Your affectionate sister,

Georgiana


Mr Darcy to Colonel Fitzwilliam

Darcy House, London, July 10

It is good to know that you will soon be with us. I am in London at present and I will be here until the end of July, certainly, and probably for August as well. I have sent Georgiana to Ramsgate for the summer. Caroline Bingley was keen to go, too, until she learnt that I would not be there. Her attentions to me grow ever worse. She flatters and praises me, and drops hints as large as Derbyshire about becoming the future Mrs Darcy. Poor Charles! He is mortified by her attentions to me and he feels he has to apologise at least twice a month. He is in town at the moment but he will be going north to visit his family next week and then he intends to continue his search for a country estate. His family want him to buy one, and he is not averse to the idea—indeed, he is of their opinion, although he asked sensible questions of me, about upkeep and other practical matters. But I have promised to look over any property he is thinking of buying and I have offered to help him appoint a steward. He thinks he will settle somewhere in the middle of the country. He has his family home in Yorkshire and he visits me often in Derbyshire, so he is thinking of somewhere in Hertfordshire or thereabouts. He has told his agent to look in that area.

I hope to see you next week. Until then, my dear Henry, I am

Your cousin,

Darcy


Mrs Belle Younge to Mr Wickham

Ramsgate, July 10

We are settled in Ramsgate, and a quieter spot you could not hope to find. Georgiana knows no one here and so there is no one to take an interest in any comings and goings. The servants are all local people. The only two who knew Georgiana were the footmen who accompanied us on our journey, but they have since returned to London. She receives letters from her cousin and from her brother and her guardian, but no one calls.

I have already encouraged her to take Romeo and Juliet out of the circulating library and she is reading it with interest. I spun her a yarn about my own love for my husband and said that I hoped she found a love of her own. I sighed and said how we had eloped and how it had been so romantic, without all the fuss of a society wedding, and she was enthralled.

Meet us on the promenade on Monday; we will be walking there between eleven and twelve.

Belle


Mr Parker to Mr Wickham

London, July 15

How are things going along? I have had to move out of The Black Bull and back in with the Widow. Hurry up and carry your prize off to Scotland.

Parker


Mr Wickham to Mr Parker

Ramsgate, July 17

I am off to a good start. I met Georgiana and Belle ‘by accident’ on the promenade. It was a fine day, exactly the sort of day I wanted, with a smiling sea, a gentle breeze, a blue sky and white clouds floating across it. The poets themselves could not have designed a better day for my purpose.

Georgiana was even more beautiful than I expected, the years since I have seen her having done remarkable things to her face and figure. I feigned a look of surprise as I drew close and said, ‘Why, if it isn’t Georgiana! Or Miss Darcy, I should say.’

Belle played her part magnificently, pretending to be very wary of me until she learnt that I was a friend, and the godson of old Mr Darcy, and then she thawed and encouraged Georgiana to behave in a friendly fashion, saying that I must join them for dinner. Georgiana was hesitant, knowing that I had fallen out with Darcy but not why. However, Belle smoothed it over, saying that gentlemen often fell out and that it meant nothing.

A willing chambermaid helped me to pass the time agreeably until the evening and then I set out for Georgiana’s house. I flattered her subtly, listened to her playing the pianoforte—why women must play the thing I cannot imagine, since no one can actually enjoy listening to the noise—and told her she was becoming very accomplished. I made friends with her dog and arranged to take her and Belle on a picnic.

Luck favoured me again. We took our picnic up on to the cliffs and Georgiana’s bonnet blew off. We both ran to catch it, she went too near the edge of the cliff, and I caught her in my arms to prevent her falling—or so I said, though really she could have gone ten yards closer to the edge without any danger. But she did not object, far from it. I made the most of the opportunity, looked deep into her eyes and told her I was glad I had found her again. She blushed and said she was glad she had found me, too.

I bought her a new bonnet and presented her with it this morning. She is already half won. Another week to win her affections entirely, then a week to do away with her scruples over an elopement, and then we will run off before Darcy pays his planned visit at the start of next month.

