Chapter 14

In the carriage to Lord Maxwell's ball, Aaron decided to talk to his mother and tell her about Mary. He told her how wonderful it was to be able to talk with her, how she always listened to him and about the many things they had in common.

"Mother, for me she is the most intelligent and beautiful woman in the world". Aaron said to his mother with a voice full of emotion. "I had never felt anything like this before. She is like a friend but at the same time more than that. I don't know how to explain it well, but I know that I don't want to be away from her, that I want her to be with me for the rest of my life".

Mrs. Mortimer told him with a voice full of tenderness, "my boy, you are in love. From what you told me, she is a very special woman. Please do not miss this opportunity son, and do not worry, I will help you in everything you need, I just want to see you happy". In that precise moment, Aaron made the decision to talk to Mary, and to propose to her.

When Aaron and his mother arrived at Lord Maxwell's mansion, the entire Gracechurch street family was already there, and the dance was about to begin. Beatrice greeted Robert and the Gardiners fondly, whom she had met a few years ago and was eager to meet the woman her son admired. At that moment, she saw two young women, one very pretty with a classic beauty and the other, with a shy appearance who looked at her son with longing eyes. Aaron introduced her mother to the Bennet sisters and in that moment, when her son introduced her to Mary, she knew that in front of her, she had the daughter that she never had had, and that she always wanted to have.

Aaron asked Mary for the first dance, and they went to the dance floor. It was easy to see that neither of them felt comfortable dancing, but at the same time, they seemed not to care, the only important thing was that they were together and that was all that mattered to them.

When the first dance was over, Aaron asked Mary for a moment so they could talk, he explained to her that he needed to discuss something very important with her, and that he could not wait anymore. Mary felt nervous and excited at the same time, and did not know what to say so she just followed him silently. They went out for a moment to the garden, which was well lit and where there were other people.

"Miss Mary I would like…" Aaron interrupted because he was very nervous, but he drew strength and without being able to control his words he said, "I love you Miss Mary, you are the most special woman I have ever met, and from the first day I saw you, I have not stopped thinking about you. I have a consolidated financial position, and I know that I have the ability to give you the life you deserve, please make me the happiest man in the world, and accept to become my wife", he concluded and nervously awaited her response.

Mary was completely silent for a few seconds. She did not know what to think, her mother had always made comments about how she would never marry because she was plain and she was not lively, and a long list of complaints. Ironically, it turned out that in front of her was this wonderful man declaring his love and offering her marriage. Once the shock of the surprise was passed, she replied. "Yes Mr. Mortimer, I very happily accept your proposal, you are the best man in the world... and the only one that I have ever loved in my whole life" she said while a tear fell down her cheek.

Aaron took Mary's hands in his, and kissed them for a few moments. When they looked at each other they both laughed. They were so happy that they did not know what to do, the emotion that they felt, overwhelmed them both. Aaron told her that he wanted to tell his mother, and Mary told him that she would do the same with Jane and her aunt and uncle.

In this way, once Jane and Lord Maxwell finished dancing the second set, they joined the group where their families were conversing. Everyone looked very happy and seemed to celebrate something with a radiant Mary and Aaron. Mr. Gardiner told them the good news, and Jane hugged Mary and kissed her at the same time she congratulated her.

"Congratulations my friend, I feel very happy for you and I wish you all the best in the world. Let me announce it to everyone and we can make a toast for both of you", said Lord Maxwell very excited.

"No please Lord Maxwell", Mary said, very scared. "It would not be appropriate to announce our engagement if we do not have my father's consent. Besides, I prefer to celebrate only with you, my close ones, I don't like to draw attention", Mary concluded.

They all decided to respect Mary's decision and postpone the announcement of the engagement until Mr. Bennet gave his consent.

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George Wickham was furious, his plans with Mary King were ruined, and he could no longer get any more credit in Meryton because he was in debt to all the merchants in town. All his plans began to fall apart from the moment that damn cousin arrived in Meryton. He sensed that he was behind many of the bad things that were happening to him now. Even the delightful Miss Elizabeth had treated him with some distance the last time they talked.

