A Hasty Decision

by Wynne Mabry

  “You are making a great deal out of very little,” he snapped at her. Immediately regretting giving in to that little burst of anger, he said in a calmer voice, “I withdraw my request. I do not wish for you to do something which is abhorrent to you.”

  “I thought I had made myself clear. I would not do it regardless of what you wish,” Anne said provokingly, but he saw that there was no point to making any further comment.

  The whole discussion soon became irrelevant anyway. After visiting Lady Matlock the next morning, she returned home with a new plan.

  “My aunt says that I must be presented again as a married lady,” she said. “That is what my mother will desire, and she will want to come to town and see the princess as well.”

  As, one could not both present and be presented, this was an end to her friends’ hopes.

  “Miss Bingley and Mrs. Hurst will be disappointed,” Georgiana observed with sarcasm which Mr. Darcy detected.

  “Oh, I can present them next time,” Anne said airily, displaying a complete lack of sympathy for the disappointment they would inevitably feel about the loss of this opportunity. She could not lay much claim to being a loyal and devoted friend.

  Mr. Darcy did not choose to tell her that while she had been out, he had been busy facilitating a plan of his own. Georgiana and Mrs. Annesley had tentatively brought a suggestion to him, and he had sounded out Mr. Bingley, who thought it a very fine idea. A letter had been written and posted, but Mr. Darcy did not want Anne to know anything of it. Aside from being tired of hearing her express disgust and disdain, he would not put it past her to ask their uncle to intervene with the chamberlain again, this time to foil what he had set into motion. His fellow planners had agreed to keep the secret amongst themselves, and the four of them anxiously awaited a reply to Mrs. Annesley’s application to present Mrs. Bingley and Miss Bennet.

  It was approved before long, and Jane and Elizabeth were astonished to hear what had been planned. Elizabeth protested that it was too generous of her brother-in-law to bear the cost for her as well, but he waved away all her concerns.

  “I very much want Jane to be presented, and she would hate to go without you, so you must go,” he insisted.

  “I would indeed,” Jane said. “You know I will feel much less nervous if you are with me, Lizzy.”

  That settled the matter, and they went together to be fitted for court dresses, although the cost still weighed upon Elizabeth’s mind.

  “I suppose the material might afterwards be turned into something else,” she whispered to Jane when a formidable French dressmaker was out of hearing range.

  Jane glanced in the direction of that terrifying woman before whispering back, “I fear that would be like sacrilege. Leave it alone, Lizzy, and perhaps you might lend it to somebody else one day.”

  “I suppose I could offer it to Louisa, and Caroline could have yours.”

  Jane’s sudden burst of laughter was quelled by a ferocious glance from the dressmaker, who was coming back at that moment, but after they left the shop, she made Elizabeth promise not to make such an offer, not even in jest. “I would never hear the end of it,” she said.

  With their dresses arranged, practicing for the occasion was the next step in their preparation. Mrs. Annesley and Georgiana came to instruct, bringing sheets and tablecloths. Draped in these fabrics, Jane and Elizabeth did their best to approach Queen Georgiana gracefully, but she could not stop laughing. The sounds of hilarity brought Mr. Darcy and Mr. Bingley to find out what amused the ladies so much.

  “I cannot keep a straight face,” Georgiana said to her brother. “I am not fit to be a queen.”

  “Clearly not,” he said with a grin. “I have never seen a queen hanging over the edge of her chair and gasping for breath.”

  That set her off laughing again, along with the others.

  “You will have to do it,” she said once she had recovered enough to speak. “You were a very dignified queen.”

  “Perhaps Mr. Bingley would like to have a turn,” Mr. Darcy suggested.

  “Heavens no,” his friend said. “I would find it impossible to keep a straight face as well. That train!” he said to his wife, making her giggle.

  “Then I suppose the sceptre and the crown are mine.” Mr. Darcy took his sister’s place, saying “To the dungeons with this imposter,” which caused more laughter. After waving her away with exaggerated imperialism, he settled seriously into the role, keeping a straight face as Jane approached him and curtsied.

