Darcy excused himself almost as soon as their dance had ended, an image of Elizabeth's displeased face stuck in his head. Perhaps Elizabeth - Miss Elizabeth - had not told him all the details of what had occurred between Colonel Fitzwilliam and her sister, but Darcy was sure he could get his cousin to explain just as easily.
He didn't want to ruin her mood any further by discussing his cousin's uncommon incivility. Not until he knew something more of the situation.
His cousin must have had some idea of Darcy's mood for he was smiling placatingly before Darcy had even reached him.
"To what do I owe the honour of dragging you away from your Miss Elizabeth?" His teasing words had only little of the effect he had obviously wanted. But they did still bring some softness to Darcy's otherwise intimidating feature.
"She's not my Miss Elizabeth." He responded far more quietly, allowing himself a glance back in her direction, not realising that he automatically smiled as he did so. Still, for someone who had been criticising someone else's manners, Colonel Fitzwilliam certainly wasn't displaying his own sense of propriety perfectly. Darcy didn't want suppositions of Elizabeth and him be bandied around as gossip.
He didn't want her to be accidentally entrapped into having to marry him against her own will - not that that would be likely of course. The people here were not so malicious as the society mamas that town provided.
Richard simply raised an eyebrow somewhat doubtfully, as though he were amused by the proclamation. "Nonetheless, Darcy. My question still remains."
Darcy searched for a way to bring the topic about inoffensively, but struggled somewhat. "What did you say to Miss Lydia Bennet?" He realised that the blunt question was the only way he could approach the problem. His cousin's confused expression reminded him of the necessity of a little more clarification. "When we visited them last week I mean."
Richards face creased into a frown as he obviously considered his reply. "I suggested that she could show more propriety in public – nothing else really. Why?" The words were muttered quietly enough that even Darcy struggled to make them out. Nonetheless Darcy began to move to a more private space, letting his cousin follow him.
Darcy waited until the door to Netherfield's library shut behind him before he replied. "Can you not see how impolite such a gesture is? How hurtful it could be?" Darcy could only imagine Georgiana's face if such a thing had been said to her. Perhaps Lydia Bennet was not so very like his own sister, but the same feelings could still be felt couldn't they?
"I was kind about it." His cousin protested firmly. Darcy didn't fight with Richard often – he didn't want to start now.
"I'm sure you were." The words were honest on Darcy's part, and he could see the immediate effect they had on his cousin. "But don't you remember how Georgiana reacts every time she is exposed to Aunt Catherine. And she is family – so the blow should surely be less."
Georgiana was one of the few people that their Aunt actually endeavoured to be nice too – instead of simply commanding her about. And still, her very muted comments and criticisms had always been enough to seriously dampen Georgie's spirits.
Richard sighed, thoughtfully. "I was nowhere near as offensive as Aunt Catherine." It was merely a statement; Richard wasn't even trying to make it a defence. "And I meant well."
Darcy nodded. He couldn't imagine any reason for his cousin to have acted if he hadn't justified it with that. The Colonel was, and had always been, a good man.
"To be honest, I was half expecting you to take yourself away from them – considering your descriptions of their behaviour."
It was a frank statement, and parts of it echoed in some of Darcy's own thoughts from so short a time ago. He had considered leaving for that reason only a week or two ago – now he didn't think he would be able to leave unless Elizabeth told him that he would never have a chance with her. And maybe not even then.
"After all," Richard continued, not noticing that Darcy was lost in his own thoughts. "You have done the same for Bingley over less – I was almost wondering if you wanted me to persuade you to leave her." Darcy's brain cleared at that.
He had separated Bingley from unfortunate affections before – but that had always been because the ladies had only been after his money, and hadn't seemed to care for Charles himself at all. He would never think of taking him away from Miss Bennet – not when they were so suited to each other.
"I daresay," Richard smiled somewhat teasingly. "It is what you would have done for me."
Darcy didn't think so. It couldn't be true could it?
But of course, if Richard had written to him to tell him of such a situation – if the family had been the same – how else would he have reacted?
The fact that he couldn't answer himself scared him more than almost anything.
"But I am sorry if I did upset them..." Darcy could hardly attend to Richard's conversation, even though he willingly followed him back into the crowds of the ball. How could he have ever thought to cause other people pain in that way? What sort of gentleman did that make him?
.
Richard had left his cousin to his musings – for he could see that something he had said had had some kind of effect on Darcy, but what and why wasn't immediately clear to him. More, trying to understand the other man's moods had always been somewhat tricky, and he was sure there were numerous better ways to spend his time.
It was for that purpose that he had headed towards Miss Elizabeth Bennet and her friend. He had realised that it was likely that they already had partners as they were just about to line up for the dances, but he could still hope.
After all, if Darcy was so concerned, that could only mean that Miss Elizabeth was concerned. And if Richard had accidentally wounded her, he meant to apologise. After all, he shared Georgiana's belief that that Miss Bennet might shortly become Mrs Darcy.
It transpired however that she was already about to dance with Mr Bingley and so instead he found himself asking her friend to dance. Miss Lucas seemed almost surprised to be asked – something that Richard found odd, for, although perhaps she didn't have the angelic looks of Miss Bennet, she was still pretty, in her own way. Richard would have expected her to have been begged to dance just as much as Miss Elizabeth.
