Hi all! Just two things from me before chapter three.
There was a query from a guest about the girls ages which I thought I would address in case more of you were also wondering. It is a deliberate choice, I needed Jane to be under 21 and with Mr Bennet needing a mourning period etc. it had a knock on effect for the younger Bennet sisters. It has thrown a bit a conundrum my way with regards to Wickham - I want him to make an appearance but without the Lydia/Wickham storyline I'm not yet sure what to do with him. I am starting to like my Mary so I am not prepared to throw her under the bus like that! (or post coach).
Also THANK YOU! I've been amazed by all the supportive comments and follows/faves. It's been a helpful motivator.
So, enough from me. I hope you have your dancing shoes ready because it's time to head to the assembly.
Chapter Three
Darcy knew himself to be in a foul mood.
It had commenced before their party had even departed London. Darcy could not be convinced to ride inside the carriage with Bingley's sisters and had instead insisted on riding his bay mare for the journey which should have taken only three hours. To start, they had departed more than an hour after the original agreed upon time as Miss Bingley and Mrs Hurst were late rising. During the journey, Miss Bingley called the travelling party to a stop no less than five times to insist that Darcy would be more comfortable within, that his horse was looking tired or that she very much required his input on some subject or other.
By the time they reached Netherfield, nearly four hours after their departure, Darcy was wet through from rain but ready to turn around and return to his town house without so much as a by your leave.
Once they had all refreshed themselves following the journey, Bingley informed them all that he would be attending a dance that evening in the local market town and hoped they would join him. Darcy was only moments away from declining the offer before he saw Miss Bingley eyeing him and preparing to concur with whichever response he gave. He was not prepared to risk spending an evening alone with her, a gathering of unrefined locals had to be more pleasant than that, so he agreed to attend.
This meant more waiting around as Miss Bingley and Mrs Hurst yelled orders at well trained, but clearly shocked, footmen for their best gowns to be prepared.
The dancing had already started when Darcy walked into Meryton's assembly rooms with Miss Bingley clinging to his arm as if it were reins and she was intending to steer him away from the all others in the room for the whole evening. Darcy had always struggled to converse with strangers, he was not particularly good at it and he did not enjoy the tedium of trying to find a topic of mutual interest. Ordinarily he would gladly allow someone of his acquaintance to monopolise his time at society functions; then again he was only in attendance tonight to avoid spending too much time alone with Miss Bingley and as such had to think of a way to extract himself without causing undue offence.
As Darcy thought of how to detach Miss Bingley from himself the pair followed Charles Bingley to greet a rather enthusiastic older man by the name of Sir William Lucas. Sir William was not a short man but his round stature gave the appearance of his being squat and thickset. His loud, strident voice could not have come from someone of a lesser build and was probably heard by individuals across the hall. Darcy took the opportunity of introductions to the man's wife, Lady Lucas, and their daughter Miss Charlotte Lucas to remove his arm from Miss Bingley's grip and gallantly bow over both their hands. However she took no more than a second once he was upright again to reclaim her hold. 'I shall have to try harder, clearly'.
"And Mr Bennet here was with me when I called earlier, I am sure you recall." Sir William continued with his reminders and introductions.
"Of course, what a pleasure to see you again so soon, sir." Bingley replied in his jovial manner and Mr Bennet simply nodded in response
"And with him are his wife, Mrs Bennet, and two of his daughters, Miss Jane Bennet and Miss Mary."
Before Sir William could continue, Mrs Bennet interrupted him, "I have two more, Kitty and Lydia, but they are at home. Too young, you see. Though they are itching for some society themselves."
Darcy could see the irritation on Sir William's and Mr Bennet's faces, they must see the rudeness of the woman as clearly as he did, though it seemed to be lost on his friend. As Bingley introduced their party to the Bennet's, Darcy saw a flicker of surprise in the patriarch's eyes upon hearing Darcy's name but he masked it quickly. Clearly he recognised it, and Darcy was suffering a similar affliction but with far more confusion. The name Bennet was familiar to him too but he could not place it.
Darcy put that brain teaser to the side as he let his eyes wander over the room, his focus remained solely on escape. He concluded that he would have to plan it like a military manoeuvre and suddenly found himself wishing his cousin Richard had been able to accompany them into the country. 'He would know what to do'. Darcy tried to channel his cousin's strategically cunning mind as he assessed his options.
