On the day that the ladies had set for their visit, they arrived at Darcy House and were amazed at how grand this townhouse was. It was very large, even compared to the other fine houses that were its neighbours. When the footman invited them in, they were even more impressed by the size of the rooms and the quality of the furnishings. Everything showed fine taste, but not in an ostentatious manner. Elizabeth could not help but compare it to Rosings, which had not impressed her at all because everything about it was so pretentious. The footman showed them into a large drawing room where Darcy, Georgiana, and another lady were waiting.

Georgiana greeted them with a curtsy, "Welcome to Darcy House. I hope we find you all in excellent health. You have not met my companion, Mrs. Annesley." She made the necessary introductions.

Darcy also bowed to them while saying only, "Welcome, ladies."

Jane, as the eldest, returned their greetings. "This is a very fine home you have, Mr. Darcy."

"I thank you for your compliment, but I cannot take credit for it. It has been in our family for many years and our mother was the last person who redecorated it. I have not done anything to disturb her fine taste but I know that it will need to be updated fairly soon. We are very comfortable here. If you would like, my sister might give you a tour of the house later.

"Now, if you ladies will excuse me, I have some work to do." Then his eyes almost twinkled. "However, please do not be surprised if I abandon my books and correspondence when I hear music. I have to admit that good music serves as a siren song to me that I cannot resist and do not even try." He then bowed and went out. Elizabeth could not believe how different he was now; he was even jesting about himself.

Georgiana invited them all to sit. "I have ordered tea. I thought we might have our refreshments first, and then we can play some music." She indicated a very fine piano that sat in a corner of the room.

Just then, a maid and a footman entered carrying trays of tea and refreshments. When she had served everyone, she began to ask them of their time in town. She noticed that Elizabeth sat with a strange look on her face, so she did not want to disturb her thoughts by trying to engage her excessively in their conversation.

Elizabeth could not help but think, 'Of all this I could have been mistress. I have never been in such a fine mansion. I wonder if Pemberley is even larger.' She was still confused at how well Mr. Darcy was treating her even after those horrible words she had flung at him at Hunsford.

Her reverie was broken when Georgiana asked her a question about her daughters. While she answered, she wondered how she knew about them. She assumed that Mr. Bingley must have mentioned them at some time since they met at the exhibition.

After they had finished their tea, they went to the piano and Georgiana began to play while the Bennets sat there entranced with her excellent performance. They did not notice when Darcy slipped in and sat quietly near the door. When Georgiana finished her piece, the others all applauded and congratulated her on how good she was. She blushed at the compliments. They only then noticed that Mr. Darcy had come in when he also applauded vigorously.

By then, all the ladies were on a first name basis. "Georgie! That was wonderful! You play so well."

Georgiana then turned to Mary, "Mary, your turn now. Come and we will find some music that you know."

Mary was reluctant to play after such a fine performance, but she knew that she could not refuse. She made sure to find a piece that had fairly simple fingering. When she finished, the others all applauded, but perhaps not quite as enthusiastically as they had for Georgiana.

Then Elizabeth took her turn. Instead of looking through the sheet music, she played and sang a song that she knew well. She had a light soprano voice that she infused with great feeling to capture the essence of the song that she had chosen. They all sat transfixed while she played. When she finished the piece, she sat there with her head down, still in the song. To this performance, Darcy gave his heartiest approval.

Elizabeth rose from the bench and said, "I know that my performance was not that good. I slurred over the most difficult passages. I for one could use some assistance from a master."

Darcy could not stop himself, "Mrs. Kersey, I enjoyed this as much as I did when I heard you in Hertfordshire and Kent. You put so much feeling into your music." When Elizabeth looked at him, she could see that he was smiling at her. He had such a wonderful smile that made him look even more handsome. She had to look away. How could he smile so warmly at her after her harsh rejection of him at Hunsford? He should be disgusted with her, but he certainly did not appear to be displeased at all.

Georgiana rescued them from their awkward moment by offering to play again. After they had each played several more pieces, Georgiana said, "Ladies, would you like to see the rest of the house?" Darcy took this as his cue and he excused himself to return to his office.

They all agreed, so she took them through the principal rooms and even up to show them her private rooms. The sisters had never been in a house with so many and such large rooms. Georgiana even had her own sitting room and another music room with a second piano. They repeatedly complimented her on how lucky she was to live in such a fine home.

She blushed and said, "I should not say it, but Pemberley is much larger and has such extensive grounds that I much prefer to be there than here. I hope that I will be able to show it to you all sometime."

When they returned downstairs, Jane said, "It is getting late and we should be going." They saw that Darcy came out of his office to see them off.

"Georgiana, we had a very enjoyable time." Jane looked at Elizabeth and added when she nodded, "Could we invite you to our home for tea? It is not nearly as grand, but it is comfortable."

Georgiana looked at her brother, who nodded his approval. "I would love to see your home and meet your daughters." They set the day and the Bennets departed.

Georgiana then turned to her brother, "Fitzwilliam, I believe that this visit went well. I am very impressed with all three of them. They are so open and pleasant with me; I do not get the same impression from them that I do from Miss Bingley. I know that she is friendly with me only so she can be in your company. I am pleased that you gave me the chance to talk to them without your presence as we were more relaxed that way. Do you mind if I ask that you not go with us to their home, at least not for this first visit?"

Darcy was disappointed, but he understood her reasoning. "You may be right. I will stay home this time. Georgie, I am very pleased that they are becoming your friends." He thought that they would be good for her, regardless of whether his pursuit of Elizabeth was successful or not.

"Do not worry too much; I saw that Elizabeth was not as embarrassed to be in the same room as you as she seemed to be at the exhibition. If we give her enough time to be more at ease with you, then you can begin to be with her more. We just cannot rush her. Do you think that I should invite them all to come to dinner, or would it be too soon? I have never acted as hostess before, but I know that I have to learn to do that."