Their conversation was polite and easy – if very different to the one that the Colonel had had the dance before with Miss Lydia. The younger girl had been making a point of being so very polite that the Colonel had almost felt that she had been making fun of him – although he had had nothing to justify that notion.
Miss Lucas on the other hand could simply hold up conversation in the way that only those who are truly intelligent and well informed could. Her conversation was indeed far better than almost anyone that Richard had met in town, and he found his previous admiration of her only growing.
"Colonel," She said suddenly, after they had had a short gap in their conversation. "May I ask something quite forward?"
Richard agreed, more out of curiosity than anything else.
"What did you do to discompose Mr Darcy so?" Colonel Fitzwilliam was so surprised by the question that he neglected to answer for a moment or two. "I mean, you had less than five minutes in conversation – so it is quite an achievement."
"Why do you ask?" Richard had meant his return to come out with far more of a teasing element than he had managed.
"I suppose it is Elizabeth's fault – in many ways." The colonel waited for her to elaborate, barely giving Miss Lucas the benefit of changing his own expression beyond lifting a single eyebrow. "Firstly, because she is always disposed to be slightly too impertinent, but secondly, and somewhat more importantly, because I would like to follow her lead and sketch the character of a man who seems to have a great interest in her."
"That is very loyal." He hadn't meant to make the remark out loud. But he was glad he had, for it meant he discovered that the demure Miss Lucas could blush – even if it was only a slight change in her appearance. "But it was nothing of consequence, I assure you."
"I don't think that I am that loyal – after all, Lizzy is far more so." Miss Lucas smiled at the thought of her friend. "She has always had this terrible habit of forming grudges against people who hurt her friends and holding onto them even when the injured party has moved on – I've always thought that is loyal. If very impractical."
Richard couldn't help but consider how similar that would make her to Darcy – Darcy was rarely angered by people's misconduct to himself, but the moment they threatened Georgie, Bingley or even Richard himself, he became utterly unreasonable.
"I don't think being sensible in such situations is such a bad thing, Miss Lucas." He offered, hoping to get her back into good cheer. "It is certainly helps mere mortals understand what they have done wrong." Because her words did explain a lot – now he only needed to get the youngest Miss Bennet to persuade Miss Elizabeth not to hate him.
He liked Pemberley too much to risk staying permanently out of favour with the woman who had gained his cousin's attentions.
.
Lydia most uncommonly found herself alone in the heart of a ball. Of course, she was sure that she could find herself company if she so chose – but for once, she wasn't sure if she minded being left alone.
She had had dances for every set – and there was something strange about the way that the men were acting around her, that she couldn't quite get her mind around. It was almost as though they were treating her – more kindly?
But that didn't make any sense, because no one had ever been unkind before.
The trouble was that the distinction was almost impossible to make – but she could feel that it was there. And more, she wasn't sure if she minded that the gentlemen were acting differently.
After all, Mr Goulding – who wasn't an officer so she wouldn't have even considered dancing with him before she had decided to try to be more respectable – had asked her to dance. He hadn't known her for years – Lydia couldn't remember exactly when it must have been that he had left, but she felt sure he was a year or two older than Jane, so it could have been a good long while – and, he must have thought that this demureness - or her version of it - was how she acted all the time.
He must have believed that she really was as dignified and polite as Lizzy and Jane.
And he was so attentive – he had been surprised that she was no long the little rascal she had used to be. He must have last known her when she was young enough that she had still been deliberately losing ribbons every time she had accidentally damaged her clothes – that had been a brilliant ruse, if Lydia could say so of something of her own creation, for her tears over the lost ribbons had always distracted her mother enough that Mrs Bennet had never thought to ask why Lydia's petticoats were stained with mud.
It had allowed Lydia and Kitty to run around the fields as they would – or at least until they became mature enough to realise that that was not half so interesting or funny as talking to other people.
The worst thing was, from Lydia's point of view at any rate, that when Mr Goulding next met them, if she wasn't still ladylike, he would realise how she had deceived him and think that she was even more childish than he probably already did.
For some reason the thought of his reaction to that didn't amuse her as much as she wanted it to.
Anyway, it was fun, she had discovered, to be able to tease people and to be more subtle about things. It was more of a challenge to get people to laugh and smile when she couldn't be as exuberant as she normally was. And it had been unbearably amusing when she had been in conversations with Colonel Fitzwilliam and Mr Collins and watching them squirm to find ways to continue a conversation with her when she was being so very polite.
Lydia suddenly caught sight of Kitty again, and she found her smile returning as she quickly hurried across to talk to her sister. She had barely seen Kitty at all – Kitty had been almost constantly surrounded by admirers once Lydia hadn't been there. They were all attracted by her sweet and welcoming smile and the fact that she did look particularly pretty today.
Perhaps that was a disadvantage of them being too polite – they couldn't get the less pleasant gentlemen to leave them alone so easily.
It was strange though, that that was the only advantage to her normal behaviour that Lydia could think of. But she was sure it was just the noise of the ball. She'd remember some other ones soon no doubt.