The ball guests arrived throughout the morning and afternoon of the next day as planned. Elizabeth had a happy surprise in the arrival of her best friend and confidant, Charlotte Collins, and although not as pleased to see her cousin Mr. Collins, the presence of her particular friend made up for his. Elizabeth had not expected the couple to attend as they had a six month old child, but as the journey from Hunsford was an easy one, the Collins' had secretly communicated with Darcy to plan the visit and surprise Elizabeth.
Darcy and Elizabeth greeted the pair together upon their arrival. After Mr. Collins had made his compliments to Darcy and Elizabeth he then began with his apologies. Darcy listened with forbearance at Mr. Collins' relating of his Aunt's concerns. Elizabeth with an apologetic glance at her husband, and in consideration of Charlotte, swiftly took her friend and the baby off to the nursery.
A while later, Kitty was leaving her bedroom and heading to tea when she ran into Lord Matlock in the passageway. He nodded when he saw her, and called out, "Good afternoon, Miss Bennet."
"Good afternoon, Lord Matlock," Kitty responded with a genuine smile. He held a letter in his hand so she made some idle conversation about it. "Are you going to work on your correspondence Lord Matlock?"
"Oh, no. I was going to put this letter away. It's from my Aunt. She wrote Darcy yesterday, and despite implying to him that she wouldn't speak to me, I'm unluckily still a recipient of one of her famous letters." Kitty only nodded, so he continued openly, "I haven't actually read it yet. I have a feeling it will be scathing. Darcy warned me. It's no secret to you that our Aunt wasn't pleased when Darcy proposed to your sister."
"Oh no secret at all. Before they were even engaged she came all the way to Longbourn to bully her!" Kitty responded in a manner as equally open, and with some concern. She had not considered Lady Catherine into the equation of her engagement and remembering back to Lizzy's encounter with the old woman, began to feel nervous about possibly having to face off with her as well.
"Did she really? Ha-ha!" He laughed, "Well you don't have to worry Miss Bennet. I will keep you safe from my Aunt! She's already written Darcy and refused to come to the ball." Kitty frowned when she heard this. "Let me just drop this letter in my desk, and then I shall walk you to tea Miss Bennet!"
He did just that, and as they then walked through the large house together Lord Matlock maintained easy conversation. Kitty replied at the appropriate times, but her thoughts were really elsewhere. She was stuck in a cycle of comparing herself to her sister Elizabeth. Elizabeth was always graceful and intelligent, quick-witted and observant. If Lady Catherine didn't approve of Elizabeth she would never approve of Kitty. What if Lord Matlock took his Aunt's letter seriously? What if the letter was so scathing he decided to cry-off? What if just when he was starting to show partiality to her, his Aunt's letter deterred him?
All through tea these thoughts plagued Kitty. She feigned interest in Elizabeth and Charlotte's conversation with Georgiana. She smiled sweetly at Lord Matlock when he complimented her. But her mind was busy formulating a plan, and when the party decided to move to the gallery, she feigned a headache.
As most of the group went to see the Darcy family portrait collection, Kitty quietly went toward her bedroom. She didn't stop at her bedroom though, she continued on and once she reached the door she was looking for glanced over her shoulder and searched the hall. Seeing that it was completely still, she stole into the room and quickly found what she was looking for; Lord Matlock's writing desk. She opened the top and immediately saw what she wanted: Lady Catherine's letter. The seal was still unbroken, and upon seeing this she picked up the letter and stuffed it under the sash on her dress. It was then that a small ring box caught her eye, as the letter had been covering it before. She wondered when Lord Matlock had found the time to get her a ring. Curiosity got the best of her and she looked inside the box. It contained a beautifully set gold banded ring with a large red ruby stone, flanked by two smaller rubies on either side. Being a young and playful woman Kitty was unable to resist trying the ring on. It fit perfectly and she thought it looked very well upon her finger. It was by far the most splendid piece of jewelry she had ever worn. She walked over to a mirror on the wall and took in her image, while fluttering her ringed hand in front of her face, "Hello, I'm Lady Matlock," she practiced saying. She walked back over to the desk and regretfully removed the ring. She would have to wait until Lord Matlock chose to give it to her. An engraving along the inside band of the ring caught her eye as she was replacing it. Kitty gasped when she read the words: For My Elizabeth.
Kitty's heart was pounding as she replaced the ring-box. She even put back the letter. What was the point in trying to defend herself against Lady Catherine's disapproval? Lord Matlock clearly had no genuine feelings for her. Her thoughts were frantic. She regretted coming to look for the letter and felt foolish and embarrassed. She left the room as cautiously as she entered it, and went to her own to reflect.
