AN: Happy New Year. Here is a new chapter for a new year. I hope you enjoy it!
As Elizabeth passed the shrubbery she heard her father's voice, "I did not think the old bird[1] had in in him."
Before Elizabeth could reply she heard her mother giggle. "We have left our girls unchaperoned for some time perhaps we should be getting back."
"They are hardly likely to make more a spectacle of themselves without us than they are with. Let us enjoy the moonlight a little longer, my dear. I had forgotten how beautiful you are in the moonlight."
"You flatter me, Mr. Bennet…" She let out a delighted squeal and giggled again before Elizabeth was out of earshot.
Elizabeth had moved away as quickly as she could, grateful that her parents had not noticed her and wishing she had not noticed them. Though it was nice to hear her father use such a tender tone when speaking to her mother, she did not want to think about the ramifications of his bond.
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Elizabeth made it back to the house and up to Rachel's room without further incident. Changing back into her own things was difficult without help but she managed to get herself back together well enough that, if her luck held, she could get back to the ladies' retiring room and enlist Rachele's help again. Her hair, which she had only smoothed down with her hands and stuck back together as well as she could would not hold up to close inspection but she hoped the servants would all be too busy with the ball to be in the passages she was using or stop to look too closely at her if they did see her.
Her luck held just long enough for her to get back to the retiring room and start saying to Rachel, "If you would be so good as to…" When they heard voices approaching and Elizabeth slipped behind a screen glad she had not entered a few moments later.
Miss Bingley entered the room with Mrs. Hurst. "I begin to wonder if Mr. Darcy went to bed after all. I can not imagine what has become of him."
"Perhaps Miss Mary Bennet's playing scared him off. I thought she would be playing all night. If you had not made such a point of asking Miss King to play I believe she would have been."
"Miss King does not play well but at least she has the good sense to choose a short song suited to her voice and give up her seat afterward. I do begin to think Miss Mary worse than the younger two."
"If only Charles would attend to half of the breaches of decorum among that family! But you must not have seen. In the last set, Miss Lydia pointedly refused to dance with Mr. Collins and then practically demanded of Mr. Denny that he ask her again.
"Did she?" Miss Bingley sounded both scandalized and delighted. "It seems she will dare anything. They brought that dreadful cousin along they ought to keep him occupied. What if her refusing him had caused him to ask one of us?"
Mrs. Hurst replied, in a sing-songy voice, "You may not think him so dreadful once I have told you what I overheard the mother telling Mrs. Long."
"Nothing could possibly make that man less ridiculous. Well? What did you hear."
"It seems that Mrs. Bennet looks forward to having two daughters well married in the near future. The first you may easily guess and the things she had to say on that subject were everything we feared and more, but when she could spare a moment to remember her second daughter she assured Mrs. Long that 'Lizzy' would soon be comfortably settled in the parsonage at Rosings."
"Who do the Bennets know at… Oh, do you mean to say that Miss Eliza is to marry Mr. Collins?"
"Her mother believes that she will."
"I stand corrected Lousia for such a purpose I think him perfection itself. He will make her a proper husband."
The two of them laughed heartily and soon left the room. Just before the door closed behind them Elizabeth heard one of them say, "But about Charles…"
Elizabeth emerged and almost laughed at the expression on Rachel's face. "Oh, do not worry, I was not under any illusions as to their regard, and even the unintentional ease-dropper cannot be spared the fate of hearing what we do not like. Now would you be so kind as to set me to rights before anyone else comes in?"
Rachel did as she was asked. As she finished Elizabeth's hair she said, "It is not quite as it was before but unless you wish me to take it down and start over I am not sure I can do better." Elizabeth thought she detected a slight quiver in her voice.
"No, you have done beautifully. If anything it is more becoming."
Rachel gave her a small smile. Elizabeth told her she would see her tomorrow and returned to the ball. She was glad the ground had been mostly frozen and she had not gotten Rachele's things too dirty. She did not like to cause the girl extra work even with a gown as a reward.
Elizabeth slipped back into the ballroom where she was soon approached by Mr. Collins who continued most perversely by her side for the rest of the evening, and though he could not prevail with her to dance with him again, put it out of her power to dance with others. Given her earlier exertions and having missed the supper she would have been satisfied with not dancing but it was difficult to attend to Mr. Collins' "delicate attentions". She owed her greatest relief to her friend Miss Lucas, who often joined them, and good-naturedly engaged Mr. Collins's conversation to herself.
She was at least free from the offense of Mr. Darcy's further notice. He returned to the ball a short time later and though often standing within a very short distance of her, quite disengaged, he never came near enough to speak.
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Darcy had no wish to return to the ball but now that the mating was complete he thought of what Sir William had said of Bingley and Miss Bennet and could not be easy without assessing the danger to his friend. He slipped up to his room for a quick wash and to change his shirt. His shoes and stockings were ruined but the rest of his clothing Wilkes, his valet, was able to set to rights. His appearance was not enough altered for anyone to notice the difference or think much of it if they did. After eating the cold ham and chicken Wilkes had procured for him he returned to the ball to observe his friend. What he saw alarmed him. He had often seen Bingley in love but his partiality for Miss Bennet was beyond what Darcy had ever witnessed in him. Could it be some lasting effect of Eleos having been around a female in heat without being satisfied? It was strange that Eleos had quit the field so easily but it did not necessarily mean he had no interest. [2] At least Miss Bennet was not encouraging Bingley's attentions, that was something.
