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wondered at the unspoken disloyalty to her own position – her own husband, even. It was true, certainly, that Jane’s husband was an easier man to be with than Elizabeth’s: Mr Bingley was as sunny as a cloudless day, all geniality and smiles; whereas Mr Darcy, as Elizabeth so well knew after close on a year of marriage to him, could as little evade the dark, thunderous looks that sometimes crossed his face and lingered there as he could sidestep his position as master of Pemberley. He had so many people looking to him for comfort and support; so many decisions to be made in the course of every day that could change the future of the estate and those who worked there – those must be the reasons, Elizabeth always supposed, that he would grow so silent and aloof at times. And and here Elizabeth sighed, set little Emily down on the floor of the barn and went to take her sister’s arm, to suggest a stroll on the lawns – there was no child as yet to raise Mr Darcy’s spirits, noreason for him to occupy himself with childish things, as Mr Bingley so gladly did.
    If it was hard to think of Mr Darcy as a being capable of so great a change in character and outlook as this (for to see him busy with the construction of a doll’s house was far beyond Elizabeth’s imagining) it was important to remember that such great changes did not infrequently take place when a man became a father. Mr Darcy would dote – surely he would. Yet a slender doubt remained, and Elizabeth had no wish to own it. She could not recall that Darcy had shown interest in any of the children of the estate workers; and, this being an area of chief concern to her, she had sometimes lightly wondered why this should be. Mr Darcy was kindness and generosity itself, and there was no surprise in this, when it came to hearing his Eliza’s requests for funds, clothing and schooling for the children of the men who worked his land for him. All Derbyshire knew of the progressive measures the new Mrs Darcy was putting in place, and that Mr Darcy’s good heart was regulated now by the practical suggestions of a wife who would steer him in the right direction. All the same, Elizabeth sensed a distance – which, again, she must put down to the great distance between these families and Mr Darcy’s: they depended on him so entirely, after all – as the cause of his almost absent-minded and distracted air when the subject was broached.
    â€˜My dearest Lizzy,’ said Jane, for she had a gift of knowing sometimes to the point of the uncanny what transpired in her sister’s mind, ‘are you quite certain that we will not be an imposition at Pemberley for Christmas? It is perfectly easy for us, you know, to come in the chaise for a day and put up with friends for the night before we return home. Mama would still see as much of us as she pleased, for she can come here with us when we return. She exaggerates the inconvenience of the journey greatly.’
    â€˜Jane!’ cried Elizabeth in return, and laughed aloud to find her fears so neatly caught once again, though she intended never to confide Mr Darcy’s black mood at the mention of the opening ofthe nurseries to her sister if she could help it. ‘I am such a novice at this kind of thing, that’s all. I have the best housekeeper in the world – Mrs Reynolds – but I am still shy with her and I think she will discover all the little habits we had of dining and arranging ourselves at Longbourn, which would not do at Pemberley at all! No, I confess I fear the very idea of Mama and Lady Catherine de Bourgh both under one roof – and that roof mine!’
    Elizabeth broke off and Jane clasped her close. ‘I understand, Lizzy. And my heart aches for you now that Lydia announces her intentions.’ She paused, then said on a quieter note: ‘Suppose Mr Darcy finds Lydia’s children very bothersome, my dear. He is not used to them,