Chapter 25
Lucas Lodge
"I do not believe a word of it," Maria Lucas said stoutly. "Elizabeth is a sensible, honorable lady. She would not!"
"I am only telling you what everyone is saying, Maria," her brother Samuel replied. "It is all over town!"
"What is?" Sir William demanded, striding into the drawing room with his wife and eldest daughter at his heels.
Samuel, who had been lounging on a chair near the window, jumped to his feet and said, "Oh, it is nothing, Father. Nothing important."
"If people are gossiping about Elizabeth Bennet, it is important," Maria said stoutly.
Charlotte gasped at these words and glanced at her father, whose rubicund face paled slightly at these words.
"Gossiping about Miss Elizabeth?" he demanded, staring at his heir with a lowered brow. "What is being said?"
Samuel cleared his throat uncomfortably and straightened his back. "I am not saying any of it is true, of course, but there are rumors that Miss Elizabeth met a young man while visiting her aunt and uncle in London, and he and she…"
The young man trailed off at the look of fury on his father's usually jovial face.
"Who is saying this, my boy?" Sir William demanded, surging forward to scowl up into his taller son's face.
"I heard it from Peter Strauss, who heard it from Mrs. Wilson, who, I think, heard it from…"'
"Never mind," Sir William said, and sighed.
"There is not anything to the rumors, are there?" Maria asked timidly.
"No, no, not at all! The truth is that Miss Elizabeth saved a young lady from a dangerous situation a few months ago; regrettably, one of the militia officers who arrived recently in Meryton was involved, and has done his best to defame Miss Elizabeth's name."
"What are we to do, Father?" Charlotte demanded. She loved Elizabeth dearly, and was distressed to think that her dear friend might be harmed by slander spread by a despicable man.
Sir William sighed deeply and said, "We will stand as friends to the Bennets, and I will send a warning to Mr. Bennet that rumors are spreading throughout the village."
/
Assembly Hall
Meryton
That Evening
The musicians sat in the corner of the assembly hall, tuning up their instruments, the occasional sound of strings audible through the chatter. Candles were set on all the mirror-backed shelves around the room, the sturdy oaken table bright and cheerful beneath its crimson cloth and the platters of sandwiches and pitchers of lemonade and decanters of wine and pots of tea. The room flashed with color, all the matrons and their hopeful daughters dressed in their very best dresses, adorned with their comeliest jewels and carefully hoarded feathers and brilliant ribbons. Word was that the handsome Mr. Bingley would be attending tonight, and possibly bringing his equally handsome London friend with him. Every young lady in attendance was hoping that one or other, or both, of the eligible gentlemen would dance with her.
It was, Elizabeth thought, likely inevitable that rumors were circulating in Meryton regarding Mr. Wickham and his militia companions. The physical altercation in the Pig in the Poke between the Milton men and the militia officers had been carried out in front of numerous bystanders, and when the Bennets had entered the assembly hall some fifteen minutes earlier, they had been greeted by sidelong glances and whispers.
Lydia and Kitty had sought out Maria Lucas immediately and the three girls were in a corner, chattering enthusiastically. Mrs. Bennet had gathered Jane and Mary with her and walked over to speak to Lady Lucas, who greeted her neighbor and friend without reserve.
Elizabeth, with Mr. Bennet protectively at her side, had made her way to a pillar by the fireplace, her back straight and her chin up. Yes, there were bound to be rumors regarding Wickham and Elizabeth and Ramsgate, but new gossip would sweep the old in a short time. She hoped.
"Elizabeth! Mr. Bennet!" a familiar voice cried out.
Elizabeth turned as her friend Charlotte Lucas appeared at her right side, her hazel eyes gleaming with concern in the candlelight.
"Charlotte," Elizabeth replied, "I hope you are well?"
"Very well," Miss Lucas replied, deliberately reaching out to take her friend's hands in her own. "I hope you are both well also?"
"We are well enough," Mr. Bennet replied, casting a sardonic gaze around the room, "though I confess I do not particularly enjoy being the curious attentions of the community."
"Do not worry about the murmuring," Charlotte replied softly. "I do not know, or need to know, details of your interactions with Mr. Wickham, Eliza, but my father tells me that you behaved with perfect propriety and tact."
"Propriety yes, tact no," Elizabeth said as she felt her body relax. She had been a trifle worried that Charlotte, herself a most sensible and honorable young lady, might have doubts about the situation. "Mr. Wickham is a rascal of the first order, and I was required to be rather firm with him. But come, I do not wish to speak of that man. Does Sir William know whether Mr. Bingley and his party are coming tonight?"
"They are, and I understand from my father that you are actually acquainted with Mr. and Miss Darcy, who are guests of Mr. Bingley?"
Elizabeth felt herself flush but managed to say, with commendable composure, "Yes, I met the Darcys in Ramsgate last summer, when I was with my aunt Gardiner and her children. Miss Darcy has proven a most delightful friend and correspondent."
