Which Lady?
Mr. Darcy looked around the assembly room, trying to give the appearance of merely surveying the company with mild interest, but his eyes were keenly searching for a face that was fixed in his mind. The young lady he had met that morning was unforgettable. He had never before felt such an impulsive attraction. It was absurd, he tried to tell himself, but he kept feeling that this was the lady he had been waiting to meet. He had felt connected to her in an instant, drawn by the bright expression in her eyes, and their brief conversation had confirmed the feeling. The playfulness of her manner had appealed to him in the most astonishing way. In all his thoughts of what he wanted in a wife, he had never imagined this quality, but now he could not imagine his wife being otherwise.
He had looked back and been disappointed that she was gone, but then a long gap in the hedge gave him a view of the fields and he had caught a glimpse of her. The rays of sunlight shining upon her, and the energy of her gait made for a cheerful picture to carry away with him.
He longed to know her better and find out if that attraction would hold and deepen upon further acquaintance as he unaccountably expected it would. He had come to the assembly in a mood of excited anticipation, which was now turning to impatience.
He could not find her in the gathering. The room was crowded and many ladies had their backs to him or were concealed behind other people. She was somewhere in this crowd, but where? He did see a few feathers poking up here and there. One of them must belong to the sister who had been mentioned this morning.
He accepted an offer to be introduced around the room, expecting that sooner or later he would find himself in front of the one person he most wanted to meet. The gentleman who undertook this duty, Sir William Lucas, introduced his wife and mentioned that one of his daughters was somewhere in the room with some friends of hers. His eldest, he explained, was unfortunately ill and not in attendance this evening. Mr. Darcy experienced his first moment of concern. Perhaps Miss Lucas was the lady he had so admired. He fervently hoped this was not the case and continued to make new acquaintances.
Among these was a Mrs. Bennet, who appeared to be accompanied by five daughters to Mr. Darcy’s astonishment. They were not all facing him, but one of them was sporting a white feather. He felt a quiver of excitement. The lady must be part of this group.
The eldest Miss Bennet was introduced first. She was a very pretty girl, whom Mr. Bingley immediately asked for the first dance, which was not at all astonishing. He was fond of pretty partners. The other sisters had all turned about, but the face he sought was not among them. What he did see was a second feather, identical to the other, and the same as the one which had drifted into his hand.
“Miss Mary Bennet, Miss Kitty Bennet, Miss Lydia Bennet, and my own daughter, Miss Maria Lucas,” Sir William said.
So it was four daughters, not five. The other was their friend. And she was wearing a feather. The absent Miss Lucas must be his charming lady. What a dreadful disappointment it was to miss her. He hoped that she was not very ill or suffering too much discomfort. He was about to ask Miss Maria about her sister’s illness when Mrs. Bennet spoke up.
“One of my daughters is not here this evening,” she said. Apparently, the lady really did have five daughters. And now Mr. Darcy had two possibilities. Which lady had he encountered that morning?
“Is she unwell like Miss Lucas?” he asked.
“No. The two of them are great friends, so Elizabeth decided to spend the evening keeping Charlotte company.”
Charlotte or Elizabeth? Perhaps one of these feathered young ladies could provide a clue. He did the only thing which made sense under the circumstances: he asked Maria Lucas for the first dance and Lydia Bennet for the second. They were both delighted to accept. Even as he made the offer, he felt a little dubious, for they were showing signs of being rather silly girls, but he allowed that they were inexperienced in the ways of the world and decided it would be pointless to expect sophisticated manners.
Miss Maria appeared to have a nervous nature and did not initiate any conversation. It was up to him to draw her out, which he did with patient effort, although he admitted to himself that he might not have gone to the trouble if he had not had his own particular purpose. He made a remark about the two friends having matching feathers, and the easy subject encouraged the lady to speak.
“We bought them at the same time, and they were the last two in the shop,” she said. “I bought mine first, but I did not mind when Lydia admired it so much that she wanted one too.”
This did not surprise Mr. Darcy, but he wondered if feelings would have gone the same way if Miss Lydia Bennet, whom he had already noticed to be bold and forthright, had made the first purchase.
“I almost did not wear it tonight,” Miss Maria said, becoming a little more talkative. “It went missing, but luckily my sister found it for me.”
His question was answered. At that moment, they went different ways in the dance, and Mr. Darcy was able to indulge in recalling the pretty face and putting a name to it. Charlotte. It was a lovely name, and one which he thought suited her well.
He arrived back at his partner’s side, and she said, “The funny thing is that Lydia lost her feather as well, and Elizabeth found it for her.”
What a frustrating coincidence. He was back where he had started.
“Where did you lose your feather?” he asked, thankful that this quiet girl was not likely to think the question odd.
“Somewhere outside. My sister did not say exactly where she found it.”
It looked at though the lady was Charlotte.
“Lydia’s was lost outside as well. We both thought it was lucky that they did not get dirty.”
Or she could be Elizabeth. It was an equally lovely name. He liked both names very well, but which one belonged to his unforgettable lady?
