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Assembly
Since Mrs Bennet was unable to attend the assembly, she insisted that her husband escort her three oldest daughters. It was not to be borne that Jane should miss out on a chance to meet and dance with Mr Bingley.
'Young men, who are both rich and single, do not come frequently to Meryton,' she explained to her apparently reluctant husband. 'Jane is already two and twenty, and is in danger of becoming a spinster. She must have every opportunity to find the right sort of husband.'
'What makes you think that Mr Bingley is the right sort of husband for Jane?'
'He is rich and single and must be in want of a wife. Why should not our daughter be the lucky lady? After all, she is the most beautiful young woman in the neighbourhood.'
She sighed. 'It is a pity that you still do not think that Lydia is ready for society. If Mr Bingley should have the bad taste not to be interested in Jane, he would perhaps prefer a girl who is just as beautiful, but more lively.'
Mr Bennet bowed to his wife's wishes about the assembly, mostly since he knew how much Lizzy loved dancing, and he would not deprive her of the opportunity to enjoy herself. That Jane and Mary benefitted was a bonus. Lydia and Kitty would of course stay at home.
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They had barely arrived at the assembly, when several gentlemen approached and requested dances of Jane and Elizabeth, and their old friend John Lucas even asked Mary for a set later in the evening. To ensure Mary would not feel left out, Mr Bennet requested the first set of the youngest of the sisters.
Soon the couples lined up for the first dances. Jane and Elizabeth had pleasant partners, who had been their friends since childhood, which added to their enjoyment of the dance. Mr Bennet was pleased to see that several gentlemen seemed to notice how well Mary danced. Although he was her father, Mr Bennet moved with grace and energy, and his daughter was swept up in the fun he was having.
The second dance of the first set had just finished, when there was a stir at the door. It seemed that the party from Netherfield was making an appearance after all.
Charlotte Lucas had sought out Elizabeth and her family, and pointed out the various members of the party.
'The gentleman in the front is Mr Bingley. The ladies with him are his sisters, Mrs Hurst and Miss Caroline Bingley, who is the younger lady clinging to Mr Darcy. Mr Hurst is the shorter of the gentlemen with his wife.'
'Mr Bingley appears to be a pleasant and amiable young man, judging by his ready smile. Although the ladies and Mr Darcy do not appear pleased with the company.' Elizabeth commented with a smirk, noting the almost pained expression on the exceedingly handsome man's face. She wondered if it was caused by Miss Bingley or by the populace of Meryton.
'I shall attempt to discover the cause. But I had better join my father.' Charlotte excused herself.
~~~o0o~~~
As expected, Mr Bingley danced, first with Charlotte Lucas and later with all the Bennet sisters, while the rest of his party avoided the exercise. After several sets, Bingley thought to encourage his friend to join the fun. His attempt was a miserable failure.
'She is tolerable I suppose, but not handsome enough to tempt me. I am in no mood to give consequence to ladies who have been slighted by other men.' Mr Fitzwilliam Darcy said angrily to his friend.
'What makes you think that you have enough consequence anywhere to insult my favourite daughter, you lout?' came the quietly angry voice of a gentleman, who was carrying two cups of punch and had come within earshot just in time to hear the disparaging remark.
Darcy's head whipped around to face the accusing voice, and saw a tall, well-dressed gentleman who appeared almost too young to have a grown-up daughter. There was only a little grey at his temples amongst the dark hair. The man was only an inch shorter than Darcy, and in excellent shape, and moved with the grace of a dancer, or worse… a fighter.
'Cat got your tongue?' the man enquired with a sardonic smirk when Darcy, too stunned at being taken to task, was slow in answering the first question.
'My apologies, Sir, I had not meant any insult to your daughter. I only wished for my friend to stop pestering me to dance.'
'Mayhap Mr Bingley should not have pestered you, but did you think it gentlemanlike to insult a lady in furtherance of your unsociability? And by the bye, said lady was not being slighted, she refused several offers to dance, to spend some time with her crotchety, but doting father. So, you see, you were wrong, as well as insulting, on several counts. It just proves what they say about what happens when you assume.'
