The Ballad of Gregoire Darcy by Marsha Altman

husbands at home all day.”
    â€œI was assuming you would be spending it at White’s,” she said,
kissing him on the cheek. “Drinking and gambling and leaving us all well enough alone.”
    â€œI am sorry to disappoint you,” he said. “He was reluctant to relinquish me.”
    â€œI assume you were persuasive.”
    â€œI said something about wanting to spend time with my children.”
    â€œYou know how to manipulate a Prince as well as anyone on the Privy Council.”
    â€œJust that prince,” he clarified, and kissed her. He was not the dashing man of one and thirty that he had been when they were married—not that he had ever considered himself dashing —and he had come home from his trip to Austria with more than a few gray hairs. But Caroline still loved to run her hands through his bushy hair, and he still loved her creamy white skin.
    â€œI invited the Darcys for dinner,” she said when she had a moment to breathe.
    â€œVery well,” he said and nodded. “Of course, I’ll have to rush off after dinner.”
    â€œThen let’s make the most of our time now,” Caroline responded.
    Their door remained closed until it was time to dress for dinner.

    The Darcys arrived on time as usual, bringing with them their two eldest. Geoffrey and Frederick got on well despite their age differences, while Emily and Anne were best friends the way only ten-year-old girls could be, which involved a lot of giggling and squealing. In other words, the children entertained each other as the adults sat down for dinner. They toasted the Darcys’ newest nephew and Dr. Maddox’s semi-retirement.
    â€œNo, he is still not permitted to talk about his patient,” Caroline said.
    â€œI doubt that I know any more about His Royal Highness’s physical state than half of the town,” Dr. Maddox replied.
    â€œAre you to go to Brighton?”

    â€œWe are searching for somewhere else to summer,” Caroline said.
    â€œFew people can boast of being bored with Brighton,” Elizabeth said.
    â€œSome places in Wales are very fine in the summer,” Darcy added.
    â€œYou say that because you went shooting there once with Charles,” Caroline said. To Elizabeth she said, “He was going to buy a house there before we both talked him out of it—too distant from society.”
    â€œThere’s always Bath,” Elizabeth suggested, “and it has all those positive health qualities.”
    â€œNot Bath,” Dr. Maddox grumbled.
    Because he rarely grumbled, she added, “Do you have a professional assessment of the healing waters of Bath, Dr. Maddox?”
    Before Caroline could attempt to stop him, Dr. Maddox answered : “If you were in your own home and you bathed while ill in water with another person who had a different illness, would you consider that healthy? Or even sane?”
    â€œYou always have to go ruining medical fashion with your logic,” Caroline said. She and Elizabeth had a laugh at that, and the husbands exchanged amused glances.
    â€œI rest my case,” said the doctor.

    With no great fanfare, George Wickham turned thirteen. He did receive a larger bed from Mr. Bradley, for which he was grateful. His mother, consumed by attending to her smaller children, did not host a family gathering. It was George and Isabella who received visitors who came to drop off gifts.The Gardiners came by with their children, now of age except for the youngest, Lucy, who was Isabella’s closest companion. George was given new clothes—which he desperately needed, having grown nearly six inches in six months—and a pocket watch. His grandparents and Aunt and Uncle Townsend sent their presents by post—books from Grandfather and Grandmother and handkerchiefs from the Townsends,
sewn by Aunt Kitty herself. (Mr. Townsend included a small envelope with two sovereigns for George to use “as you see