Forgetting all else, she rose to her feet and was halfway to the door when Jane and Charles came into the room, a whimpering Annie in Charles' arms.
"Lizzy, Georgie!" Jane cried, "As we walked past your room …" but she was interrupted by Annie, who had twisted to where she could see Georgiana, and was holding out her hands, calling "Mamma!"
"Here I am, my love!" said Georgiana, taking the child from Charles and planting a kiss on her cheek. "Did Mamma's little darling wake up?"
"Yes, Mamma! I 'wake, I want you."
Darcy, seeing that matters were about to develop rapidly, stepped over to the sitting-room door and quietly pulled it to, before returning to his wife's side.
"Did Aunty Jane find you, precious?" asked Elizabeth of Annie, eyeing her sister as she did so.
"Aunt Dizzy!" Annie reached for her, but then turned back to lay her head on Georgiana's shoulder once more.
Jane was now the one standing open-mouthed at those in the room with her. "What? … Who? … Lizzy, what is going on here?"
Elizabeth rose, somewhat ponderously even with the help of her husband's arm, to her feet, and reached out to her sister. "Jane, it is so good to see you again! It has been nearly a month, has it not?"
"What do you mean?" Jane's voice bordered on shrill. This was getting to be too much even for her fabled composure. "You saw me not five minutes ago, in the entrance hall, and walked me up the stairs!"
"Jane, I am afraid I have been a party to a slight deception here," Elizabeth said with a smile. "Here, come sit beside me on the sofa for a moment, and I will explain."
Jane allowed her sister to embrace her, and then came and sat beside her, holding both her hands tightly.
"Jane … and Charles, you need to hear this as well … do you remember the strange tale I told you at Christmas time, about there being another Pemberley hidden behind, or inside, the fountain within the maze? I believe you have been thinking that I must have dreamed it, that such a thing could not really exist. But it does exist. Among the things that I did not tell you is that, in that other world, my sister Georgiana … Oh, this is rather difficult … Georgiana, will it not discompose you for me to speak of this?"
"It shall not upset me, Elizabeth; in fact, I shall tell her. Jane, in that other world, I, or rather, the other Georgiana Darcy, was so unfortunate as to marry George Wickham. I know that you have been told of his attempt to elope with me from Ramsgate, shortly before you and Fitzwilliam first came to Hertfordshire, Bingley. In that world he succeeded in the attempt. He and Georgiana had a daughter, whose name is Anne Elizabeth, and this sweetheart," she paused and hugged Annie, "is that daughter. She came to us through the maze this morning. That is why she calls me 'Mamma', and indeed she is my sweetheart, aren't you, Annie?"
"Love Mamma," Annie responded, again embracing Georgiana.
"So that is why …" Bingley began, but was not able to continue.
"Yes, that is why she calls me Aunt Lizzy, and why I expect that she knows you as Aunty Jane and Uncle Charles."
"Yes, she called me that when I found her crying at the door of your room, Georgiana, and picked her up."
"Jane, Charles, there's more to it than that. Prepare yourselves for a very great shock. I realize that you have already met them, though not as formally as propriety might dictate, but I would like to present to you, Fitzwilliam Andrew Darcy, from the other Pemberley, and his wife Elizabeth. They are here, with us. They came to take Annie back home."
Darcy and Elizabeth, directly their names were mentioned, emerged from the dressing-room where they had been waiting, and stepped forward into the sitting-room.
Jane, who from her position on the sofa had her back to the door, saw first the suddenly appearing Darcy, then looked back with a frown and a gasp at her brother, who stood in the middle of the room a few paces from her. The room spun in front of her eyes. She did not lose consciousness, though she was very close to it when she felt her sister's arms coming about her from behind, and her soft voice saying "All is well, Jane, truly all is well!"
