Chapter 4
Back in London, the Ton was alight with gossip of the returning Mr. Darcy among the other well off suitors. Jane was to be introduced to society as the fiancé of Mr. Charles Bingley and their banns would be posted for a Christmas wedding. This would give both Jane and Elizabeth a slightly higher elevation. Mr. Bingley was a rising star. Mrs. Gardiner would be escorting the ladies to the better balls but only the Highclere event would offer Elizabeth the very best of the eligible bachelors.
Their first evening at Grace church Street Jane was brushing out Elizabeth's windblown hair which had come undone on the ride in and needed attending to desperately. Using a delectable new jasmine hair oil imported from India, Jane employed both hands to tame her unruly waves.
"What do you think my strategy should be, Jane? To ensnare a hopeless victim into my trap? Should I use my arts or my allurements?" the girls giggled.
"Both, I should advise!" Jane enjoyed a silly moment with her sister.
"Jane, I have a confession to make." Elizabeth became serious.
"You are in love with Mr. Darcy?" Jane gently pulled the brush through a recently restored lock.
"How did you know?"
"To see you two together, it is difficult not to know."
"Oh dear! What is it? What am I doing to give people that impression!"
"I do not think it is something either of you are doing purposely. My own feeling is that there is a collective understanding among our acquaintances that you and Mr. Darcy are physically suited. Nothing more." Jane stopped to make a point. "For example. At the Netherfield ball, when you stood up together. Everyone watched that set. No one talked. I had never seen anything like it."
"That must have been why Dr. Berger asked me about it later that night. Surely, everyone in our neighborhood is aware of how destructive and insupportable our alliance would be. I could never hope to be his wife." she gulped back a tear. "He told me he wished things could be different."
"I think you would be his choice. If he had a choice." Jane finished the plait and sat on the settee next to the dressing table. She searched Elizabeth's swollen face and reached up to dry her tears.
"Your strategy, my sweet, will be to aspire to a match even higher than Darcy. To delight a man, even if he be a titled widower, would focus all of his attention on you. And...if that doesn't work, at least you have a man of means on the line."
"My strategy, will be to avoid Mr. Darcy like the plague and spend all of my time at the Astronomical club and in the bookshops."
Elizabeth did as she said and snuck off every day to frequent one bookshop after the other. She would attend the Royal Astronomical Club's meeting that evening escorted by her Uncle Gardiner much to her mother's chagrin.
Wearing her new royal blue pelisse trimmed with swansdown, and sporting a fetching blue plaid bonnet that brought up her complexion and the green flecks in her eyes, Elizabeth made her way to Picadilly to find a new novel at Hatchard's.
She quickly ascended the winding stairs to the top floor where she knew she could find the latest from her favorite authors.
A very rude man in a royal blue coat bumped into her and not accidentally. Was he trying to push her off of the shelf they were both absorbed reading?
"Pardon me, madam." She didn't want to give him the satisfaction of a glance. "I apologize."
That voice. She knew it. Thankfully she was hidden by the brim of her bonnet. Frozen she tried to determine what to do next. She knew she should run away and not make an encounter occur. She had already tried so hard to put her heart away.
"Would you be so kind as to reach the "Mystery of Rudolfo" on the top shelf? " She asked sweetly.
It was his turn to freeze. As if struggling to understand her request, as if she were speaking a foreign language he slowly lifted his arm for the volume. Once in his possession, he turned his full body toward her and prayed silently that it was Elizabeth to whom the book was offered.
She lifted her head and caught his eye cautiously. Now her hat expertly framed the most beautiful face he had ever known. Goosebumps prickled their skin. They were speechless. The shop was bustling but they were only aware of each other, deafened by the sound of their racing hearts; oblivious.
"Thank you, sir." She bobbed a curtsy, took the book and headed for the merchant's counter. Darcy stared after her as she made her purchase and left the store.
That night Elizabeth had dinner with her Uncle then attended the most anticipated lecture of her life. Unfortunately, she couldn't keep her mind on it. Mr. Darcy was in attendance. It was all she could do to keep her eyes off of his handsome face. He would occasionally glance up at her in the balcony to make sure she was still there and her heart would skip a beat. His proximity was unnerving.
The possibilities of meeting him, by accident, afterward, were excruciating. Would she be forced to introduce him to her uncle? Would he ignore her? How would her heart survive another encounter? Two in one day.
It wasn't long after the lecture, as she was waiting for her Uncle to congratulate the speaker, that Mr. Darcy approached, tipping his hat and bowing with such reverence that she grew quite self-conscious.
"Mr. Darcy." She nodded. "Allow me to introduce my Uncle Charles Gardiner of Cheapside to your acquaintance.
They continued the cordial pleasantries then Mr. Darcy did the unthinkable by securing her hand for the second set at the Highclere ball and securing the third set for his cousin Colonel Fitzwilliam.
To Darcy, it was a matter of life and death that he be able to touch her again. He could not imagine being at the ball and not having the opportunity to dance with her.
"This is unexpected, Mr. Darcy. I have never been introduced to Colonel Fitzwilliam. "
He moved toward her slightly and bent his head to speak more softly.
"But you know he is a great favorite with Bingley." He pleaded.
"How will the Colonel feel about you setting his dances in order? With insignificant country misses? Would he not prefer to ask for his own partners?"
Moving even closer and whispering, he confessed a sentiment that almost took her breath away.
"I have spoken of you often and he is very eager to make your acquaintance." Their eyes, soft, belied their true feelings.
Mr. Gardiner coughed uncomfortably. "We must be getting on, Lizzy. It has been an eventful day." and with that he bowed to Mr. Darcy, took Elizabeth's arm and pulled her from the love sodden gaze to which she nodded her head, agreeing to her third set partner.