by Heather Moll
In the morning, the ladies were preparing to leave for Longbourn when a message delivered by one of the post boys from the inn said that all the horses were out and they would have to wait several hours for a new team. Jane and Maria Lucas were disappointed to have to wait longer to return home but offered to spend the morning out of doors with the Gardiner children as Mrs. Gardiner was unwell and remained above stairs.
“Lizzy, will you come with us?” asked Jane as she tied the ribbons on her bonnet.
Elizabeth was forming a frantic idea; if she did not act now, she knew she would regret the missed opportunity. “Since we are to be in town a few hours longer, I believe we should return Miss Darcy’s call. Her companion is away, and Miss Darcy is with her brother instead of at her own establishment. She is a sweet, shy girl and would enjoy the company. It was a striking civility for her to call on us at all, and equal politeness on our side should be employed.”
“You wish to call on Miss Darcy today? But we only need wait a few hours for the horses. Besides, Miss Darcy called on you. She would not expect to receive Maria and me.”
Maria went pale and stammered that she preferred to take the children for a walk.
“Miss Darcy knows we are to leave today and would not be slighted if you do not return the call,” Jane said.
“I must try to—that is, he…some exertion of politeness on my side would be welcomed by Miss Darcy. It will not take long for me to dress, and I shall return in time to leave.”
“You do not mean to call by yourself! And it is too early. Miss Darcy may keep late hours.”
Elizabeth would not be dissuaded; she called her uncle’s manservant to hire a hackney and then asked the maid to help her dress, but she learned that all her clothes had been sent to the inn with the ladies’ baggage. She stamped her foot in frustration, and Jane gaped at her. Elizabeth wished she had been less secretive about Mr. Darcy. She pulled Jane to the vestibule and hurriedly explained about Mr. Darcy’s proposal, her refusal, their resolve to act better, and her newfound interest.
“Do you not see? He will think me indifferent and will not come to Hertfordshire with Mr. Bingley. I am wretched! You must believe me!”
“You are joking! This cannot be! Mr. Darcy proposed to you and you do not regret refusing him in April, but now you wish to make known to him that you no longer dislike him? It is impossible.”
“I speak nothing but the truth. He may still love me, and perhaps I could love him, but our chance at happiness will be lost if I do not call on Miss Darcy!”
“You will use poor Miss Darcy very ill indeed if you use her to get to her brother.”
“It is not like that! I would be happy to call on Miss Darcy in any event. And I shall probably not even see Mr. Darcy, but Miss Darcy will tell him of my visit and perhaps he will come to Hertfordshire. It will be the work of a moment to tell him my feelings are changed.”
“Why have you been so secret with me? How little you have told me of what passed in Kent.”
“I shall tell you all! All my motives and feelings shall be known to you, but please do not ask me of it now! I have never so honestly felt that I could love him, and I have to give him reason to hope!”
“At least take the maid with you.” Elizabeth agreed and made for the door when Jane stopped her. “My aunt lent me a green gown to make morning calls this spring, and it is still in my room. It would be more flattering for a call than your traveling gown.”
Elizabeth embraced her sister then quickly donned the borrowed gown. Elizabeth and the Gardiners’ maid soon climbed into a hackney on their way to Berkeley Street.
***
Darcy was sure there might have been a little fever of admiration for him in Elizabeth’s countenance when they last spoke, but he doubted that she loved him. But could she? He had spent hours in reflection over this woman and began to wonder whether it was worth his efforts. His pursuit of Elizabeth had not been an easy one although he freely admitted that was not her fault. His own conceit and arrogance worked against him, but his character was better for attending to Elizabeth’s reproofs.
Elizabeth could not have failed to understand his wishes when he asked to call on her in Hertfordshire. She did not say no; she did not say yes. Darcy did not believe Elizabeth ungenerous enough to trifle with his emotions. Perhaps allowing Elizabeth the advantage of time and distance would be better suited to his purpose. He decided not to join Bingley in Hertfordshire this summer and would instead travel to Pemberley with Georgiana.