______
Elizabeth was focusing on the pages of a book, trying not to let Charlotte guess how disappointed she was to miss the assembly. She had not told anybody of the gentleman she had met in the lane and how he had been in her thoughts ever since, so it had been easy to persuade her friend that she did not mind sitting beside her bed and keeping her company.
This sacrifice had come about when she had visited the Lucas’s home later that morning and learned that Charlotte had fallen ill. To her disappointment, Lady Lucas was not intending to stay home with her eldest daughter.
“It is only a slight illness, and this is too great an opportunity to be missed” she had said.
Maria had been willing to stay home, but her mother would not hear of it when there were such eligible gentlemen to be met.
On seeing Charlotte, Elizabeth had observed that her friend had a high temperature and her condition was not as trivial as Lady Lucas had made out. She had not liked the idea of leaving Charlotte to be attended only by the servants, so she had volunteered to stay, regretfully but willingly sacrificing her own amusement to the needs of a friend. Lady Lucas had accepted the offer happily. Her thoughts had been easy enough to understand. If one of her friend’s daughters chose to be absent, it was no concern of hers, and one less lady in the assembly room could not be viewed as a bad thing.
Elizabeth was sorry to miss out on being introduced to the nice young man she had met, but there would soon be another opportunity. Unless the man happened to be one of Mr. Bingley’s friends and was soon returning to London, but if that was the case, then it might be better not to meet him after all. She had been allowing her imagination to run away with her, but it was foolish to let herself be further attracted to a man who was only flitting in and out of the neighbourhood.
She did her best to keep up her own spirits and those of Charlotte, who was feeling a little improved and expressed regret that Elizabeth was not enjoying the evening as she had planned.
“I do not mind missing the assembly for myself, but I wish you had gone. You are fond of dancing, and there will be more than enough partners tonight if the report
s of Mr. Bingley’s friends are true.”
“There will be plenty of other opportunities to dance,” Elizabeth said equably, “and perhaps too much has been made of Mr. Bingley’s friends. It is possible that they are all the most atrocious dancers. You and I might be having the best of it while our friends are all having their feet stepped upon.”
Charlotte laughed. “And not one of them handsome, I suppose you will say.”
“Exactly. I am sure they are an unattractive set of men.”
“You are a good friend, Lizzy. It is a great deal to know that you valued me over the opportunity to meet single young men of fortune, who are probably much more handsome and better dancers then you allow.”
“I do not put much stock into all this talk of opportunity. You and I know well enough that we are unlikely to tempt young men of fortune. In fact, I think we really are better off being here and not getting up false hopes.”
She began reading again, and did her best to put the handsome young man out of her mind, but found that he could not be forgotten.
The Wrong Man
Elizabeth was given a bedchamber at the Lucas’s house on the evening of the assembly, and she stayed for several days. She missed a discussion of the assembly which took place at her own home, but later Jane paid a visit to Charlotte, and she told them all about it.
They heard that Mr. Bingley was the most charming gentleman who had been liked by everybody, and that he had singled her out for a second dance.
“He is just what a young man ought to be,” she said. “Sensible, good humoured, and lively. I never saw such happy manners, with so much ease and such perfect good breeding.”
Elizabeth immediately saw the signs that her sister greatly admired the gentleman and felt a sense of foreboding. “Was he also handsome?” she asked, endeavoring to maintain a lighthearted tone.
“Very much so,” Jane replied with a slight blush.
Her description could certainly fit the man whom Elizabeth had encountered. She had found him to be everything which Jane had just described. Was it possible that she and her sister had both been attracted to the same man? Was her perfect gentleman Mr. Bingley?
She could only hope that it had been one of his friends in the lane. She eagerly asked for information about them, and learned that Mr. Bingley had only brought one friend to the ball.
“Was he equally pleasant?”
“I thought so,” Jane replied, “but he was not so popular, I must confess. Lydia danced with him, and she said that he was not at all friendly.”
This did not bode well. If Lydia, who was inclined to like gentleman indiscriminately, had not liked Mr. Darcy, then he could hardly be the friendly man she had met. It looked as though it must be Mr. Bingley whom she had found so attractive. The same man who was in a fair way to taking hold of Jane’s heart.
It was a good thing she had not mentioned their meeting and shared with Jane how he had stirred her feelings. She must now forget all about that and be happy for her sister. Hers had only been a passing fancy, she told herself. Nothing which need affect her greatly.
Still, when there was another opportunity of meeting Mr. Bingley a few days later, she was quite happy to keep Charlotte company again. Her friend firmly insisted that she should not, but Elizabeth assured her that she was quite indifferent to meeting the unfriendly Mr. Darcy, and perfectly willing to wait a little longer to know Mr. Bingley.
A little longer to forget how much she had liked him, she admitted to herself.
______
Mr. Darcy and Mr. Bingley were just about to leave the house when they saw a carriage coming up the drive. They watched from an upper window as it came to a halt and the door was opened. Mrs. Bennet stepped out first. Mr. Darcy watched her daughters emerge one by one, expecting to see Miss Elizabeth among them.
He felt a thrill of anticipation. Either he was about to see the lady who had captivated his heart or he was about to discover that she was Miss Lucas, which would be enlightening although not as exciting as finding himself face to face with her.