Wickham


Miss Georgiana Darcy to Mr Darcy

Ramsgate, July 17

My dear brother,

It is another sunny day here in Ramsgate and I am very pleased to be here. Mrs Younge and I are in the habit of taking healthful walks by the sea every day, which I very much enjoy. Ullswater goes with us and you would laugh to see her running up to the waves and pouncing on them. You will be pleased to know that I am using the parasol you gave me, and it is much admired. The gloves and bonnet you sent me, too, are admired wherever we go.

We have met some old friends here and made some new. How good it is to see familiar faces when we are a long way from home! Mrs Younge encourages me to be sociable, saying it is good practise for me, so that I will know how to behave when I have my formal come-out. She is instructing me on how to behave, and giving me advice on how to deal with the ladies and gentlemen we meet, so that I know how far I may go in my friendship with them. I wish Mama were alive, so that I could learn from her, for I am not convinced that Mrs Younge always knows the right way to go on, but I must not repine. I have you, dear brother, to look after me, and my dear cousin Henry, and my other friends from Pemberley who will make sure that I do not go wrong.

It is a great thing to be young, is it not? To have one’s life before one, and to know that love is never far away. How I long to see you, to share my joy with you, but perhaps I speak too soon. I am still very young, I know.

Mrs Younge is calling me. It is time for us to go for our afternoon walk. I wonder if we will meet our dear friend by the sea? I hope so! But for now, dear brother, adieu.

Your loving sister,

Georgiana


Miss Anne de Bourgh to Miss Georgiana Darcy

Rosings Park, Kent, July 17

I am thinking of you overlooking the sea as I sit here in my room overlooking the rose garden. It is very hot and I envy you a sea breeze.

Mr Collins dined with us last night. We learnt all about him, what little there is to know. He has a brother and also a family of cousins who live in Hertfordshire. Their property is entailed on him as they do not have a son, only five daughters. I am glad Rosings Park is not entailed away from the female line. I would not like to leave here even when I marry. I love the house and the grounds—even when it is very hot, as now.

We are looking forward to Henry’s visit. Remember me to him if he should happen to visit you in Ramsgate.

Your cousin,

Anne


Miss Georgiana Darcy to Miss Anne de Bourgh

Ramsgate, July 19

I will have to leave Pemberley when I marry, but I do not think it will trouble me. I love it dearly, but I would gladly live in a crofter’s cottage if I could be with the man I love.

I think you will see my guardian before I do. He is presently in London but I have had a letter from my brother this morning and he says that Colonel Fitzwilliam intends to go to Brighton before calling upon you in Kent, after which, I dare say, he might visit me in Ramsgate, perhaps arriving with my brother, who, I know, intends to visit me at the start of next month. How happy we will be, all friends together.

Your loving cousin,

Georgiana


George Wickham to Matthew Parker

Ramsgate, July 21

Why does anyone come to Ramsgate? The place is like death, all virtue and propriety. If not for my chambermaid, I would go mad with boredom. However, I will not be here for much longer. Darcy is due to visit at the start of August and so I must run off with Georgiana by the end of this month. She is nearly ready for my proposal. Belle has worked on her tirelessly, encouraging her romantic notions and saying that when two people are in love they do not need all the pomp and ceremony of a cathedral, but prefer a rustic wedding. The idea has borne fruit, for when Georgiana wrote to her cousin a few days ago she said that she would gladly live in a crofter’s cottage with the man she loves. Not that an heiress with thirty thousand pounds will ever have to live in a crofter’s cottage! I mean to treat her well when we are married and buy her all the frills and fripperies her heart desires. She will not regret having married me. And this will be my best revenge: for Darcy to see how happy she is with me and be unable to turn her against me. It cheers me every morning to think that he has no notion what is going on behind his back, for Belle reads all Georgiana’s mail and prevents anything which mentions me by name from being sent. By the time Darcy learns that I have been in Ramsgate it will be too late. I cannot wait to see his face when he finds out what has happened and learns he will have to call me brother.