11. Chapter Eleven
Chapter Eleven
October 29, 1811 Lucas Lodge, Hertfordshire Elizabeth
“ H ave you any plans for Mary’s birthday tomorrow?" Charlotte asked. “She will be nineteen, will she not?”
“Yes, and for a few brief months, Mary and I shall be the same age. It is very strange, is it not?” Elizabeth grinned.
“You say that every year, dear friend. Tell me, how have you resolved to make your sister’s day special?”
Elizabeth leaned closer. “I have conspired with my uncle to secure Beethoven’s new score. It is called Piano Trio Number 7, 'The Archduke.' Knowing Mary, she will have the piano score mastered in a matter of weeks.”
“Who is to play the cello and violin parts?” Charlotte asked.
“Susan has offered to play the violin. I have yet to convince my aunt to dust off her cello.”
Charlotte chuckled. “Yes, that instrument is not exactly in vogue. I am certain that Mary will be pleased.” She glanced at the door. “The Netherfield party has arrived.”
“They are absurdly late,” Elizabeth remarked. “An hour may be acceptable in town, but in the country, it is abominably rude.”
“No matter. Mama instructed the servants to delay dinner. I cannot say that I repine the last hour of discourse with my friends for I am to go home to Stevenage in a week. John wishes us safely returned before the babe comes.”
“Do you not have some weeks left?” Elizabeth asked, confused.
“Yes, but remember Clara and Louisa both came before their time. My husband is cautious, but he has every reason to be.”
“I shall miss you.” Elizabeth squeezed her friend’s hand tightly. “You will continue to write even after I go to London?”
Charlotte nodded distractedly. “Of course.” Pausing, she frowned and lowered her voice. “Mr. Darcy looks at you a great deal,” she said softly.
Scoffing, Elizabeth rolled her eyes. “The man is cataloguing my faults as we speak. Tell me, Charlotte, do I have a smudge on my brow? Perhaps my coiffure is out of place. I cannot imagine what I have done to earn his censure.”
“I do not think he looks to find fault, Elizabeth. Men do not look at women they disdain. They ignore them.” Charlotte looked at her knowingly.
“Surely, you do not imagine that he admires me!” Elizabeth forcefully shook her head. “Nothing could be further from the truth. It is quite impossible.”
“Continue on in your ignorance, my friend. I wager I have more experience with gentlemen and their ways than you. Now, dinner has been announced at last. I am famished!”
Cheerful conversation accompanied the pleasant meal. Elizabeth did her best to ignore Kitty and Lydia. The pair of them had latched on to a militia officer, one Colonel Forster. lately arrived in Meryton to prepare for the militia encampment. The two youngest Bennets were overjoyed with the thought of a whole camp full of soldiers, and they peppered Colonel Forster with a great many inquiries.
Seating was informal, and the guests had mingled to their liking. Jane and Mr. Bingley had taken a seat in the middle of the table. Their heads were bowed together in conversation. Jane’s expression was more animated than Elizabeth had ever witnessed her display in company, and she frowned, concern warring with the irritation she struggled to suppress.
“Mr. Bingley and your sister seem very comfortable,” Charlotte observed at length. “She seems determined to secure him. It is wise of her to show more than she feels at this juncture. Gentlemen are fragile creatures in need of reassurance.”
“It has only been a fortnight!” Elizabeth cried. “Though she has danced four dances with him, called upon his sisters, and dined in company with him four times, their acquaintance is still very new.”
“You make my point for me, dear Eliza.” Charlotte shook her head, her pearl earrings shaking as she did so. “Jane seems intent on her course. Have you any objections?”
“I only wish for her happiness. If my sister is certain of her heart, I shall not gainsay her or stand in her way.”
Charlotte smiled sadly. “And yet, I do not think Jane would show you the same courtesy. If she deemed you a threat to her future happiness, she would not hesitate to act in the manner she thought best. If that meant removing you from her life, then she would do it.”
Elizabeth did not object. She thought Charlotte expected her to, but she could not deny her friend’s words.
“Eliza,” the lady said gently, “you and Jane have always been close. Not as close and you and Mary, but comfortable with each other and in each other’s confidence. What changed?”
“I hardly know,” Elizabeth whispered. “Before the summer, it was much as it ever was. Then when we returned from Elm Grove, my Jane was gone, and in her place was an older version of Lydia. Something occurred in town, but she will not tell me. I wrote to Mrs. Gardiner asking, but she is in the dark as I.”
“Still the silence? It has been months.”
“And yet, she does not take me into her confidence. Instead, she follows her mother’s every whim. It is as if she believes she cannot secure a proposal any other way. I find her manner distasteful and embarrassing. Where once we kept company at gatherings, now I seek to put distance between us. I wonder if something occurred in London to make her fear for her future felicity.”
“It is a possibility.”
Elizabeth shook her head. “I do not understand why she worries. She is but two-and-twenty.”