"If Mr. Gardiner has gone into ruining my life, I have no choice but to ruin his family's. Miss Lydia is quite silly and flirtatious, it will be easy for me to convince Mrs. Foster to invite her to go to Brighton, Once there I will take care of ruining her, and with her, all her family, including the perfect cousin" Wickham thought as he planned his revenge, "You will regret having interfered in my plans".

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Robert was very happy to see the reserved Aaron so excited but he couldn't help but feel a little disappointed. Today was his friend's night and he didn't want to interrupt the couple's celebration. Therefore, he knew it was wise to wait and decided to postpone talking to Miss Bennet, at least for a few days. That did not mean that he was not going to do his best effort to share every possible moment with her tonight.

Caroline felt a bit annoyed, things were not going as she had planned, and although her brother had not noticed the presence of Jane, she knew that sooner or later he would. Also the atmosphere of this ball was a little different from what she would have expected from an event organized by an Earl. There were many people that she recognized as being part of the first circles, but also many merchants, tradesmen and new rich. In fact, one of them was a famous new rich, Mrs. Mortimer, whom she despised, but did not dare to show it because she belonged to one of richest families in the country. She, thanks to her wealth, had managed to establish powerful alliances with very important people, and Caroline knew that it was dangerous to have her as an enemy.

For her part, Jane was aware of the presence of Mr. Bingley and his sister for some minutes. At first, she was a little nervous but she covered it as best she could, she did not want to ruin Mary's little celebration because today was her night.

Mrs. Gardiner, who had noticed her change, asked her what was wrong and she discreetly told her about the presence of the Bingleys. Just then, Robert had approached them and he listened to what Jane had said.

He knew what Bingley's sister had done to Jane because Jonathan had told him about it, but it had been in confidence, so he couldn't reveal what he knew. He also thought that Jane might feel sad knowing that such an unpleasant event was known to many. So he decided to keep quiet and to listen discretely to what Jane was saying to her aunt.

"Aunt if Mr. Bingley comes to greet me, I will do it in a natural and respectful way. I swear to you, aunt, I don't feel anything for him, not even resentment. As for Miss Bingley, I prefer to ignore her, I do not want to do anything to ruin Mary's happiness tonight. But also, I am not like her and her sister and I do not intend to allow the behavior of two malicious women to transform me into a resentful person looking for revenge. That is why I have decided to enjoy tonight as I had planned, with all the people who love me and I love, and I will not let anything or anyone ruin it".

Robert upon hearing that, felt immensely proud and even more in love with the beautiful woman that Jane was, and decided to respect and honor her wishes not creating any conflicts tonight.

"I'll find a way to make the Bingleys know that Miss Bennet has more friends than they think", he thought with great satisfaction.

When Mrs. Mortimer had seen Caroline and her brother was a little surprised because they weren't the kind of friends Robert had, but later she thought that Bingley was most likely a partner in some of his businesses. She hated Caroline, she knew her since she was a child because her husband, and her father had had some degree of friendship and had been partners in some businesses.

Caroline was just like her father James, both physically and in character. James Bingley had been a successful business man, but had an inferiority complex of being a tradesman, which is why he had not allowed his son to get involved in his business and had dreamed of transforming him into a gentleman. With none of the Bingleys involved in their business that had made them rich, it was no longer as productive as it used to be, and it was rumored that if it continued like this, it would soon be in big trouble.

Robert decided to approach the Bingleys, and as a good host, to introduce himself and welcome them. But above all, he wanted to know what Caroline's intentions were in having invited herself to his ball.

"Good evening Mr. Bingley, I'm Robert Conwell, Lord of Maxwell, thank you for accepting my invitation without knowing me. I have some business to propose to you, and I thought it was a good idea to meet you first. After supper, I will meet some gentlemen in the library to talk about these things, if you want, you can join us. For now, please enjoy the ball and the company", said Robert cordially.

"Pleased to meet you my lord and many thanks for inviting me to your ball. I would love to know what you have to propose to me, so I will join your group in the library", at that moment his sister took his arm to be noticed and Bingley could not help feeling a bit ashamed for Caroline's attitude.

