Thanks for sticking with me. I apologize for the downer of an ending.
56. Invitations to the Ball
Two days later, I finally believed I had a good opportunity to ask Lady Henrietta if she might be willing to invite the Rosings's steward to her ball. Georgiana and I had been invited to take tea with the Countess at the Earl's home. As always, Lady Henrietta's auburn hair was well styled, and she looked closer to a debutant than to a woman who must have been approaching fifty (if the apparent ages of her sons were as I thought them to be).
Lady Lavinia was present also, her golden hair wrapped about her head in coiffure that was certainly more complex than anything my maid could do. She was dressed in a blue gown with long sleeves and wearing a thick fichu. I thought she seemed rather covered for such a warm day, but I know that some women feel cold even when others are too warm (though I thought, more often than not, that women preparing to enter their confinement were hot rather than cold).
We had spoken for some minutes (mostly Lady Henrietta holding court), and I had just learned that Lady Catherine, Miss de Bourgh and Mrs. Jenkinson would not be in attendance, as they were visiting some de Bourgh relatives that day. This I thought auspicious for bringing up the topic.
However, I did not wish to just precipitously come out and ask for my favor. I had resolved to look for an appropriate opening first or make my own. Therefore, after entirely too much small talk I asked, "How are the preparations going for your ball?
"Very well indeed, Mrs. Darcy, but for people asking me to invite additional parties who are scarcely worthy of an invitation. Do you recall how we learned from Lady Lavinia," here she paused, looked over at her daughter by marriage and Lady Lavinia nodded in acknowledgement, "two days past that her husband was trying to forward a match between the Earl of Lancaster and Miss Caroline Bingley?"
"Yes."
"Well, just this morning my son asked me for invitations for some of his friends. It was easy for me to refuse an invitation to Mr. Phineas Trent. That man is worse than John, and I shall not have him ill-treating my guests. But John asked me to invite Miss Bingley also. He justified that it would be appropriate since Lord Lancaster is courting her and he expected I would invite him."
Georgiana asked before I could, seemingly nervous to hear the answer, but eager, too, "What reply did you make?"
"Well as you know, Georgiana, I have not so much as ever called on that woman, and recently refused her entrance to my home. She presumes too much; she is sorely mistaken if she thinks she will be invited all around if she should marry Lord Lancaster. No, indeed. While I told John I would consider the matter, the more I think upon it, the more likely I am to refuse such a favor. My son and his wife may choose to recognize her," here she glanced at her daughter again, "but I do not think I shall."
"I only do so," Lady Lavinia replied in her quiet, meek voice, "because Hatchington insists upon it. I do not particularly like having her as my house guest or having to supervise them as my father courts a woman of my same generation. She is nothing to my sainted mother, has nothing to recommend her but her youth. But please, say nothing to him about how I feel."
Lady Henrietta reached over to her and squeezed Lady Lavinia's hand. "Do you not know that you could not be more precious to me than if you were my own child? I should never do anything to cause you harm and I trust that the other ladies present shall be the soul of discretion." She looked at us each in turn and we all nodded our agreement.
"Now as for Miss Bingley, little could cause me to recognize her, and my husband would never insist upon it. Of course, it would be a different matter should Lady Jersey deign to admit her to the circle, but short of that or some recognition by the royal family, I see no cause in polluting my influence by accepting that upstart who, while well dowered, simply does not seem to understand her own insignificance.
Georgiana replied, "I own that I am glad. I should not want her shamed, but I do not like Miss Bingley very well."
I contributed, "Nor do I. Never have I known siblings that are so different from one another, for you see I met the Bingleys and the Hursts in Hertfordshire when Mr. Bingley was renting an estate quite close to Longbourn, my family's estate. Her brother Mr. Bingley is kind and good, and is currently courting my sister Jane, a matter which Miss Bingley does not like at all. Do you know, she demanded admission to our home with the knocker off the door, just after I had married Mr. Darcy, for the purpose of persuading her brother not to court my sister?
"Then, when she saw me in Mr. Darcy's home, she had the gall to insult me to my face, insinuating I was a lowly servant rather than Mrs. Darcy. Now I understand that no announcements had yet been made, but that woman has no sense, no discretion. Another might have been surprised at my presence, might have said just that and waited to learn why I was there. Not Miss Bingley. Fitz was so incensed with her behavior that he had her removed from the house, said he would not recognize her again."
"How did this occur?" Georgiana leaned forward, interested.
"Well after thoroughly insulting me, upon hearing from Fitz that I was Mrs. Darcy, she fainted, or more likely I think, pretended at it. As we had barely any staff then, Mr. Darcy obliged the Hursts to remove her. They dragged her out together."
Georgiana clapped her hands a single time in delight. "Perhaps it is untoward of me, but what I would have given to have viewed such a spectacle! Do you suppose, Lady Henrietta, that she came to call on you after this occurred?"
Lady Henrietta inquired, "When did she call on Darcy?"
I replied, "The day after we first dined here."
