by Linda Phelps
Lady Lucas ventured, “Perhaps he will be attracted to one of the Long young ladies, or Miss Mary King.” At this idea Lydia and Kitty Bennet, confident in their own youth and beauty, burst into laughter, which, catching the eyes of sisters Elizabeth and Jane, they stifled to giggles.
Charlotte Lucas reflected upon her own plain face. She was six years older than Jane Bennet, had never had a period of bloom, and was not in the way of being considered any sort of candidate for the ‘fine thing’ the mothers expected, marriage to the new neighbour with five thousand a year. If Miss Mary King, pretty and very wealthy was not considered a worthy competitor for the attentions of this man just who would be? Jane Bennet owned beauty but no fortune. No woman was handsome enough to expect a good marriage unless she was prepared to bring a sizeable income into the match.
“But what is Mr. Bingley’s appearance?” demanded Lydia Bennet. “Is he tall or short; clean shaven or adorned with a mustache? What sort of waistcoat does he wear?”
“Sir William says he is quite young, no more than five-and-twenty, and wonderfully handsome and agreeable.”
Charlotte smiled again at these interpolations. She had herself been present when her father had spoken of Bingley in terms of his being “young and pleasant in appearance”. Lady Lucas fell comfortably into the habit of exaggeration when in conversation with Mrs. Bennet. The latter was so lacking in reserve that Lady Lucas was borne along to excess as if caught by a strong current.
“Mr. Bennet has also been to call, but he has not the powers of description that Sir William has. He found the young man to be agreeable, to be sure, but beyond that he had nothing to say. He is reserving judgment until we are on more intimate terms”. Mrs. Bennet smiled at her eldest daughter.
“But is he tall or short, dark or fair?” insisted Lydia Bennet. “Does he hunt? What sort of hat does he wear?”
“He means to be at the next assembly ball with a large party,” said Lady Lucas, “so you will see for yourself.”
“Delightful!” said Elizabeth Bennet. “To be handsome and fond of dancing, for why else would he plan to attend the assembly, is exactly what we wish for in a new neighbor. I will now add my whole hearted acceptance to that of those who have already seen him.”
Charlotte Lucas nodded. She admired the wit of the second Bennet daughter. As a child, she had been as outspoken as her friend. Now she relied on Elizabeth to say the things she would have liked to say herself. Elizabeth, possessor of beauty, was tolerated in her lively speech in a way that Charlotte would never be.
The younger girls had entered into a conversation about what they would wear to impress this new neighbour. They spoke of ribands and muslins. Charlotte, listening to them with half a mind, wished that she could again believe that a new dress could affect a change in her prospects, but she had long since given up such ideas.
As the day of the Assembly Ball drew near, the young ladies of the neighbourhood devoted themselves to the most minute details of their appearances. Maria Lucas, now of marriageable age, fretted at the attention paid to her sister.
“Mama, when will I have a turn? I long to be out.”
“Soon, dearest Maria. But we must give Charlotte the honour at present, since she is the eldest.”
“Indeed, Madam, do not hold Maria back on my account,” said Charlotte. “Think of the Bennet girls. Even Lydia is accorded the freedom of one no longer a child. Use them as your example.”
“Yes, Mama, do.”
“I do not think the license given the younger Bennet girls is one we wish to emulate,” said Lady Lucas. “It is said that they go to town on purpose to meet with the soldiers. That is not behavior I consider proper for young ladies.”
Charlotte cast down her eyes. When the news that the regiment was to be quartered in Meryton made its swift way though the neighbourhood, she had been unable to repress a small welling of hope. Perhaps, just perhaps, one of the soldiers would consider her a figure worthy of courtship. Perhaps one of the officers would be her Frederick. She laughed at herself as she remembered her long ago foolishness. Nevertheless she had accompanied the Bennet girls into town once, and indeed the party of young women was accosted by friendly officers wherever they went. The men were a handsome lot, young and fit and uniformly charming Charlotte’s heart jumped whenever she caught the eye of one of them. However, while the men were all flirtatious gallantry when speaking to the Bennet ladies, none displayed any interest in Charlotte. In the sunshine, amidst the lively interactions and flirtations, she felt very old. It was as if she were the girls’ mother, not their friend.
