Chapter 23
Ballroom Floor
Netherfield Hall
Nearly Midnight
Serena’s fingers were a trifle stiff where they lay within Darcy’s hand as they moved through the figures of the supper set.
Few of the other dancers knew Serena well and would not recognize the tightness of her eyes or the faint pallor of her skin.
Her brother knew her very well indeed and recognized the weariness in the set of her shoulders and her wooden expression.
It was good that she was partnered with him rather than a stranger who would expect her to make herself pleasant, for her full focus was on the dance.
She was executing the steps with the meticulous care of concentration, with the inevitable small mistakes of over-thought.
In time, she would learn to compensate for the foibles of an inexperienced partner, but for now, Darcy would perform that service for her.
The music came to a halt, and the harmony of strings was replaced with applause. Serena clapped with everyone else, the sound muffled by her gloves, and Darcy caught her eye and smiled encouragingly.
“You did very well, my dear,” he said softly.
She smiled in return, a trifle tremulously, and said, “Thank you, Brother, but I know I made a few mistakes.”
He reached out to tuck her hand in his arm and guided her off the ballroom floor.
“Well, you are finished with dancing for tonight,” he said, “and you did marvelously. I will take you to supper now…”
He trailed off as Serena’s lips thinned, and her eyes grew shiny.
“Do you not wish to eat?” he asked, confused.
She turned toward him and said quickly and softly, “Brother, would you mind terribly if I went upstairs and had a small meal with Georgiana and the younger Bennets? There are so many people and so much noise…”
“Of course. Let me escort you upstairs.”
***
Georgiana Darcy’s Sitting Room
Netherfield Hall
Serena smiled gratefully at her brother and opened the door into her sister’s private sitting room. He smiled back at her and then turned to walk toward the stairs which would lead once more to the ballroom.
Serena stepped inside and looked over to where her sister and two guests were seated by the fire, chattering happily.
She could not help but smile at the sight.
Georgiana was a more typical lady than Serena in that she was not terribly tall and had many acceptable accomplishments, but she was also very shy, and it was wonderful to see the younger Miss Darcy so comfortable with friends.
At this moment, Georgiana’s gaze wandered to the door, and the girl leaped to her feet and cried out, “Serena! Come in, come in! Oh, how pretty you look!”
Serena felt her cheeks warm at these kind words.
She was confident that Miss Bennet and Mrs. Grayson had done a wonderful job in adding some embroidered lace to her gown and adjusting the position of the waist slightly, but nothing could take away that fact that she was only two inches short of six feet, and would always be overly tall and gangly.
“You do look very well,” Lydia Bennet said approvingly. “I especially like the lace on the hem of your dress. Is it not lovely, Kitty?”
“It is,” Kitty agreed, nodding vigorously, “very pretty indeed.”
“Sit down, Serena,” Georgiana said eagerly. “Mrs. Nicholls is sending up tea and toast and some cold cuts, and we are going to enjoy a little supper in front of the fire. But perhaps you have already eaten?”
“I did not,” Serena confessed. “It was rather warm and too full of people downstairs, and I asked Fitzwilliam if I could come upstairs instead.”
“I understand entirely,” Georgiana said, just as two maids entered with trays of food and iced lemonade.
For a few minutes, conversation languished as the young ladies ate and drank. Mrs. Nicholls had been kind enough to send small mincemeat pies, and Serena was grateful, as they were her favorite dessert.
Both the Bennet girls were blessed with a hearty appetite, and Lydia, in particular, ate quickly, though not inelegantly.
Thus, she was finished with her meal in record time, and after taking a bite of a mincemeat pie, she said, “Miss Georgiana was telling me about the stables at Pemberley, and she said that your brother has some fine breeding stock. I simply adore horses and confess to envying you!”
Serena relaxed at this conversational gambit. She loved equines and was an excellent rider, and she could talk about horseflesh all day long.
“Oh, yes,” she agreed. “We have a stable full of horses, and I am sure some of our thoroughbreds could actually race, though my brother is likely too busy to bother with racing…”
***
Netherfield Hall
A Few Minutes After Midnight
Caroline Bingley looked around the dining room carefully and then turned to her companion and said, “Would you be willing to sit with my brother and sister and their partners, Colonel Forster?”
The colonel, a man of some five and forty years, nodded and said, “Of course, Miss Bingley. Lead the way, please.”
She did so and with some haste, since she was eager to snatch the remaining seats at her brother’s table.
Charles had, to her annoyance, danced the supper set with Miss Bennet, and she did not wish for the pair to enjoy a long conversation while they ate and while the Hursts were at the same table, Caroline did not trust either of them to interfere appropriately with the burgeoning and unsuitable relationship between the lovely Miss Bennet and Charles.