"That was before she called here," Lady Henrietta acknowledged. "Imagine, pretending at a close friendship with Georgiana, when my niece would have been obliged to have nothing to do with her, given her brother's cut (had she known of it, then). Likely, Miss Bingley thought she could wheedle her way back into Darcy's favor with Georgiana's support. Does she not know what a husband owes a wife? That a sister must defer to her brother, with that being doubly true when that brother is her elder by many years and her guardian besides?
"Having just heard this account, this decides the matter for me. I would not insult the Darcys by inviting that snake of a woman. John is already in my brown books, for all that he is my child, and if he knows of Darcy's disapprobation of her, given their current feud (I of course did not like to see my son hurt, but he deserved it and then some and I can only hope it will teach him to respect family more), he would surely insist even more that I invite her. But he shan't sway me. Nothing short of Lord Lancaster personally requesting it of me, could move me." She gave a decisive nod. "Now I would not shame Lord Lancaster by refusing him should he ask himself for such a favor (he is, after all, still titled and is Lady Lavinia's father), but the fact that he has not asked . . . well I know the man well enough to know that he does not enjoy society events, prefers to tend to his mushrooms than to dance. While I have sent him an invitation, I rather think him unlikely to come and that would suit me well indeed, for I should have to light ever so many beeswax candles in the gaming room if he be around, increase the flowers ten-fold at supper, and it still would not do enough."
I rather thought my chances of inviting Mr. Selkirk were sunk, but her next words gave me some hope.
"Have I told you that my uncle, Mr. Alfred Otto, whom Richard has been visiting in Bath, seems to have improved? While this may delay Richard's expectation, I rejoice with him in such news as Uncle Alfred is a good man who deserves a long life. Fortunately for us, it means that Richard shall attend the ball. Indeed, he should arrive back here on Saturday.
"Richard also asked me to invite some friends of his great uncle. It is a brother and sister, Mr. John Stock and Miss Elizabeth Stock. Neither of them is married, and they are not well known in town although at one point there was some talk that Mr. Trent was courting her. If you ask me, she had a narrow escape; I am inclined to like her just because she had the good sense to reject him. They are of gentle birth, with the brother having a modest estate which adjoins that of Uncle Alfred in Shropshire. They were the ones who encouraged him to remove to Bath and accompanied him there also. According to Richard, they have been quite gracious in seeing to Uncle Alfred when he was so ill, directing what the servants ought to do, even sending for an esteemed physician from town (who was the one who urged him to travel to take the waters).
"I suspect, although he cannot have been in their company much in the past two weeks, that Richard may have some interest in the sister. He is a good judge of character, as is Uncle Alfred. On their word alone, I am more than happy to issue the invitation. It would not be a brilliant match, but an acceptable one I suppose, and it would certainly be convenient to court a woman on the adjoining estate." She shrugged. "I should like my son to be happy."
"Speaking of happiness in marriage," I began, "I hesitate to ask you for a favor, given how much you have done for me already, but there is someone I hope you might consider inviting to your ball, for I have reason to believe that Miss de Bourgh should like him to be there."
"It is really a favor for Anne," Georgiana emphasized.
"Yes, indeed." I replied. "I wish you could have been present for the conversation we had with Miss de Bourgh after dinner, two days ago. For Miss de Bourgh told us all what she wanted in a husband, and later, Fitz told me her description could only be satisfied with by a single candidate of his acquaintance."
"Indeed?" Lady Henrietta leaned forward, apparently intrigued and Lady Lavinia also seemed at least somewhat curious.
Although she normally seemed to ignore Mrs. Annesley, Lady Henrietta turned toward her and asked, "You were present for this conversation, I suppose."
"Yes, my lady. I have never heard Miss de Bourgh speak more than a sentence or two before that. She named no names, but in saying 'I would not mind' and listing various qualities, it seemed more like a list describing a specific person by not minding his personal deficits."
"Such as?"
"Well, as I recall, Miss de Bourgh said she would not mind a short, bald, fat man."
Georgiana added "She also talked about wanting a quiet man who should like Rosings and Kent and be kind to the tenants."
"There were a few additional qualities," I added, ticking them off on my fingers. "She would not mind if he smoked a pipe, had previously had a wife. She wanted a man who would read and write poetry. She talked of his duties in riding the estate and dealing with accounts."
"So, who is this man?" Lady Henrietta asked, looking at me.
"Well, Fitz believes she was describing the Rosings steward, a Mr. Robert Selkirk. He told me that Mr. Selkirk fits all of these qualities and is a good man."
"And who is this Mr. Selkirk?" This she addressed to Georgiana. "I can hardly think that Lady Catherine would want her daughter to marry the help."
"A steward is hardly the help," I could not restrain myself from responding.
"He might as well be," Lady Henrietta sniffed. "Anne could make a much better match than some worn-out working man."
"He comes from a good family," Georgiana added. "We looked it up in Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage. His grandfather was a Baron. But Mr. Selkirk himself is descended from the junior line."
"He is a nobody then," Lady Henrietta replied.
"But he is Miss de Bourgh's choice." I responded.
