Page 104 of A Most Beloved Sister
Elizabeth smirked at her father as he moved to the front of the room. She inched closer until she was standing to the left of Wickham. On his right stood Kitty, and on her right were Lydia and Mrs. Bennet with identical looks of confusion on their faces.
“Yes, well, thank you, Sir William.”
The baronet gave a flourishing bow, which Mr. Bennet returned somewhat awkwardly. Upon rising, he said, “First, I would like to announce the betrothal of Jamie Hill and Penny Padmore.”
Cheers and applause rang out, although Elizabeth noticed more than one sour look from a few tenants’ daughters. Jamie and Penny stood together at one side of the room, holding hands and laughing. Several of the men clapped Jamie’s back, and Elizabeth winced as he struggled to remain upright. She was happy to see Penny casually put her arm around his back in a show of affection that masked her true motive of helping him maintain his balance.
As her eyes wandered about the room, she saw a tall man standing in the very back, half-hidden by shadows. He stepped forward, his face coming into the candlelight, and she gasped.
Darcy!
Her brain screamed at her to run to him, but her feet remained frozen at Wickham’s side. Mr. Bennet began to speak, but she couldn’t tear her eyes away from the dark gaze boring into her soul.
“Now, it is my very great pleasure to also announce a second betrothal!”
A flurry of whispers broke out in the crowd. She saw Darcy’s face tighten, but she was unable to comprehend what it meant.
“It gives me no small satisfaction to tell you that Major George Wickham has asked my permission—and it has been granted—to marry my daughter—”
Kitty’s name was lost in the cacophonous racket that came from Mrs. Bennet upon hearing that another one of her daughters had become engaged. Elizabeth’s attention was yanked forcefully away from Darcy, and she stared in disbelief as her mother shrieked a steady stream of nonsensical vulgarities in her enthusiasm.
When Elizabeth recovered herself, her eyes darted back to where she had seen Darcy, but he was nowhere to be found. Frantically scanning the crowd—it would be easy to find him, as he was several inches taller than anyone else in attendance—she began to panic when her search yielded no results.
He had simply… disappeared.
Fortunately, Mrs. Bennet’s effusions drowned out Lydia’s eventual howls of fury, which erupted immediately after she was corrected over who Wickham’s choice of bride was to be. The foolish girl had initially thought her father was speaking of her, and she had turned to the major to accept a celebratory kiss, only to find him in a passionate embrace with her elder sister.
“You… you… trollop!”
Elizabeth was instantly at Lydia’s side just in time. Lydia launched herself at Kitty, fingers extended, but Elizabeth caught her around the waist. It was only by sheer luck that everyone was still in loud discussion over the two betrothals, otherwise Lydia would have exposed herself and her family to the ridicule of the entire town.
Making eye contact with her uncle Phillips, Elizabeth signaled with her head for him to come help her. Together, the two of them were able to frog-march Lydia from the ballroom with one of his hands covering her mouth to prevent her from screaming.
Not even waiting for a servant to call for their coach, they made their way to the carriage stand and thrust Lydia into the Bennet coach. Mr. Phillips closed the door behind the two girls and called for a servant to begin hitching up the horses to take the pair to Longbourn.
Without his hand to cover her mouth, Lydia screamed invectives that were more fitting for a fishwife than the daughter of a gentleman.
“That hussy! That strumpet! She stole him from me! Let me go! I’ll make her pay, just you wait and see! I’ll scratch her eyes out! I’ll burn her dresses! She’s a Jezebel, a Judas! I’ll never forgive her for this. Never! The filthy little slut! I’ll be—she—”
Slap.
Unable to bear the disgusting remarks any longer, Elizabeth did something she had never done before. She raised her arm, then with all her might, swung her hand until it connected with Lydia’s cheek as hard as possible.
Lydia’s diatribe was instantly replaced with silence for several seconds that turned into loud sobs. “You hit me! You hit me! I’ll tell Mama!”
“Lydia Francine Bennet, if you make one more sound, I will hit you again!”
“But—”
“Donottest me on this!” Elizabeth shouted. “I have had all I can tolerate from you tonight. You are selfish and spoiled, and I willnotallow you to ruin this for Kitty. We are going home, and if I hearone more wordfrom you, I will slap you again. Your cheek will be so bruised, you won’t be able to show your face outside of the house for a week!”
Having never actually been hit before, Lydia was terrified enough to fall silent and remain so all throughout the time required to hitch the horses to the wagon and travel toLongbourn. Once there, Elizabeth instructed Hill that Lydia should be locked in the nursery until Mr. Bennet arrived.
Lydia opened her mouth to protest, but a glare from Lizzy sent her scurrying off silently. Elizabeth wrote a note to her father to explain where Lydia was and why her face would likely be bruised. She trusted her uncle to explain why they needed to leave, but she didn’t have much confidence in Lydia’s ability to give an unbiased report.
She would have stayed at Longbourn to explain everything in person, but at this point she had almost gone mad by not knowing where Darcy was or why he was in Meryton.
Soon she was back in the carriage and on her way to the assembly room, praying that she would find him there.
