The final countdown!
Chapter 55: Pemberley Fittings
Derbyshire, Pemberley, Sunday the sixteenth August. Twelfth day.
The next encounter was much less pleasant.
Fitzwilliam Darcy was standing in the corridor just in front of Jane's bedroom.
Thank Heaven, thought d'Arcy, I'm completely dressed and perfectly groomed.
He smiled at his cousin and bowed.
"Cousin, nice to see you. You wouldn't have seen Miss Bennet? I'm desperately searching for her. We have so much to decide for our wedding..."
Fitzwilliam shot him a scornful glance and his lips twitched in a forced smile.
"In your despair you've probably moved the furniture in there. I've been waiting here a while..."
"I did what I had to do, cousin. Not all members of our family can afford to be careless..."
Fitzwilliam's eyes darkened even more.
"What are you hinting at, pray?"
D'Arcy forced himself to relax. If that arrogant prick went on in that same tone, the only way to have a double wedding would be for Elizabeth to marry him...
"Am I hinting at something? I don't think so. I'm uttering tr..."
"Haaa!" came a forceful and joyous voice from their side. "Both my sons, dressed, groomed and ready! What a happy coincidence, I was looking for you..."
They both turned toward Mr. Bennet and bowed.
He bowed –sort of– back and came between them.
"Jane just told me the marvelous surprise you managed, monsieur d'Arcy. My two eldest are both quite excited and never ever did I see them as happy as this morning. I'm even inclined to forgive you for your unsatisfactory habit to of making decisions without conferring with your elders..."
He smiled at d'Arcy and tapped him on the chest.
"That will have to change, monsieur mon fils (1), especially in family matters! You wouldn't imagine Lizzie's despair this very morning when she believed that you postponed her marriage for just the petty reason of brotherly competition..."
He flashed a smile at Fitzwilliam.
"I even do believe that Fitzwilliam was, for a short moment, persuaded that you did it only to make him mad at you..."
He looked back at d'Arcy.
"Which, as we know now, has never been the case. It was a little confusing but one must admit that you have that very uncommon gift of managing astounding surprises, my son... A real gift, there..."
He grabbed both his sons by their arms and pulled them toward the staircase.
"It was really one of their greatest wishes to be married the same day, monsieur d'Arcy. I don't know how you got that very private information but I must say that it will be, for years to come, one of the best surprises ever managed." He shot him a reproachful look. "Had you just taken into account that we old people love to be able to prepare ourselves in time..."
"I did give you more time to prepare, not less..." protested d'Arcy.
"Indeed," acknowledged Mr. Bennet. "But neglecting to give us the exact hour of the wedding has left us all a little shaken. Even I had a few doubts... I caught myself really wondering if the wedding would take place and when..."
D'Arcy got the hint and accepted the rebuke.
"I'm sorry if I worried you. As you have noticed it's quite a second nature for me to surprise my fellow human beings. I'm always seeking the advantage that will give me a better and shorter battle..."
"And in military and political matters that's a very good thing, but when family is involved, you should be a little more careful..."
He placed his hand on his heart.
"I'm an old frail man, I could have had a heart attack..."
"As I said, I'm sorry. It won't happen again..."
Mr. Bennet shot him a grateful smile and changed the subject.
"Do you have a preference as to your position?"
"As to my position?"
Mr. Bennet seemed a little surprised.
"Of course your position. At the right or at the left? As you probably know I'll bring both my daughters at the same time to the altar."
He beamed proudly.
"It will be quite a spectacle you can believe me. One being as beautiful as the other..."
He sighed happily before coming back to the problem at hand.
Which was no problem at all but everything was better than letting those two cockerels alone and fighting.
"And one of you will be waiting at the right of the altar while the other will be waiting at the left. As the eldest of my future sons in law, I supposed you would like to have the first choice..."
D'Arcy shook his head.
"It doesn't matter, let the master of Pemberley choose!" said he. "He will have to live here and he will probably want to use that opportunity to present the mistress of Pemberley to those people of import. He has better knowledge of such things here."
Fitzwilliam shot a surprised glance in his direction and nodded.
