The Darcy ladies traced a route back to Paris in as straight a line as possible, stopping no-where longer than one night. Although only late August, the climate was cold, dark, and disagreeable. More than once did Elizabeth imagine that they could magically find themselves at Park Place or—what was better, Pemberley—seated in front of a good fire by their own warm hearth. They quitted Geneva, heading directly northward for Dijon, thence to Troyes, west to Montereau-Fault-Yonne, and finally passing within five miles of Belle Aire on their way back into the city, and driving through the gates at the Porte d’Ivry. Mrs. Darcy’s hopes were unfortunately misplaced, for, upon their arrival in Paris, the Comte had been the very picture of courtesy, and more than once looked at Georgiana with an admiration that would have stopt the hearts of the entire female population of Paris; Georgiana responded to his attentions with a steady, innocent friendship. The Comte saw the Darcy ladies safely to his own house for the duration of their stay in Paris, placing their comforts under the kind and capable hand of the dowager Comtesse; took them to dinner and any other amusements that Paris might provide for their pleasure; harried merchants who were not immediately forthcoming with their commissions; bade his servants unpack and clean their belongings and then repack their cases, loading them onto freshly polished coaches; fed and rested their servants and horses; and, lastly, arranged for his own coachman and servants to accompany them all the way to Calais, assuring their own safe passage and the simultaneous arrival of their belongings in the hands of only their English-speaking servants.

The last morning of their stay in Paris brought the delivery of a much-anticipated letter. Elizabeth had written to her friend, Anne Wentworth, during their first stay at Geneva, but the reply having been directed so ill, the letter had only reached its recipient in Paris many weeks later. Elizabeth read the letter out loud to Georgiana, dismay increasing with every paragraph.

28th June
Wentworth House, Shropshire

DEAR MRS. DARCY,

I received your letter this morning, and, without delay, determined to respond to your enquiry in as full a manner as I am able. The circumstances which you relate are as familiar as they are despicable, and I must urge you to act immediately upon the information that I shall send by return of post, to ensure the safe-keeping of your aunt’s fortune, as well as her heart. I only wish I had been more general in my exposure of his true character, for I might have spoken a word and prevented this whole affair from ever arising. This letter will serve as poor recompense for my previous error of judgement, indeed.