"Help me, Andrew!" It was Fitzwilliam George's voice. Although Elizabeth had been concerned to soften the surprise for Jane, and to have her sitting down, she had not given equal thought to doing the same for her brother, and Charles, seeing his sister sitting on the sofa and her double coming out from the dressing-room, had mumbled a few words and toppled over like a felled tree. Fortunately Fitzwilliam George had caught him, and now the two Fitzwilliams were laying him on the carpet, and placing a cushion, which Georgiana had brought, under his head.
"Georgie, my dear, do you think you could procure a glass of water?" It was Fitzwilliam Andrew, forgetting for the moment that he was the visitor here.
"There is a pitcher of water in my dressing-room," said Elizabeth, while the other Elizabeth continued to soothe Jane, saying, "All shall be well, Jane, Charles shall recover directly. We shall have some water here for you to drink in a moment, and then you shall feel better. I am sorry for the shock we have caused you, dear Jane!"
Georgiana returned with a glass of water, and Jane, after a couple of swallows, started to look at the two Lizzies but suddenly realized that her Charles was lying unconscious on the floor. Immediately she slid from her position on the sofa to sink down beside him, murmuring endearments and then holding to his lips the glass of water.
Annie, meanwhile, had come up to the two of them and, laying a soft hand on Bingley's arm, said "Unca Charrol, he asleeping!" Then, peering in childish concern at his face, she stepped on his outstretched hand so awkwardly as to upset her balance, and, grabbing Jane's arm in order to steady herself, caused her to spill half the water in the glass onto Bingley's face and neck.
Bingley caught his breath and opened his eyes, then closed them again. As Jane caressed his cheek, he opened them once more, then sat up, passing his hand over his face, and looking again at the two Elizabeths, one of whom was soothing a now-frightened Annie.
"Come, Charles," said Fitzwilliam George, "and Mrs. Bingley -- Jane. Sit on the sofa together, and I will bring chairs for the rest of us as well. We are sorry to have shocked you so, but I do not know how news of this nature could have been broken to you without your experiencing some degree of shock. My -- what should I call you, Andrew? -- my friend -- double -- counterpart, and his lady came through the fountain in search of Annie just as we were attempting to take her back to them. When Mrs. Darcy and my wife got together -- surely, Jane, you can imagine what a doubling of that mischievous spirit would be like -- they confused Andy and me most thoroughly -- I'm sorry, I am calling him Andrew because that is his middle name, and he is calling me George, or William, or something -- anyhow, nothing would do but for them to send the new Lizzy and Fitzwilliam down to greet you, just to see if you could tell the difference."
"So that is how you lost all that weight!" said Jane, as her husband said, "Darcy, you're … you're babbling! I have never seen you do that before! I never imagined that my fainting would discompose you so!"
"I was not babbling!" began George, when Andrew interrupted him with "Oh, yes, you were! Bingley, it is disconcerting to us to have upset you and your dear wife so thoroughly. You should not be surprised at my friend's reaction. But I hope your discomfort is now reduced, so that we can continue telling you what has happened."
"Yes, yes," Charles said. "We are well. At least, I am; are you not, my dear?"
"Yes, I am well," said Jane calmly, "though I am still amazed, and likely to experience further bouts of … of amazement for some time, until I am truly accustomed to the situation."
"Oh, Jane, I love you!" and "That's my sister, steady as ever!" said the two Elizabeths.
"Just to be clear, then, I am the Lizzy you have known all your life," said the blue-gowned Elizabeth. "My Fitzwilliam and I were married, together with you and Charles, a year and a half ago; my lying in should take place very soon now, for which I am grateful: nine months is long enough for a woman to wait! I believe that the other Mr. and Mrs. Darcy" (she nodded towards them) "know the story of what has happened in this world, as I told it to Andrew, and he, I doubt not, has by now shared it with you, Lizzy. Has he not?"
"Yes, he has, though there are a number of points that I would love to clear up with you. But yes, we know the general outline, up until you left our Pemberley at Christmas-time."
"And they were about to tell us their story."
"There is not a great deal to tell," began Fitzwilliam Andrew, just as his wife said "There is so much to tell you!" and they all laughed.