Observing his friend did not require all of Darcy's attention and when he noticed Mr. and Mrs. Bennet return to the ball, looking rumpled and windblown, he decided to take the opportunity to dispatch with one piece of the business and asked Mr. Bennet for a private word. Mr. Bennet agreed and the two of them retired to a small sitting room. There happened to be a bottle of port on the sideboard and Darcy poured them each a glass, sure that they could both use it.
Mr. Bennet lifted his glass, "To the happy couple. Was this your first time?"
"Yes."
"Nothing really prepares you for it does it?"
"No."
"After my first time I was determined to be married before the next but you will not find such haste to be necessary." [3]
Darcy saw no reason to reply to such a statement and said, "I will not be in the neighborhood much longer. It is too soon to be sure Georgiana will conceive but I would like to reach an understanding in the event that she does. Have you determined to send your heir to the birth or are you open to accepting remuneration for the place?"[4]
"Perhaps. What did you have in mind?"
"I would prefer to avoid any competition." Darcy wrote a number on a piece of paper and passed it to Mr. Bennet. He had the satisfaction of seeing Mr. Bennet look surprised, though he quickly controlled his features. "Of course, that would include anything you would wish to give to your heir."
"Yes, well, I will have to talk to my heir of course."
"That is Mr. Collins is it not? He introduced himself to me earlier." Darcy paused expecting Mr. Bennet to apologize for his cousin's presumption. When Mr. Bennet said nothing Darcy continued. "I understand my aunt, Lady Catherine de Bourgh to be his patroness. It would please her if he were not present for the birth."
"That certainly simplifies the matter. Very well, sir, we are agreed, I would only ask that you do not mention the details of our arrangement to my family. It is to be my final joke on them so to speak."
Darcy must have looked at him strangely for he explained. "Any time I make money this way I give my wife a small amount and put aside the rest to gather interest. When I finally die my family will find themselves better off than they expected to be." He chuckled to himself.
Darcy found it a strange sort of joke but was happy to keep Mr. Bennet's confidence. They settled it that Darcy would send him a written agreement in writing once it was proven that Georgiana had conceived and Darcy returned to the ball to observe the elder Miss Bennet and avoid the younger. In the second endeavor, he was successful until the end of the evening when they were forced to wait for the Bennet's carriages which were fifteen minutes later than anyone else's.
As Darcy cast his eyes for something to rest them on besides Miss Elizabeth Bennet's face he noticed the fur trim on her gloves. "Is that the rabbit?"
Everyone looked at him and Miss Bingley said, "I beg your pardon?"
Wishing he had not spoken Darcy said, "I was noticing the trim on Miss Elizabeth Bennet's gloves. I thought it might be made from the rabbit Georgiana gave her."
He risked a quick glance at the lady in question who looked like she was trying to repress a smile as she said, "It is."
"She will be glad you were able to find a use for it."
She made no reply and a brief silence followed before the others returned to what they had been speaking of. What was it about Miss Bennet that was always enticing him to speak when he had meant to be quiet? The last thing he wanted to do was raise her expectations before speaking with her. He was careful not to look in her direction again, taking comfort from knowing that by tomorrow her spell on him would be broken.
1 As previously noted it would normally be an insult to call a griffin a bird. However, given the close bond of empathy and affection between a bonded pair it is unlikely that Mr. Bennet would say anything that would offend. It is likely similar to the way close friends who are of the same gender or race, might use a word affectionately between themselves that would be a slur from anyone else. Mrs. Bennet's early use of the word "bird" might indicate that she had heard her husband use it before and doesn't recognize the distinction. It is also possible Mr. Bennet wasn't talking about Daskalos but that seems unlikely under the circumstances.
2 At this time not many (if any) humans understood equate age with strength. Darcy would not have known Eleos needed Daskalos's permission to mate or that he wouldn't have any interest without permission.
3 Mr. Bennet may mean that because Mr. Darcy's bonded is female it will be a long time before she mates again, or he might be referring to Darcy's personality.
4 It's presumptuous of Darcy to assume Mr. Collins is the only one Mr. Bennet might send without receiving payment but he's not wrong. As the bonded of the Sire Mr. Bennet has the right to send one person to the birth but exercising that right would obligate him to ensure that the bonded of whoever he sent had adequate hunting grounds. If his estate were large enough to support a second griffin, he would simply need to commit to giving the griffin hunting rights on his estate, it would then be a debt on the estate that his heir would be obligated to honor similar to a mortgage or annuity. The other way he could provide for a griffin would be to pay another landowner a yearly fee to let the griffin hunt on his land but he couldn't do this for his daughters since they wouldn't be able to afford the payment after he died. Paying another land owner to let the griffin hunt for life would be more expensive than anything Mr. Bennet could afford and it is unlikely he would find someone willing to make that commitment if he could. As the heir Mr. Collins could commit to providing for the Griffin after Mr. Bennet's death, but he would be unlikely to do that for one of the girls rather than take the chance to bond himself, plus if Daskalos outlived Mr. Bennet Collins would be responsible for providing for both griffins. One could also make the case that as heir presumptive Mr. Collins can't technically guarantee hunting grounds unless and until Mr. Bennet dies without fathering a the other hand, if Mr. Bennet sells the right to be present at the birth he would merely need to sell it to someone who can provide for the griffin.
Thank you very much to everyone who is sticking with me through these long delays. And thank you for reading, favoriting and especially to those of you who have taken the time to review. Your reviews encourage me.
I hope everyone enjoyed your holidays and wishing everyone the best in the coming year.