"Then I'll take the right," said he. "I'll be facing the important people of the County. It will be noticed!"
"Capital, indeed Capital," said Mr. Bennet in a perfect impersonation of Sir Lucas. "What would you say if we got something resembling a breakfast? The wedding being postponed to two o'clock I do believe I will last until what will now be a wedding lunch." he smiled at his sons. "Shall we go?"
"Impossible!" said Mrs. Reynolds.
"Unseemly!" added Mrs. Bennet and Mary nodded vehemently.
"Shocking, even!" frowned Mrs. Gardiner.
"Surprising, I would say..." commented Lizzie.
"I like it..." exclaimed Kitty.
"It's extraordinary," lauded Lydia. "That man is a genius even in woman's fashion! If Jane hadn't already drawn him into her snares, I would be volunteering..."
Georgiana was just blushing.
Jane looked back at the women folk commenting on her dress.
"How is it? Let me see! Lydia, do uncover that mirror!"
"No you don't," said Mrs. Bennet in an unnaturally forceful voice.
Jane turned around and shot an angry look at her mother.
"I want to see, Mama. After all it's me who is going to wear that dress! I have a right to know..."
Her mother made a face.
"As for wearing that, nothing's sure, yet, dear! I'm still thinking of putting my veto on that show..."
Jane gritted her teeth and looked toward heavens.
"Mama, if you do not uncover it, I swear that I walk directly to the great hall to look at myself in the great mirror there!"
That was a threat indeed and after a few moment's thought she nodded to Lydia who literally flew to the mirror.
Two seconds later Jane could see her –naked– back in the mirror's image.
"Oooh... I see..."
"Indeed," said her mother. "And the problem is that you are not the only one who'll see..."
"Come on," said Lydia. "That dress is wonderfully fitted and never would I have thought that seeing a back could be so..."
"Don't say an unseemly word," intruded Mary. "That dress is a whor... Ribble thing!"
For a second it was Mary and not the dress who was the center of everybody's –frowning– attention.
Mrs. Bennet was the first to go back to the problem at hand.
"Well let's be organized."
She looked at the seamstresses.
"Can you arrange it?"
All three shook their heads.
The head seamstress sighed.
"It's in and out silk, Ma'am. We would destroy it if we fumbled with it. Never did I see a more delicate sewing job. I couldn't have done it."
"So it will not be possible to change it..."
"Could you change mine to have the same cut as Jane's," asked Lydia. "I'd love it..."
The seamstress opened her mouth to answer but a dark look from all the matrons in the room showed her that an answer was not really required.
"One must say that it is not ugly," commented Mrs. Gardiner. "I wouldn't have thought that shoulder blades could be so handsomely shown off..."
"My Jane is an exceptionally beautiful woman" agreed Mrs. Bennet with a proud smile. "I always knew that she was not so beautiful for nothing..."
"But it is cut way too low..." said Mrs. Reynolds.
"I don't think so," added Lydia as usual unaware of the black looks shot at her. "There's no chance to even guess her..."
"Don't say it," cut in Mrs. Gardiner while advancing and measuring by putting her hand on Jane's back.
Jane blushed furiously when she felt her aunt's hand. Not because she was ashamed of that touch but because she was just imagining his hand at just that special spot. He would not stop there. He would...
"Jane," shouted her mother who seemed to have acquired enhanced gifts recently, "please, be serious. We are gathering to make an important decision not to let you fantasize about your wedding night..."
That brought a nervous look exchange between Mrs. Bennet, Gardiner and Reynolds.
There was also that!
God, they would never be ready in time!
"It explains the cape..." said Lizzie who was smothering a smile.
"What cape?" asked Mrs. Reynolds.
"That cape, ma'am," answered the youngest of the seamstresses showing a white silk bundle. "It was in another box..."
"It can probably be clipped somewhere," said Lydia clapping her hands. "What a wonderful idea, Jane. Imagine yourself waltzing like mad and the cape flowing and your back showing and his hands..."
"Lydia!"
That one came from everybody save Kitty and Jane.