"Say on, Corry!" said Big Lizzy.
"Actually, Fitzwilliam --or should I call you Andy, my love? This will clearly take some getting used to!-- my husband has the right of it; although there is much to share, the general outline of it is quite simple. After you left him on Christmas Eve, Mrs. Kenton, he immediately began preparations to come visit us in Hertfordshire. Jane and Charles, you do realize that when your sister visited our Pemberley at Christmastime, Fitzwilliam and I did not even know each other? Anyway, he and Georgiana, with Annie and a few servants, of course, left Pemberley on the morning after Boxing Day. Jane and Charles (you know they have been married well over two years in our world, Jane and Charles?) opened up Netherfield and received them on the 30th of December. Fitzwilliam and I met for the first time at the Assembly Ball on New Year's Eve. We danced twice, the first dance and the supper dance, and he asked me for the final dance as well. I indeed wished to dance it with him, but was a little too timid for such a daring step."
"I had come to Hertfordshire already more than half in love with Elizabeth, and determined to win her hand," said Andrew. "Simply meeting her was enough to take me the rest of the way, and, I am most happy to say, she quickly learnt to love me as well. We became engaged on the third of January, after I had shared with her and her brother and sister the history of your and my relationship, Mrs. Kenton." (He bowed towards Big Lizzy and she blushed.) "As I told George an hour or so ago, it was our knowledge of the deep love between you two, and the obvious fulfilment you had experienced in your marriage to your Fitzwilliam, madam, together with the beautiful letter …" --"Yes! Thank you for that letter, Lizzy!", Elizabeth interpolated-- "… the letter that you left for us upon your departure, that gave us the confidence to accept what our feelings were telling us and proceed so quickly towards our own marriage. Mr. Bennet granted us his blessing the next morning, and we were married on the 14th of January. Since then, we have lived most happily at Pemberley, with nothing untoward happening until Annie disappeared earlier today."
"I'm glad you said 'nothing untoward,' my love," said Little Lizzy, "for it certainly would not be true to say that nothing has happened! But, you are right--we can share those details later, I think. In any case, when Annie disappeared this morning, and we found her shoe and stocking in the clearing beside the fountain, at the centre of the maze, we surmised that she must have come through to this Pemberley. Georgiana wanted to come get her, and we had asked Ellen Ingram to consider accompanying her, but when they looked in the fountain nothing happened. Directly when Fitzwilliam, I mean Andrew, and I looked, we found ourselves here. Jane, Clorinda, Georgiana, do you suppose …"
"Just a moment," Jane interrupted, "Please explain to me about these odd names you are using? Why Clorinda? I presume that is a name for my sister?"
"Why, yes," Clorry laughed. "When we were --what? Thirteen?-- we --or rather I'll just say I-- I wrote an abortive novel, whose protagonist was named Clorinda Corinna Kenton. Do you have any recollection of it?"
"My Jane remembered seeing bits of it a time or two." Corry interpolated, as Jane furrowed her brow for a moment, then nodded and smiled reminiscently.
"In any case," Clorry continued, "it was in honour of the heroine of our tale that I, when I realized I should be called neither Mrs. Darcy nor Mrs. Bennet in their world, adopted the name of 'Mrs. Kenton'. So just now, when we were discussing what to call each other, in order to reduce rather than exacerbate the confusion with which our current situation is rife, we started referring to me as Clorinda and to her as Corinna, or Clorry and Corry, in fun."
"As long as you remember that Clorry is your sister and I, the interloper, am Corry, it should help. George is, of course, your brother, and Andrew is my husband."
"I don't know but what the names add to the confusion rather than reducing it," Jane said, as acerbically as Jane ever said anything.
"Very well, just call us both Elizabeth, or Lizzy, and see what happens," laughed Clorry.