Maria continued to plead, “Mama, I am more than old enough to go to a ball.”
“Well, I believe there would be no harm if you put your hair up and wore a new dress. Then we will see if a gentleman thinks you old enough to be his partner in a dance,” Lady Lucas said. “But you must be sure to dress more plainly than Charlotte, my dear. You would not wish to take attention from her.”
Recognizing that her mother had once again given in to the hope that Charlotte would finally entice a suitor, Charlotte assured herself that she had abandoned any expectations in that direction. If only the family could have gone to London, where she might have been presented to new acquaintances! But Lady Lucas did not find London suitable to her health and habits. Thus Charlotte, completely familiar to the neighbourhood, lived a quiet life without blame or praise.
She knew her family had concerns for her future. Why would they not? What would, in fact, her life be once her parents were gone? She pictured herself, older, living with a brother, making herself useful to his reluctant wife, trying to dote upon her small nieces and nephews. She had accepted this fate in her mind. From what she observed, marriages were not desirable in and of themselves. What the woman gained, other than the questionable benefits of a horde of children, was the safety of a home of her own. What the man gained, along with a dowry, was someone to run his household for him and care for the children. If the wife were handsome, so much the better for him.
Charlotte recalled an overheard conversation between Lady Lucas and Mrs. Bennet. “I do so envy you your daughter’s beauty”, Lady Lucas had said. “You will have no trouble finding a husband for Jane. If only my Charlotte had such regular features. I am afraid she will never attract a man.”
“I’m sure you need have no fears on that account,” Mrs. Bennet had replied. “After all, there are men who prefer steadiness to beauty. You must find one of those for her.”
But if any such effort had been made, Charlotte was not aware of it. She continued to be the familiar, quiet figure at parties and assemblies, sitting much of the time conversing to other women as the dancing couples made their ways through the figures and from there, often, to matrimony.
Chapter Two
WHEN THE CORRECT INTERVAL had passed, the new neighbour returned Sir William’s call. Mr. Bingley had first to be greeted by Charlotte’s numerous brothers and exchange compliments with the master of the house. He was then shown into the sitting room where Charlotte, her mother, and her younger sister Maria busied themselves with various bits of handiwork. There he sat a full twenty minutes, making comments about the neighbourhood and its people and asking proper question about the families he had not yet had time to encounter.. He met the eyes of the ladies with open friendliness, making himself so agreeable that they were as pleased with him as they had hoped to be. He spoke of the coming Assembly Ball with anticipation.
Charlotte fought to remain composed. Although she had not in years thought about the imaginary Frederick, here he was, exactly as she had pictured him when she was a child! Her knight sat, actually sat, in the parlour of Lucas Lodge. Within minutes, all her childhood fantasies returned. This was the man she had dreamed of her entire life. Could it be meaningless that he had moved into her neighbourhood?
“Miss Lucas, if I may impose upon such a short acquaintance, will you honour me as my partner for the first two dances on the occasion of the Assembly Bal
l?” asked Bingley.
“Of course, Mr. Bingley,” Charlotte said. “I shall look forward to it.” Struggling to speak normally, she rewarded him with a serene smile and returned her attention to the work in her hands. To her dismay, she felt heat rise to her cheeks. Would anyone notice? Would Mr. Bingley notice? When she dared glance up, Bingley was speaking with sedate animation to Lady Lucas, while directing an occasional remark toward Maria, who was somewhat intimidated by the presence of one so lofty. If he felt Charlotte’s eyes upon him, he made no sign, and at the proper time made his farewells.
“Well,” Lady Lucas said, once the room was again the province of the ladies, “I am delighted with Mr. Bingley. What a compliment to your father and his rank he has made by asking you for the first two dances, Charlotte. If not for it, I am sure he would have engaged some of the Bennet girls first. I am quite pleased with his manners.”
