AN: So I thought I would introduce three new characters in this chapter. Hope you enjoy them. Not many more new ones to come along from here. Not sure when I will be able to update again, but I will try to update every week. Thought I would also do a slight transfiguration of Mary's appearance for this chapter. Please forgive me, if you find this offensive. It is a small adaptation that will not be too constant.
7
Unable to wear her own clothes, the servant assigned to Mary had retrieved a gown from Georgiana's room. In a gown that matched the warm, cloudless sky, Mary felt outside herself in such an apparel of lace and ribbon. Her hair, pulled near out of her scalp so that Mary's eyes watered, was bound into hot curlers so that they escaped to frame her face. Powder pressed to her cheeks and her lips painted felt unusual and foreign, and the middle Bennet daughter had to play with a ribbon at her waist so as not to jump so terribly when her face was touched.
"Mary?" naturally, Georgiana Darcy wore a gown of yellow, casting her in more light. "Oh my, I dare say I thought you someone else!"
"A good or bad someone?" Mary inquired.
"One who is irrevocably good, of course!" Georgiana laughed. "Why, you are positively a sight!"
"Is this me? No, certainly you must be jesting. This be not the girl I know. This is…"
Mary's remarks faded as she saw her reflection in a large oval mirror beside her vanity. Her hair, transfiguring itself from a thin, limp mess of plainness into a voluptuous mass of curls, added the necessary depth to make it appear larger than it truly was. Her large features that she never quite grew into now accentuated a beauty Mary had never before known. Rouge lips and cheeks complimented the milky color of her skin, which then complimented dark eyes that were much like Elizabeth Bennet's. Her nose provide her face with perfect symmetry, and Mary placed a finger upon it, as if to see that it might fall off with the rest of her face back into the usual homely countenance she had come to accept throughout her life.
"This cannot be me," Mary shook her head, her hands slowly moving about her face, to her brow and nose and mouth, to confirm the opposite of her statements. "I… I am not one to be beautiful. I… I am plain. I do not possess such looks that all my sisters share. I must be deceiving myself. I could not be half so beautiful as this mirror paints me to be."
"Oh, but you are beautiful, Mary!" Georgiana smiled. "I must admit I was quite stunned at your change in your outward appearance, but I see the Mary I know so well, though we have known each other only a day. I dare say, I never before saw a girl with such features as your own."
"I am sure many a girl would be grateful for not being bestowed such a close resemblance to myself," Mary replied. "For I never before saw myself look so wonderful as I do now, and I know not what to do with myself, or to believe it be so good to be true."
"It is as true as can be, Mary darling." Georgiana reassured. "One might be surprised of the magic that might be experienced with a bit of curl to the hair and some pretty make-up to bring out one's features to their advantage. Fortunate for you that all your features are perfectly lovely."
"I cannot believe this is me." Mary stared at herself, waiting to see the reflection she knew so well stare back.
"My word, you are a pragmatic girl, Mary. I know not why you are so unconvinced with logic, especially that which is staring right back at you."
"Can I honestly help it, when I never before saw myself look as such?" Mary covered her mouth to hide her broad smile. "It is as if I am a new person."
"Perhaps it be a new day for Mary Bennet?" Georgiana suggested.
"It is certainly a day of firsts," Mary admitted. "First reunions. First mornings dressed in a night gown. First afternoon spending near close to two and a half hours of torture preparing myself for the day. First time I stare in the mirror and not have a need for improvement in my appearance…"
"And I know there shall be even more first times for you soon enough!" Georgiana clapped her hands. "We still must go into town. Oh, Mary, imagine the looks you shall receive!"
"Looks?"
"Why, naturally every man there will be unable to deny your beauty."
"And whyever should that matter?"
"Certainly you are not ignorant to the fact that beauty incites such interests as to make men's hearts flutter."
"I almost forgot of the aesthetic society I am bound within."
