Chapter 17
Ballroom
“Miss Bennet?” a male voice asked softly.
Jane had just left the dance floor on the arm of Samuel Lucas, the eldest Lucas son, and she turned to Mr. Bingley with a smile. “Yes?”
“I know we had planned to dance the last set together,” Bingley said, “but I wondered whether you would care to walk out onto the terrace with me. It is so hot.”
“It is very warm, and I would enjoy that,” Jane said. She took Bingley’s arm, and he guided her to the French windows, which had been flung open to allow heat to escape the ballroom and cool air to enter.
They stepped out onto the balcony and then moved forward as another couple, who had apparently also been in search of cooling breezes, walked back into the ballroom.
Jane drifted over to the railing and looked up into the sky as her eyes adjusted to the light of the nearly half moon floating in the heavens above her
“Miss Bennet?”
She turned toward Charles Bingley, who was standing a few feet away, his handsome expression grave in the moonlight.
“Yes?”
“I love you. Will you marry me?”
It was such a shock that for a moment she was paralyzed.
But only for a moment.
“I love you too,” she said, smiling brilliantly. “Yes, I will marry you.”
“Jane,” Charles Bingley choked, moving forward to take her hands in his own. “Oh, Jane.”
***
Ballroom
A Few Minutes Later
“Mrs. Bingley!” Mrs. Bennet squealed, pulling her eldest daughter into a joyful embrace. “Oh Jane, how well it sounds!”
***
Drawing Room
Longbourn
Saturday, 30th November 1811
The Next Day
The drawing room seemed brighter than usual, perhaps from the happiness on the faces of the four people seated inside.
Mary and her betrothed sat close together on one of the loveseats, holding hands in the narrow space between them.
Two chairs had been set adjacent to the loveseat and were occupied by Mr. Bingley and Jane.
The two couples were having a quiet but intent discussion that was interrupted when the door opened.
Mr. Collins and Mr. Bingley rose to their feet as Mrs. Bennet entered on her husband’s arm.
Mr. Bennet led his wife to the little orange velvet settee that had been drawn near the fire, as she exchanged greetings with their daughters and the two gentlemen.
He sat down with his wife, panting slightly, and Mary cast a quick, worried glance at him before turning her attention on Mrs. Bennet, who was literally bouncing in place in her enthusiasm.
“My dear Jane and Mr. Bingley,” Mrs. Bennet said, turning a beaming look on her eldest daughter and swain, “I am so very happy for you both. Now Jane, given that you are the eldest, perhaps you and Mr. Bingley ought to marry in January and Mary and William in March. That will give us time to purchase bride clothes for both you girls, and plan the wedding breakfasts properly, and…”
“Mamma,” Jane interrupted with surprising decision, “we were just talking about this and have decided that we will marry in a joint ceremony in about three weeks.”
Mrs. Bennet’s smiles gave way to astonishment. “Marry in three weeks? Whatever … my dears, that is far too soon! I cannot make the proper arrangements!”
“Mrs. Bennet,” William Collins said, “you must understand that I wish to have Mary by my side as quickly as possible. To wait for March would be painful for both of us.”
“Also, I have every intention of ensuring that Jane has as many gowns and bonnets and slippers and boots as she would ever wish,” Bingley chimed in, his adoring eyes on Jane’s blushing countenance.
“But…,” Mrs. Bennet began, only to stop when her husband, who had been silent thus far, said, “My dear Mrs. Bennet, it would be foolish indeed for us to stand in the path of true love. Moreover, I am confident that you will be able to provide a truly excellent wedding breakfast with three weeks of planning.”
Mrs. Bennet’s brow furrowed, and she said, “I suppose I can manage it. Oh, very well, but I think I will ask the Gardiners to help. Mrs. Gardiner knows a great deal about…”
Jane turned toward her beloved Charles and smiled through happy tears. Three weeks. In three weeks, she would be wed to this wonderful man.
***
Kitty’s Bedchamber
Longbourn
Kitty Bennet sat at her small dressing table looking into the mirror and brushing her hair.
“It really is marvelous that Jane is to marry Charles,” she remarked. “I daresay Jane will host a ball every two months. Do you not think so?”
A long moment passed in silence, and she turned a frowning countenance on Lydia, who was curled up on the window seat, staring outside at a bare-limbed tree.
“Lydia!” she said sharply. “Did you hear me?”
The youngest Bennet jerked in surprise and turned a blank face on her sister. “Erm, no? What did you say?”
“Lydia,” Kitty said in frustration, “whatever is wrong with you? You have been behaving oddly since the ball last night. Are you tired?”
Lydia wrinkled her nose, sighed, and said, “I am a little tired, but mostly I am confused. Last night Mr. Darcy told me the most incredible thing about Lieutenant Wickham, and I am not certain whether I ought to believe him or not, and even if he is speaking the truth, does it truly matter, or…?”
“I would not believe anything Mr. Darcy says,” Kitty declared. “Do you not remember that he insulted Lizzy at the assembly in Meryton?”
“Lizzy was there when Mr. Darcy told us, and Smythe as well,” Lydia mused.
Kitty frowned. “When was this?”
“During the second to last dance,” Lydia said with a huff. “I missed the entire set because Mr. Darcy insisted on explaining the matter, though Mr. Pratt danced the Boulanger with me, and he is so graceful. Not as graceful as Mr. Wickham, perhaps, but...”