  He held out his hand, which she pretended to kiss. Another giggle slipped out, but she kept her eyes downward though, and they remained cast down as she rose and then backed slowly away with her tablecloth over her arm. The others applauded her success, and then Elizabeth approached.

  She also feigned a kiss, but afterwards she looked upward. Her gaze met his, and for a moment, she was frozen in place, thinking that she could look into those eyes forever.

  In the next moment, she tore herself away from those feelings and that gaze, but she feared that too much might have been revealed. Her only recourse was to make light of the situation.

  “We are enjoying some very fine weather this week,” she said. “Do you not think so, Your Majesty? It is perhaps a little warm in here this morning, but better warm than cold.”

  Mr. Darcy’s reply relieved her tension. “I believe we have another candidate for the dungeons. You need not worry about finding those accommodations too warm, Miss Whoever-You-Are.”

  Elizabeth laughed as she turned to Mrs. Annesley. “I know. I looked at the queen. I could not help it. There was something very strange about her appearance.” She grinned at Mr. Darcy as she had done many times and hoped that her newfound feelings for him had not been evident in her eyes.

  He smiled back, thinking that he had been quite wrong in his idea a that there had been affection in the way she had looked at him. They had shared a moment of camaraderie over her error. That was all. As she began her approach again, he steeled himself for the possibility of another glance. He must forget that he had almost lost himself in her eyes.

  At the same time Elizabeth was telling herself to keep behaving just like always. He must not know that I love him, she thought. It would break his heart to realise that if only he had waited, we could have been together.

  That determination to spare him made it easy for her to keep her eyes downward. Afterwards, she joked that it would be much easier to behave herself in front of a proper queen, and Mr. Darcy responded with feigned affront. Georgiana joined in teasing her brother, and the dangerous moment passed. She must be very careful in future though. The pain must be mine alone, she thought. He has enough to bear.

  Pomp and Pettiness

  When they returned home, the sheets and tablecloths were handed over to a maid in the nick of time. Anne came downstairs a moment later. Although she could not prevent anything now, Mr. Darcy still did not care to tell her what had been arranged. She would make a dreadful fuss and probably even summon his aunt to remonstrate with him for his role in bringing forward ladies whom his wife disliked.

  He had advised Georgiana and Mrs. Annesley to steer clear of the subject as well. The companion made no question or comment, a clear indication that the state of his marriage was well understood. But it could hardly be otherwise with their arguments taking place so openly. There would undoubtedly be another one once Anne learned how Jane and Miss Bingley had been presented, and then her ire would turn upon that good, kind lady. Mrs. Annesley must be aware of this likelihood though, and it had not kept her from making the offer. Anyway, Mr. Darcy was not going to tolerate any ill treatment of her, which she had probably anticipated as well.

  Lady Catherine arrived a few days ahead of the presentation, and she stayed in Mr. Darcy’s house again. Visits to the Bingleys were curtailed by the necessity of good manners, which was a loss, but that made it easier to keep the secret until the momentous day. When it arrived, there was no difficulty about Mrs. Anne
sley going off to join the Bingleys. As had been the case last time, she was not invited to make one of Lady Catherine’s party.

  There was such a great crowd at St. James’s Palace that it was difficult to see who was there. It was well for Anne that she caught sight of Jane and Elizabeth at the moment she was leaving rather than upon arrival. The scowl upon her face would have made her unfit for being in the queen’s presence.

  “Who had the temerity to sponsor those unworthy creatures!” she cried so loudly that several heads turned her way.

  She looked to see who was the perpetrator of this heinous crime, but Mr. Bingley’s party was no longer visible to her. Ashamed of his wife, Mr. Darcy hurried her out before she could storm the crowd in search of her quarry.

  In the carriage, she and her mother agreed that it was a travesty for the court to be polluted by such low people, and that they would have prevented it if they had known in time. Mr. Darcy was glad he had anticipated that.