"Perhaps now, after much contemplation of your undeniable beauty, we shall depart for town?" Georgiana reminded. "I very much think your recent change in looks deserves much praise and regards, but I suppose we should limit them, so as to prevent any vanity from arising."
"Nice suggestion," Mary nodded. "I suppose all that is left to do is enter town."
"We shall have the most exciting time! I am sure you will find it perfectly satisfactory."
"I am sure I shall find it to be very interesting indeed."
Town was the same no matter its location. The size and contents of the area might differ, but the streets are always crowded and the air is always full of talk of gossip, fashion, couples, and social events. Men might line up the streets on a dull afternoon to observe women shopping for the latest gowns of the season and admire their beauty with wide eyes. Mothers would dress up their children in the pursuit of perhaps having them meet another willing to join them in matrimony. It was a place of constant occurrence and one in which very seldom did it remain monotonous and empty.
At first, Mary Bennet was unaccustomed to such gazes from men. Even those men that she would never associate herself with, wicked beings who pursued only temporary excitement from a willing companion, caused her to blush in flattery of anyone's attention directed her way in such a look of interest. It was a moment in which she had stepped into a situation of her own imagination, living a fantasy in which not even her own logical mind could construe.
"My, I daresay every man in all of Derbyshire cannot restrain their eyes from you, Mary!" Georgiana giggled, pointing across the carriage and directing the servants to stop. "Perhaps we shall receive more excitement if we walk."
"Where are we heading?" Mary asked. "I do not know this town, and I do not wish to get lost when I am a stranger even to myself today."
"Nonsense, you are the same Mary as ever," Georgiana replied. "I am directing us to this shop where we might purchase the loveliest gowns. Mrs. Barnaby is the kind of woman who extends her motherhood to encompass all who step inside her store. You can expect her to provide you with the best gown to compliment your good features and to do it in a respectable way that shall not make you appear too scandalous."
"Are the gowns expensive?"
"Price is not part of our worries today, Mary." Georgiana told her with a smile. "Consider it all as a gift for a sister. Rather, I give you permission to feel worry over which man here you would prefer as an escort to the ball. You may choose more than one, if you wish." Georgiana giggled. "Certainly you could have all of town take you looking as you do today. I suppose that should be your primary thought of the day."
"I do promise it shall be the only thought that might ever pass through this head of curls today," Mary remarked, wishing to strip herself now of her latest façade.
"We are here," Georgiana stopped, unaware of Mary's previous statement. "There is much assortment, and if we do not find a dress to your taste here, we most certainly are able to search elsewhere. The day is at your disposal."
"Georgiana Darcy!"
Mrs. Barnaby was a woman with a rounded figure, accumulated after the birth of seven sons. Her inability to produce a daughter provided her with an urge to expand her whims, affections, and compassions to the young girls who entered her store. Occasionally, her son's wives might appear to assist her, for they all were part of the business, but such instances were rare, since Mrs. Barnaby's overzealous persona often arose a feeling of vexation if exposed to her for too long.
"It has been awhile since last I came," Georgiana received the woman's warm hug with pleasure. "I have brought a friend. She is my sister. Her elder sister, Elizabeth, has married my brother, and she is to stay with us for a fortnight, possibly more if I can persuade her."
"Another Bennet?" the woman greeted Mary with just as large of a hug. "Why, if only I had had such luck! Five daughters! And here I am, unable to produce even one. Were not you girls a few years older, I might have paired you up with my boys. They are all married now, which is most unfortunate, since all of the Bennet girls that have come into my acquaintance have been most delightful."
"I am glad that you approve of my family," Mary answered. "And it is a pleasure to meet you."