"Another thing you should know, Charles and Jane, concerning what has happened today," said George. "We were attempting, as I said earlier, to return Annie to her mother when Andrew and Mrs. … and Corinna appeared --I also will have difficulty getting used to calling you Corinna and Clorinda, when you are both Elizabeth!--. As I was beginning to say, and as Corinna's story implies, the fountain appears to choose whom to conduct between worlds and whom not to, and once the exchange has taken place, the paths of the maze grow over in such a way as to bar entrance at certain times."
"Is that not frightening?" asked Jane.
"Yes. We believe the power behind the maze is not something to be taken lightly," said Andrew.
George continued, "Like our counterparts at the other Pemberley, we had planned to send Ellen Ingram along with Georgiana to take Annie back to her own world, but, in our case as well, nothing happened when they looked into the fountain. However, after Andrew and Corinna appeared, and none of us was able to cross over with Annie, to take her back to her mother, we retraced the maze in order to retire here to the house. Ellen, however, was the last of our group to leave, and apparently she looked into the fountain and, we believe, has now been transported to the other Pemberley. If it is so, she shall have been able to reassure those on the other side that Annie, as well as her uncle and aunt, are here and well. Meanwhile, the maze is filled in with shrubbery for a considerable distance, so that the centre is presently inaccessible. We shall, of course, be observing it, and we assume that when it again allows us access it will be the time for those who have crossed over to return to their own homes. At least, that is how it has functioned in the past."
At this point Annie, who had been growing fussy, let out a wail. "What is it, little love?" asked Georgiana, Jane, and Corry together.
"Annie hungry?" said the child. "Eat, Mamma? Less eat!"
"Of course you are hungry, my darling," said Georgiana, then added with a slight smile, "and I dare say all your uncles and aunts are as well. Shall I have the cook send up a supper for us, Elizabeth?"
"Yes," said Clorinda, a bit shortly. "Make sure they send enough; tell Cook that we are very hungry? Whatever has already been prepared will be fine, but we should like to eat it here."
"I will bring something back for you, Annie," Georgiana reassured the child. "Just stay with Aunt Lizzy and Aunty Jane, and I shall be back directly."
"Will they not be disconcerted, downstairs, by such a departure from the normal routine?" asked Corinna. "We should perhaps suggest to Mrs. Reynolds, as an explanation, that we wished to discuss certain family matters in total privacy. Do you not think so, Clorry? And George?"
"Also," said Andrew, "Should we not consider who will be sent up to serve the meal?"
"Indeed, those are important points," said George. "I am inclined to feel we must let Mrs. Reynolds in on our secret, and perhaps we should ask her in this instance, little though it is part of her normal duties … Mr. Enderby already knows, and has met Andrew."
"Yes, those two will keep our secret," said Corinna. "In our Pemberley we found it necessary to tell them, and Ellen, and Wilkins, months ago, and they all have kept the matter to themselves most admirably."
"Yes, I can see how your situation would be different," said Clorinda quietly.
"Shall I send Mrs. Reynolds up to you immediately, then?" Georgiana asked her brother.
"No, let me go down to my office, and send her to meet me there. I shall endeavour to convey the necessary aspects of the situation to her quickly. Tell Cook not to send the food up until he has heard from Mrs. Reynolds."
Chapter 10
Ellen, her cheeks rather red from exertion as well as possibly for other reasons, entered Pemberley through the servants' entrance and made her way upstairs to the Family apartments. As she approached Miss Georgiana's room, she paused to take stock. Gathering her courage, she raised her hand and knocked on the door, but her knock received no answer.
It occurred to her that perhaps Miss Georgiana (--Mrs. Wickham, she would have to remember to be calling her) was in a different set of rooms in this world. As she headed down the hall, nearer the nursery, she heard what sounded like muffled sobs, along with quietly spoken words, which were coming from the other side of the next-to-last door. When she knocked on that door, she had to catch her breath again: it was again her own self who answered it. "Come on in!" Ellen said, somewhat brusquely.