"Will she be here tonight?"
"No, she is not yet out; she is only fifteen, and you know that young ladies come out earlier in the country than in Town."
"Well, I think it is marvelous that you already know them, Elizabeth. It makes it much more likely that the party from Netherfield will be pleased with our little assembly."
A murmur swept throughout the hall at this point and the threesome turned toward the door as Mr. Bingley entered the room with Darcy, Miss Bingley, and the Hursts in his wake. Elizabeth felt her heart beat a trifle faster and was both pleased and surprised when Mr. Darcy swept the room with his gaze, and then, when he found her, smiled. She smiled back, and he approached on rapid feet, apparently heedless of Sir William Lucas's attempts to gather the Netherfield party for a round of introductions to the local inhabitants.
"Mr. Darcy," Elizabeth said when he had approached her.
"Miss Elizabeth, Mr. Bennet," he returned, his eyes brimming with enthusiasm. "I hope you are both well?"
"Thank you, yes," Bennet replied, his eyes fixed curiously on the young man.
"Would you be kind enough to introduce me to your friend?" Mr. Darcy continued, looking at Charlotte.
"Charlotte, Mr. Darcy. Mr. Darcy, Miss Charlotte Lucas, eldest daughter of Sir William Lucas."
Gentleman and lady bowed and curtsied appropriately, and Darcy said, "Miss Lucas, it is an honor to meet you. I had the pleasure of meeting your father two days ago, and found him a most diligent and pleasant man."
"Thank you, sir," Charlotte replied.
Darcy turned his attention back to Elizabeth and asked, "Do you have any dances available, Miss Elizabeth?"
Elizabeth flushed again; she had not, in fact, been asked to dance by any of the gentlemen present, no doubt due to the gossip flying through the village as if on winged feet. "I have the first available, sir."
"May I have the honor, then?" Darcy asked, and the smile which lit up his face caused even staid, sensible, Charlotte Lucas to pull in a quick breath of admiration.
"Thank you," Elizabeth replied, allowing the gentleman to guide her out onto the dance floor just as Bingley himself walked Jane onto the floor nearby.
The music started, and the country dance with it. Elizabeth followed the steps of the dance with ease, her eyes fixed on Darcy, who in turn was staring at her with obvious admiration. She felt her entire body relax; it was difficult being the focus of so many sly looks and curious glances from her friends and acquaintances, but Darcy's request for a dance made the entire situation much easier.
/
The fiddles of the country musicians scraped gratingly on an ear accustomed to the most refined music of Town, and the boldly grinning, ungainly girls twirling around in their dowdy dresses deserved no better. Caroline Bingley watched with utter contempt, fanning herself very slowly with a barely-concealed sneer as Mr. Darcy twirled with that hussy Bennet girl at the end of the line. It was absurd for handsome, wealthy, important Mr. Darcy to be wasting his time with Miss Elizabeth when Caroline herself was standing by without a partner. Doubtless he felt obligated to dance with the young lady, as she claimed a special friendship with Miss Darcy, but to dance the first dance with her was ludicrous!
She glanced about for support for her indignation. Her brother-in-law was over at the refreshments table with its poor spread and gaudy tablecloth, but he would be of little use anyway. However Louisa stood near to hand, looking bored and as unimpressed by the entire tawdry affair as Caroline herself.
"I simply do not understand why Mr. Darcy is dancing with her!" Miss Bingley hissed to her sister. "It will provoke such comment in a backwards community like…"
"Shhh!" Louisa Hurst said suddenly, grasping her sister's arm.
Caroline frowned in confusion as her sister tilted her head backwards slightly. Both ladies fell silent and listened to the conversation behind them.
The two matrons in question were huddled close together, clucking and murmuring like a pair of chickens.
"What a shame! What a shame! I would have thought better of Lizzy Bennet," one said.
"With Fanny as a mother?" the other said significantly. "You know how desperate she is with that entail on Longbourn - she throws her girls at anyone who looks their way."
"Oh, yes, of course," the first agreed. "And those younger two – goodness! But Miss Elizabeth is usually more prudent."
"Of course she is – where everyone knows her," the turbaned lady said significantly. "But a young lady staying with relations in trade in London, most likely not well supervised, may well find herself permitting liberties from a handsome young man that she would not in her own hometown."
"But surely she would not be so foolish as to carry on with a penniless young man."
"Oh, I daresay he concealed his true financial situation. You know how young men are - no doubt he ran up exorbitant debts to charm her with trinkets and theater-going and such."
"It is a bad business, a very bad business indeed."
Caroline Bingley exchanged pleased glances with her sister and smiled to herself. It seemed that the Bennets in general, and Miss Elizabeth in particular, had a poor reputation locally. That should keep both Mr. Darcy and her brother from paying the Bennet ladies too much attention!