"Oh, no child, the pleasure is always my own." The woman placed a hand to her heart. "I take much delight in meeting new people, especially young women, for I wish I might call them my own. I so dreadfully wanted a daughter. Of course, Mr. Barnaby never minded such a deprivation, but I suppose most men would have no more want of children after seven sons, especially if the next be a girl. I never had a sister, you see, and I always did want that connection associated with one of the same sex, but such fortune never presented itself in my life. I love my boys, there is no denying that, but how I dote on the idea of having my own girl. Oh, if only Mr. Barnaby had been more willing to have children after Jonathan. It is not as if he is the one to go into labor for the eighth time if ever I had another child."
"Perhaps there is time still to have another child?" Mary suggested, unsure of what she might say to console her.
"But there is never another chance! With my youngest four and twenty, there be no more time to raise children. The only babies I shall be seeing are my grandchildren, and I suppose I might find solace in that, for one of the seven girls should be able to produce me a granddaughter eventually. I dare say I shall spoil her rotten."
Mrs. Barnaby laughed and leaned against the counter, enveloping herself in a moment of silence and dreams for the future before she returned to the reality presented before her. When her eyes fixated upon Mary, she smiled and adjusted the measuring tape she had draped around her neck.
"I suppose I have gone on enough of my dreams, but every one of my customers knows well enough that such occurrences might come along during their visits and that if they wish to avoid them, they need only tell me to cease my rambling." She moved behind the counter and proceeded to bury her hands in a drawer. "I know I placed those pins somewhere in here. It is of the greatest necessity that I clean out these drawers. I do not even recall last I organized this area. I certainly neglected my poor workstation most terribly."
"She enjoys talking, whether it is to someone or herself." Georgiana whispered. "She does not expect us to stand and listen. We may go off and look at the gowns, if you wish."
"Please, take me away." Mary gave the babbling woman one last look of bemusement before following Georgiana to the opposite end of the store. "She is certainly one of the most colorful woman I have ever met, and I cannot bear to imagine what cacophony might arise if ever she comes into acquaintance with mama."
"Can you imagine, Edward?" Mary could hear the door slam open. "The carriage breaks and we are struck in a town we wish not be to in, and then, after a day, decide to stay a bit longer. It is the most ironic thing, I do declare."
"You truly are binding me against my will, dear sister." a young man laughed. "For I was in much haste to make it to London."
"Whatever for?" the woman questioned. "Our home may wait a few more days, I know not what the fuss is all about."
"There is nothing you might possibly say to provide me with any inclination to tell you," he laughed once more. "For the business is a private one, and one in which no amount of carping or cajoling may produce."
"Whatever may suit your fancy, for I am through with the matter."
"My, one would think that they own the store." Georgiana remarked to Mary. "I can hear them going on from across the store."
"And I cannot hear you?" the girl's voice grew louder. "Honestly, the rude and arrogant people of this town! Whyever did we enter this wretched place? I suppose one cannot expect much from a town who wishes to appear to be high and mighty. It is a town full of people too poor to afford life in London, so I suppose I should not have expected any better."
"Unfortunate for her that our family's fortune extends to a lovely estate in London, as it does to my Aunt's estate in Rosings." Georgiana challenged, and such a change passed over this young woman that she grew red in the face with exasperation. "But there be no reason to prove anything, when I am quite confident that no such simpleton could possibly be in possession of a fortune that exceeds my own."
"Do you hear her, Edward? She has the audacity…"
"Do not get so riled up in matters…"
"For heavens sake, allow me to finish my statements. I do not think she might possibly think her better endowed than we, but we need not pay heed to her remarks when I am certain we are richer."
"Those with the money can afford to be taught proper manners and etiquette," Georgiana replied. "And such intricate delicacies are obviously lacking when one takes it upon themselves to boast of riches and wealth and allow themselves to be perceived as discourteous and uncouth."
"I am through with her!" a door came to a slam.
"And I did not think Derbyshire had its own fulfillment of excitement," Mary laughed. "Nor did I think I would ever see Georgiana Darcy grow angered by the presence of a silly girl. Why, I wonder how you survived and maintained such tolerance with my younger sisters visiting Pemberley."
