by Anna Harlow
“We are to go to the assembly dance tonight, sir,” Mrs. Bennet informed the gentleman with a slight hesitation. “However, you are not expected to go there yourself, if it is not to your liking. I am certain you could find something to entertain yourself here.”
“A dance, you say?” he asked, his eyes alight with curiosity. “I should have loved to go, but I have not brought along the clothes for such a diversion. Yes, I am sure I can entertain myself adequately in your absence, madam, for I have brought along several books and sermons to look over. I will simply keep to my room and enjoy them, and see you all tomorrow.”
“And, as there will be at least one other dance while you are here, sir, perhaps tomorrow you may wish to go into town with my daughters to obtain an outfit for the next one?”
“Mama,” Elizabeth grumbled. “We do not know if Mr. Collins would find it proper to go to a dance.”
“Indeed, cousin, it is to your credit that you would consider such a thing, but dancing is not a sinful activity—not when coupled with a reputable establishment for the purposes of entertainment and a desire to find one’s ultimate partner in life. Lady Catherine occasionally holds a ball, and I have attended several of them. In fact, I have been complimented by her ladyship herself about my lightness of foot.”
“Sir, I had no idea,” Elizabeth replied, bowing her head slightly to him. “Now, I am only sorry to know you must miss out on an activity you would have enjoyed. I hope you may find comfort in the fact you’ll be enjoying your books instead.”
“Cousin Elizabeth, your concern is quite touching. Do not worry over me, but go forth and enjoy yourself. I would not wish your own enjoyment to be dampened by my absence.”
Internally, Elizabeth blanched. Her concern was genuine enough, but she feared the gentleman read far more into it than she would wish. Now, instead of feeling guilty to go to the dance while he could not, simply because of a concern for a cousin and his comfort, she was certain he thought she was going to miss him and his attentions. That was so far from the truth, she could not begin to express her relief at having the time away.
“Come along, then, ladies, it is time to prepare for the evening,” said Mrs. Bennet, leading the procession out of the parlor. Elizabeth couldn’t quit the room soon enough. She hoped, when she was dressed and came down, that Mr. Collins would have already disappeared into his guest quarters so as not to compliment her.
He was nowhere to be seen when the carriage was brought out, and the entire family, including Mr. Bennet, managed to squeeze inside together. Not for the first time, Elizabeth wished her father would purchase a second vehicle.
“Papa, you look well this evening,” said Mary as they headed for town. “Why have you outdone yourself on this occasion?”
“It is on account of Mr. Bingley, my dear,” Mr. Bennet admitted. “I was obliged to call on him the other day, and found him to be a most amiable young man. And I thought, if I am to continue to impress him on behalf of my daughters, I could hardly appear at this dance, which he has vowed to attend, looking like I do not care.”
Mrs. Bennet, who was seated by his side, gasped and grabbed ahold of her husband’s hand, squeezing it excitedly. “You have called on him, sir? Oh, and after insisting that you would not, too! I have been quite cross with you all this time, and now you have done your duty after all! What a good joke! And now I shall never have occasion to be vexed with you again!”
He laughed. “I’m sorry to hear it. You know how much I enjoy it when we make up again.”
“Papa!” Elizabeth scolded him.
But her father was not to be chastised tonight, for he was in rare form, and knew he had accomplished his precise goal of rendering her mother from bossy and uptight to loving and magnanimous with one well-timed confession. For one night, at least, she was to be more easily endured, and he intended to take full advantage of it.
“At last, we are here!” said Mrs. Bennet as the carriage pulled up in front of the building. “Oh, I wonder if the man will be present already! It is so exciting, sir, to know such a man may find interest in our daughter. I have heard from Mrs. Phillips that he makes four or five thousand a year, at least. If one of my girls should procure him, it would be most advantageous for the rest of them, to be sure. Girls, you must try to be on your best behavior, so that Mr. Bingley will not look elsewhere for a wife.”
“Is that his design in settling here, my dear? How do you know he is not already engaged?”
“Has he said he was, sir?”
“He did not,” he answered, “But that hardly means anything. We were speaking but for the first time.”
“The gentleman knows you have five daughters, sir,” she pointed out as she allowed the footman to hand her down. “If he was engaged, it would have been the first thing that he told you in anticipation of them. He would not wish for the girls to get their hopes up where he is concerned, if there was no possibility.”
“And he would certainly not accept Jane’s invitation to come to the dance,” added Elizabeth with a teasing smile at her sister. “Do be sure to thank him properly for such solicitude, Jane, won’t you?”
Jane blushed. “Lizzy, you know I was only trying to be neighborly. There was no ulterior motive in my kind invitation.”
The other girls giggled at this. “Was there not, Jane? He stood somewhat close to you, and you looked quite ready to faint dead away at such a proximity.”
“Who could blame her, though,” Kitty added. “He must be the most handsome gentleman we’ve ever seen.”
“And his friend seemed quite handsome, too, though he did not speak to us,” added Lydia. “Has anyone discovered more about him?”