  “I always thought Miss Bennet was too grand in her manner for her station in life,” Lady Catherine said. “Her connections were bad enough even before her sister ran away with that disreputable officer. Mr. Collins told me all about the affair. The man was paid to marry her. I suppose Mr. Bingley must have provided the funds since that would have been beyond the Bennets’ means. Your friend is a fool, Darcy. He ought to have kept his shameful wife away from London and distanced himself from the rest of the family. Instead, he imposes her and her sister upon polite society. Anne tells me that you spend a great deal too much time with the Bingleys. And you have been to dine in Gracechurch Street, I hear. This is not to be tolerated.”

  She went on in this vein for quite some time, criticizing all she knew of Mr. Darcy’s recent behaviour, with some assistance from her daughter, but it kept them from returning to the matter of Jane and Elizabeth’s sponsor. It looked as though Mrs. Annesley was safely off the hook, which meant that one disagreement had been diverted, at least for the moment.

  The rest of his aunt’s visit caused plenty more discomfort though. She criticised freely, and Mr. Darcy thought dismally that this was setting a fine example for his wife to follow. Anne was indeed more disapproving after her mother had left, and she could be heard laughing with Miss Bingley and Mrs. Hurst more maliciously than ever.

  Those two ladies had been horrified to discover that Jane and Elizabeth had been presented while they had not. Mr. Darcy had heard from Mr. Bingley that they had demanded to know who the sponsor had been, and why they had not been included. He had given no name, saying only that the lady was a particular friend of Jane and Elizabeth, who could not possibly be expected to introduce people with whom she was unacquainted.

  “That was as good as true,” Mr. Bingley said. “They were not friendly to Mrs. Annesley at Netherfield, which I was ashamed to see. It is a pity that I could not reveal her name though. Had they known, they would have regretted paying so little attention to her. I expect they were influenced by seeing that she was friendly with Jane and Elizabeth. My sisters make a pretense with my wife, but I am not fooled by it, and neither is she. I could never understand why they disliked Elizabeth so much though.”

  “I think it was because I once said that she was pretty,” Mr. Darcy admitted.

  “I see. No, Caroline would not have liked that, and Louisa would take her side in anything.” He did not directly refer to his sister’s former ambitions, but that was understood without being stated.

  Mrs. Annesley’s role in their scheme was not discovered by Anne either. Mr. Darcy knew that she had tried to find out, but her circle of friends was small, and they were mainly the sort of people who paid little attention to anybody they considered unimportant. Jane and Elizabeth had entered and exited the palace without attracting their notice or their derision.

  In her fury, she neglected to ask him what he knew. She ranted and railed, and castigated him for having such upstart friends, but she never posed a direct question for him to have to evade. Unwilling to lie, he would have admitted to knowing, but refused to tell her. Instead, he had to do nothing other than endure more of her sourness.

  He had no expectation that she could change now. His wife had turned into an unbearably spiteful creature, with friends to match. Even the drawing master, whom she had actually decided to engage, was of like mind. Mr. Darcy had once heard him making derisory remarks about some of his other pupils while Anne laughed in delight at his abuse of them. That well-meant suggestion had not gone at all as he had hoped, and into the bargain, her drawing was quite atrocious. No doubt her instructor maligned her to other students in turn.

  The idea of an annulment was still hanging in limbo. With so much pettiness in his house these days, Mr. Darcy wanted that release more than ever, but he could not bring himself to return to his efforts now. That could wait until after his friends left London. He would not want them to feel the ill effects of his inevitable bitterness if the result was the consummation of his marriage and the end of all hope.

  Reckless Moves and Cautious Ones

  Knowing that Mrs. Bennet would long to hear about the presentation, the princess, and the court ball which they had attended, Elizabeth wrote a detailed letter, although with some hesitation. She could well imagine that it would be read to everybody in the neighbourhood. Her mother would take great delight in boasting of her daughters’ elevation in the world. Elizabeth hated to be party to that, but she did not like to be unkind either.