"Georgiana?"
A young man emerged from behind a display of some gowns.
"Edward? Edward Pendleton?" Georgiana grinned and skipped towards him, her previous anger long dissipated. "Whatever brings you to Derbyshire? You are certainly a long way from home."
"I have had my fair share of trips to London. I am off to take my sister to London, for she was bored of life up North. I apologize for her behavior."
"She is very silly, Edward. I did not think your own sister capable of a display of such ridiculousness."
"Those with nothing to boast of themselves must seek approval through the materialism that thrives in society," Mary remarked, her need to remind display herself surpassing her want to remain silent. "When there be nothing to recommend yourself to another, one must then begin the praise of such things as wealth and to say such praise with a haughty condescension so that they can be nothing but unappealing."
"I doubt that was my sister's intentions."
"She intended to appear superior, and her only such means might have been through her own family's fortune," Mary challenged the man. "Unfortunately for her, she appeared very puerile."
"Who are you?" he demanded. "I do not wish to debate, believe me my intentions are quite peaceful. I mean only to say greetings to an old friend and make amends for my sister's behavior, for it was inappropriate."
"Inappropriate? I thought her quite friendly, did you not, Georgiana?" Mary was in no mood for such delays in the task at hand, when she wished to depart away as soon as possible. "You may catch yourself up with your old acquaintance, Georgiana, but I shall now decide upon a gown, if you might allow it."
"Most certainly," Georgiana nodded before turning to converse with the man with a smile.
"And the dream is shattered into reality," Mary shook her head. "No amount of powder and paint might conceal my character of chastising."
8
Edward Pendleton was a young man of mid-twenties, whose parents had passed when he was eighteen and left him with a vast fortune and two estates in Northern and Southern England. He had grown up in the country up North in Yorkshire, where he was left to spend dull days of the summer in town with country boys, investing his time in play in the North York moors or afternoons at the South bay in Scarborough. Though he was undeniably a gentleman, he had a boyish air about him only bestowed upon him through his youth in surroundings of a country life and not that of noble gentility.
He had come into the acquaintance of Georgiana Darcy when he had first moved to his London estate with his sister when he had turned twenty. There with her Aunt, Georgiana had met him at a supper with the Dorchester's of London and he had become particularly favorable with her Aunt. He had been a frequent visitor of Rosings when she was younger, though it was not until a year ago that they began to develop their own relationship.
As Georgiana giggled with her new friend, Mary went to the far corner of the store, her previous fervor macerated with her frustration. She could have remained patient when he arrived and allowed Georgiana her reunion, but she had felt the need to recommend herself before her friend did by pursuing some display of intellect or wit, rather than win his acquaintance with her newly developed beauty. Unfortunately, Mr. Pendleton had not taken an interest in Mary's remarks, and the stab at her pride shattered her previous enhancement of confidence provided by her sudden transfiguration into a belle. The minute interest Mary had in remaining in town was gone, and she wished to find a gown and be rid of this adventure, for it had provided her with nothing but the usual disappointment.
"Is there a gown that you are particularly interested in?" Mrs. Barnaby approached Mary with a smile. "A certain style or color that you wish to have?"
"Perhaps you might find some gowns to recommend me, to help me decide? I have not the slightest inclination as to what I desire of a gown."
"Of course, child." Mrs. Barnaby nodded. "How about you change in the room in the back and I shall find you some gowns that will make you a star?"
"Any dress will do, I need not something extraordinary."
Left in a corset in a back room, Mary tried dress after dress, and grew impatient at all the bright gowns that stuck out with fabric overlapping in bundles and ribbons trailing down her back. Her desire for a simple gown was in vain, for Mrs. Barnaby always produced a gown as elaborate as the next. After a dozen dresses were tried, Mary demanded that she had no need of a dress that recommended herself in such splendor and wished for only a simple gown that was not bright, nor possessed more ribbons than she could count, or enough fabric and lace to render her immobile.