It took until the evening for Kitty to calm herself down and come to a sort of resolution in her mind regarding the ring and her emotions. The past two days she had hardly thought of what she had heard Lord Matlock telling Mr. Darcy. Lord Matlock had not been showing Elizabeth attention, and Kitty found that whenever she saw him gazing off, it was herself not her sister. The subject of him loving Elizabeth had been almost completely put out of her mind. That is until she had found the ring. The beautiful ring.
Kitty understood the advantages of marriage to Lord Matlock, and certainly did not want to upset the balance in their new relationship. She figured if she and Lord Matlock could have friendly companionship in matrimony they would be better off than many other couples. She would put his love for her sister out of her mind and carry on. It was not as though she was in love with Lord Matlock, because if she did the thought of him loving another would be impossible to bear. She admired Lord Matlock more than any man she had ever known, so she would take prodigious care NOT to foolishly fall for him as he could not return the emotion.
While Kitty had been reflecting in her room the rest of the overnight ball guests had arrived. That night a large party of at least twenty made up the evening meal. The new faces around the table were Mr. and Mrs. Bingley, who Kitty frequently saw at Netherfield, Mr. and Mrs. Hurst, along with Mr. and Mrs. Thomas, Mr. and Mrs. Collins and a few couples from the neighborhood.
Kitty was seated a few seats from Lord Matlock, but not so far that they could not converse. The arrangement was a metaphor for how she pictured their future married life. She was disappointed to be seated next to Mr. Collins and Mrs. Thomas, and across from Mary. In her opinion Mr. Collins was the most tiresome man, and Mrs. Thomas was most odious woman in her acquaintance. She barely noticed poor Mary. Her saving grace was that Georgiana sat diagonal to her, and the two young women would have been able to carry on a decent conversation would it not have been for Mrs. Thomas' regular interruptions.
"Congratulations on your recent engagement Miss Bennet, I hope that you and Lord Matlock are as happy as Mr. Thomas and I are," Caroline Thomas told Kitty. She would have been able to accept the congratulations in earnest, had she not seen Mr. Thomas' face at that moment. He looked to be actually dozing off at the dinner table! Mrs. Thomas could not love him for any non-material reason. He was very old and had many spots and wrinkles on his face. He had been married twice before, with each marriage resulting in six children. The current Mrs. Thomas could expect her offspring to inherit little of his fortune. In the present though, her husband was very, very rich, and she certainly took advantage of his consequence. From the looks of the necklaces, bracelets and earrings she was wearing, her children's inheritance was not in the four-percents, but in precious metal and stone.
"Thank you Mrs. Thomas, how kind of you," Kitty replied with a false smile.
"I'm sure Lady Catherine is pleased to hear her nephew is engaged?" Mrs. Thomas continued, knowing full well that Lady Catherine was not the type of woman to be pleased with the news that her nephew would be marrying so low.
Lord Matlock interjected at this point, "She is! I just received a letter of congratulations from her this afternoon in fact. She was disappointed not to make the ball. But it seems my cousin Anne is ill." This fabricated reply shut Mrs. Thomas up for at least the next two courses.
Kitty and Georgiana smiled at Lord Matlock. Georgiana out of admiration for saving her sister-in-law from embarrassment, and Kitty out of a much deeper emotion. She was rewarded with one of his flirtatious winks.
A few minutes later Mr. Darcy stood and made a toast. He was not an overtly emotional man, but did break his stoicism slightly as he thanked his friends and family for joining him and his wife to celebrate their anniversary. But this was not the part of the speech which really affected him–that came when, with his wife's previous permission, he announced that they were expecting an heir within six months.
There were genuine smiles and light applauds, and many congratulations had round the table. Elizabeth and Jane shared a long embrace, both with tears threatening to pour out. Jane too was expecting and the sisters hoped their children would grow up like siblings.
It was around this time that Lord Matlock noticed that the gossiping footman was back on service. He had not noticed the young man until there was some kind of slip in which Georgiana dropped her napkin on the floor. The footman brought her a fresh linen from the sideboard and after receiving it Georgiana sat quietly while she stared at her lap for several long seconds. She was blushing when Mrs. Thomas broke her concentration by asking her a detail about the forthcoming ball.
This exchange was not missed by Lord Matlock. The footman had irked him earlier in the week by his obvious disrespect. He thought Darcy had spoken to Mrs. Reynolds about the young man, and was surprised to see him in the dining room. Although he continued to eat, converse, and feel genuinely happy for his cousin and Elizabeth, he could not totally put his ward out of his mind.