  There was a danger that the same would be expected for Mary and Kitty, but Mr. Bingley could not be expected to keep paying for so much, so she emphasised that she had only gone as a companion to Jane. Unfortunately, her mother had never been any good at taking a hint. Mrs. Bennet wrote back that she was sure Lydia would very much like to be presented as well.

  “Of course, Mr. Bingley will have to pay for her journey to London, since they have little money, but I am sure he will not mind. It will have to be next year though. Lydia is expecting a baby at the end of July.”

  More than nine months after their wedding, Elizabeth thought with relief. She was glad to know that the child’s birth would not cause her family any further embarrassment.

  “I expect it will be an exceptionally beautiful child,” Mrs. Bennet opined. “Mr. Wickham is a disappointment in so many ways, but at least he is a very handsome gentleman. I only hope they will not have too many children. They cannot afford a large family on his income. But perhaps Mr. Darcy will do something for the children as well.”

  Elizabeth hoped this suggestion would never be made to him. Fortunately, her mother was probably too much in awe of Mr. Darcy to be so forward with him. She would not hesitate to ask anything of Mr. Bingley though. Being well aware of this, Elizabeth wrote back a strongly-worded protest against him being put upon with the unreasonable expectation of presenting Lydia.

  She did not mention the Darcys’ upcoming ball either. Her mother was quite capable of showing up on Mr. Bingley’s doorstep that very day, with Kitty and Mary in tow, expecting them all to be welcome at the grand event which was planned. Preparations were already underway, directed by Lady Catherine, who had scarcely gone away before she came back again to supervise all the arrangements. Another lady might have been affronted by having her role usurped, but Mrs. Darcy seemed content to rely upon her mother to undertake all the exertion. While visiting Georgiana on the previous morning, Elizabeth had heard Lady Catherine dictating how things should be while her daughter was as silent as she had been at Rosings the previous spring. It seemed that her mother’s presence sent her back into her former apathy.

  The subject had been changed when Elizabeth entered the room, which she remembered a few days later. While at the Bingley’s house one afternoon, Georgiana spoke of the invitation card which she assumed had been delivered to them that morning. She looked startled when Jane rather awkwardly replied that they had not received one.

  “It must have been missed,” she said, but the redness of her complexion showed that she
suspected otherwise.

  She left soon afterwards, looking very uncomfortable, and then returned a short time later, accompanied by her brother. He gave Jane the card of invitation and apologised for the oversight.

  “Not that it really matters,” he said in a cheerful manner which was not quite convincing to Elizabeth. “You already know the date, the time, and the place. This is a mere formality.”

  Jane was not at all offended. Everything was smoothed over, although it could easily be guessed that Mrs. Darcy had attempted to exclude them. Elizabeth wondered if there had been an unpleasant scene after Mr. Darcy had learned of this.

  There had indeed. He had immediately confronted his wife and compelled her to admit that she had deliberately not invited them.

  “I will not have my closest friends insulted in such a way,” he said.

  “I could tolerate Mr. Bingley if he were not married, but I do not want those ladies in my house,” she had retorted. “You know what I think of them.”

  “And you know that I expect you to be civil toward them.”

  “I have been. You invite them here all the time, and I have never protested, even though I hate having them in my house, but this ball is a different matter. I am only inviting the best of society. Mother agrees with me that we do not want disreputable people to attend.” Lady Catherine had not been there to personally contribute her opinion, which was one good thing.

  “It is going to be very boring, is it? I am glad that I will not have to suffer such an evening then.”

  “What do you mean? Of course you will be here.”

  “No, I will not, and neither will Georgiana. If our friends do not attend, then neither will we.”

  “But it is her ball.”

  “It sounds to me like you have decided it is your ball.”

  “Well, I am the hostess of the evening. I think myself entitled to decide who will attend.”