He recalled his conversation with Colonel Fitzwilliam following his dinner with the Gardiners. Darcy had braced himself for an inquest, but for most of the evening Fitzwilliam was uncharacteristically silent regarding Miss Bennet.
“I enjoyed our sojourn to Rosings this Easter. Our three weeks there passed in more pleasant company than in other years, would you not agree?” his cousin asked.
Darcy nodded but felt too much to speak.
“Lady Catherine no doubt believes that your attachment to Rosings increases, and the deferral of our departure so many times must make her think you sorry to leave cousin Anne.”
Darcy gave a short laugh and rolled his eyes. Fitzwilliam was intimate enough with Darcy to know how to nettle him.
“I should tell you, I was partial to Miss Bennet,” Fitzwilliam said while gazing into his glass. “I trust she found me agreeable, but she was not unhappy when I made it known to her that I had no intentions at all. A younger son, you know, must marry with some attention to money.”
Darcy exhaled the breath he did not know he had been holding. He closed his eyes. How could he bear it if his cousin, his intimate friend and partner in guardianship of Georgiana, loved Elizabeth?
“You, my dear cousin, need not harden yourself to any such circumstance.” Fitzwilliam spoke with such sincerity that Darcy opened his eyes. “I admired her well enough, but I was not in love with Miss Bennet. You are a man who will either be made or marred by his choice of a wife. Miss Bennet has an admirable inner strength as well as a great sense of joy. Do not allow any misguided sense of familial duty or the opinions of the fashionable world hinder you in forming your future happiness.” Fitzwilliam emptied his glass and left the room without a word.
Darcy was drawn back to the present by the sound of the tittering young ladies engaged in morning dance lessons in his drawing room. The music of the waltz could hardly be discerned over the laughter. No doubt they giggled at the thought of clasping a young man for an entire dance while they twirled about the room in practice. The waltz was becoming popular at the highest social levels, and Darcy had allowed Georgiana to attend lessons with a Viennese master along with several of the other young ladies in the square.
The music ceased, and he heard whispering and suppressed laughter as the girls tramped down the stairs. The dance master would escort them home, Darcy recalled, and he had only to hide in his library a few moments longer to be assured of not having to greet them. He doubted Elizabeth would call him ungentlemanly in his wish to avoid their false smiles and unsubtle survey of his home and wealth.
Darcy’s library faced the street on the ground floor, and he could easily hear a knock, the front door open and close, and then quieter footsteps enter the hall. “Damnation,” he muttered aloud. He meant to tell the footman to remove the knocker from the door so that he and his sister were not available to callers today. Darcy decided to remain ensconced within the walls of his library until the visitor left.
Chapter 4
Elizabeth and her maid alighted from the hackney at an impressive house near Berkeley Square and were admitted into a handsome hall with a grand staircase. A door on the right was closed, and down the hall she could see into the dining room. The furnishings were suitable to the fortune of the proprietor; Elizabeth saw, with admiration for Mr. Darcy’s taste, that they were neither gaudy nor useless
ly fine.
She asked whether Miss Darcy was at home to visitors, and the footman replied in the negative. Disheartened, Elizabeth folded the corner of her card and placed it on the silver salver. All she could hope for now was that, when Miss Darcy reviewed her cards, she would mention her visit to Mr. Darcy and he would know what it meant.
Elizabeth then realized she had neglected to ask the driver to wait and, mortified, was about to ask the footman whether he would go to the cross street and hail her another hackney when Miss Darcy appeared at the top of the stairs. She greeted Elizabeth with quiet, though sincere, civility and expressed surprise at her appearance.
“I was at my leisure for some hours and wished to pay a visit to my newest acquaintance if you are willing to have me.”
Her maid went to the kitchen, and Elizabeth was shown into a pretty sitting room, fitted up with an elegance and lightness that she admired. She said so to Miss Darcy.