“I believe I will walk in the garden, Mama,” said Charlotte. “No, Maria, I do not wish your company.”
The rush of emotion she had felt upon meeting Mr. Bingley took her by surprise. The last person who had inspired such a response in her had been George Long, half a lifetime earlier. She walked faster, as if to escape all memory of that humiliating interlude. She felt actual fear that she would again humiliate herself.
Mr. Bingley!
She had learned her lesson well. Never again would she let a man suspect the interest she had in him until she was positive he returned her feelings. In future she would meet those who courted her with friendship tempered by dignity. Such was her vow.
As it happened, Charlotte had never been put to the test. She had not met a man who stirred her, nor had she met a man who seemed to wish an attachment with her. Slowly she realized that she was destined to be a spinster. What could she do but show the world that she accepted her circumstances with calm grace?
Then Mr. Bingley asked her to dance. Her response to his appearance, his voice, and his manners filled her with terror.
Once again, romance consumed her imagination.
When it became generally known that the Lucas women had actually seen the new neighbour, Jane, Elizabeth, Kitty and Lydia Bennet made occasion to stop at Lucas Lodge on their way back from the town of Meryton. They had walked there in order to purchase adornments for the upcoming ball, each determined in her own way to enhance what beauty she had.
“So how did you find Mr. Bingley?” asked Elizabeth. “Is he as handsome as has been reported, or is that quality dependent upon his having a fortune?”
“He looks well,” Charlotte said, feeling again the blood rush to her face, “Just as a young man in his time of life should look.” She cautioned herself to hide her feelings about the man. What a subject for gossip she would become if they were detected!
“If you can tell us no more than that, I see we will have to wait for the ball to be able to judge for ourselves,” said Elizabeth Bennet.
“Did he seem as agreeable as has been reported?” Jane Bennet asked.
“He seems to be entirely well bred,” Charlotte said. “He goes out of his way to please.” Then, afraid she had been too enthusiastic in her praise, she added, “but it is simple to attempt to please when one has no thought of money.”
The five young women were silent for a moment. Although they had never discussed it with Charlotte, the Bennet sisters were aware that they faced a sad existence should they not marry, and marry well. Unlike Charlotte, they could not count on a settled home as they became older. Unlike Charlotte they had no brothers in which to put their trust.
“Is it true, Charlotte, that he has engaged you for the first two dances?” Lydia asked. Charlotte nodded. “Ah, if only my father had let him meet us the time he came to call!”
“What do you mean, Lydia?” Jane asked.
“I mean that had he met us, one of us might have the honour of dancing first with him.”
“Lydia, hold your tongue,” Elizabeth said sharply. “Of course he would engage Charlotte first in any case. After all, her father has been knighted. The daughter of Sir William Lucas must have precedence.”
Charlotte suspected that Elizabeth, in her heart, agreed with Lydia that a more attractive girl might have been his first choice had circumstances been different. Unlike Lydia, Lizzy was too kind to say so.
“It is proof of his good manners,” Jane Bennet said.
“I’ll wager he’ll dance with me once he sees me in my new muslin,” Lydia said. She dashed to the sitting room mirror to judge the effect of an ostrich plume against her hair. “See if he doesn’t!”
“I expect he will dance with all of us in due course,” Jane said. “How fine it will be to have a new face to contemplate while waiting one’s turn to go down the dance.”
“Perhaps not so fine,” Elizabeth said. “My Aunt Phillips informs us that he will return from London with a large party. He may have obligations to dance with the women of the group.”
“Mrs. Forster says he is expected to bring down twelve women and seven gentlemen,” Lydia said,” but I don’t believe that. We may hope he brings only the gentlemen. Then the rest of you can be sure of partners throughout the evening.”
Charlotte asked, “Do you suppose any of the women can be a particular friend of his?”
“Such as a fiancée?” Elizabeth asked. “And why not? If so, we will have bought our ornaments for no purpose. But perhaps such a woman, if there is such, will have brothers and cousins in abundance for us to meet. And there will be the officers.” In this manner she made light of the plight of girls such as themselves who had no certainty that marriage might ever come to them.