He knew that as the sisters of his closest friend, and for the sake of civility, he would have to dance with both Miss Bingley and Mrs Hurst at least once during the evening. He also knew that if he asked her to dance the first available dance Miss Bingley would read far too much into the gesture and she would have the neighbourhood believing them engaged before the evening was through. No, as much as it frustrated him, he had to wait. Darcy generally considered himself to be a patient man so he believed himself capable.
Having ignored the remainder of the conversation, Darcy was pulled back to his surroundings when he noticed Bingley take the eldest Miss Bennet's hand and move in the direction of the dancefloor ahead of the next set starting. Without thinking, Darcy turned and began to walk the perimeter of the hall, with Miss Bingley still trailing after him.
Once the Netherfield Party had moved away, Mr Bennet let the mask he had quickly had to assumer slip from his face. He had not heard the name Darcy in nearly eighteen years. The young man he had just met must be the son of his former acquaintances, he could tell by the shape of the face and the set of the man's mouth that he was George Darcy's boy. The boy that had been there that day and could upset the quiet life he had carved for himself since the death of his beloved wife and son.
The only comfort to Mr Bennet was that the gentleman did not appear to immediately know of their two families past connection. Would it be too much for him to hope that he did not remember? As much as it irked him, Bennet knew he would have to find out the risk Mr Darcy posed. He did not want to have to face the past, it was too painful for him, but to maintain the semblance of peace his life currently had he would have to.
As Bingley danced and Darcy stalked the edges of the room the two friends occasionally made eye contact. This only served to further irritate the already ill-tempered man. Bingley was clearly enjoying the company of the pretty Miss Bennet, who he was reluctant to admit was dressed more handsomely than he had expected of anyone in the area. Mayhap they are not all unfashionable and unrefined.
The attractiveness of the locals was not what irritated him though. Bingley had abandoned him to the attentions of Caroline Bingley after expressly agreeing to the condition that Darcy would not be left alone with either of his sisters. Did Bingley somehow not see that being in a room full of strangers was equal to being alone? Yes, a compromise was not so likely to occur and his honour was not at risk, but his sanity was.
As the musicians started to play the next dance, Darcy finally gave in to her hints and asked Miss Bingley to dance. She feigned enough surprise that for a moment Darcy almost believe they were on the stage. He was relieved when, at the end of their set, Miss Bingley was asked to dance by a local gentleman. Knowing that if she refused she would have to forgo the chance of dancing with Darcy again later in the evening, Caroline accepted. Darcy took the opportunity of a distracted Miss Bingley to ask Mrs Hurst to dance, and at the end of the set walked her to the opposite side of the room to where her sister had been heading. It was far easier to walk away from Mrs Hurst than her younger sister and so Darcy was at last free. 'Richard would be proud'.
To maintain his freedom, Darcy continued his earlier behaviour of wandering the perimeter of the room whilst keeping a constant distance from Bingley's sisters. Stopping when they did. Walking when they did. It required considerably more effort than he was wont to admit but he was able to avoid their offensive chatter and criticisms of the evening. Unbeknownst to him, it also prevented Mr Bennet's approach which made the older man as disagreeable as the younger for a time.
Sometime later Darcy was stood to the side when Bingley came from his dance for a few minutes, to press him to join it and pointing out a potential dancing partner for him; Darcy turned to look at the indicated Miss Bennet. His eyes locked with a pair of captivating ones but he quickly turned away before he could fully take in her appearance. The young lady indicated was not the other Miss Bennet he had earlier been introduced to, and Mrs Bennet said her other daughters were at home, so he was puzzled by who this young woman could be. If she had not been generally introduced with the rest of her family (or even mentioned), Darcy concluded she was probably the black sheep and it would not do to invite gossip from locals by dancing with her.
"She is tolerable; but not handsome enough to tempt me; and I am in no humour at present to give consequence to young ladies who are slighted by other men and snubbed by their mothers." Darcy waited for Bingley to return to the dance before turning once more to glance at the mysterious Miss Bennet. He watched as she rose from her chair a short distance away and could not help his perusal of her slight, elegant figure as she walked past him.
Unfortunately the distraction had provided Miss Bingley ample time to re-establish herself at his side and his hard fought freedom was lost.
Towards the end of the evening, Darcy learnt the identity of the mysterious Miss Bennet. Miss Elizabeth Bennet was in fact the second daughter of the gentleman landowner he had earlier been introduced to. She was not a classic beauty like her eldest sister, but her eyes were even more bewitching up close than they had been when she walked by. There was such a variety of shades in her hazel eyes that Darcy had to check himself before he leant in too close to inspect them. Such eyes could be a siren's call if he were not careful. Pulling him under and drowning him before he even knew what was happening.
