Sorry for the delay. I should be able to get back on track now (hopefully). Hope you like it.
Mrs Bennet turned to her daughter – for she had noticed Lizzy's arrival at supper even as she had been trying to back out of the conversation she was in. It was difficult though – for Mrs Bennet didn't want to appear rude, and she been trying to be friendly when she had asked Mrs Goulding about her son – but after hearing about his many virtues, followed closely by the prospects of the Miss Gouldings, Mrs Bennet was ready for a more interesting conversation.
She might have also had a stray thought about whether that was how everyone else perceived speaking to her – but it seemed far too contemplative for a lively event like a ball. Her attention was quickly occupied though by the other company that her daughter had unwittingly brought. For across from them sat Mary and Mr Darcy, and Colonel Fitzwilliam was heading towards his cousin with such a single minded purpose that Mrs Bennet was almost positive that he would join them too.
Mrs Bennet smiled at Mary happily, searching for a topic of conversation – for she didn't want to distract her other daughter from the attention that she and Mr Darcy appeared to be showering upon each other, even if both were doing so in such a way that it seemed unlikely that they realised the other was doing the same.
It was almost unfortunate really that it would be at this ball – when she had promised Lydia (and herself) not to talk about her daughter's potential suitors – that Mr Darcy should decide to show such a marked interest in Lizzy. Why, even Lady Lucas had mentioned it – in between crowing about the fact that Charlotte had danced the first three dances with the three most influential men in the room.
Lady Lucas had made it very clear that she thought Charlotte was far better off without having to resort to the attentions of Mr Collins to fill up her dances. Mrs Bennet had borne that comment in silence of course; she hadn't wanted to cause a scene as she might have done in her youth. Still it had made it that much harder when she couldn't reply to the other woman with a similar tone – when she couldn't retort something about the fact that Charlotte was not on the verge of marrying a wealthy and immensely amiable young man.
"Georgiana is well." The Colonel said softly as he took a seat beside Mr Darcy. Mrs Bennet wouldn't have understood him at all had she not been looking directly at him as he spoke.
Mr Darcy for his part smiled ever so slightly and nodded.
"It is a shame that Miss Darcy couldn't join us this evening." She remarked conversationally, making an effort to not draw the attention of anyone outside the immediate party. Neither Mr Darcy nor Colonel Fitzwilliam seemed as though they were the type of people who liked to share their private concerns. "She seemed like a lovely girl."
Miss Darcy had won Mrs Bennet's approval by her evident desire to be friends with Mrs Bennet's daughters. Mrs Bennet had always found herself predisposed to like those who liked her daughters, an unremarkable fact in the scheme of things, but it was also helping her soften her opinion towards Mr Darcy. After all, no matter what he might have said at the Meryton Assembly – and Mrs Bennet still had not entirely forgiven him for that – he had obviously changed his mind now. No man would gaze for so long upon someone who they merely thought was "tolerable enough".
"I do not think she wished to attend Mama." Elizabeth's voice was soft beside her, and it took Mrs Bennet a moment to recollect what her daughter was speaking of. "She is far more shy than Lydia even if she is older."
Mrs Bennet nodded understandingly at that. "I wasn't suggesting she should be pushed into company if she wasn't happy to..." After all, Mrs Bennet had done that to Mary, hoping that that would help her middle daughter to open up and take pleasure in socialising. "It is merely a pity we could not spend time with her."
Mary, of course, had always been too like her father when it came to company. Mrs Bennet sometimes wondered if she had made things worse for her by trying to get her to interact with people. She had asked Mr Bennet about it at first, but he had never been much help – he had claimed that he couldn't understand girls at all, so hadn't thought his opinion should matter.
At least Mary seemed to be becoming more comfortable now – after all, she had danced more dances than she had sat down, hadn't she? For Mary that was almost unheard of.
"So Colonel does our society meet with your approval?" Mrs Bennet asked when a lull fell on the group. The word going around was that the Colonel was the son of an earl – if that were true, and the gossip had a habit of being so in such cases, then that would mean he had to be accustomed to far more sophisticated gatherings then they could offer here.
Colonel Fitzwilliam agreed that it did.
Mr Darcy and Mary and Elizabeth had fallen into an independent conversation and so Mrs Bennet decided to amuse Colonel Fitzwilliam on her own. Mary was quiet enough that Lizzy might be able to have some semblance of a private conversation with her gentleman that way.
"Have you been introduced with everyone you wished, sir?" Mrs Bennet wasn't sure how to make conversation in a way which didn't try to gain attention. She couldn't quite remember how to speak so that it wasn't easy for anyone at all to hear what she was saying. She had started doing that years ago, because it had amused her husband – and herself to a certain extent – but now it seemed strange to do anything else.
Colonel Fitzwilliam for his part smiled happily and agreed once more. "Everyone is certainly very welcoming and kind."
"Well, I am glad you approve." Mrs Bennet couldn't tell how sincere he was; his cheerfulness hid all signs of his true thoughts in a way that Mr Bingley's did not. "Certainly I am very partial to the company here. But I do admit to being a little biased."
Or at least she was partial to most of the company here, her eyes flicked across to where Mrs Lockwood was sitting gossiping away. Normally she wouldn't let the woman bother her, but normally, of course, Mrs Lockwood didn't make comments which were insulting outright. Today, she had been unusually cruel by Mary and it was just one step too far.
