Revelations an adaption of Pride and Prejudice

Chapter 52

And when she and her brother are gone from the house just after lunch, back to their friends for another four days, Eric quickly retreats to his own apartment to tune his piano and give his thoughts and feelings free rein.

Suddenly his smouldering infatuation has turned into something a lot more serious. If Georgiana indeed finds love for him in her heart, he may be in deep trouble. It would be the most ironic thing ever if he were kicked out of Mr Darcy's house for loving his sister, when he was dismissed by Mr Zumpe for not loving his daughter.

The worst thing is, that though Eric has been raised a gentleman and displays better manners than even his former patron, who will stay a businessman and middle-class for his entire life, Eric has no idea what the gentry are like.

Mr Darcy is very understanding, very magnanimous and very likeable, but Eric is very much aware that he may as well be different species of human from his new protector, Eric may dress like a gentleman, talk like them and be liked by them, he will never be one of them. A huge gap yawns between the gentry and normal people, and he is stuck somewhere in between.

Mr Zumpe has servants, but they are different somehow, the servants in this house seem to be more than just employees, they seem to be partly defined by their serving a noble family, there is a certain humility about them that his former patron's servants lack. They're just working a job, it's as if these servants adhere to a certain way of life, as if the magnificence of their masters reflects on them.

What will happen if Georgiana does indeed fall in love with him? Eric is sure they could be almost deliriously happy together, their mutual love of music, their boundless ability to immerse themselves in their study of a certain sequence of a composition. But Georgiana is not a typical high-born lady, she doesn't care at all about clothes and jewellery, she even wants to learn how to run a household, she is not stuck on being a lady among ladies.

The coming Christmas party will prove or disprove his hopes, he will see her among her own class, and how she treats the servants, it is so important he doesn't lose himself in expectations of their being together before he knows a lot more about what to expect, of her, and especially her brother.

Would Mr Darcy accept his sister making a match with a man of low birth, with no fortune and even without skills to make a living? Dependent on his own charity? Full of ambitions but with no true proof he will ever realise them?

Eric cannot answer his own question with anything else but a decided 'no.'

Of course he wouldn't.

If Georgiana falls in love with him, she'll only get hurt.

Unless, maybe, Eric can prove to Mr Darcy he can take care of her? Build up an income of his own? But why would he want his sister to live as a normal woman when she could marry a gentleman and live as her mother did, and her mother before that?

Georgiana has a fortune, apparently quite a large one, his patron used to joke about that when Eric started to teach her, though he didn't know how large exactly. She must be very sought after among her own class, and of course Mr Darcy wants his sister to marry a gentleman with good prospects, not someone with a lot of talent but no means to develop it, who acts the gentleman to perfection but cannot even ride or shoot a rifle.

By now, Eric has dragged himself down to a whole new depth, when just last night he laid awake with pure joy, and while this does not hinder his progress tuning his beloved piano, it is not a very comfortable state to be in. And he cannot even soothe his feelings with some music, for his poor piano is not finished by far.

But wallowing in depression will not get him anywhere, that is the only certainty he has. It behooves him to use the chance he has been given, and put his love for Georgiana somewhere safe and secret, and dust off his ambitions and work towards a goal. There are plenty of opportunities, he has but to choose one and work hard towards it, as he has ever done.