Before Darcy could answer the charge, Mr Bingley intervened. 'Mr Bennet, I am the one who must apologise. I know that my friend dislikes to dance unless he is well acquainted with his partner, and I should not have importuned him to do so.'
'Perhaps. But that still does not give your friend the right to insult a lady. I am of a mind to give him a good thrashing to teach him that lesson.'
'Father, instead of fighting yet again, you should rescue your daughter from dying of thirst,' the young lady, who was the bone of contention, interjected with a smile, as she approached Mr Bennet.
'My dear, forgive your old father. You well know that I am easily distracted.' He smiled fondly at his daughter and handed her one of the cups he was holding.
Darcy, who was slowly gathering his scattered wits and his manners, requested of his friend, 'Bingley, would you do me the honour to introduce me to the gentleman?'
'Mr Bennet, would you allow me to introduce my friend?'
'I suppose I should know the name of the man whom I am going to thrash,' Mr Bennet shrugged carelessly.
'Mr Bennet, this unsociable lout is Mr Fitzwilliam Darcy, of Pemberley in Derbyshire. Darcy, Mr Bennet of Longbourn is our neighbour, and has graciously offered me his assistance in becoming acquainted with my other neighbours.'
'Mr Bennet, it is an honour to meet you. Please allow me to most humbly apologise for my earlier and most ill-considered words. The verbal thrashing you have already delivered will be more than sufficient to indelibly brand your reprimand in my mind.'
'Mr Darcy, I will reserve judgment if your acquaintance is a pleasure. But I believe Reggie would be put out with me if I injured his godson.'
'You know my godfather, the Duke of Barrington?' gasped Darcy.
'I went to school with his youngest brother.' Mr Bennet again gave a negligent shrug. 'But on second thought, I remember him complaining about how arrogant and conceited you have become in recent years. Maybe he would thank me for teaching you a lesson?'
'Mr Bennet, I assure you, no further instruction will be necessary,' Darcy protested. To prove his point, he asked, 'would you do me the honour of introducing me to this lovely lady?'
Mr Bennet raised a quizzical eyebrow at his daughter, who mirrored the gesture with a smirk and said, 'I suppose it would be tolerable to meet your new acquaintance, Father.'
Darcy flinched and blushed, even as a grimaced at the realisation that Mr Bennet's daughter had also overheard his slight.
Mr Bennet grinned as he said, 'Lizzy, this gentleman is Mr Darcy, Reggie's godson. Mr Darcy, I have the honour to introduce my second and favourite daughter, Miss Elizabeth Bennet.'
Darcy bowed deeply as he addressed the lady. 'Miss Bennet, it is an honour to meet you, and I pray that you will allow me to apologise for my earlier behaviour. I will endeavour to remember to act in a more gentlemanlike manner from now on.'
'Mr Darcy, it is a pleasure to meet you, and I am tempted to accept your apology.' Miss Elizabeth dipped into a small curtsy.
'You are all that is gracious, Miss Bennet. I would be most grateful if I could also tempt you to dance with me, if you have a set still available.'
'I am sorry, Mr Darcy, but all my dances are spoken for. The current set was the only one I was able to reserve, to allow my feet to recover.'
Mr Bennet gave his daughter a look which Mr Darcy could not decipher, whereupon the lady shook her head.
'Now, if you will excuse me, Mr Darcy, I will return to my seat to rest my weary feet and enjoy my father's conversation, since my next dance-partner will keep me on my toes.'
Darcy bowed with a murmured, 'of course', while Mr Bennet led his daughter back to her seat.
When Darcy looked around for his friend, he noticed that Bingley had returned to his dance-partner, since it had looked like the gentlemen would resolve their issues without bloodshed. Because he was again on his own, Darcy found another spot against the wall, and considered all that had happened.
