Page 61 of Eavesdroppers Never Hear
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The third set saw Darcy with Jane, which attracted every eye in the room. Since a good case could be made that the most handsome man in the room was dancing with the most beautiful woman, everyone wanted to see the spectacle. The fact that Mr Darcy had chosen Elizabeth over Jane was not as big of a mystery as one would think. Everyone who knew Jane understood that she was a woman of great beauty, but without a certain spark her younger sister possessed. A lucky man like Mr Darcy could choose fire or beauty, or in the case of Miss Elizabeth, both. Everyone knew Jane was considered the beauty of the county, but nobody disputed that was mainly because carrying that attitude made life around Mrs Bennet easier.
Elizabeth hand-picked a couple of local gentlemen to dance with Georgiana, all young, all very much married, all excellentdancers, and all men she had known for years. Her beau seemed happy to leave the selection to her, and the colonel did not even feel the need to look threatening… though she thought that in some ways she was spoiling his fun. Once she was situated, Elizabeth danced with one of her childhood friends.
Mr Bingley danced that set with Charlotte, who had barely survived her dance with Mr Collins. She saw the couple out of the corner of her eye but had not honestly given it much attention. All she could determine was that they were dances of mortification. Mr Collins, awkward and solemn, apologising instead of attending, and often moving wrong without being aware of it. Charlotte had gamely spent some effort trying to keep him from killing anybody and mostly succeeded. Fortunately, Charlotte would be happy to never dance again until the end of time, so it was not a tremendous obstacle to contentment.
Elizabeth and Georgiana sat out the set and spent the time in quiet discussion about the various dancers, carefully avoiding any question that might be considered awkward involving any of the Bennet ladies and any of the Netherfield gentlemen.
The fourth paired Darcy with Mary, and Elizabeth thought life was just too easy for the Derbyshire gentleman. He could dance from dusk to dawn and never run out of her sisters and friends, so would never have to trouble himself to dance with strangers. Naturally, not having to dance with Mr Bingley’s sisters counted as the greatest good fortune of all.
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The supper set arrived, and Elizabeth found herself feeling more thrilled and less nervous with her beau. She was becoming accustomed to being with him and had to sheepishly admit that she was beginning to miss him when he was away (not that he had been absent for more than a few hours since their courtshipbegan). She also just might admit to herself (in the dead of night with the covers pulled over her head) that she felt something that might easily pass for jealousy when he danced with others. She would never admit it to another soul, but it was interesting.
The colonel stood up again with Georgiana, obviously not willing to leave her to the tender mercies of a local man for supper.
Jane surprised Elizabeth by giving Mr Bingley the supper set, though Elizabeth could not discern what her feelings were on the subject. Jane had a long-standing habit of being inscrutable, and her attitude during the set showed she had reverted to form. Elizabeth saw that and did not give it another thought.
Mr Collins spent the supper set talking with Charlotte in a conspicuous but private corner, and Elizabeth suspected their courtship would be smooth sailing. Neither party seemed fastidious, and both were getting exactly what they wanted in a partner. Elizabeth wondered what Lady Catherine was like, but not enough to spend any time on it. She also believed Charlotte would be an excellent mistress to Longbourn when the time came and would have knocked Mr Collins into line by then, so the pair might do much better than anyone would expect.
Supper was a perfectly designed affair, and she wondered how credit should be apportioned between Mrs Ashford, Miss Bingley, and Mr Bingley. The food was tastefully elegant, well-cooked, and well represented. She felt certain that if Miss Bingley had continued, the meal would have been delicious but designed more to impress than to eat. Of course, that could just as easily be sour grapes.
She was surprised to find her father come out of his usual comatose stupor for the evening. He was riding herd on Mrs Bennet and the two youngest with surprising firmness. Elizabeth had to wonder if Darcy or the colonel had made any vaguehints to the gentleman, but decided some things were best left unknown.
After supper, ladies were asked to entertain. Much to Elizabeth’s happy surprise, and Darcy and Fitzwilliam’s shock, Georgiana performed a duet with Mary. It was clear they were both nervous at the start, but they evened out halfway through, and both seemed to be enjoying themselves at the end. The audience agreed with her assessment and rewarded the players with a hearty round of applause.
Some of the other ladies performed, but Elizabeth demurred a request. Mr Collins looked ready to make some sort of speech, but a subtle hint from Charlotte settled him down, much to Elizabeth’s amusement.
Elizabeth could not dance a third time with Darcy without announcing an engagement or having one presumed, and she had neglected her social obligations in the first half of the evening, so she sent Darcy to dance with Georgiana again, and went to converse with some friends she had not had time to greet thus far and regale them with wild tales of being courted by one Mr Fitzwilliam Darcy.
25.Intervention
After finally finding the time to talk to Charlotte about Mr Collins, Elizabeth decided she had done exactly the right thing:nothing. Charlotte had things in hand, and her intervention would have been both presumptuous and superfluous. After speaking with her friend for several minutes, Charlotte was called away by Lady Lucas, and Elizabeth went to the refreshments table for a glass of wine.
As she was enjoying her drink, she was startled by averyagitated Kitty. “Lizzy, you must come help me!”
Liking neither the call for help nor the volume of her sister’s voice, she pulled her aside and made certain they were several steps from any possible eavesdroppers, thinking she had pushed her luck with overheard conversations quite enough for one fortnight.
“Calm down, Kitty, and tell me the problem…quietly!”
Looking chagrined, Kitty explained, “Lydia is in the garden with Mr Wickham.”
“Mr Wickham?” Elizabeth snapped in surprised consternation, looking around to ensure they were not overheard.
After meeting the soldier briefly in the street a week earlier, she spoke with him for a quarter-hour in her aunt’s parlour, saw him leave the house once when returning from Netherfield, and had otherwise not seen or thought about him. Mr Wickham seemed the least significant man of her acquaintance.
“What in the world is he doing with Lydia… and why did she go with him for that matter? Has that girl no sense at all?”
Kitty fidgeted nervously. “I told her not to, but you know Lydia. She wants to be the hero. Mr Wickham says he has crucial information about Mr Darcy. He says he is a very-very bad man, and he has proof.”
“If Mr Darcy is so terrible, and Mr Wickham so gallant, why is he sneaking around in the garden instead of speaking with our father? It makes no sense!”
Kitty shook her head, and Elizabeth got the sinking feeling her sisters had read one too many novels where the heroine saved the day when they did not have the maturity to realize it almost never worked out that way.
Elizabeth sighed. “Why did you not go with her as chaperone?”
“I tried… but… Lydia slipped away.”