He saw the four sisters whom he had already met descend from the vehicle and anxiously waited for the appearance of one more. Seconds went by. There was nobody else. The carriage door was closed, and Mrs. Bennet began to ascend the front steps, followed by four daughters. Where was the fifth?
“We might as well take a few minutes to greet my sisters’ visitors,” Mr. Bingley said. Mr. Darcy could hear the eagerness in his voice and recalled that he had been very much taken with Miss Bennet.
His own enthusiasm had vanished. The dance with Lydia Bennet had produced no useful information, and her company had not been at all agreeable. One evening had been sufficient to give him wariness of the Bennet family. Miss Bennet excepted, they were an ill-behaved lot. He had been wondering about the odds of Miss Elizabeth resembling her elder sister or the rest of her family, and was inclined to think that she could not be the one.
It did seem that his lady was more likely to be Charlotte Lucas, which unfortunately, was only a slight improvement. Sir William was a ridiculous oddity. Lady Lucas was notably unintelligent and had pointedly pushed her younger daughter forward, obviously inspired to do so by that dance which he now regretted. As for Miss Maria, she was an insipid creature who did not inspire hope that her sister possessed any excellent qualities. Perhaps Elizabeth Bennet was more likely.
He was almost inclined to think there must be some lady he had not met, except that he had formed an awareness that every young lady in the neighbourhood had been especially eager to attend the assembly and meet their wealthy new neighbour. It seemed that there was no other possibility.
His lady had to be Elizabeth or Charlotte.
He accompanied Mr. Bingley to the drawing room, hoping that something in the conversation might give him a hint, but there was nothing. Mrs. Bennet commended Mr. Bingley on his choice of home and informed him that he would not want to leave such a comfortable dwelling in any hurry. Her hopes concerning her eldest daughter were obvious, and her hints were in poor taste.
The gentlemen stayed only a few minutes and then went off to their shooting, which gave Mr. Darcy more enjoyment than he expected to receive from the dinner which they planned to attend that evening. Would she be there? He kept telling himself that this was all nonsensical, but he could not shake the feeling that he had felt something special during that brief moment in the lane.
Missed Opportunities
While Charlotte slowly recovered, she and Elizabeth missed two opportunities to dine with Mr. Bingley, of whom they continued to hear the highest praise; his sisters, about whom they had heard a great many unflattering things; Mr. Hurst, about whom they had heard there was nothing to say; and Mr. Darcy, who was apparently still in the neighbourhood much to everybody’s surprise.
“I watched him walk into Mrs. Long’s drawing room and look around with an expression of great discontent,” Lady Lucas told them on the morning after the second dinner party. “I do not know why he stays. He scarcely talks to anybody and never looks as though he is enjoying himself.”
“Mr. Bingley always looks happy,” Maria said. “He spends most of his time by your sister’s side, and everybody can see that he admires her greatly.”
“Your mother is in high hopes that they will make a match of it,” Lady Lucas said without sounding especially happy about that prospect.
Elizabeth swiftly changed the subject, preferring not to be mortified by thoughts of how her mother must be behaving if she was so certain of this match. It was all to easy to conjure up an image. She would be incapable of keeping quiet about her expectations.
It was on that same day that Elizabeth returned home. Charlotte spent all of morning out of bed and pronounced herself to be fit again, which very much appeared to be an accurate assessment. The colour was back in her cheeks, and she was able to summon up a moderate amount of energy.
“You will both be able to dine with the Gouldings tomorrow,” Lady Lucas said. “It
will be a fine opportunity to see for yourselves how little pleased Mr. Darcy is with everything.”
Elizabeth was curious to meet the gentleman. Evidently, there would be little pleasure in making his acquaintance, but the observation of his strange manners might offer interesting diversion. As for Mr. Bingley, she felt equal to meeting him as Jane’s admirer. There would be no jealousy or regret that her sister had met him first.
On the following evening, she was delighted to meet Mr. Bingley, in part because he was indeed very personable, but mostly because he was not the man to whom she had felt such a strong attraction. Despite of all her attempts at persuading herself that her little encounter had been trivial, the moment of this discovery came as a great relief. Now it was possible to be supremely happy for her sister because it was immediately evident that Mr. Bingley held Jane in the highest regard.
Did this mean that Mr. Darcy was indeed the man she had met? Were her opinions so different from those of her neighbours that she could have thought of Mr. Darcy pleasant while others found him disagreeable? Could she perhaps have met some stranger?
She expected to find out in another moment. She was introduced to Miss Bingley and the Hursts, but there was nobody else with them. An explanation was given before long when Mr. Bingley said something about his friend.
“I am forgetting,” he apologized, “you have not met Mr. Darcy. He returned to London this morning.”
It was as she had presumed. The gentleman had made his brief stay in the neighbourhood and gone away again. They would not meet now. She felt a little regret for having missed the opportunity, but at least a danger to her heart had been avoided.
“You will meet him soon,” Mr. Bingley was saying.
“He is coming to stay with you again?”
“He has not exactly left. His trip to London was just to take care of a little matter of business. He will be back in a couple of days.”
Feather in the Wind: A Pride and Prejudice Variation Page 5