Inside the room was Miss --Mrs. Wickham, with troubled face and red eyes, and a young woman she did not know, whose eyes were even redder and her cheeks tear-stained. They both gasped at seeing the two Ellens together, but Mrs. Wickham quickly recovered herself and sought confirmation of what she had been told. "Ellen, welcome to Pemberley. Ellen tells me you did see Annie on the other side, as well as my brother and sister, and that they were well. Are you able to confirm that?"
"Yes, ma'am, Miss -Mrs. Wickham. Annie showed up in our Pemberley late this morning, and Miss Georgiana found her. Miss Georgiana planned to bring her back here, and Mr. and Mrs. Darcy asked me to come with them, but the fountain did not let us cross, and while we were standing there trying to think what to do next, your Mr. and Mrs. Darcy suddenly showed up in the fountain. We tried, different ones of us, to come back here with Annie, but the fountain still wouldn't let us pass. So then, they decided to go into the house and talk about what to do, and when they left I was the last one there. I looked at the fountain and suddenly was here in this world, and Ellen found me in the maze when I called. And the last half of the maze, perhaps a half-dozen turns before the fountain, is grown over now."
"But they were all in good health?"
"In perfect health ma'am. Miss Annie seems very happy with Miss Georgiana, and her two uncles and two aunts. My Mistress, though, is due for her lying in within the next week or so, and I hope I shall be able return before then."
"That's right," said the other Ellen. "Mrs. Kenton was about four months along when she was here in December, so her time would be about now."
"Come, Grace," said Mrs. Wickham to the other inhabitant of the room. "Annie is well, and well cared for by those on the other side. Dry your tears, and help me think what we should do. Oh, Ellen, do you know Grace?"
"No, ma'am, there's nobody of that name at the other Pemberley." Ellen replied.
"Grace is Annie's nursemaid. She was with me when Annie wandered off this morning."
"But I went to sleep!" Grace's sobs again got the better of her.
"Yes, you did. But no more than did I," said Georgiana.
"Ma'am, Miss," said Ellen. "Not to presume or nothing, but my Master and Mistress talked about the maze and the fountain like it sort of … sort of knows what it's doing. I mean, it chooses who is to cross and who is not; we all know that just looking in the fountain does not let you cross. And then it grows over to keep you from going back till it wants you to. When your Annie crossed over this morning, didn't you just say she had 'wandered off'? That sounds like you hadn't taken her to the fountain or even gone into the maze with her. Is that right?"
"No, we had not."
"And the maze on this side has a gate, does it not, like it does on our side?"
"Yes it has."
"And the gate was closed?"
"As far as we knew, yes."
"But somehow the gate opened, and she got through the maze to the fountain, by herself it would seem."
"Yes, we found her shoe and stocking there. If anyone had taken her, they probably would have kept her from taking them off, or taken them along."
"Well, what I think is that maybe the maze wanted her to cross, and so it put you to sleep and opened the gate and all."
"That would explain how we both came to sleep at the same time," Georgiana realized. "It came upon us very suddenly, too. I do not remember even feeling the least bit sleepy, before finding that I had been sleeping and had just awakened, and … and Annie was gone." She shut her eyes and clenched her fists, remembering, and Grace again succumbed to her tears.
After a dozen seconds or so, Georgiana opened her eyes and shook her head. "Well, now we are here, my brother and sister and Annie are all there, and you are here with us, Ellen. Both of you Ellens, of course. How am I to distinguish you?"
"How about calling me 'Ellen from Here' and her 'Ellen from There'?" suggested Ellen.
The names were somewhat awkward, to be sure, but, whether surprisingly or not, those were the names Georgiana and the others adopted for the remainder of the time until Ellen returned to the other Pemberley.
"We need to think how to keep the household running and keep everyone from knowing that something odd has happened. Ellen-from-There, how did your Master deal with it when your Mistress was here in December? What did he tell the servants? Do any of them know the true situation?"
