DARCY AND THE WRONG MISS BENNET by Jane Grix © 2019
Dear Readers: Hello again. Let me know what you think of my newest story. FYI, It is available on Amazon and elsewhere. 3 Jane
CHAPTER ONE
Elizabeth Bennet was fond of dancing, but unlike her twin sister Lydia, she was not always desperate for a partner. She was perfectly content to sit out two dances and observe the assembly.
Mr. Bingley, their newest neighbour, was dancing with her oldest sister Jane. He seemed to be an amiable gentleman and her mother had high hopes of his marrying one of them for he was rumoured to have an income of four or five thousand a year.
Mr. Bingley's sisters – Miss Bingley and Mrs. Hurst – were also in attendance. They were both well-dressed, handsome women, but Elizabeth thought they were conceited. They had looked around the local gathering and judging from their sour expressions, found it lacking.
Mr. Bingley had also brought Mr. Darcy, a wealthy gentleman from Derbyshire. Mr. Darcy was taller than Mr. Bingley with thick dark hair, broad shoulders, and a noble mien, and for a moment, Elizabeth had been intrigued, wanting to make his acquaintance, but then she discovered that he was even more odious than Bingley's sisters. He only danced with Miss Bingley and Mrs. Hurst and spent the rest of the evening walking about the room, only speaking to those in his party.
Elizabeth had no patience for a man who came to a party and refused to enjoy himself.
While she was sitting out, she happened to overhear a conversation between Mr. Bingley and Mr. Darcy. Mr. Bingley came from the dance for a few minutes to encourage his friend to join them.
"Come, Darcy," he said. "I must have you dance. I hate to see you standing about by yourself in this stupid manner. You had much better dance."
Elizabeth hid a smile behind a gloved hand, amused. She liked Mr. Bingley even better now for teasing his friend.
Mr. Darcy said stiffly, "I certainly shall not. You know how I detest it unless I am particularly acquainted with my partner. And your sisters are already engaged."
"But there are many other women who would be just as agreeable dance partners," Mr. Bingley argued. "Let me ask my partner to introduce you to one of her sisters. One of them is sitting down just behind you."
"Which do you mean?" Darcy asked and turning around, he looked for a moment at Elizabeth. "Ah, one of the twins."
Elizabeth hated being referred to as one of the twins, but since she and Lydia were identical physically and their mother insisted on dressing them in a similar manner, it was a common designation.
Elizabeth lifted her chin and her eyes narrowed as she stared back at him.
Unfazed, Darcy turned away from her and said coldly, "She is tolerable, but not handsome enough to tempt me."
Bingley had the grace to look disconcerted by his friend's rudeness. "You are too fastidious, Darcy."
Darcy said, "And you are not fastidious enough, my friend. You are too easily pleased."
Mr. Bingley laughed at him. "How could I not be pleased with Miss Bennet? She is the most beautiful creature I have ever beheld."
Elizabeth agreed with Mr. Bingley that Jane was the prettiest of her sisters, but she and Lydia often received more attention because of their physical similarity.
Darcy said, "Then go and enjoy her smiles. For you are wasting your time with me."
Mr. Bingley followed his advice and Mr. Darcy walked off.
Elizabeth was glad to be rid of him.
That evening, when the Bennet family had returned to Longbourn, Elizabeth spoke privately to Jane as they prepared for bed, discussing the evening's event. Of all her sisters, Jane was the closest to Elizabeth in temperament, and they shared a bedroom. In younger years, Elizabeth and Lydia had shared a room together, until Elizabeth asked her father if she could move to Jane's bedroom.
Mrs. Bennet thought that was ridiculous, but her father had understood that Elizabeth needed to be separate from her twin sometimes. He had put his foot down, giving his permission, and after that Jane and Elizabeth shared a room as did Mary and Kitty. Lydia declared that she was quite happy to sleep alone and to have a closet to herself.
Personally, Elizabeth was grateful every night that she could shut a door between herself and Lydia. She found it exhausting to be half of a pair with people always mistaking them for each other or comparing them. Lydia was the spirited twin; she was the serious one.
In contrast, Lydia thoroughly enjoyed the attention they received as twins. Whenever they were in public together, she often stood by Elizabeth or sat by her. Over the years, she had copied Elizabeth's mannerisms, even her laugh, which made Elizabeth cringe. When she was younger, Elizabeth had been more light-hearted, quick to find humour in a situation, but now she was more reserved.
