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Maria was taking her leave just as Mrs. Bennet and Kitty were returning home.
"Maria! What are you doing here?" Kitty asked in surprise.
"I came to visit. Where have you been?" Maria asked her dear friend.
"Oh, Mama insisted we visit Mrs. Phillips today." Kitty said disdainfully.
"Kitty, you know I have not seen her in an age! Maria, it is lovely to see you. How are your mother and sister?"
"They are well, ma'am. I'll tell them you inquired." Maria dutifully replied.
Kitty then insisted that Maria stay longer, so they could talk, but Maria declined.
"My mother was adamant that I return in an hour," Maria said. "But you could call soon, I daresay. Around three o'clock?"
"I'll be there," Kitty said. "We haven't talked in ages! Not since the dinner party."
"Ah yes," Maria said. "The dinner party."
As soon as Maria returned to Lucas Lodge, her sister Charlotte stopped her in the foyer.
"Maria, dear, I have the most wonderful news!" Charlotte's eyes were bright with excitement.
"What is it?"
"You are coming to stay with us at the vicarage for a few days! Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy are going to Rosings to visit his aunt. Lady Catherine has finally got over her dislike for Elizabeth, it seems. Anyway, you are to stay with us, and we'll have a grand time together!"
Maria felt a pang at the sight of her sister so excited. Life with Mr. Collins surely was not the most fulfilling life she could have chosen. But Charlotte seemed content; she had never been one for romance and excitement. But still, Maria thought, to settle for the odious Mr. Collins!
"But surely we won't be with the Darcys much," Maria said. "Lady Catherine will not want us there when she is entertaining family."
Charlotte shook her head, "No, I expect we will be at Rosings almost more than we are at home, for Lady Catherine loves to have company when she has guests staying with her. 'The more, the merrier' is her philosophy, I believe."
Maria tried to hide a shudder. Lady Catherine DeBourgh scared her more than any other individual on earth. When she had gone with her father and Elizabeth for their first visit to the Collinses, she had looked forward to meeting such an awe-inspiring personage. But the intimidation soon overcame the admiration, and Maria was quaking in her slippers every time an invitation to Rosings came. Elizabeth, on the other hand, didn't seem to be intimidated at all. Mara admired how she stood up to Lady Catherine's scrutiny, but she knew she could never do the same. She winced at the memory. One day when Mr. Darcy and his cousin had unexpectedly come to visit, they and Elizabeth had moved into the parlor to hear Elizabeth play the pianoforte. Maria had thought it strange that Mr. Darcy, who had seemed to dislike Elizabeth so when they first came to Hertfordshire, seemed to desire her company so then. Now, of course, it all made sense. Maria thought it was quite romantic; imagine! Mr. Darcy being in love with her all the while. But, this situation had left Sir William Lucas and his daughter completely at Lady Catherine's whim, without her dear nephews or the astonishing Miss Bennett to distract her.
"Sir Lucas," Lady Catherine said, looking down her nose at Maria but addressing her father. "Your youngest daughter is certainly a mousy little thing."
Mousy! Maria's eyes bugged out but she dared not speak a word. Her father tried to tactfully recover. "She is shy among such a revered character, my lady. She is not used to so much fine company."
Lady Catherine sniffed. "I daresay she is not. Tell me, child, have you ever been to London?"
"Only a few times, ma'am, when I was much younger. To visit some family." Maria stammered.
"We keep a house in town, but have not had need of it in several years," Sir Lucas interjected. Lady Catherine ignored him.
"Ah, then you have not enjoyed the delights of London as only a young girl can. My daughter, of course, is far too frail for the intensity of the London Season, but you seem to be a robust sort of girl. It would benefit you greatly. It is too bad your family has not the means to give you a season." Sir Lucas turned red, but remained silent.
"Th-thank you, Lady Catherine," Maria wasn't sure what the correct response to this was. Robust and mousy, indeed! Luckily for her, Lady Catherine's attention was diverted by the conversation of her nephews and Elizabeth. Maria sat in agony for the remainder of the evening.
And now she was to be subject to more of the dreaded woman's company!
Maria digested this news until the afternoon, when Kitty came to visit.