"It might be all right as long as you invite the Gardiners and Bingley as well. With a larger group, it should be easier for her to enjoy herself."

Georgiana and her companion went to Elizabeth's house for tea as planned. They saw that the houses in her neighbourhood was not nearly as large or elegant as those around Darcy House, but the ones they saw were all neat and not run down in any way. They met her daughters and were impressed with their liveliness. As before, they had tea and then they all played songs on Elizabeth's piano. Georgiana was soon teaching the older girl, Dorothy, a very simple tune, much to her delight.

When Georgiana had an opportunity to talk quietly to Elizabeth, she said, "Lizzy, I find it hard to believe that you have taken on the responsibility to be a mother to these girls. Was it difficult for you? This is such a large obligation, especially when their father was killed. I believe that happened not long after your marriage, so you did not have much time to get to know them before you had full responsibility for them."

"Georgie, I did not have any choice but to marry. You have to understand what a difficult situation we were all in when my father died and we lost our home. Our relatives had no option but to make room for us, even though they did not have many resources of their own. I knew that we had to get away from being dependent on them as soon as possible. We all knew that our choices were to marry or to find employment, and none of us had any marketable skills.

"When my uncle introduced Mr. Kersey to me and he became interested in me, I knew that he needed a mother for his daughters, but as he was polite and respectable, I agreed to marry him. Fortunately, he had done well in his business and he left us in quite a reasonable position with this home and sufficient funds to employ all the staff I need, including a nurse for the girls. I have come to like the girls very much and will have no problem looking after them for as long as they need me. I knew what I was taking on when we married.

"Georgie, you are lucky to have a very responsible brother to look after you, so you will never face a situation such as we had. At least now I am in a position so that I can give Jane a place to live."

Georgiana was pleased that Elizabeth mentioned her brother, "Lizzy, I know I am lucky to have him; he is such a good person. I just wish he had not been so depressed for the past year. However, he seems a bit better recently; ever since he reconnected with Mr. Bingley." She tried to look innocent, but Elizabeth heard her very clearly. She wondered if Georgiana was trying to play matchmaker for her brother and if she knew what happened in Hunsford.

Just before they left, Georgiana asked everyone, "Could I ask a very big favour of you? I have never acted as hostess for a dinner and I think it is time that I learned how to do that. I would like you all to come to dine with us one day soon. I will also invite your aunt and uncle to come and Mr. Bingley as well." When she added this, she looked at Jane and smiled. "It will be so much easier for me if I invite only friends. Please say that you will."

The three sisters knew that they could not refuse. Only Elizabeth was a bit hesitant as she would be in Mr. Darcy's presence for much longer than she had been recently, but she thought that this would be inevitable if they were going to be friends with his sister. So far, he did not appear to be reluctant to be in her company, so she hoped it would go well. In any case, she knew that they would have to talk about their last encounter at Hunsford so they could clear the air between them.

They set the date and Georgiana said that she would write the Gardiners and Mr. Bingley to extend her invitation to them.

Later that week, the Gardiners invited Mr. Bingley, Jane, and Elizabeth to come to dinner. They were quite pleased with Jane's suitor so they tried to help out their courtship by throwing them together whenever they could. The dinner went well and the conversation was lively, as it always was when he was with them.

When the ladies had left the table so the gentlemen could drink their port, Mr. Gardiner said, "Bingley, I have something important to discuss with you." When he saw that he had alarmed him, he added, "do not worry, it is strictly about business. I have a problem that I believe you may be able to help me with." He saw that Bingley visibly relaxed when he said that.

"You know that my business doubled in size recently when I merged Kersey's business with my own. I have been swamped trying to organize them into a single smooth operation, but now another problem is causing me no end of trouble. The London ports are becoming over-crowded; there are just too many ships coming to the docks here, even though the French have tried to interfere with our shipping.

"Some captains are beginning to refuse to come to London as they are delayed too long waiting for docking space. Every extra day waiting to unload means they lose time when they should be out at sea. They are telling me that they would rather go to Liverpool as it is a shorter trip from the Atlantic and safer as it is farther from the French shores. I know that Liverpool is growing quickly as a good place to land goods. I do not need this shipping problem and realize that I will have to begin to use Liverpool or somewhere else, but I do not have time to go there to look for warehouse space and investigate their docks to see how busy they are.

"I know that you still have interest in your business in Scarborough and spent some months there last year. What I want from you is to tell me about using Liverpool."

He waited while Bingley thought about this. "My family's business does use Liverpool both to receive and ship goods as it is much closer to us than London. I have been there several times as we have a small office and warehouse there. I know about the London docks and understand your problem and your reasoning and I agree with you."

Bingley was thoughtful for another moment. "Our operation in Liverpool is not always busy, so I believe a good solution would be for us to combine our operations there if you decide to use that port for some of your shipments; that would save us both money. Of course, since my cousin runs our business now, I would need to talk to him about this, if you think that might be a good idea."

"I never thought about that, but it makes sense. Before we decide on anything, we should see if he agrees and if there is warehouse space we could use in Liverpool. I am not desperate for an immediate solution, but I know that I have to do something within a few months. Do you have any plans to go north any time soon?"
"I do not; my main concern at the moment is to continue to court your niece. I do not want to be away from her until we settle our future."

"Do you think that might happen soon?"

"I am hopeful, but I want to make sure that she trusts that I will never abandon her again. I want nothing more than to marry her to begin a new life somewhere."

Mr. Gardiner thought that he might ask his wife to talk to Jane to see if she was ready to hear Mr. Bingley's offer. He would like to see her personal situation and his business problem settled soon.