Mrs. Barnaby did as she was instructed and obtained a gown of a deep sapphire blue, and one in which Mary could not have matched in her mind. Though a simple gown of silk, with no layers of fabric to create an over accentuated, curvaceous figure, the slim gown hugged her body, and fell in a deep pool of fabric at her feet, trailing behind her a deep ocean. Straps fell off her small shoulders to the side, and the top lining of the gown was cast in small crystals that shimmered and sparkled, playing small lights across the exposed skin of her collarbone. The only ribbon of the dress tied at the waist accentuated a rather large ribbon in the small of her back that fell to the bottom of her dress and trailed behind her with the train.
"Heavens child, I do not think there could be a finer match for you." Mrs. Barnaby breathed. "You be a fine piece of heaven for some young man, I am sure of it. Why, I already thought you handsome enough walking through my door today with dear Georgiana, but now it is with the utmost certainty that I do not think I have seen a finer looking young woman before in my entire life."
"I do appreciate your appraisal," Mary set a hand to her hart, looking down at the sparkling fabric her fingers traced and back at her reflection. "But I am not handsome lady, especially the most handsome."
"Nonsense," Mrs. Barnaby replied. "You look like a queen in all her regality, poise, and magnificence."
"I am but a dream," Mary sighed at her reflection. "A blissful, silly dream."
"Mary!" Jane exclaimed when she entered where she and Mr. Bingley sat reading. "My, just look at you!"
"Thank you," Mary smiled weakly. "It is certainly a lovely mask, do you not think?"
"A mask, heavens, this is you, dear." Jane laughed and rose to give her sister a hug. "You look absolutely beautiful, Mary."
"It does surprise me how young ladies can always manage to become more handsome," Mr. Bingley laughed. "You look exquisite."
"Oh, I can only imagine what mama would think!" Jane held Mary's face in her hands. "You look as you have always done, and yet there is something new about you."
"Be it my hair and this paint?" Mary suggested.
"Shall you be doing yourself up as you have today for the ball?" Jane inquired. "I do not think you to have an ounce of difficulty at the ball to find a partner, looking as you do today."
"I think I shall not put myself through such trouble again," Mary replied.
"Whyever not?" Georgiana walked through the door. "You look marvelous today, Mary, and all the looks you received today! Was it not nice to have?"
"I would much prefer to recommend myself through presenting myself as I am."
"Mary, darling," Jane held Mary's hand and led her to sit beside her. "Do not think that by a bit of powder and some more curls, you are an entirely new person. Believe me, you shall forevermore be the Mary we all love and adore, no matter if you do nothing at all to your appearance, or spend hours to perfect it."
"Perfection cannot be achieved by the enhancement of beauty," Mary pursed her lips at the thought. "What an abominable ideal!"
"You need not do a bit more to yourself for the ball."
"I fear I shall have a miserable time."
"Oh, no, Mary, I shall make it pleasant for you." Georgiana reassured. "You shall dance until you cannot feel your feet, and meet the most delightful people! And you shall look stunning and enjoy your time immensely."
"For the lack of feeling in my body and the acquaintance of such people as that woman at Mrs. Barnaby's is certainly the best I may possibly ask for at a ball," Mary looked away to avoid the expressions of all in the room. "I wish much more for books and a comfortable chair in which to retire myself for a day."
"Goodness, is that all?" Georgiana laughed. "Why, Mary, if that was all that you desired, you need only tell me! Pemberley is known for its library. It is one of the finest, and with such a grandiose collection, you are sure to find a book to your liking."
"The majority of fine literature is to my liking."
"Perhaps I might take you there for the remainder of the day?" Georgiana proposed.
"It is the first proposal you have made to day that I am most willing to comply to."
AN: I hope these past two chapters were to your liking. Next two chapters are the Pemberley ball. Do not forget to review about what you thoughtof it all. It is all taken in with much appreciation.