“Miss Bennet, Louisa,” she said as she arrived at the table, “pray allow me to introduce you to Colonel Forster, who oversees the militia regiment. Colonel, may I introduce you to Miss Jane Bennet of Longbourn and my sister, Mrs. Hurst.”
Forster bowed and then greeted Bingley and Hurst, both of whom he had met elsewhere, and then turned toward her. “Allow me to fetch you some food, Miss Bingley.”
“Thank you,” she replied with a curtsey and then sat down next to Jane Bennet.
“I hope you are enjoying the ball, my friend,” she said, forcing herself to smile. Really, it was unfair how very beautiful Jane Bennet was. While her gown was not nearly as elaborate as Caroline’s own, she was so handsome that the simplicity of her attire merely accentuated her loveliness.
“I am,” Miss Bennet said and took a sip of wine before continuing, “I was just telling your sister and brothers that Elizabeth and I are incredibly grateful for the ball, as it is helping both of us to be more comfortable with the upcoming Season in London next spring. You have done such a marvelous job, Miss Bingley, in making the appropriate arrangements.”
Caroline could not help but preen at these words and was additionally pleased by the slightly discouraged look on Charles’s face. It sounded as if Miss Bennet was thinking of a future which did not involve a hasty marriage, which was for the best.
“I understand that your mother’s nephew is the fifth Viscount Langford,” Louisa said. “Have you ever met him?”
“I have not,” Miss Bennet said, “though my mother intends to write him soon, and I am hopeful we will meet him and a number of other relations next spring.”
Colonel Forster arrived at this moment, and Caroline accepted a bowl of soup on a plate with bread and cold meats.
She waited until her partner took his own seat before she turned a limpid look on Jane and said, “It must be hard for Miss Elizabeth to have never met her maternal relations, and rather odd as well.”
Miss Bennet blinked and said, somewhat defensively, “Well, Elizabeth has no uncles or aunts, and her grandparents are all dead, and besides, she is not yet of age, so…”
She trailed off with an alarmed expression, and Caroline narrowed her eyes with interest. What did Miss Elizabeth’s coming of age have to do with anything?
Rather to her surprise, Colonel Forster spoke up immediately and said, “I do not pretend to know your parents well, Miss Bennet, but it seems to me that they both relish a quiet life in the country, which I understand entirely. I am originally from Derbyshire, you know, and was extremely pleased when my regiment was sent to Meryton as opposed to a bigger city. I enjoy rural life very much; the clean air, and sounds of roosters in the morning, the sight of waving fields of grain.”
Miss Bennet’s face relaxed, and she smiled gloriously, and Charles’s gloomy expression gave way to amusement.
“I am glad that someone likes roosters in the morning,” he said with a grin. “I confess to preferring the sound of the Watch calling in the middle of the night over roosters crowing at the crack of dawn!”
This shifted the conversation onto other avenues, and while Caroline participated as needed, her mind was on Miss Bennet’s statement about her stepsister.
Mr. Darcy had mentioned that Elizabeth Bennet’s grandfather had been a wealthy Cit.
Had he, perchance, left a fortune to his only grandchild?
It was all very interesting.
***
Ballroom
The Last Dance of the Night
Darcy reached out to reclaim Miss Elizabeth from her neighbor, turning her in the middle of the circle with the others before passing her on to the next gentleman awaiting her hand.
The Boulanger was the last dance of the evening, and several of the other dancers had long since begun to flag.
Not so with Miss Elizabeth; her eyes sparkled, her cheeks were flushed a charming hue of pink with the exercise, and her grace and energy were unimpaired by the long night behind her.
Darcy received her hand once more, enchanted by her smile, and turned her expertly into the side of the circle, clasping her hand and that of his neighboring lady.
He was scarcely conscious of the latter, as his full focus was on Miss Elizabeth’s gloved fingers holding onto his own.
Small thrills were chasing up and down his spine every time her hand left his or returned to clasp it, and her smiles as she rejoined him in the course of the dance were nearly enough to bowl him over.
Darcy had been the recipient of many a hopeful young lady’s smiles, but they had never affected him so.
He had certainly never been tempted to return them or offer the least encouragement.
Miss Elizabeth made him want to smile back.
Her joy was contagious; her simple enjoyment of the dance evident.
Never before had Darcy wished a ball to be longer; no lady had ever before inspired him with a desire to ask for her hand for another set, and another.
For the first time that he could recall, he realized that he wished the evening would be extended, as he found himself desiring just one more dance with his current partner.
Darcy could no longer deny the attraction that Miss Elizabeth Bennet stirred in his breast. She was enchanting, beautiful, and magnificent, and his heart urged him to court her and win her and make her his own.
Was that the wisest course? He did not know.
He would have to consider his path forward very carefully indeed.