chapter 4: the ball continues
the poor ton couldn't suffer any more than that day. when they heard the waltz music, they were already scandalized, but the thing that was really shocking happened at the next moment: they saw mr. fitzwilliam darcy of pemberley, derbyshire( with his ten thousand pounds income a year) walking towards the dance floor, taking the hand of lady elizabeth spencer(with her sixty thousand pounds dowry). the whole ton gaped at the couple like fish out of water. elizabeth smirked and darcy uncomfortably twitched his lips at the public attention paid to them. then darcy bravely put his hand on elizabeth's waist to the ton's astonishment. and elizabeth, with no great struggle, rested her hand on darcy's shoulder to another wave of astonishment. all the ladies present were covering their mouths with delicate handkerchief to hide their enormous envy and astonishment. and the gentlemen present were all jealous of darcy's good fortune of having lady elizabeth as a dance partner. "it looks like that we are the only ones dancing at the moment" said elizabeth. "indeed." replied darcy gravely with his usual monosyllable answer. he had hoped to make amends to lady elizabeth during the dance, but now, the lady and himself are at the center of everyone's attention, the exact situation to make darcy's countenance even darker, an outsider might interpret it as reluctance to dance in general, but elizabeth misinterpreted as a reluctance to dance with her.
so elizabeth felt what every lady in this situation would've felt, she felt insulted and reddened at this insult. while darcy did not notice this, the old duke remarked on this and chuckled to himself. young darcy is obviously attracted by his daughter but was unwilling to show it, and now he would have a long way on pursuing elizabeth, after all, being the father of elizabeth, he understood every bit of her personality and she is not one to be easily swayed once decided on one opinion.
darcy felt the awkwardness between him and elizabeth and decided to make some conversation while suffering this dance. so he started talking about the universally agreeable topic-- the weather. "it seems that recently london has been under much rain shower and clouds, but i believe we can expect some sunshine in the next few days. what says you, lady spencer?" elizabeth was thankful for the endeavour of conversation on darcy's part even though she still has no heart to forgive him. but she decided that she would be gracious. " i agree with your opinion on this matter, mr. darcy. the weather in london is always thus so, a week or two of rain and clouds, and then several days of sunshine. i do believe i shall enjoy the sunshine immensely in the next few days."
luckily for the two of them, the dance struck its last note when elizabeth's finished her sentence. they bowed and curtsied to each other politely, but absent-mindedly. to avoid the attention people were giving them, darcy turned to elizabeth and said grimly," will you give me the pleasure of escorting you to the punch table, lady spencer?"
elizabeth knew exactly that it was not a compliment that it was not a compliment to herself but a way to avoid the crowd. " coward, what is all the wealth in the world if one is afraid of the ton." elizabeth fumed, i will only take his offer now because of the attention people are giving me, nothing more. so she coldly took his arm and went in the direction of the punch table.
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darcy was surprised, even with a title and a vast dowry, many women would stoop down to him, but lady spencer was an exception, she didn't seem to mind his fortune one bit and seemed to be quite angry with him. just then, darcy realized that he hadn't apologized yet, which was the main goal of dancing with lady elizabeth.
so instead of taking lady spencer to the punch table, darcy led her into the dark music room. when he turned her towards him, he could see that lady elizabeth was more than angry, she was trembling with fury of his presumption and nearly erupted. before lady elizabeth could accuse him of anything. darcy spoke," do not fear madam, for i won't do you harm, i only wish to clear some things that you may have misunderstood. first, it is in my understanding that you have misheard my unfortunate comment about you being an enchantress. i apologize wholeheartedly for that. i was not in the best of moods this evening when i came, so i said some things that i later regretted." after saying all of this out loud in one breath, darcy finally felt the burden being lifted from his shoulders.
elizabeth was all astonishment! she never expected the proud nonchalant darcy to apologize, and that was a step towards reconciliation. after a moment of pause, elizabeth nodded her head slowly and said," yes, i shall forgive you." " shall i take this as an offer of civility?" elizabeth asked drily. darcy, who was taken aback by himself, laughed. he laughed at lady elizabeth's sense of humour, which showed his own well-hidden humour and dimples. " he looks much younger and more handsome when he laughs, he really should do that more often." elizabeth thought to herself, and then chided herself for having such thoughts.
when elizabeth has gathered her thoughts and sense together, she smiled at darcy for the first time in their acquaintance and asked him to go back to the ball room with her.