"...Holding you chastely," ended she shooting rebellious glances at everybody.
"And then there's the train," added Elizabeth making no effort to smother her new smile. "It can probably be clipped in the same fashion as the cape. So you'll have your back covered whenever you want..."
"And free whenever you want it too," added Lydia with the same rebellious air.
This time, since she was clearly goading them, nobody reacted.
Except Mrs. Bennet who shot her a dark look.
"Another remark like that and the session is canceled for everybody under twenty."
There was a chorus of protests coming from said everybody, Mary included.
"No negotiations here," insisted their mother while looking at Lydia. "And if you do not behave properly, you won't be Jane's bridesmaid. Nobody knows of it so nobody will be upset by not seeing you in the church..."
Now, that was a real threat and Lydia immediately bit down another comment.
It was clear that her comments would no longer be welcomed and so she went into pouting with her usual efficiency.
Mrs. Bennet sighed heavily.
"I must say that I'm quite upset with monsieur d'Arcy. What this young man believes he can ask of my Jane is preposterous."
"He is French," said Mrs. Gardiner. "They do not think the same way we do. Even their bloody revolution didn't cure them of that fault..."
She snorted.
"But I fear we will have no real choice there. We have no substitute, have we?"
The head seamstress made a grimace.
"One of Miss Bennet's white dresses could be remade. But it would never be as beautiful as this one." She looked at the dress with admiring eyes.
"It's just perfect, Ma'am. It fits as if it was painted on Miss Bennet. It would be a crime not to use it..."
"And there's the cape," insisted Elizabeth who clearly was in favor of d'Arcy's dress. It was a beautiful dress and it was clear that the bridegroom went to great lengths to have it made. "With the cape, it's quite seemly..."
"And they look so complementary," said Kitty. "One could believe they have been done by the same seamstress..."
The head seamstress could only nod. Had she such an aide, her business would blossom.
And, indeed, both dresses, seen from the front were perfect matches. White with color inlays that were symmetrical and in matching shades of color but perfectly accommodating to the brides' differences...
"I wonder how he knows everything about everyone," said Mrs. Gardiner. "He seems to have spies everywhere..."
"He gets results," agreed Mrs. Bennet. "And I'm very proud he fell in love with my dear Jane."
She looked at her eldest.
"Jane, dear, we haven't heard you. What would you do?"
Jane who wished and feared that exact question was very ready to answer it.
She loved the dress and she loved even more the fact that to undress she had only to pull and to slide out of it.
It would be marvelously easy to...
She blushed and remembered her mother's question.
"I'm not sure we have a choice, mother. How would he react if I were to refuse to wear the dress he had made for me..."
Now, that was an argument no one could overlook.
Indeed, how would he take it if he were to be so publicly spurned.
Mother and daughter exchanged a long look and they both knew the truth at once.
"That's a real argument," said Mrs. Bennet surrendering to her daughter's wishes. "I fear we should take it into account. We wouldn't want to upset monsieur d'Arcy, now would we?"
All could but agree.
It would, indeed, have been a bad idea to upset monsieur d'Arcy.
After a few seconds turmoil, Mrs. Bennet looked at her sister and at Mrs. Reynolds. They both nodded.
"Well," said Mrs. Bennet. "Everybody under twenty out!" She looked at Jane and sighed.
"Jane, dear, I'm sorry for hurrying everything up, but we need to speak to you. There are a few things you need to know before this evening and you need to know them now!"
The youngest went out giggling and Elizabeth looked as if she didn't know where to go.
"Stay, Lizzie. You won't have anything to say but your presence will help to soothe your sister's nerves..."
Elizabeth sought Jane's eyes and they both smiled. They had spoken the evening before and the
prenuptial meeting had been, of course, a part of it.
And a very amusing part, indeed...
And one point was quite certain, Jane wouldn't have to be as prudent as she, since, for all she new, nothing definite had happened between her and d'Arcy.
Mrs. Bennet clapped her hands.
"Let's begin, we have no more time to waste..."
1 / Best translated with 'my dear son' but in a more formal and aristocratic way of address
Next chapter: Weddings