AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is the fourth story I have posted on this site. As with the other three, I begin by wondering what might have happened if something just a bit different had occurred from what the immortal Jane had written. Again, I try to keep the characters basically the same as her conceptions. In this story, however, I admit that Georgiana had to be less shy to fit in with what I imagined would happen. As these are my very first attempts at writing fiction, I welcome all comments so I can try to improve over my overly academic style. Enjoy! Roni

What a difference a day makes; sometimes even just one little hour.

It was a glorious August day when Fitzwilliam Darcy arrived at his Pemberley estate a day ahead of his sister and guests, the Bingleys and Hursts, to see a strange carriage just leaving by the road to Lambton. He had left his guests early that morning to ride ahead so he could talk to his steward, Milne, about several important estate matters before his guests arrived. When he entered the house, he asked his housekeeper, Mrs. Reynolds who was in the carriage that he had seen leaving. She said, "We had visitors who said they were touring the north country and asked if they could tour the house and grounds. As they looked very respectable, a couple and a young lady, I showed them around the public rooms, and then they toured the gardens. The lady of the couple said she had grown up in Lambton and knew how grand Pemberley is. The young lady spent a long time in front of your portrait and said she knew you, 'slightly.' I believe that she knew you better than just slightly as she had a wistful expression on her face when she stared at your picture. I hope what I did was acceptable, Mr. Darcy?"

"Yes, certainly, but I came a day early so I could meet with Mr. Milne to clear up several pressing issues before my guests arrive. Please have him see me in an hour so I can clean up first. Miss Darcy, the Hursts, and Bingleys will be here tomorrow. Have someone bring up bath water for me. John is coming in the carriage, so I will need someone to act as my valet until he comes.

As he became busy with his steward and dealt with other important correspondence, he did not think any further about the people who had been touring Pemberley just before he arrived. When the carriages arrived the next day, he became busy entertaining his guests. In addition to his young sister Georgiana, the guests were his good friend Charles Bingley, his sister Caroline Bingley, and Bingley's married sister Louisa Hurst and her husband. He had not really wanted to invite Bingley's sisters, but the four of them lived together and were always together. Neither he nor Georgiana cared to be around Miss Bingley as they both knew how desperately she wanted to become Mistress of Pemberley. She was nauseatingly cloying with Georgiana and acted as if they were already sisters. She also treated the Pemberley staff as if she was already their mistress and ordered them around; demanding whatever she wanted with no consideration of what might be possible for them to do. The staff was unanimous in their hopes that Mr. Darcy would not succumb to her wiles and make her Mrs. Darcy. They did not trust Miss Bingley and believed she would not hesitate to compromise their master to force him to marry her, so they took extra precautions to ensure that at least one of them was always with him so she would never find him alone and in danger of her schemes. Footmen took turns guarding his bedroom door every night in case she walked in her sleep. They certainly did not look forward to having her as a guest and had received word from their counterparts in Darcy House in London that she was coming and how she had not given up on her nefarious plans. The staff did not worry so much about the Hursts; but, knowing Mr. Hurst's penchant to drink everything in sight, they carefully substituted the best wines, port, and brandy for cheaper varieties for him. As he did not seem to notice the difference, they secretly chuckled at their game. The footmen became very adept at remembering which bottles and decanters were meant for Hurst, and which were for everyone else.

Georgiana was happy to be back at Pemberley as she considered this to be her real home. Just after she arrived, Darcy led her to the music room where she found that he had purchased a beautiful new piano for her. She squealed her delight with this fine instrument and threw her arms around him to thank him. "Georgie, you are becoming such an excellent musician that I wanted you to have a piano that complements your abilities."

Georgie was very pleased with this gift, and was even more pleased to see that Darcy was in a slightly better mood than he had been since he had returned to London in April from visiting their aunt Lady Catherine de Bourgh in Kent. Since his visit there, he had not been himself. He had seemed so upset, so unhappy, so moody, that it had not been pleasant to be in his company. Whenever she had asked him what was bothering him, he consistently denied being any different from what he had always been and that 'nothing was bothering him.' She knew he was drinking much more than he ever had before and she had used several occasions when he was in his cups to talk to him. She was so desperate to know what was wrong that she even began to sit on his lap and put her arms around him, resting her head against his chest. When she was younger, she used to sit in his lap so he could comfort her, now she did it to comfort him. As she had found that asking direct questions had not yielded any responses, she slyly talked to him about women he had met and if he had liked them. He once let slip when she asked about a certain woman who seemed to have caught his fancy that "She was nothing compared to Elizabeth."