“But what did Mr. Darcy say?” Kitty interrupted impatiently.
Lydia told her at some length and finished with, “Lizzy seemed to think that just because Mr. Darcy gave Wickham so much money, he was right in not giving him the living. But I am not certain that makes sense. Mr. Wickham was old Mr. Darcy’s godson, and…”
“Lizzy is entirely right,” Kitty said sharply.
Lydia frowned. “Do you think so? Why?”
“Because … because Mr. Wickham traded away his rights to the living, and he does not even have the right education to be a clergyman, which is boring, so why would he anyway. But, Lydia, Mr. Darcy gave him four thousand pounds in exchange! That is nearly as much as Mamma’s portion!
What did the lieutenant do with all that money?
We live on two thousand pounds a year, and there are seven of us in the house.
How did Wickham spend so much money in but a few short years? He must be incredibly imprudent.”
“But he is so handsome,” Lydia said with a pout.
Kitty did not pretend to be a great student of the Word of God, but she had actually been paying attention the previous week in church and remembered something from the book of Samuel.
“Do you remember what Mr. Allen said last week? The prophet Samuel went to anoint David as king, and David’s father brought out his eldest son first, and Samuel thought he must be the right man because he was tall and handsome. I do not recall his name, but…”
“Goliath?” Lydia offered.
Kitty wrinkled her brow. “No? No. Goliath is the one that David killed with a slingshot. It was David’s brother, whose name I cannot remember.
Anyway, God told the prophet Samuel that man looks at the outer appearance, but God looks at the heart.
Maybe Mr. Wickham is just charming on the outside, but inwardly he is selfish and foolish. ”
Lydia sighed. “It just seems like such a pity. Mr. Wickham is the most handsome man I have ever seen in my life, and just because he made a little mistake, well, that does not seem a good reason to ruin his life.”
“I do not think his life is ruined,” Kitty declared, turning around to stare back into the mirror.
Her cheeks were, as usual, too pale, and she carefully pinched them to make them rosier.
“Just think, if he had been given that living, he would never have worn a militia redcoat. He would have been a thoroughly dull clergyman whom we would have never met!”
“I suppose that is true,” Lydia remarked, moving closer so that her face appeared in the mirror. “Kitty, I almost forgot to ask. Would you be interested in learning archery from Miss Bingley?”
Kitty blinked in surprise. “I suppose so.”
***
Church in Meryton
Beginning of Advent
Sunday, 1st December 1811
“Almighty God,” old Mr. Allen said gravely, “give us grace to cast away the works of darkness and put on the armor of light, now in the time of this mortal life in which your Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility. That on the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge both the living and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal. Through him who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.”
“Amen,” the congregation chorused.
“Now, for the first Scripture, let us read from Isaiah the prophet, Chapter 64, verses 1 through 9. Oh, that thou wouldest rend the heavens, that thou wouldest come down, that the mountains might flow down at thy presence…”
Fitzwilliam Darcy glanced across the aisle to his right, his eyes settling on the Bennet family along with the two gentlemen who would each soon be marrying a Bennet daughter.
He had been astonished and dismayed when Bingley had announced at the close of the ball at Netherfield that he was engaged to the eldest Miss Bennet.
Bingley was prone to making hasty decisions, but he had never before done something so outrageous as to ask for a lady’s hand.
It had been impetuous and foolish, but at this point, it was too late for Bingley to withdraw.
A gentleman, once he had offered and been accepted, did not break an engagement.
Bingley would have to make the best of the situation, and Darcy, eyeing the lovely face of Miss Bennet sitting peacefully in her pew, was forced to admit that the situation was not so very terrible.
Without a doubt, Jane Bennet was a lovely woman with a charming disposition and a wonderful delicacy of manners.
Her character was rather similar to Bingley’s, and they would likely do well together.
The problem, obviously, was that Mrs. Bennet and the younger two Bennet girls were vulgar and silly creatures and not at all the sort of relations one could boast of. On the other hand, Miss Mary was sensible, as was her betrothed, Mr. Collins.
And then there was, of course, Miss Elizabeth Bennet, who was such a shining star in the firmament of life that she almost made Darcy willing to cast aside his own need for a high born bride in favor of asking for her hand this very day.
He wanted to, with all his heart, he wanted to.
He could still remember the joy on her bright face as they danced at Netherfield.
He flexed his hand as he thought of her small hand in his at the ball.
He could so easily picture her agile and active form as the pair of them circled the pond at Netherfield looking at goldfish…
“But in those days,” Mr. Allen intoned, “following that distress, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.”
“At that time people will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. And he will send his angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of the heavens.”
Darcy shook himself and forced his eyes back to the pulpit. This would not do. He had always been a loyal son of the church and had never had trouble paying attention to the Scripture and the sermon.
He realized suddenly that he needed to leave Hertfordshire.
If he stayed any longer, the siren song of Elizabeth Bennet would overwhelm his weakening resolve.
He would ask for her hand in marriage, which would not be fair to either of them.
She was a wonderful person, but she would never be accepted by Lord and Lady Matlock, and Lady Catherine de Bourgh would loathe the very thought of her.
He needed to leave as soon as possible. He would, of course, come back for the wedding in a few weeks, but surely by that time, his wayward heart would rid itself of this ridiculous infatuation.