“Two-and-twenty becomes seven-and-twenty faster than you know, my friend. I am very blessed to have met my John. I am not a handsome woman, nor even passably attractive. Had I not been so fortunate, I would have been firmly on the shelf and likely as mercenary as Jane pretends to be.”
Tears threatened, and Elizabeth blinked rapidly to clear her eyes. Here was not the place to give into her emotions.
“I am sorry for you.” Charlotte patted her hand. “Soon you will be gone and not forced to endure it anymore.”
“Mary, too, will be relieved.” Elizabeth nodded to her sister. That lady sat quietly between Mr. Hurst and Mr. John Lucas. The former paid no attention to his dinner companions, instead partaking heavily of Lady Lucas’s sumptuous fare. The latter spoke to Miss Goulding on his other side. From his expression, Elizabeth imagined he attempted to woo the lady.
“Will John offer for Miss Goulding?” she asked her friend.
“I am unsure. She has a dowry of five thousand pounds. Not a great fortune, and certainly not the equal of yours or Mary’s. But he likes her, and I believe is a fair way along to loving her.”
“John would not court me, even if he knew the truth about my dowry. He would not enjoy being married to a woman who could best him at everything.” She and Charlotte descended into quiet laughter and returned their attention to their meal.
Suddenly feeling as if she were being watched, Elizabeth looked up into Mr. Darcy’s gaze. His eyes bore into her, penetrating something deep in her soul and making her feel unaccountably uncomfortable. She held his gaze as long as she could, arching an eyebrow in challenge. He looked away first, much to her delight and satisfaction.
After the meal, Lady Lucas called for the rugs to be rolled up and the furniture moved to make way for dancing. She asked Mary to play, and the latter quickly acquiesced.
Charlotte’s husband appeared to spirit his wife away. “I have missed you this evening,” he said, raising her hand to his lips and kissing it. “Your father regaled me once again with the splendor found at St. James.”
“I am sorry, my dear,” Charlotte said sympathetically. “You know how he likes to go on.”
Mr. Hampton turned to Elizabeth. “Do you mind terribly if I steal your conversation partner, Miss Bennet?” he asked politely.
“Not at all, sir,” she replied. "A husband comes before a friend in precedence." As they walked away, Elizabeth realized how much she appreciated Mr. Hampton’s efforts to call her by her proper title. So many people forgot who the true Miss Bennet was; indeed, Jane had been known as Miss Bennet for so long that Elizabeth wondered how many of Meryton’s residents remembered her surname was Younge.
She stood on the edges of the room, watching the dancing. When she grew bored, she moved away, only to be waylaid by Sir William Lucas.
“Miss Eliza! Come, I have secured you a dance partner. You young people ought to be enjoying yourselves, not hovering here by the wall! See, here is Mr. Darcy." Sir William turned to address the gentleman. "I do not believe you will find a lovelier partner, sir.” Sir William beamed and took Elizabeth’s elbow, guiding her forward.
“Do not think I came this way in want of a partner, sir,” she told her neighbor. “Indeed, I have no intention of dancing this evening.”
“I would be honored if you would stand up with me, Miss Elizabeth,” Mr. Darcy answered, extending his hand.
“I thank you, but no, sir. Dancing tonight would not be tolerable. ” She curtseyed and moved away, nodding to Sir William as she went. She had the great satisfaction of seeing Mr. Darcy’s stupefied face as she passed him on her way to the door.
Once out of the crowded room, she made her way to Lucas Lodge’s library. Closing the door behind her, she leaned against it, breathing a sigh of relief.
A noise in the hallway outside put her on alert. She could hear voices, and she pressed her ear to the door, listening intently.
“Fine eyes, Louisa! Did you hear?”
“You have said the same thing three times, Caroline. What am I to say?” Louisa Hurst’s voice sounded petulant and tired.
“We must get him away from here. Charles, too. He is falling all over himself for that Bennet chit. It is insupportable. Can he not see that marriage to a country nobody will ruin him? The entire family is awful! Especially that artful Eliza and her sister Mary. Why, even their mother dislikes them.”
“Keep your voice down, Caroline. At least attempt to be pleasant.”
Miss Bingley scoffed. “That is easy for you to say. You have your marriage to your gentleman, slovenly and gluttonous as he is. I will not settle for anything less than Mrs. Darcy—and if I can catch a peer, all the better.”
“And in the meantime?” Mrs. Hurst asked boredly.
“I shall do all in my power to keep Mr. Darcy from his unhealthy fascination with the local beauty.”
Elizabeth frowned. Did Mr. Darcy wish to court Jane? How awkward. And how unpleasant for Miss Bingley that her brother and his best friend both admired a woman she deemed so beneath them.
Feeling very amused, Elizabeth waited until the voices faded away before settling into a chair. She wondered which gentleman Jane would choose. The wealthy but cold Mr. Darcy, or the gregarious, happy Mr. Bingley? Time would tell.