But Fitzwilliam was a Darcy, and Darcy's were not susceptible to such allure.
The real danger, Darcy found, lay in Miss Elizabeth's intelligence. She was clearly well read, far more so than the women found in most of the drawing rooms in town. After their introduction, Miss Bennet did not try to draw him into trivial conversation but instead resumed a discussion she had been having with her parents and Mr Bingley.
Mrs Bennet appeared exacerbated when Miss Elizabeth rebuffed the general consensus that poetry was an ideal medium for nurturing affection. She had fascinated him earlier when he had overheard her arguments on widening acceptable reading material for young ladies, so he was eager to hear her opinions on this case.
"To quote poetry for the intention alone of increasing affection seems duplicitous to me. Surely speaking ones true sentiments would serve a lover far better than mimicking somebody else's."
"Well there was that young man who wrote some pretty verses of his own for Jane when she was just sixteen. Though it all came to nothing, as is usually the way with that one." Mrs Bennet countered with a sour look on her face.
Darcy could see Miss Elizabeth's discomfort in her fine eyes but was impressed when she did not let it deter her, "Aye, simply because I do not believe lovers should plagiarise a talented poet, does not mean I support their writing their own lines as an alternative. Pray, your example just demonstrates how poor poetry is as a conveyance for affection. The gentleman in question compared my dear sister to a chair!" A few of the assembled observers coughed to cover their laughs. "Such verses put an end to their mutual affection, I am sure. There has been many a one, I fancy, overcome in the same way."
"And what," Darcy found himself asking, "would you recommend instead, to encourage affection?"
Looking him firmly in the eye for the first time since he joined the assemblage, causing his heart to stop he was certain of it, Miss Elizabeth coolly replied, "Dancing. Even if ones partner is only tolerable." And with a slight lift to one eyebrow she curtsied to the group, turned and walked away.
Darcy was left frustrated by the exchange. He was no closer to understanding her position within the family and her clearly fraught relationship with her mother.
Later, as Darcy sat in bed attempting to read, he could not turn his mind from the encounter with Miss Elizabeth. He knew she was too quick witted for her words to have been said without meaning, but he was too unfamiliar with the local dynamic to understand the message she was implying.
Darcy wondered if it could have been aimed at Mrs Bennet, though that woman seemed to lack the comprehension to truly note a jibe sent her way. Miss Bingley had provided much needed intelligence once they had returned to Netherfield however, and it gave some weight to Darcy's 'black sheep' theory. According to local sources the two eldest Miss Bennet's were not in fact Mrs Bennet's children and predated her marriage to Mr Bennet by a few years. Miss Bingley could not provide further information on their true mother as all anybody would say on the matter was that it was a tragedy. Which naturally led Miss Bingley to make all sorts of ill-bred suppositions. Despite their improved fashion over others in the immediate area, Caroline was determined not to like the Bennet family; it would not do to associate with scandal when one was trying to improve their own social standing.
It was doubtful, Darcy thought, that the two very ladylike Miss Bennet's were actually illegitimate. It was much more likely that their mother died embroiled in disgrace of some other sort. It would explain better Mrs Bennet's treatment of the young ladies; despite being forced to support them, as she got more into her cups she became more vocal in her disparaging comments. Though one would think that the woman would be encouraging any and all suitors so that the girls could be removed from her household. Then again, Darcy had already concluded that Mrs Bennet did not have the same quickness as her step-daughter.
Darcy had hoped that putting a name and an explanation of sorts to the mysterious Miss Bennet would put an end to his strange fascination with her. He was wrong. A pair of dancing hazel eyes invaded his sleep for most of the night.
That night, as more than one occupant of Netherfield was thinking about residents residing in the neighbouring Longbourn, three residents of Longbourn were likewise thinking of inhabitants of Netherfield. The youngest of the three was determined to think no more of the proud, disagreeable man who had wounded her ego; though that resolution was easier to make than keep. Her bed mate was pleasantly dreaming of the charming red haired man who asked her to dance twice, whilst the eldest was restless with worry.
Mr Bennet had not been able to speak with Mr Darcy over the course of the assembly that evening and it was a source of great irritation and concern to the man. He debated with himself on a course of action long into the night. Eventually, Bennet settled it that at the next available social event where Mr Darcy was present, he would try to assess the man's memory of their dissolved connection. He did not think it wise to seek the man out before such a time. It would look too suspicious and also required far too much effort on his part.