Their conversation could continue no further, for Elizabeth appeared in the doorway.
And just before they left the room, Darcy’s valet arrived, accompanied by the colonel. Each lady received a beautiful red and golden velvet box.
After a farewell that lasted rather longer than expected, they promised to meet again before the ladies departed for Derby each with a beautiful velvet box on her lap.
∞∞∞
“This box reminds me of one my father gave to each of us,” said Elizabeth, absently running her fingers over it.
“And what did it contain?” asked Mrs Cooper, somewhat alarmed that Elizabeth might recognise the value of the cameo and immediately insist upon returning it, offended by such a gift, particularly when compared with her own, which was probably worth only a few dozen pounds.
“My letters to him. As I have kept every one of his letters to me, I think that one day, when I am calmer, and the pain is further behind me, I shall read them all in order. I often asked him questions, and he always answered them. Not a single question was ever left unanswered.”
The smile that appeared upon her face tried to be brave, yet it was only heartbreakingly sad.
“Perhaps there are questions that still trouble me, and I shall find answers I have forgotten.”
“How wonderful,” exclaimed Mrs Cooper, genuinely moved, for beneath the grief she could feel the bond between Elizabeth and her father, a bond that death itself could not destroy.
“I brought the box with me. Indeed, I shall carry it wherever I go. There are also a few thoughts he wrote that were never letters. I hope I shall one day find the strength to read them, but whenever I see his handwriting, I cannot continue.”
“The day will come when you can, I am certain.”
“But let us see what Mr Darcy has given us.”
Mrs Cooper’s heart was beating wildly. How dearly she wished that Elizabeth and her family might benefit from that gift, which could provide them with a more than comfortable living until all the sisters were married.
Elizabeth opened the box with remarkable indifference, her thoughts evidently still lingering on the other box and the treasures her father had left her. She glanced towards Mrs Cooper, who, whether she wished to or not, opened hers as well.
It too contained a cameo, and to her great relief, Mr Darcy had chosen them so carefully that the difference between them was impossible to detect at first glance.
Elizabeth looked at both miniatures before placing her open box beside her. Mrs Cooper’s heart nearly stopped at the thought that, with one careless movement of the carriage, it might fall. She quietly closed the box and drew it nearer to herself, yet Elizabeth showed no reaction.
At that moment, Mrs Cooper resolved to tell her the truth. Not immediately, but certainly before she left Derbyshire. She could not rest easy knowing that Elizabeth might depart and toss that small fortune into the corner of a trunk.
She would find a way. Elizabeth must somehow come to understand that allowing one’s friends to help was perfectly natural and diminished neither dignity nor self-respect.
“You will never believe what Miss Darcy asked me,” said Elizabeth after a brief silence. “Whether I would visit her from time to time and sit and talk with her…rather as Papa used to do with us.”
The satisfaction in her voice gave Mrs Cooper pause, though it did not make her happy. She said nothing, waiting for Elizabeth to continue.
“I believe she enjoyed a conversation we had in the library one day, when we were alone.”
As Mrs Cooper still remained silent, Elizabeth hurried on. “It is clearly a mark of friendship. And you must know that there was a mutual liking between us from the very beginning.”
“Certainly,” replied Mrs Cooper, rousing herself from the thoughts that had overtaken her. “There is no reason why you should not visit her, or she us. I should very much enjoy taking part in such conversations myself.”
Elizabeth nodded. “I believe I shall. Poor thing, she lost her mother at five years old, and apart from that companion, I do not think she has many female presences about her. When we attend a ball, we gather together in little groups, laughing and amusing ourselves. I have always seen her alone, or speaking with one guest at a time.”
A friendship with Miss Darcy was indeed something precious. Yet, Mrs Cooper could not help wondering whether it was the only thing drawing Elizabeth towards Pemberley. For if there was another reason, he had just presented her with a farewell gift.
Chapter 30
More than a week had passed since the ball. During that time, the colonel had been absent for several days, having gone to meet his parents, who were coming to spend a few weeks at their Derbyshire estate, Matlock Lodge.
The colonel had never particularly enjoyed staying there. Ever since leaving London each summer, he had established himself at Pemberley, sometimes accompanied by his brother, though more often alone. Nothing had changed with maturity. To him, Pemberley remained home, whilst Matlock Lodge was merely a place he visited from time to time together with the Darcys.
This year, however, matters were different.