Spring Has Sprung – And Mr Darcy Needs Your Help

Photo J Starnes

I read somewhere that daffodils symbolise new beginnings.

I don’t know if it’s true. Perhaps the brave little snowdrops deserve this badge of honour more.

But when daffodils start to flower and they enliven the dreary winter landscape with bright patches of colour, we know that spring is here at last, and sunny days are sure to follow.

I love going to parks and gardens in the spring, when there are daffodils and bluebells everywhere, and I love to imagine Elizabeth and Mr Darcy strolling along such paths and beginning anew, once they had cleared their misunderstandings.

Photo: J Starnes

Maybe they would sit and talk on a bench underneath a flowering magnolia. Or maybe he would pick a bunch of bluebells for her. Or he might lose his heart all over again when he finds her reading under a cherry-tree in bloom, her hair dotted with a scattering of petals.

Photo J Starnes

Photo J Starnes

Photo J Starnes

I included one such springtime scene in my Throwback Thursday post a few days ago. I hope you enjoyed chaperoning Elizabeth and Mr Darcy on their walk. If you haven’t read that post yet, you can find it here.

I love writing about their unchaperoned walks, but sometimes I have a lot of wicked fun with scenes in which others get in the way to thwart Mr Darcy in his attempts at courtship, and vex him exceedingly in the process. On that note, let me take you back to Kent to the day before Elizabeth’s stroll with Mr Darcy, when it pleases Mr Bennet to show that he has a wicked streak too. As for Lady Catherine, hers is a mile wide, and she never makes a secret of it:

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The Darcy Legacy

Excerpt

Bingley and Jane led the way, several yards ahead. Kind and right-minded, Darcy and Elizabeth chose to lag at least a dozen steps behind to allow them their privacy.

Much as he knew he was in the wrong and despite his companions’ efforts to slow his progress, Mr Bennet could not quite bring himself to oblige his second daughter and her suitor in like manner.

Thus, he was close enough to notice Darcy stroking Elizabeth’s hand when he offered her the small bouquet of bluebells and primroses he had gathered on their walk, during the stealthy movement of troops aimed at rearranging the couples.

That had amused Mr Bennet too – seeing Mr Darcy bending down now and then to pluck them, and doubtlessly flattering himself that he was inconspicuous about it.

Photo J Starnes

Photo: J Starnes

And later, back at the house, once they had rejoined her ladyship…

No one could doubt that Lady Catherine was far from satisfied. She remained in high dudgeon, harried and harangued the servants, finding fault with the refreshments, and when Elizabeth excused herself to place her small bouquet of wildflowers in water, her ladyship ill-temperedly remarked:

“If you choose to take an interest in such things, you may assume the housekeeper’s duties in arranging the floral displays in the house, but look into the orangery as the first choice and take instruction from the head-gardener. He could have told you that primroses and bluebells are a poor choice in that regard, and are better left to grow where you found them. They never last, so gathering them up for ornament is utterly pointless.”

Elizabeth wisely received the grumbling advice with nary a comment, retired to her bedchamber to carefully arrange the fresh-scented token in a small vase on her nightstand, and promptly returned to the drawing room to find that her ladyship had not quite finished taking everyone to task.

Georgiana was the only one who somehow escaped her ire. The colonel was soon reprimanded for talking too loudly, Lydia for laughing too much, Kitty for slurping her tea, Elizabeth for tardiness, Jane for conversing solely with Mr Bingley, Mr Bingley for fidgeting and nearly spilling Mrs Jenkinson’s tea, Mrs Jenkinson for piling sugared almonds upon Anne’s plate when she knew full well that Anne did not favour them, Anne for not complaining of it herself, Mr Bennet for bringing books into the drawing room when no one wished to find them there, and Mr Darcy for sitting in a distant corner, busily engaged with pencil and paper.

“What are you scribbling there, Darcy?” Lady Catherine called out.

“Just jotting down something of significance, ma’am,” he replied, unperturbed, raising his eyes from his employment only for as long as civility required.

“What can be so significant that it cannot wait? You had much better come and explain why you left for town yesterday with nothing but the curtest note to me.”