“Thank you. My brother furnished the room to my pleasure last season. He is very considerate.” Miss Darcy clutched a handkerchief in her hands.
Elizabeth suspected that Miss Darcy proceeded from shyness and the fear of doing wrong. “Do you miss school?” Miss Darcy only shrugged. “I have always been surrounded by sisters and would be at a loss without their companionship.”
“My brother removed me from school to give me the advantage of more genteel supervision by a companion.” Miss Darcy cringed, looking more like a little girl than a fashionable young woman. Elizabeth presumed she was thinking of Mrs. Younge and Ramsgate and swiftly changed the subject.
“He is certainly a good brother, but I was inquiring whether you missed the company of ladies your own age. The companionship of an older brother is not equal to the more sisterly friendship of other girls.”
“I do miss their company at times.” After a pause, Miss Darcy exerted herself. “Did you and your sisters attend seminary, or were you taught by a governess?”
“We never had any governess, nor were we sent to school. We were encouraged to read, and those of us who wished to learn never wanted the means.”
“Did your mother take up your education?”
“No, but my father was supportive of the education of any daughter who showed interest. He believed we had a better chance for exposure to a variety of subjects at home rather than through the typical accomplishments taught in some girls’ schools.”
“Yet my brother has said you sing and play very well, and you converse with ease. You are obviously accomplished despite not having the regular instruction of a governess or attending a school.”
“Thank you, but some ladies of our acquaintance argue that my qualities as a proper lady are sorely lacking. I am poor at useless conversation and pretty wiles to win suitors. I have a clever mind and a sharp tongue, and I am ashamed to say I have been cruel enough to use them both against those to whom I should have shown my respect and admiration.”
She fell into contemplative silence, wishing she had known Mr. Darcy better earlier in their acquaintance.
“I spend Thursday mornings in dance lessons with other ladies. There is but one in the group for whom I felt anything akin to friendship. My brother may loathe dancing”—Miss Darcy offered a small smile—“but even he would agree to the importance of learning what is fashionable.”
“To execute perfectly the steps of an English country dance and to make polite conversation while remaining attentive to the demands of the dance requires skill. What did you and your companions review today?”
“The turning waltz” was her reply, and they spoke animatedly about the intimate dance and its supposed affront to English morals. Miss Darcy declared she would be too mortified to be seen clasping a gentleman so closely but conceded the dance was graceful.
“It is fortunate that I am far too proper for such wickedness,” Elizabeth said playfully. “Otherwise, I might regret not having the opportunity to learn the steps so I might scandalize my country neighbors.”
“There is nothing shocking in the side-by-side position, only in the closed.” Miss Darcy inhaled deeply and nearly tripped over her words. “Would you care for me to show you the steps?”
She is so eager for a friend. Elizabeth warmed to the idea of befriending both Darcy siblings. “Yes! I promise to be an attentive student.”
Miss Darcy walked to a table that contained a chest the size of a hat box. She explained that Mr. Darcy had sent to Geneva for a musical box, and it would play a waltz for them while they danced.
Miss Darcy pushed back a chair, and Elizabeth moved a table to the far side of the room. Miss Darcy wound the mechanism, and it began to play. The younger girl demonstrated the steps with ease and grace. It was clear to Elizabeth that her new acquaintance was exactly the kind of accomplished lady Miss Bingley had described. She was beautiful and elegant, but Elizabeth decided that Miss Darcy desperately needed a laugh.
“You must show me the closed waltz; I shall never be able to shock my sisters if I only watch the side-by-side steps.”
“There are no gentlemen here to partner with.”
Elizabeth suppressed the desire to inquire after the master of the house. “Have you not had to stand up with another lady at a ball for lack of gentleman partners? I have often stood up with one of my sisters, and we enjoy ourselves thoroughly although I never mastered the art of bowing.” Elizabeth did her best to demonstrate a solemn bow to Miss Darcy, who laughed and offered a deep curtsey.