"Kitty, you will never believe what news I have just had!" Maria said as they walked around the gardens outside Lucas Lodge. "I am to stay with Charlotte and Mr. Collins for two weeks! How shall I ever bear it?"
"What dreadful bad luck! I wouldn't be stuck with that odious man for anything. Not that I wouldn't mind dear Charlotte, of course, but oh! Mr. Collins gives me no end if a headache!"
Maria said nothing, only shook her head in self-pity.
"Still though," Kitty continued, "I wouldn't think you'd be so terribly hung up about it. There may be a chance that Colonel Fitzwilliam will visit, after all."
"Oh Kitty, for pity's sake, I do wish you would drop that silly subject. While I might have… admired the Colonel when I visited Rosings with Elizabeth, I certainly don't still! It's been two years! Besides, he was always sort of… thoughtless in his conversation." Maria replied.
Kitty snorted. "But then, so were you!"
Maria laughed and pretended to be offended. "It's perfectly horrid for you to tease me about it. I was violently in love for about a day, and that was the end of it!"
"Oh, but the letter I received was so enlightening! 'Colonel Fitzwilliam is the dearest person! He surely is the smartest man in all of England. And so handsome!'" Kitty quoted.
"My letter most certainly did not say that! I would never be that insipid! You are too cruel, Kitty." Maria laughed.
"Shall I go fetch it? I keep it for a good laugh every now and then. Maybe I should give it to Elizabeth, so Mr. Darcy may be informed of your designs on his cousin!"
"You are absolutely dreadful! And I don't care if you do, for I am certain my letter said nothing whatsoever incriminating." Maria sniffed.
"Very well, very well," Kitty said, willing to change the subject. "We haven't had a chance to discuss the dinner party yet! What did you think of Mr. Bingley's friends?"
Maria blushed, and hated herself for it. "They seemed very nice."
"Wasn't Mr. Townsend a dream? I think I may be as violently in love with him as you are with Colonel Fitzwilliam!"
"I am not-" Maria stopped herself. She knew it was hopeless to deprive Kitty of her fun on that subject.
"Yes, but didn't he pay an awful lot of attention to Mary? He was quite particular all evening." Maria said carefully. But it didn't seem to bother Kitty overmuch.
"Oh yes, wasn't that a disappointment. But it doesn't signify. He'll discover soon enough that Mary won't have anything to do with him. She never does."
"Don't you think that quite strange though? Why shouldn't she accept attention from such a commendable gentleman?"
"Are you actually asking me to explain my sister Mary, Maria? Surely you know our family better than that." Kitty sighed. "Mary is an enigma to me, as, I am sure, the rest of us are to her."
"Yes, indeed. Anyway, I did not much talk with Mr. Townsend, because of that. But he did seem very amiable."
"The other gentleman, what was his name? Ship something?"
"Shipman," Maria said, trying to sound nonchalant.
"Oh yes. He was nice-looking too, although nothing compared to Mr. Townsend. And he was so quiet! I wonder if he thinks himself above us all, like Mr. Darcy did. La, remember how we all hated him at first!" Kitty laughed.
Maria laughed in return. "Yes, but I don't think Mr. Shipman is anything like Mr. Darcy. In fact, he seems quite the opposite. He has a sense of the ridiculous, which leaves him without an inordinate amount of pride. I think he was just reserved around those he was not well acquainted with."
"Why, you act as if you are old friends! Since when did you become such a judge of character?"
"Oh, he came to visit Papa and he ended up in the library. I stumbled upon him and we had a conversation, then he invited me to walk with him here in the garden the next day. He is a very agreeable man."
"Mmm, I see," Kitty replied, waggling her eyebrows suggestively. "Very agreeable to Miss Maria Lucas!"
Maria elbowed her in the ribs. "I see you are insistent on being ridiculous today, and there's no chance of serious conversation."
Kitty snorted. "Do we ever have serious conversations? We are both ridiculous, Maria, you just have to accept it."
The two girls laughed and continued their not-so-serious conversation for a good half-hour.
There's not a whole lot of story development, I know, but I had to bring Kitty in. She and Maria have hilarious conversations in my head. ;-)