Georgie remembered that he had mentioned a Miss Elizabeth Bennet several times in his letters from Hertfordshire and wondered if this was the same Elizabeth who had been causing him to be so upset since his return from Kent. She reread all the letters she had received from him when he was in Hertfordshire and Kent to determine just what he had said about this Miss Bennet. While he had not said anything to show that he had admired her, she noticed that he had not even once mentioned any other woman, just her. However, his inadvertent utterance made it obvious to her that, in fact, it was a woman who had upset him and that this woman was most likely Miss Elizabeth Bennet. From his depressed state, it was obvious that their relationship must not have gone well. Rather than pestering him with further questions, she wrote to their cousin, Colonel Richard Fitzwilliam, as he had gone to Kent with Darcy. In her letter, she casually asked Richard about their visit and who they had met there.

Their cousin was not fooled by her casual question and realized that Darcy must have said something to Georgiana that made her suspect that something had happened there. Richard said that their visit was much more interesting than usual as their aunt's parson had had visitors from Hertfordshire and that one of them, Miss Elizabeth Bennet, the parson's cousin, was a most impressive woman, very intelligent, attractive, and personable. Richard admitted to Georgie that, if he had been in a better financial situation, he would have pursued Miss Bennet with no hesitation as she was the daughter of a landed gentleman and so suitable for him to consider as a possible spouse. He did not mention anything about Darcy's interactions with her as he was confused how, or if, Darcy admired her; usually, he had seemed completely distant with her, but he continually had his eyes on her whenever they were together. He doubted that there had been any special regard between them, especially on her side.

Georgie was now quite sure that it was Miss Elizabeth Bennet from Hertfordshire who was causing her brother's problems, but she did not know what to do with this information. She had no idea what might have occurred between Miss Bennet and her brother and she did not know what she could do to help them overcome whatever came between them. She was sure that something had happened to cause his obvious distress, but, without any further information, she did not know what to do. She wondered if Mr. Bingley might be able to help her as her brother had spent two months last fall with him at his newly-rented estate of Netherfield in Hertfordshire. Even after she had reread the letters that Darcy had written from there, she found no hint that anything special had occurred that might account for his present dismal mood. He did say that he was not sure if Bingley would return to Netherfield, but he did not give a reason for this.

As much as Georgie hated to speak to Caroline, she wondered if she might be able to add anything to her quest for more information. She knew that Mr. Bingley's sisters had both been at Netherfield, and she thought that it might be possible that they had encountered Miss Bennet there, so that first evening at Pemberley when they left the gentlemen at table, the ladies went to the music room where Bingley's sisters admired Georgie's new piano. Georgie sat at the piano and began to play an easy piece that she knew quite well. While playing, she asked, "Miss Bingley, I understand you were all at the estate that your brother had leased in Hertfordshire. My brother has not said much about his visit there, so I am curious what the society was like there. Did you enjoy yourselves there?"

"Definitely not! The people are so rustic they are practically savages. No sense of style; no manners; no intelligent conversation to be had at all. We could not wait to return to town and convince Charles to give up the lease. We spent two long months there."

"Did you meet anyone at all who was interesting, or were they all simple rustics?"

"I must admit that Miss Jane Bennet was the best of all of them, but that is not saying much. She kept us from complete boredom there, but she was not someone we would want to acknowledge in town. Charles admired her for a while as she was the most attractive woman there, but he soon forgot her when we went back to town. You should have seen her family! The most embarrassing people you could ever imagine. Once her sister Elizabeth walked from their estate to Netherfield and her hems and petticoats were a full six inches in mud, just because we allowed Jane to stay with us as she caught a cold when she was visiting us. I know that poor Mr. Darcy was scandalized when she arrived looking like that. He could not stop staring at her."

Rather than horrifying Miss Darcy, she was more and more intrigued with this description of Miss Elizabeth Bennet. From the images provided by her cousin and Miss Bingley, Georgie was beginning to believe that this lady might suit her brother quite well. She realized that this was the only woman Darcy had ever mentioned in any letter that he had ever written to her, so she must have impressed him more than any other woman ever had before. This, plus his very cryptic statement when he was in his cups that she was the standard that he used to compare other women, made Georgie believe that Miss Elizabeth Bennet was the cause of her brother's unhappiness. She knew that she had to do something for him and that she had to find out just what had happened between them in Kent. She knew that her brother would not open up to her, so somehow she had to meet this lady herself to find out what happened.

Georgie recognized that Mr. Bingley would be critical to any scheme to get her brother back in Miss Elizabeth's company as she most likely would be back at her home in Hertfordshire and that her father's estate was within walking distance to Netherfield. From Miss Bingley's words, Mr. Bingley had been attracted to Miss Elizabeth's sister Jane, but his attraction had lessened when they went back to London. She smiled when she thought of these two Bennet sisters and how they had made such an important impression on two very eligible gentlemen. She decided that she definitely had to meet both Bennet sisters. She knew she had to find an opportunity to talk to Mr. Bingley privately to gather more information.