“May I have the next set, Miss Darcy?”
“Yes, madam, I would be delighted!” Miss Darcy appeared happier and more relaxed than she did in the Gardiners’ drawing room.
The ladies reached an impasse as Miss Darcy only knew the lady’s steps and became confused as to how to lead her partner. After much confusion as to where hands were to be placed, Elizabeth held out both hands and asked Miss Darcy to dispense with the position of their hands so they could focus on the slide-back-turn movements of their feet.
Miss Darcy stood across from Elizabeth and eagerly took her hands. “Always start with the outside foot.” Both ladies tried to step to the right and descended into laughter again.
“Who is the gentleman and who is the lady?” Elizabeth laughed.
“I only know the lady’s steps. The gentleman’s are the same but in a different order! It is the gentleman’s responsibility to lead the lady.”
“You must do the lady’s movements and I shall try to follow you to learn the part of the gentleman.”
Elizabeth did her best to mirror Georgiana’s movements, but both ladies often moved wrong. Their slippers were stepped on, and there was more apologizing than attending as the ladies giggled and twirled clumsily around the room. Elizabeth tried to assume the gentleman’s role and led her partner into the curtains. Miss Darcy attempted to guide Elizabeth, and although she danced the lady’s part with skill, she could not see behind her and the pair bumped into the furniture. They were unaware that the sound of their tramping feet and their laughing voices carried to the floor below.
***
Darcy was engrossed in writing letters of business, but was interrupted by the ring of girlish laughter. Intermixed with shrieks and giggles came the muffled sounds of heavy items being jostled. Darcy was at a loss to explain it. The servants never made noise as they carried out their duties, and he was sure the dance lesson had ended half an hour ago.
Darcy threw down his pen and, without donning his coat, opened his door and found the laughter and voices got louder as he approached his sister’s sitting room.
“Ow, that is my foot!”
“I do apologize! I shall never learn this shocking dance.”
The chime of the musical box slowed as he opened the door to his sister’s room. He could scarcely credit the sight before him, for there, with hands clasped and spinning about the room, were
his sister and Elizabeth Bennet, laughing as if they had known one another all their lives. Georgiana was totally devoid of composure and was wildly smiling as she pivoted Elizabeth and narrowly avoided grazing a side table. Elizabeth had her eyes on the floor and was muttering “slide, back, turn, one, two, three.”
The music stopped, and both ladies looked at the table. Georgiana gasped as she saw her brother in the doorway, but Elizabeth still did not see him.
“My dear Miss Darcy, you are a talented partner, but I fear I need further practice!”
Georgiana stifled her countenance and dropped Elizabeth’s hands; Elizabeth asked whether she was well. She received no reply but followed Georgiana’s gaze to the door. A deep blush immediately spread across her cheeks. It was then that he realized he was only in his shirtsleeves and likely wore a similar expression of utter astonishment as she did.
He absolutely stared, but shortly recovering himself, he advanced towards them. Every idea seemed to fail him, and after standing a few moments without saying a word, he recollected himself and greeted her.
“I, Eli—Miss Bennet, I thought you were to return home this morning?” Darcy thought her eyes appeared bright and lovely. How could I have decided only an hour ago not to follow her to Hertfordshire? Until she explicitly sent him away, Darcy would use every power within his means to make Elizabeth Bennet fall as much in love with him as he was with her.
“We were obliged to wait for a new team from the posting inn, and I found myself at my leisure,” came her answer in a rush. “I thought I might further my acquaintance with Miss Darcy. We were speaking of dancing and, well, we have passed our time delightfully!”
His sister offered a timid smile. “We have enjoyed ourselves although I am afraid, for all our efforts, Miss Bennet still cannot waltz.”
“You offered…to teach Miss Bennet…a waltz?” Darcy asked, still trying to accept that Elizabeth was in his house and that she was smiling at him.