"He told them that his wife had gone on a journey, ma'am. It was true, in a way, and was probably as useful a story as he and Miss Georgiana could have put about. Of course many wondered where the Mistress had gone to, and how she had travelled when none of the carriages or even any of the horses had been taken out, and neither I nor anyone else had accompanied her. And I suppose Mrs. Reynolds asked when she would be back, but none of the others would have dared to. Well, except me. I think I was the only one he told the true story. He told me that he believed, or at least had some reason to hope, that she was in another Pemberley, and well taken care of. But he didn't know when she would be back, and he … well, he had a hard time looking like all was well when he himself was worried sick."
"I suppose we must adopt some form of the same story," said Georgiana. "They have gone on a journey, and should return before many weeks are past. Mrs. Reynolds, and Enderby, and Wilkins all know about the existence of the other Pemberley, and I shall tell Mrs. Reynolds and Enderby, at least, that we believe that is where they have gone. Do we let it be known that Annie is with them, or pretend that she is still here and confined to the nursery?"
"Need we mention her absence at all?" asked Ellen-from-here.
"That way," continued Ellen-from-there, "we need not lock ourselves in to one story or the other, before the time comes when we need to choose. In any case, it's no one's business but yours, ma'am, and yours, Miss," nodding towards Georgiana and then Grace, "what goes on in the nursery wing."
"I certainly had better let Mrs. Reynolds know you are here, Ellen," Georgiana said, "so she shall not be overly surprised if she should see the two of you together, and can arrange for us to be left alone by the other staff. She will realize how important it is that this be kept as quiet as possible. Enderby, and probably Wilkins, should know as well."
"Ma'am, there is another that already knows something." Ellen-from-there blushed as she spoke. "Ellen and I were not as careful as we should have been, leaving the maze and heading towards the house here, and Mr. Padgett, the undergardener, saw us together. He … had words with me before I came in; I asked him not to speak to anyone of what he saw."
"But he will be thinking," said Ellen-from-here.
"Yes," said the other Ellen. "He is no puddin'-head."
Georgiana looked sharply at her. "He was the only one at Pemberley that met and remembered my sister when she first came to visit here. From what she has told me he is well aware of how exactly she and Mrs. Kenton look alike --though, of course, almost all of the servants are aware of that!--, but he also knows that both of them were named Elizabeth Bennet before their marriage. As you say, he is quite certain to be thinking things through, and perhaps coming up with some uncomfortably accurate conclusions."
"Should we take him into our confidence, Miss Geo … Mrs. Wickham?"
"Do you believe him to be trustworthy?"
"I do, Ma'am. At least, the Joseph Padgett in my Pemberley is so; my master and mistress have great confidence in him. He … he is … we are … we have just recently begun walking out together, in fact, him and me."
"Why, I never thought of such a thing!" Ellen-from-here responded with astonishment and perhaps a bit of disdain.
"How well do you know him, Ellen?" asked Ellen-from-there.
"Not terribly well, I admit. I have only talked to him a few times."
"But you could tell he was a smart one, couldn't you. Anyhow, I recommend that you think about him, get to know him better. He's worth ten of that Giles Parker, you know."
"Is it so indeed?" Georgiana queried, in the tone of one who might not need much convincing. "However it may be, it sounds as if we should do well to have a word with Padgett."
"Yes'm, I believe it would be wise."
Yes, Georgiana reflected afterwards, it would be a help to have others aware of the current situation. If only Fitzwilliam were here; he would reason it through better than she could, and would know what to do. But he was not here, and the choice of how to act, of whether and whom to tell, devolved upon her. The three she had mentioned were already aware not only of the events of the preceding winter --Mrs. Kenton's visit and the Master's whirlwind courtship of Mrs. Kenton's double, now Mrs. Darcy-- but of the significance of those events. Mr. Darcy had told them enough for them to understand that another Pemberley existed, and to accept that Mrs. Kenton had come from there and returned there. Now Georgiana determined to reveal to them the outline of the current situation, and enlist their aid in maintaining all at Pemberley as if normal, as they waited for the return of the Master and Mistress. And, yes, it was wisest to speak to Padgett as well.
Continued In Next Section