Elizabeth helped Jane undress and then Jane helped her, for they had only one lady's maid, Rose, and she was busy with their mother. Elizabeth said, "What did you think of Mr. Bingley?"
"He is just what a young man ought to be," Jane said. "Sensible, good humoured, lively, and I never saw such happy manners."
Elizabeth agreed. "He seems very gentlemanlike. Unlike his friend."
Jane, who had heard of Mr. Darcy's disparaging comments on the carriage ride home, said, "That was very unkind of him. Do you think you might have misheard him?"
"No, I heard him quite clearly. I am only tolerable, it seems."
Jane sighed. "Perhaps he had a headache."
Elizabeth protested. "No, please. Do not try to find an excuse for the man. He was insufferable, but I do not mind it. I am not so vain to I think every man will find me pretty." She laughed. "In truth, it was refreshing, for now I don't have to worry about him bothering me. I would hate to have such a proud, disagreeable man like me."
Jane pulled a nightgown over her head and pushed her arms through the long sleeves. She said, "Have you ever met a man that you wanted to like you?"
"No," Elizabeth admitted. "I am completely heart whole."
"Do you ever worry that you will never fall in love?"
"Not particularly." Elizabeth did not trust love as a reliable emotion. Her parents had once been in love and now they continually irritated each other. Her father found her mother silly, and her mother considered herself misunderstood and unappreciated. They were often at cross purposes, disagreeing on everything from how to rear their children to how to spend money.
Elizabeth thought that mutual respect and affection might have a better chance of lasting rather than romantic love. She admired her Aunt and Uncle Gardiner and their calm relationship and hoped that one day she might have the same. She asked Jane, "Do you worry about falling in love?"
Jane nodded. "I was beginning to wonder if my heart was defective."
"And now?"
Jane blushed and turned away, avoiding the question, which made Elizabeth think that Jane might like Mr. Bingley more than she was willing to admit.
Elizabeth knew that one day Jane would marry and leave their family, and she would miss her terribly. But if Mr. Bingley was the lucky man, at least he lived nearby. He was renting Netherfield Park which was only three miles from their home Longbourn.
Over the next few weeks, the Bennets and Bingleys met at various social events and Mr. Bingley continued to single Jane out for his attention, often sitting by her. Mr. Darcy continued to hold himself back, rarely talking to anyone.
Charlotte Lucas, one of their neighbours and Elizabeth's particular friend, said one evening at her home, "Do you think Mr. Darcy is shy?"
"Shy?" Elizabeth scoffed. "Not at all. The man is perfectly willing to talk to his friends. He thinks everyone else is beneath him. I don't know why he bothers to come at all if all he intends to do is stand about like a frowning statue."
"He seems to pay a great deal of attention to you, Eliza," Charlotte said.
Elizabeth glanced over in his direction. "Yes. I have noticed him scowling at me. I wonder what I have done to incur his dislike."
"Perhaps he is trying to determine which of you is Elizabeth and which is Lydia."
"Perhaps," Elizabeth said, but the truth was, she did not care what he thought of either of them. The sooner he returned to London, the happier she would be.
There was something about Elizabeth Bennet that drew Darcy's attention, much to his surprise and annoyance. At first, Darcy had scarcely allowed her to be pretty. The only thing noteworthy about her was the novelty of her being a twin. But no sooner had he convinced himself that she had hardly a good feature in her face, then he began to be disconcerted by the intelligence in her dark eyes, something missing in the eyes of her twin sister.
He often saw them standing together and the contrast was subtle but true, which made him wonder about her. What was she thinking? Sometimes he saw a fleeting smile on her lips and wondered what had amused her.
She was a puzzle, and he did not like puzzles.
Darcy began to wish to know more of her and he started listening to her conversations with others. He thought he was discrete in his observation, but Miss Bingley had noticed his attentions. She teased him that he must be careful not to fall for a provincial nobody. "Unless you are looking forward to having Mrs. Bennet as a mother-in-law."
"No, indeed," he said coolly.
As Master of Pemberley, he fully intended to marry at some time in the future, but he was not in a hurry, and he would not let a fleeting attraction overcome common sense.
When he did choose to marry, he would marry a woman of sense and decorum with a family that he could introduce to his friends without embarrassment.
Miss Elizabeth Bennet might be pretty, she might be intriguing, but she had a vulgar mother and giddy sisters.
She would never be his wife.