Lady Henrietta considered. "If he is Anne's choice, then why did she agree to come to town with her mother? Why did she let us all talk about who might be a good match for her? I can name a dozen men who would be far superior to this steward, and probably be more than willing to marry Anne."
"But could she be happy with any of them?" I asked. "I have the impression that she wishes to maintain her quiet and secluded life, has no particular desire to spend time in town."
Lady Henrietta rejoined, "Lady Catherine surely would not want her daughter to marry so low. I doubt Anne has any idea of what she wants, having hardly met anyone before of any suitability. No, I cannot want to see her paired with this fat, bald, steward."
"Aunt," Georgiana said gently, "if your candidates are so superior to him, would it really hurt to let Anne see how her chosen candidate compares to them? Perhaps in seeing directly how he falls short of them she would be more inclined to choose another. But if she truly does wish to marry Mr. Selkirk, she would certainly be pleased if you should invite him for her."
Lady Henrietta twisted her lips in thought. She shook her head. "I shall have to consider the matter. While I should like to please Anne, no one wants to incur Lady Catherine's wrath. After how I demeaned her to protect Mr. and Mrs. Darcy, I rather owe her some amends. I had thought to find Anne a pleasant looking man, but perhaps I should widen my search, have her introduced to those of humble appearance, if she does not mind that."
"Lady Henrietta?" Lady Lavinia's voice was tentative. I had almost forgotten about her presence until she spoke.
"Yes, my dear?"
Lady Lavinia began to speak, but the more she spoke, the more courage she seemed to gain. She was never forceful but had a sort of growing intensity in her words.
"I once had my own Mr. Selkirk. He was a curate and no one of any account. But he was kind, oh so very kind, and we always had conversations that made think hard afterwards. He helped me see other perspectives, have more compassion for my fellow man. I remember telling him after my first season how I could not imagine marrying any of the men I had met, for they thought of little of substance.
"Later, he asked to court me, and I accepted, but my father would not consent. My father and my mother railed against the inequality of the match, said the curate must want to marry me for my title and consequence, thought that through me he could make his fortune and move up in the world, that my father would at least gift him with a valuable living for my sake, but that they would do nothing of the sort, would never see me again. I was not strong enough to oppose them, and the next season I married your son.
"Oh, that I had not done so! My Mr. Selkirk moved away, is now in Canada, ministering to souls on the frontier. I would brave the wilderness of the north and all the wild Indians if I might now be with him. But it is far too late. Money and status cannot buy happiness, but being married to the wrong man can certainly cause misery.
"I would not see Anne bear what I have had to endure, have to endure still. I know it is wrong of me, but seeing Darcy hit Hatchington . . . a good wife would have been horrified. I was not. For every blow he struck was one that I wish I could have inflicted myself. Lord help me, but I was hoping my husband would be injured enough to let me be for a while. But he was not for very long. Once his nose was sorted, he took out all his anger at Darcy upon me, made sure I knew how much I had erred by not summoning the footmen right away, that I would never be out from under his thumb.
"Have you not wondered, Ma'am, why I am wearing a dress with long sleeves on this warm day? Why I wear a fichu? I did not want you all to see the bruises, but I shall show you some of them now."
She flung off her fichu, revealing bruises about her collar bones; she pushed up her sleeves, and I saw distinct purple handprints there; she lifted her skirts to her knees, and I saw long marks that made me think he had hit her with some implement, over and over. I was horrified, as I think everyone present was. I am sure in another minute or two we would have all begun exclaiming, but we were dumbfounded by what we had just learned, although while Lady Henrietta seemed dismayed, her facial reactions were more muted than ours. Later I concluded, she had at least suspected what was now revealed. But Lady Lavinia did not wait for our reactions, just continued as she rearranged her clothing to hide her bruises once again.
"You may want me to attend the ball, have scheduled the fitting for us all tomorrow, let Lady Catherine insist that I attend, but I do not think there is a single dress I could wear that would conceal me well enough. But if you do not mind my marks being on display, do not mind me hobbling in pain when I should be light upon my feet, I shall go. But I beg of you, please convince Hatchington that I should remove for your estate due to my expectation. He should be glad enough to have raucous parties while I am gone, perhaps have his mistresses keep him company there. But I suppose if he did not listen to you as a child, he certainly will not now.
"But as for Miss de Bourgh, for her it is not too late. If you care anything about her at all, do not let her mother take away her chance for happiness, with a man she feels that she can trust. There are far too many marriages of misery to reject a happy match based on appearances. I would take a fat, bald, kind man over your son any day."
Apparently sufficiently chastened, Lady Henrietta said gently, "Lavinia, I shall do what you ask, shall give Anne every chance at happiness. As for you my dear, I wish there was more I could do for you."
"I know," said she, "but nothing but death shall ever free me from the monster who is my husband. I will take either his death or mine."
A/N: Poor Lavinia. I never knew how bad she had it until now. Sorry that this chapter was such a downer. I really want to kill off Hatchington now, but don't know if that is in the cards or not.