Caroline was happy to finally meet the earl, but she was also a bit surprised, because if she remembered correctly, he was the same man who was dancing and talking so cordially with Jane at the moment she got to the ball. She wanted to take the opportunity to alert Lord Maxwell about Jane and her vulgar family, but at the same time, she did not want to talk about that woman in front of his brother, who seemed to have not seen her yet.

"My Lord allow me to introduce to you my sister Caroline Bingley, I hope it is not a problem that she has accompanied me", he said, a little embarrassed.

"It is a great pleasure to finally meet you my Lord, I have heard wonderful things about you, so I am honored to finally meet you", Caroline added with a flirtatious smile.

Robert didn't feel able to exchange insincere words with Caroline so he just said, "Miss Bingley", and bowed slightly as he said it.

In that moment, Charles Bingley saw Jane dancing with Aaron and did not know what to say or think. Robert, seeing him so concentrated, followed his gaze and realized that he was looking at Jane. He couldn't help feeling insecure and even a little jealous, but then he remembered what Jane had said to her aunt and relaxed. He decided to be direct and he asked. "Mr. Bingley, do you know my friend Aaron Mortimer and Miss Bennet?"

Mr. Bingley became very nervous and looked at his sister. Caroline was furious, she was talking to the earl and that damn Jane Bennet had to interrupt everything. So before her brother could react and say something, she decided to answer. "We only met Mr. Mortimer's parents because his father was my father's partner many years ago, but we are no longer in that world so we do not know or relate to the sons of that family. Also, we met Jane Bennet a few months ago when we spent some part of the fall in Hertfordshire, but she does not belong to our circle either so we stopped seeing her a while ago, and we have nothing to do with her now", she said happy to be able to answer Lord Maxwell's question and make it clear what kind of woman Jane was.

Robert could barely contain his disdain when hearing what Caroline was saying and emphatically said. "I'm so sorry Miss Bingley that you wasted the last five minutes of your time with me", said Robert trying to control his temper. "Aaron is one of my best friends, along with Jonathan Gardiner, Miss Bennet's cousin. And Miss Bennet is one of the women I admire the most in this world, and a dear friend of my daughter Sophia. Therefore, if you are in a different circle than Mr. Mortimer and Miss Bennet, you are also in a different one than me, good evening", he finalized and walked away.

Caroline was unable to say anything for a few minutes, and Mr. Bingley, seeing that Jane had finished dancing, came over to greet her and her group.

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Mister Darcy had been impatiently waiting for the parsonage party to come to have tea with them. His aunt had invited them and he would take this opportunity to ask Elizaberh for a private interview, perhaps they could meet in the gardens or in the park later. When they arrived without Elizabeth and Mrs. Collins said that she was not feeling well and stayed home resting, he decided to use this opportunity to visit her. As he walked to the parsonage he even thought that Elizabeth had planned everything, so that they could have a moment alone and he could declare his love and propose to her, just as he planned to do.

Elizabeth was sitting in the parlor reading a letter from Jane, she noticed that her sister was calm and happy. She narrated what they did those past days, and how Mary and Mr. Mortimer became closer every day. Furthermore, she could intuit from her words, that she admired Lord Maxwell and his little daughter. Elizabeth was happy to learn that her sister had fully recovered from Mr. Bingley's abandonment, and the humiliation his sisters had put her through. It was at that moment that a maid announced the arrival of Mr. Darcy, and she wondered what this man might want with her.

He entered, greeted her, and began pacing nervously around the room without saying anything. Elizabeth did not know what to think and did not dare to ask when she saw him in such a disturbed state. Finally, he stopped and declared his ardent love for her, explained in great detail all the reasons why he should not make her his wife, to finally tell her that despite all those objections he had decided to ask for her hand in marriage.

As expected Elizabeth reacted furiously to such an insulting proposal and told him everything she thought of him, including his actions against her sister and Mr. Wickham. She told him very clearly that he was the last man in the world she could ever be prevailed upon to marry.

Mr. Darcy came out of parsonage hurt, humiliated, and very sorry for having proposed to a woman who did not deserve it. But he would not allow Wickham to step on his honor, or for her to think that he had separated her sister from his friend just on a whim. Once he could clarify those two points, he would close this disastrous phase of his life once and for all.