Mrs Darcy vs The Aliens

Following Mr Darcy’s departure to London, Elizabeth went out into the garden and sat beneath a canopy to read the letter from Jane.

“My Dearest Lizzie,

I hope that this finds you well and happy. We feel truly blessed here in Netherfield. Little Lydia grows bigger every day and we surely expect her to walk soon. She misses her favourite Auntie very much and is looking forward to seeing her again soon. (By the way, I have to say that Mother is continually asking when you and Mr D are going to bring her a grandchild as well, so be warned.)

As it happens, Charlie and I may well be coming up to your part of the world in the next few weeks, so you may indeed get to see Little L soon. The reason is terribly complicated and all to do with the business of men – but I have been trying to take an interest for Charlie’s sake. I wonder sometimes if he is as naïve as I am in the ways of the world, and perhaps we both need to look out for each other. He can be so easily influenced.

Anyway, it seems that a Mr Bradford, whose acquaintance we made at a dinner party recently, has taken quite a shine to my Charlie, and as you know, he finds it difficult to make friends, so this pleases me greatly. This Mr Bradford has a significant number of mining interests in Derbyshire, but the problem is that although he possesses much skill as a prospector (indeed, he has apparently found a major untapped gold seam just south of Ashbourne), he lacks the necessary capital for investing in new equipment. And this is where Charlie comes in.

It is all terribly exciting. Bradford and Charlie are forming a company together to exploit this mine, and we had a long conversation over supper the other evening about what the company should be called. My suggestion was “Northern Rock”, because after all, it’s rock that they’re mining and it’s in the North. I was a little disappointed that Charlie laughed at this, but Mr Bradford thought it was a capital suggestion, as a result of which Charlie sulked for the rest of the evening.

But I don’t suppose it really matters whether the company is called “Northern Rock” or even just “Bradford and Bingley”, because with those two involved, it is bound to be a raging success.

Anyway, I must finish now. Little Lydia joins us in sending our love to you and Mr D, and I’ll let you know when we are coming north to join the Derbyshire gold rush!”

Elizabeth smiled. It would indeed be lovely to see Jane and Mr Bingley again, although Little Lydia could be somewhat wearisome. Every time she saw her niece, Elizabeth wondered if she would ever be cut out for motherhood, and if the truth were to be told, she had found the conversation at breakfast a little worrying.

As she sat back in her chair, she began to wonder again about everything she had seen last night. Or had she seen anything at all? Had it been some ghastly nightmare? How on earth had Wickham got involved, too? And what he had said about her sister had been truly disturbing – not to say grotesque and completely unbelievable.

There was only one thing for it. She would have to go to Macfadyen’s quarry again and see for herself. But in broad daylight this time.