“There is nothing to explain further to what I had already written in my note: that an urgent matter required my presence.”

“And is that urgent matter likely to claim you again?” her ladyship irritably asked.

Her nephew, on the other hand, was calm personified when he replied, “I should imagine not.”

“Hm,” Lady Catherine sniffed. “Pray quit your scribbling. Your tea is getting cold.”

“No matter. But I thank you for your concern. I shall conclude shortly.”

True to his word, he soon folded the paper and put it in his pocket along with the pencil, then came to take a seat next to Anne and Elizabeth.

Merely dull nothings could be exchanged as they drank their tea, but that was to be expected. What Elizabeth did not expect was to find him approaching her a while later, when the ladies were the first to leave their seats to withdraw and dress for dinner, and handing her a slim volume with a bland expression and an equally bland “Yours, I believe.”

A look at the spine told her it was a compilation of Mr Hazlitt’s essays, and although she had never read any of them, Elizabeth knew better than to dispute his statement. Which was just as well. As soon as she opened the book in the privacy of her bedchamber, she found a folded piece of paper tucked behind the title page. She unfolded it, only to see it was covered almost in its entirety by a pencil sketch of a large bouquet of bluebells, primroses, tulips and daffodils, which barely left room for the words written underneath in a neat script: ‘Until I can gather them at Pemberley.’ (© 2018 by Joana Starnes)

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My current WIP is yet again about Elizabeth and Mr Darcy (now, that must have come as a huge surprise 😉 ). It’s also about springtime and new beginnings and daffodils as a love-token (because he does get the chance to gather them for her at Pemberley – and about time, too!):

From ‘Title Yet To Be Decided’

Elizabeth was fast asleep, her dark-auburn tresses spread over the pillow. Dawn had found her wide-awake, and her feverish excitement had only allowed her to doze fitfully, tossing and turning under the bedcovers alongside Margaret. But sheer exhaustion had claimed its dues eventually and brought deep sleep, peaceful and dreamless. She was at peace now and lay still, in blissful repose.

Thus, the bouquet placed on the adjoining pillow was quite safe. No flailing of restless limbs came to mar its beauty. When Elizabeth finally awoke, it was still there, untouched, in all its bright-coloured splendour – and it brought a gasp of surprise to her lips and a flush to her cheeks when she wondered how it came to be there.

She sat up, gathered the blooms to her chest and bent her head over the exquisite love-token to inhale the faint scent of greenery and springtime, and the warmest smile curled up the corners of her lips as her fingertips traced the initials embroidered on the fine lawn.

She carefully unfastened the knot in the kerchief, only to pause and examine the folds in earnest when the faint rustle of paper caught her notice. The small square was easily found and eagerly unfolded. Her heart overflowing, Elizabeth ran her thumb in a gentle caress over the bold penmanship that was by now as familiar as her own. Just three words – but sometimes three words are enough.

He had not gone as far as to plainly write ‘I love you’, lest the note be read by anyone but she. Yet it was all there – the love, the joy, the promise – in other three words: ‘Not a dream.’ (© Joana Starnes)

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Please feel free to speculate along with Elizabeth just how the flowers might have turned up on her pillow 😉 . Surely Mr Darcy would know better than to deliver them himself! Wouldn’t he?

Either way, I hope you’ll be pleased to hear there’ll be a spring wedding. Bit late for daffodils though. I think we’re looking at an end-of-April wedding.

So, what do you reckon, what flowers might Mr Darcy find in his gardens or in the meadows at that time of year, for Elizabeth to carry them to church as her wedding bouquet, or wear them weaved into her hair?

Please help him choose wisely! He wouldn’t want to pick something that signifies misery and tears or, worse still, causes her skin to break out in hives 😮

Thanks for stopping by and hope you liked the springtime walks! If you’d like to check out my Kindle Special Offer, it’s still on at Amazon until the end of Thursday 2 May 2019 (midnight GMT).

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TDL Update: A very nice and helpful gentleman investigated the issue and confirmed that the correct Kindle price is shown on the US site too, both on my author page and on the TDL product page. If you can still see a discrepancy between the two, please let me know. Once again, many thanks for your patience!