“If so, I hope she is worthy of him,” Charlotte said. “Sometimes young men are not judicious in their choosing.”
“They choose beauty first,” Elizabeth agreed. “So we must do our best to be beautiful. For Jane that is not a problem, but the rest of us might need to improve ourselves as we can.”
When the sisters had left, Charlotte approached the mirror which had so recently reflected the bright face of Lydia Bennet. She studied herself without pleasure. If beauty was needed to win the attention of Charles Bingley, she must begin to think of him as beyond her. Still, she found herself picturing his face and remembering the sound of his voice.
“Miss Lucas, may I have the pleasure of engaging you for the first two dances?”
All her unneeded rules for hiding her feelings from a man must be abandoned. She was twenty seven years old and could not expect to see another man who touched her as Bingley did.
If the opportunity arose, she would imitate Amelia’s openness. If it did not, no one would suspect that Charlotte Lucas had been nearly undone by passion for her new neighbour.
Chapter Three
YEARS OF UNHAPPY EXPERIENCE had taught Charlotte to think of a ball only as an evening’s pleasant entertainment. She did not expect to be asked to dance every dance, nor to fall in conversation with a young man, nor be seen as one apart from the contingent of ever younger ladies who had presented themselves in new dresses in the hopes of being noticed. Charlotte was one of the oldest of these ladies, a fact known to every local young person.
However, Maria’s enthusiasm for this, her first ball as an adult, had the effect of turning Charlotte’s head to unaccustomed fancy. She would dance first with Bingley, She would look well and speak charmingly, perhaps even flirtatiously. She would hint at her partiality for Bingley, lest he think her indifferent. He would ask her to dance a second time, and even a third, though the society’s rules for a ball judged this to be improper. He would not care. The spectators would whisper to each other that Charlotte Lucas, plain Charlotte Lucas, had made a conquest at last. The mothers of other eligible young ladies would be overcome with jealousy, the young ladies themselves with the humiliation of being slighted by this most eligible man.
“What is wrong with me?” Charlotte asked her reflection in the mirror. Not for years had such ideas entered her head. She was stolid, plain, Charlo
tte Lucas, the neighbourhood spinster, without a hope of ever having any husband, much less one so elegant as Mr. Bingley She shook her head in an effort to become sensible. The gesture was pointless. She was unable to rein her thoughts when they centered on Mr. Bingley. He was Frederick, come to life.
So it was with unaccustomed eagerness that Charlotte stood with the others awaiting the arrival of Bingley and his party. She would see him again. She would dance with him. And before this night ended, who knew how her prospects might have changed? She abandoned her inner discipline in order to enjoy a picture of herself as mistress of Netherfield, safe from loneliness and poverty, sharing life with a man she admired and who admired her.
Bingley and his friends arrived at the expected time, and she had the pleasure of watching him make himself agreeable to all who spoke to him. Of his two sisters, elegant smiling ladies, and the two men with them, she had scarcely a thought. The man introduced as Mr. Darcy immediately drew the attention of all the matrons and young ladies at the assembly. He was more handsome than Bingley, and by report--for there is always someone in any crowd who knows these things-- much richer. How fortunate for her that Mr. Bingley was now considered to be merely the second most eligible man in the room. The ladies would direct their attentions to his guest.
As the music started, Bingley ran his eye over the contingent of young ladies, seeking Charlotte. He greeted her eagerly and took her hand to lead her to the very top of the set. The other couples formed behind them, and the ball began.
Charlotte had prepared conversation for this event, words designed to show that she was not always so serious and steady as she seemed. Bingley was amused, and answered her in kind. As they waited to repeat their journey down the set, he introduced her to his two sisters, pleasant your women who were dressed with a richness not often seen at a Meryton assembly. They met her with pleasing geniality, inviting her to call on them at Netherfield once they were more settled. In response to such kindnesses, Charlotte felt the color come to her cheeks. For the first time since childhood, she felt herself to be admired.