“His name is Mr. Darcy,” Mr. Bennet provided. “He is a neighbor from Derbyshire, and currently in mourning, as his wife passed about four months ago.”
“That might explain his distant air,” said Elizabeth sympathetically. “He did not smile, nor even look at anybody. Oh, I wonder if he suffers greatly. I, for one, shall give him my sympathies, if the topic should arise, and hope for his happiness to soon be improved.”
“Such a noble, kind gesture, my dear,” said Mr. Bennet. “But I fear, from the look of him, that the man might be too proud to endure such sentiments. For politeness and propriety appear to be his refuge.”
Elizabeth nodded at this observation. “He may be as polite and proper as he pleases, so long as he is a willing dance partner. I grow weary of my status as a wallflower when not enough men come to these assemblies. The addition of two more gentlemen will please me greatly.”
“But more particularly if they make themselves pleasing,” added Lydia, giggling as the family at last reached the door and stepped within. The dance was already in full swing, and the music was too lively for any further conversation. The sisters branched off, with Lydia and Kitty hurrying over to greet their particular friends. Jane and Mary headed toward the refreshments, and Elizabeth earnestly searched for her best friend, Charlotte Lucas.
She had not been able to visit with her since the encounter with Bingley and his friend, nor tell her anything about the visit from her cousin, Mr. Collins. Her eagerness to share her opinions on all of the last two weeks waited only on the current dance to end, so that Charlotte might be released from her partner’s attentions. She procured her before she started dancing another set.
Chapter Six
Darcy disliked dances in general, not because of the activity itself, but because of the crush of people who would be in attendance. And by the sounds coming out of the assembly hall, and the sheer number of carriages surrounding it, he was certain this dance in particular would be excruciatingly full.
“We are certainly not in Derbyshire anymore, Mr. Darcy,” said Caroline as she took her brother’s hand to descend, then immediately released it in favor of Darcy’s arm. “I hope that you will be able to manage it.”
“I shall be quite fine, I assure you,” he grumbled. He could wish that Caroline was not aware of his weakn
ess, but after so many years avoiding situations like these, she could hardly be in any doubt of it. He had been used to saying that Anne’s health prevented him from holding balls at Pemberley, but in truth his own discomfort at such functions was the root cause.
The three of them headed through the door and entered a lively room filled with smiling faces. The cheerfulness of the group went a long way toward making Darcy more at ease, though the fact the music had stopped, and every eye in the place had turned upon them, did not help it along.
Sir William Lucas was quick to come forward with greetings, of course. He had promised that if they came to the dance, he would introduce them to some of the neighbors, in particular those whose houses were of the most consequence. Though, looking over the fashions in the room and comparing them with what one would find in London, Darcy took leave to wonder how much consequence that could possibly be.
Since Mr. Bennet had paid a visit to Bingley and himself the other day, and since Bingley kept going on about the daughters of the Bennet household, Darcy found himself naturally curious to have another look at them. It did not take long for the gentleman to bring over his wife and some of the girls, and Darcy stood there with a mild look plastered on his face, unwilling to show any signs of the eagerness with which he anticipated them.
“Mr. Darcy, Mr. Bingley, may I present my wife, Mrs. Emily Bennet, to you?”
“It is very good to meet you gentlemen at last,” said Mrs. Bennet with a curtsey and a smile. “I declare, news of you has reached me from many quarters, not the least of which was the word of your decision to take Netherfield from my amiable daughters. Mr. Bingley, I do hope you have come prepared to dance, for as you see I have five wonderful daughters. Any one of them would make an excellent partner for the next set, you know.”
“I am, indeed, ready to dance, madam,” said Bingley with a smile. “And if Miss Bennet is not otherwise engaged, I should very much like to have my first dance with her. She is, after all, the one who told me about the assembly, is she not?”
“I am, sir,” said Jane, blushing. “And I am not engaged.”
“Splendid,” said Bingley, his smile wider than ever. “Then come with me!”
As Caroline had been snapped up by one of the locals already, this event left Darcy completely at the mercy of the mother and her remaining daughters. Surely it was his imagination making him see them as nothing more than a pack of rabid wolves bent on devouring him in the next moment.
“And you, Mr. Darcy? Do you care to dance?” Mrs. Bennet persisted.
“Not if I can help it,” he replied shortly, and quickly hurried away.
“Well, of all the ill-mannered people I’ve met, that man must take the cake!” the woman protested.
“Mama, please! He shall hear you!”
“I don’t care if he does, Lizzy,” she snorted. “If he should ever ask you to dance, I think you should refuse him immediately. And his friend is so amiable, too! I find it hard to countenance how the two have been paired!”
“Perhaps he is just shy,” Elizabeth insisted. “Let the poor man alone. I know that he has lost much recently, and his manners may not be those currently shown.”
Stunned by such words, Darcy took another look at the young woman who had uttered them, though he did so out of the corner of his eye. For all that Miss Jane Bennet was the epitome of beauty for those men who favored blondes, Miss Elizabeth’s features were, to his eyes, much more fine.