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Darcy had come to Meryton because his friend leased an estate, to learn not only the management of an estate before purchasing one, but also to see if being the Master of an estate suited him. Bingley was the son of a successful tradesman, who had hoped that his children could make the step up into the landed gentry. Leasing Netherfield Park was the first step in that direction.
Because Darcy had been in charge of his own estate since his father's death, five years previously, he had the experience to advise his friend and to help him become a good manager.
Unfortunately, Darcy had arrived only earlier that day, and had been in an unsettled mood to due to a family difficulty. He had not wanted to attend the assembly, but Bingley had accepted the invitation for all of his party. Remaining behind would have meant that his friend's sister, who acted as his hostess, would also remain to keep him company. For several years, Miss Caroline Bingley had been determined to become Mrs Darcy, and more importantly to her, the Mistress of Pemberley, a fate which Darcy was equally as determined to avoid.
He had had no choice. He arrived with his party, but immediately after being greeted by their host, Sir William Lucas, using Miss Bingley's momentary distraction to disengage her hand from his arm, Darcy had made a strategic retreat to the side of the hall, which he slowly circumnavigated to stay out of the clutches of Miss Bingley, and all the matchmaking mothers, which he had expected to be present. Within minutes of his arrival, he heard whispers of five thousand a year with respect to Bingley, and ten thousand a year as an estimate of his own income.
Darcy was tall, handsome, rich, as well as the nephew of the Earl of Matlock, and the godson of the Duke of Barrington. All these factors combined to make him a favourite prey of the ladies in London, who were looking for an eligible husband.
The fact that he always had to be on his guard to avoid the most determined fortune-hunters, had made the already shy and reticent man even more withdrawn in unfamiliar company. He had not realised that his manners had become gradually more rude towards all whom he considered beneath him, but to him, fortune-hunters were not worth his notice, irrespective of their status, and Darcy did not care if they felt slighted. On the contrary, he hoped that his manner would keep everyone at bay.
Therefore, on those occasions when he could not avoid a function such as a ball, Darcy practiced that haughty mien, to deter anyone approaching him.
Bingley on the other hand, loved company and kept trying to coax his friend to join in the merriment. Tonight, with disastrous results.
Darcy had paid scant attention to what he told his friend, when Bingley prompted him to dance. He had said similar things on numerous occasions, and if anyone had heard him, no one had ever taken him to task about it.
He had quite literally been shocked speechless when Mr Bennet had reprimanded him.
It had never occurred to Darcy that anyone in this backwater could have the kind of connections that Mr Bennet appeared to have. He thought that the people in this neighbourhood were only marginally above savages. It was quite inexplicable that Mr Bennet not only knew of his godfather, but was friends with the Duke.
And Darcy had unwittingly insulted Miss Elizabeth Bennet. Even worse, during their introduction, Darcy had realised that while Miss Bennet was not conventionally beautiful, she was quite pretty and had the most beautiful eyes, which sparkled with intelligence and humour.
The amused look in her eyes had been the reason Darcy asked her to dance, rather than because he was trying to make amends. Now he wondered if he had missed a wonderful opportunity.
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The new set of dances was about to start, and Darcy carefully watched Miss Elizabeth to see which dance-partner would be the lucky man to partner her.
When Mr Bennet bowed to his daughter and led her to the floor, Darcy understood the look which had passed between the two. Mr Bennet had wordlessly offered to relinquish his dances to Darcy, if Miss Bennet should wish it.
Miss Elizabeth had obviously preferred to dance with her father. That fact alone was highly unusual for Darcy, since no lady had ever refused to dance with him, on the rare occasion when he made such an offer. It made him wonder about the character of Miss Elizabeth, who did not appear to be interested in his wealth.
Observing the couple most carefully, Darcy could understand Miss Elizabeth's preference, and her comment that her dance-partner would keep her on her toes. As Darcy had surmised from watching him move, Mr Bennet was indeed a superb dancer, and his daughter was equally proficient.
Mr Darcy spent the rest of the evening regretting his words and his ungentlemanlike manner.
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Mr Bennet takes an interest by Sydney Salier, Copyright © 2021