This alone would have been enough to keep her in high spirits all day if something else had not happened very soon after their departure. Mr. Bingley and Mr. Darcy paid a call just as Mr. Collins was beginning to make one of his speeches upon the subject of the ball, which made the guests doubly welcome. At first, Mrs. Bennet thought that if they had come to repeat the invitation, which was gratifying in deed, but then Mr. Bingley asked if he might speak privately with Jane. In flustered state, Mrs. Bennet hustled her other daughters and Mr. Collins away, leaving Mr. Darcy to do as he saw fit. He came out of the room with them, and she was at a loss to know what to do with him, but he required no guidance, being very certain of what he wished to do. As soon as he could make himself heard, he requested the same privilege as Mr. Bingley, except to speak to Miss Elizabeth.
This sent Mrs. Bennet into an even great fluster because it was so unexpected and because she could not offer him the best room, which had already been given to Mr. Bingley. Mr. Darcy accepted her apologies, but would have been satisfied with a closet. Mr. Collins stared and opened his mouth, but nothing came out, which Elizabeth saw with relief. She did not want to hear anything more from him.
She and Mr. Darcy went into the other room.
“I hope you will not think it headstrong and foolish of me to declare myself in love with you when we have not known each other very long,” Mr. Darcy said. “I had meant to wait a little longer for the sake of propriety, but the temptation was too great. I have never met anybody who made me feel this way. If you would consent to become my wife, I would do everything in my power to make you very happy. You need not answer at once if you would like some time to consider my proposal. I have received the impression that you share at least some part of my feelings, but I do not want to rush you into any decision if this is too sudden.”
“I do share your feelings,” Elizabeth replied. “All of them. You may know my answer now. I do consent.”
His face lit up with the greatest happiness.
They did not immediately return to the others, but sat talking more of their feelings and recent events. Elizabeth mentioned Mr. Collins’s communication about Miss de Bourgh.
“That old piece of nonsense,” Mr. Darcy said. “I am sorry that you should have heard what must have been distressing to you. It is an idea of my aunt’s, which she has been pressing upon me forever, but it was never to my liking. I must tell you more about my family at some time, but not today. It would spoil a perfect moment.”
“It is like that, is it? And I was worrying about my own family. Mr. Collins’s impertinence the other day had me mortified.”
“You must think nothing of it. I do not.”
This was highly reassuring.
“There is another thing I should mention as a warning to you,” she said. “There was a man I met the other day, by the name of Wickham. He seems to dislike you very much.”
“He does. Are you saying that Mr. Wickham is here in Meryton?”
“He has joined the regiment.”
“Then I feel sorry for them. I shall tell you all about him as well, but it is another story best left to a different day. One on which I am not too consumed by happiness to spare a thought for other things.”
Elizabeth understood completely, but suggested, to his delight, that there might never be such a day.
______
In the other room, Jane had also accepted Mr. Bingley’s offer of marriage, and in the ensuing conversation, she had come around to confessing the truth about the other day in Meryton.
“I feel ashamed of having drawn you into my deceit, especially as that you and Mr. Darcy went to so much trouble when there was nothing at all wrong with me,” she concluded.
“Do not trouble yourself about that. I would gladly go to any effort for you, and I am sure it was a good thing for you not to walk too much so soon after being ill. I am only ashamed that you had to endure the prospect of your cousin’s unwelcome attentions when I might have made it all unnecessary by declaring myself sooner. I have known for some time that there is nothing which would please me more than for you to be my wife, and I had the intention of asking you, but I dawdled over coming to the point. To tell the truth, I was nervous and afraid of being rejected.”
“There was ever any chance of that,” Jane declared to his delight.
“Still, I must now be of the opinion, dreadful though it sounds, that it is a very good thing you were unwell last week.”
Jane did not take offence at this as she was inclined to agree. If Mr. Collins had proposed to her, she might have felt compelled to accept him despite all her hopes for something better.
When Mr. Darcy heard the story from his friend later, he was just as glad that Elizabeth had been ill, and that he had not taken any more time before declaring himself either. He could well imagine that Mrs. Bennet would have happily accepted any proposal for her daughter.
Finally Dancing
It rained for the next few days, but this did not keep Mr. Bingley and Mr. Darcy from visiting their fiancées daily. It did, however, keep Mrs. Bennet from sharing the news of her good fortune with all her friends. For that pleasure, she had to wait until the evening of the ball.
It did not take very long for the news to travel about the room. Jane’s engagement to Mr. Bingley came as no surprise to anybody. It had long been expected, but Elizabeth’s to Mr. Darcy was the cause of some puzzlement.
“I did not think she had met him,” was said by several people.
“Lively Elizabeth Bennet engaged to that reserved Mr. Darcy? It cannot be possible,” one person remarked, but another replied that Mr. Darcy was not so bad once you got to know him better.
“He just needs bringing out,” somebody else agreed. “Elizabeth Bennet will do that very well, and he will give her much deserved consequence. I think it an excellent match.”
The couple overheard none of this, being too much wrapped up in each other. They danced the first set together, another privilege which Mr. Darcy had requested on the day of his proposal.
“This is a long overdue pleasure,” he said as they waited to begin the dance.
Elizabeth danced next with an officer, who mentioned that Mr. Wickham had unfortunately been unable to attend the ball on account of having some urgent business in London. It was the first time she had noticed that the newest lieutenant was not in the room. She remarked that it was a shame for him to have missed out on the pleasure of the evening, but had no doubt that Mr. Wickham had really chosen to stay away because of his history with Mr. Darcy, which she now knew in its entirety, as well as a fear that any confrontation between them would be the cause of revelations which would not be to his comfort.
After this dance, she was approached by Miss Bingley, who coldly offered her congratulations. Elizabeth felt the falsity of the sentiment, but replied with sensible civility. Some future association between them would be impossible to avoid, but she hoped that it would be infrequent.
At supper, she heard her mother speaking much too openly of the engagements and the chances of her other three daughters marrying equally well. Mr. Darcy was standing too close not to hear this, and afterwards he was subjected to one of Mr. Collins’s speeches and Mary’s playing as well, but he bore all of it with wonderful tolerance.
He and Elizabeth danced the last dance as well, kicking up their heels with unfading energy, and ending the evening on a note of perfect happiness.
______
The dancers whirled around the ballroom. Mr. Darcy held his wife in his arms and twirled her about with great delight. There was no finer dance than the waltz, and he chose to dance it with Elizabeth as often as possible, and never with anybody else, although earlier today, he had picked up his young daughter and spun her about the nursery when she had asked about dancing. His other children had giggled with amusement, along with their mother, whom he thought was prettier than ever. Ten years of marriage had not diminished her bloom in his eyes.
As she turned about, Eli
zabeth caught glimpses of her family. Jane and Mr. Bingley were nearby, displaying as much enjoyment for the dance as she felt. She saw all three of her younger sisters, Kitty and Mary standing with their husbands and Lydia gaily dancing with hers. She was as lively as ever, but time and good influence had brought about great improvement in all three of Elizabeth’s younger sisters. There was her mother, mellower these days, now that all three of her daughters were well-married and she had no fears for the future. Her came into view. He was watching her dance and smiling in a way which made her feel much loved and appreciated.
It was a room full of joy, as her life was, and she surveyed it with satisfaction and pleasure. Then she turned her eyes to her husband, the dearest person of all, and the love of her life, who had given her the greatest happiness.
Feather in the Wind: A Pride and Prejudice Variation Page 10