Her cheekbones were high, and her brow soft and smooth. Her eyes were quite fine, dark yet sparkling, and her lips given to merriment. Like most of the girls, she was short, but she was not too thin, nor too fat. And, as he watched her dance with her father, he saw that she was robustly healthy. She would not be given to sickness.
Perhaps there was something in what Bingley had said of her—yet now that he’d made a complete fool of himself in the eyes of her mother, if not herself, he could not bring himself to approach her. Had not her mother already ordered her to refuse? What a muddle he had made!
“Darcy? I cannot see you standing about in such a ridiculous fashion,” said Bingley sometime later. “Come, you should be dancing, sir! I must have you dance. You shall never get to know anyone in the room if you do not put a foot forward.”
“I—find I cannot do so, Bingley,” he admitted, frowning more than ever. “Perhaps I have come out too soon, or perhaps it is something else. I know not, but the only feeling I can find within myself is one which would like to return to the comforts of Netherfield, where I might sit with my sister and my daughter, and simply remain in mourning a bit longer.”
“If you wish to depart, sir, I shall certainly not stop you,” said Bingley. “Go, find the coachman and have him take you home. I believe Caroline and I will like to linger, but you can send him right back around.”
Darcy nodded. Across the room, he spotted Miss Elizabeth Bennet and Miss Charlotte Lucas arranged closely together, whispering as they tried to look like he was not the topic of their discussion. He had no doubt of it. Miss Elizabeth must surely be telling Miss Charlotte of their meeting, and how he had dodged her mother’s meddling. There could be no other topic involving him, unless the pair had just overheard his impassioned speech just now.
Blushing further, he realized he must have revealed too much of himself to these young women who were trying to take his measure. Darcy abruptly turned and headed for the door. Unfortunately, the two young women stood in the way of him reaching it, and he would need to angle his way around them.
“Mr. Darcy?” said Charlotte, catching at his arm. “If you are in need of a dance partner who seems less threatening to your solitude, I am more than willing to gratify you, sir. We need not converse at all, if that would be helpful.”
“Forgive me, Miss Lucas,” he said, gently tugging away from her. “I believe I am overtired, and I shall be leaving. I pray that you and Miss Elizabeth will enjoy the remainder of the evening.”
“We might do,” Elizabeth called after him, “if there were enough dance partners to go around! Good evening to you, Mr. Darcy. I hope you will feel better.”
Darcy turned back to look at her, gratitude and fear mingling in equal measure in his gut. “Thank you, Miss Elizabeth. You are very kind.”
That kindness, combined with her beauty, remained foremost in Darcy’s thoughts as the coach took him back to Netherfield. Of course, he arrived too late to find Georgiana still in the parlor with Francesca, but he was certain he’d be welcome to visit the nursery. Mrs. Avery and Darcy had long since come to an understanding with each other, and she had no fear that he would bother her while he was there.
“You have come at a most opportune time, Papa,” said the woman, smiling. “The little miss is fed, and dressed for bed, but she has not yet settled down. Perhaps time spent with her father might settle the matter. But sir, were you not off to that fancy dance party tonight? What are you doing here?”
Darcy found he could laugh at himself over his behavior, now that he was safely away from all possibility of scorn. “It is nothing, madam. I simply—was not in the mood to perform.”
“Don’t you worry, Mr. Darcy,” she said, giving his hand a little shake. “When you are ready for it, you’ll do well enough. All it needs is time.”
Chapter Seven
Over the course of the next few days, Elizabeth ran everything she’d discovered about Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy through her mind numerous times. Though, in truth, she couldn’t understand why she should. So, the gentleman had lost his wife, and apparently his sister and his daughter were also visiting at Netherfield. She wondered, if he was not yet ready for a dance, exactly why he was visiting rather than continuing to mourn at home. Perhaps it was the kindness of his friend, Bingley, that he did not wish to see his friend suffering alone.
In any case, since her mother had invited the Bingley household to a dinner party tonight, she was certain to find out more. Since Mr. Collins continued his attentions toward her, and Elizabeth was n
ot partial to the gentleman, she could hardly be blamed for avoiding him whenever possible. Today, she had walked out alone into the countryside, as she did quite often, but she spent not just the morning, but the greater part of the afternoon in the endeavor.
She walked so far, in fact, that she could easily see the gates of Netherfield in the distance. She wondered at her choice of directions, for she seldom went so far north during her walks. Certainly, she could find no proper excuse for it now. In the back of her mind, however, a part of her already knew what she was about. Perhaps, at this distance, she might be lucky enough to catch a glimpse of Mr. Darcy, and ascertain that his mood had improved.
It was a silly notion, of course, for the gentleman must surely be seated in one Netherfield parlor or another. And besides, she would know if he had improved in just a few more hours. Resolutely, she turned around and began walking back the other way. She suddenly found the very gentleman she had hoped to see, though much too close for comfort.