Mrs Bennet had acted somewhat impulsively there – and she still doubted whether or not that had been a good idea. She supposed only time would tell.
Somehow though she managed to create an easy enough conversation with Colonel Fitzwilliam, and that kept them amused throughout most of the meal. In fact, Mrs Bennet was fairly certain that she was going to do without any attention at all from either of her daughters or Mr Darcy, until the topic of Charlotte Lucas came up.
"She's a lovely girl of course – and has always been a great friend to my daughters – especially to Lizzy." Mrs Bennet slowly realised that Lizzy was looking at her somewhat curiously. Still, she couldn't do much about it – most of the time she didn't have a single idea about what was passing through Lizzy's brain so it was hardly worth worrying over unduly. "Even if she has always been a bit..."
Mr Darcy's eyes were focussed upon her too. Mrs Bennet honestly couldn't comprehend why. What was it that there were so concerned about her doing?
"Well," It was hard to find a good word for it really. "Weak willed I suppose." Lizzy breathed out audibly. Mrs Bennet tried to imagine what her daughter had been expecting her to say, but her mind came up blank. "She's always seemed so sensible – but the moment Lizzy got a foolish notion in her head, she managed to get Miss Lucas to follow along and join in just the same."
She couldn't help her smile at the thought of that.
Lizzy had always been so headstrong and just on the foolish side of thoughtless.
She had driven them mad with her antics.
"Yes, when they were younger, Lizzy used to drag Charlotte into all sorts of trouble. Lady Lucas used to complain about it constantly." Mrs Bennet found the attention she was being given odd. Most of the time, people almost seemed to be listening only so much so as to figure out how they could best speak of what they wished to discuss. The pair of gentlemen and her daughters seemed to actually be interested in what she was saying – Mrs Bennet couldn't regret that that made her words flow more and more easily. "You might have thought that the influence would work the other way but..." She couldn't help but smile at the memories. "When Lizzy was less than 6 years old – So Charlotte Lucas must have been a clear 13 or so – we discovered them charging through the woods waving sticks around as though they were swords. Worse, of course, was the fact that they were doing this in some breeches that they had "borrowed" from the Lucas'."
Colonel Fitzwilliam and Mr Darcy had both gained smiles – the former's more obvious than Mr Darcy's, but Mrs Bennet was beginning to notice how the latter did show his emotions quite clearly – if you knew what to look for.
Elizabeth for her part had blushed a bright red and, as Mrs Bennet had expected, looked ready to defend herself. "I think that Charlotte said that we would tear our skirts otherwise – I think it seemed more logical that way..."
"Of course it did." Mrs Bennet was still amused by the situation all this time later – when it had happened she had been a little worried of course, but that had been only natural. "Charlotte has always been quite sensible and always thought things through before she acted. She wouldn't be so rash as to tear one of her new gowns." The Colonel chuckled a little at that, his eyes searching out for Miss Lucas, even as Mrs Bennet continued. "Of course, we quite forbid them to continue with this game – they claimed they were being pirates as I remember it – since they had managed to get scratches all over their hands, and it wasn't entirely dignified."
Mrs Bennet had been quite worried about it really. Lizzy had always seemed entirely too prone to doing things that got her in danger.
"And then a week later we discovered them once more after Lizzy twisted her ankle falling out of a tree. We quite despaired of her. And she would be sent to stay inside sitting quietly with Mr Bennet, but I daresay that only gave her more ideas of methods to make mischief. It was quite a trial for my nerves." Mrs Bennet was quite amazed by how much Elizabeth could blush – her daughter was normally far better at hiding her own expressions. It was quite curious really. "In fact, I don't think that Lizzy stopped being reckless until she got thrown by our stallion when she was ten." Lizzy had only just started riding then – she and Jane had had lessons together, and Elizabeth had been skilled at it. That had almost certainly been why she had woken up early one morning and attempted to ride the stallion bareback.
"I hope you were not too seriously injured, Miss Elizabeth?"
"Not much more than my pride..." Lizzy was obviously trying to get the conversation away from her childhood antics, and Mrs Bennet supposed she should possibly relent to her daughters wishes.
"She was stuck inside for 3 months together and had a broken arm – we couldn't bring ourselves to punish her much more than that." Mrs Bennet smiled at the memory – Lizzy had hardly been able to deal with such a confinement. She hadn't ridden since and had generally become a lot more careful. "But I suppose Miss Darcy never caused your parents such trouble."
Mr Darcy paled inexplicably, and Elizabeth shot her mother a meaningful look. Mrs Bennet didn't know what she had done.
"No, Miss Darcy has always been a brilliant charge," It was Colonel Fitzwilliam who spoke. "We have had guardianship over her for the last 7 years." Mrs Bennet suddenly realised her mistake. But how was she to know that the poor siblings were orphans? That type of gossip never travelled half so well as the details of a man's income. "But she has always been far more keen to spend her time with her music than causing riot in the wild outdoors."
Mr Darcy and Colonel Fitzwilliam were both smiling somewhat proudly at the topic. Mrs Bennet couldn't remember the last time she saw her husband acting the same way about one of their daughters – he was always too busy mocking her it seemed.
"Now Darcy, on the other hand..." The colonel continued conspiratorially.
But then, their conversation was cut across by the disruption which happened across on another table.