Page 88 of The Widower of Pemberley

Daily, Elizabeth was astonished by the volume of the supplies the house required, the proportions of the still-room, the extent of the charity that was given by the estate, the number of horses in the stables, and the sheer size of the home farm.

Elizabeth also often heard herself compared to the previous Mrs. Darcy.

Mr. Darcy’s first wife had been grand, extravagant, spoke four languages, played brilliantly, sneered at the servants, spent little time with Emily, expected the finest French sauces from thecook, was inordinately kind at times, once giving a groom five hundred pounds for saving a beloved horse from an illness, and she always spent all of her pin money and had to beg her husband for more every quarter—an astonishing fact to Elizabeth, who could not yet comprehend how she would spend all the money allocated to her, at least without finding unfortunate objects for charity.

The former Mrs. Darcy had thrown mighty parties, ones that the neighbours whom Elizabeth met all looked back upon with great fondness.

At the very least, Darcy had not intended for her to be a replacement for that woman.

The tales of this other Mrs. Darcy fascinated Elizabeth, though many people seemed to look askance at both her and at Darcy due to the suspicious nature of her death.

The tale that Mr. Wickham had told—before not appearing to fight a duel with her husband—that he had seen Darcy throw his first wife from her balcony, had followed them to Derbyshire.

Darcy engaged a lawyer to start proceedings against Mr. Wickham for slander, though Elizabeth did not think that this was likely to quiet the tales. Only time, and his failure to murder her as well, would.

Even then, like as not, when they were old and grey, there would still be parents scaring their younger children with the tale of how old Mr. Darcy had killed his first wife.

Emily took up the greatest part of Elizabeth’s time.

She wanted to show Elizabeth everything, and as Darcy had married her so that she would be a mother to his daughter, she was obligated to be available for Emily’s comfort and education at any time that it was possible.

For a week this was delightful fun.

But as the girl became entirely comfortable with Elizabeth and convinced that her new Mama Lizzy was permanently settled at Pemberley, she began to engage more frequently in fits and tantrums.

This in itself would not have been so difficult—Elizabeth had sufficient experience with young children to anticipate it—only she did not know how Darcy wished for Emily’s upsets to be managed.

Elizabeth could not avoid a fear that her husband would become angry with her and think that she neglected the girl if she let Emily cry whenever she made a demand that Elizabeth thought was unreasonable, let alone simply inconvenient.

Elizabeth was wholly capable of standing her ground in the matter of not permitting Emily to eat more dessert than was wholesome. Darcy must be happy with that; no sensible parent wanted their child to eat only cake and pastry for every meal—dinner, supper, breakfast, and of course with tea.

When there was danger, or a lesson of manners that must be learned for Emily to perform well in society, or when the girl acted in a spoiled and selfish manner that would make her a terror to the servants and disliked by her peers when older, Elizabeth endured her sobbing.

But pains were taken in such cases toreducethe tears. Elizabeth sought to distract Emily and generally offered her something pleasant in compensation for that which she would not get.

It was seldom necessary to physically restrain her, and on those rare occasions, Elizabeth had ample strength to hold the girl aloft until she ceased to be angry and accepted that jumping down the stairs, three at a time, was not permitted, even if she wailed and hit Mama Lizzy.

After such eruptions, the child sobbingly apologised, hugged Elizabeth, and with a glowing smile found an activity that Elizabeth did not object to.

The difficulty for Elizabeth was that she never refused Emily when it was merely a matter of inconvenience.

She seldom had the leisure while Emily was awake to reply to—or even read—letters from her family, Charlotte, and her other friends. She had no chance to explore Darcy’s grand library, except in Emily’s presence. The only books she read were those that Emily wanted to have read aloud, and Emily joined her in every walk Elizabeth went on.

Only in her duties as mistress did Elizabeth seize time from Emily’s desires. But even then she tried to keep the girl about while making and receiving calls, while talking about household matters with Mrs. Reynolds, and while sitting with Georgiana to talk or practise the pianoforte.

Perhaps Emily had not becometrulycertain that Elizabeth would never leave, for she hated to be apart from her, even preferring her strongly to her own father. When Rose bathed the girl, or read to her, or put her to bed, there was always the demand that Elizabeth be present.

Thiswasher duty.

She must make Emily happy and be her mother, and Darcy would see that she threw herself fully into the task, leaving nothing of herself aside, and he would approve of her—she hoped.

Despite how the constant presence of a young child wore on her, caring for Emily was joyous. When the girl sighed happily and told Elizabeth, “I like being with you,” Elizabeth became warm and happy inside.

In evenings after Emily fell asleep, Elizabeth still had little leisure.

Frequently there were dinners that they held or attended, and occasionally balls where Elizabeth met her neighbours.

Darcy said that at present he gave and accepted far more invitations than was his general preference as he wished for Elizabeth to be introduced about and to become familiar with his neighbours while most everyone was at their estates for Christmas.