Chapter 13
“Cinder-Liza, you hardly have time to prepare for the assembly, mayhap you should stay home. You were rude to my dear Duke, after all, so I am sure he will not want to see you tonight,” Caroline sneered.
“Remind me again, Caro, who it was the Duke cut, me or you?” Elizabeth asked innocently.
“Why you,” Caroline took a step towards Elizabeth, but stopped when a look of challenge was directed at her.
“What did I say that upset you, Caro? I merely repeated the truth, did I not?” Elizabeth asked with a placid smile, as she could not help but be pleased and could only school herself that far.
“Caroline, ignore her; she is nobody compared to you. When the Duke sees you, he will not want to dance with anyone but you for the remainder of the night,” Martha Bennet hissed. “Remember, we have a plan,” the mother whispered to the daughter.
Martha Bennet had found one man that was susceptible to her charms—the new Bennet coachman.
He was a man who had never worked for the Bennets before, and who had been hired when his predecessor retired a month earlier.
Martha had seen her chance to have an ally among the servants, and she had taken it.
A sennight after he began his new duties, Martha asked if he was happy with his salary. Luckily for her, being new he had not yet made friends among the rest of the servants. He told her he was happy with his three pounds a month and his full board and lodging.
She had tutted, and when he asked her what was wrong, as she hoped he would, she began to pour poison in his ear about her stepdaughter.
She told him how she, the mistress, had advocated for the same as the previous man, more than double what the coachman was earning, and how the Miss High and Mighty Elizabeth had said he was too much of a fool to know she was paying him less than was fair.
Martha played on his male ego to make him hate her stepdaughter. Her trump card was her body, as she seduced him and told him if he helped her control the uppity Miss Elizabeth, she would make sure he was paid twenty pounds per month.
Caroline Bingley rejoiced at her mother’s plan to get their revenge on Cinder-Liza for all the humiliation and degradation they had suffered under the Bennets.
The three conspirators scouted Longbourn and found an abandoned hunting cabin near its border with Netherfield.
Tonight, after the assembly, the uppity witch would finally pay.
Having never been accused of being a mental giant, Martha planned to offer Louisa the chance of returning to the family fold when they departed the assembly, or she would meet the same fate as Cinder-Liza.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
The residents of Longbourn rode to the assembly together and arrived on time.
It was one occasion for which Caroline Bingley did not want to be late.
Once there, they split into two groups. As Elizabeth entered the assembly room, she thought the new coachman was decidedly surly.
He had been for some time now, and she could not fix the reason for it.
She made a mental note to talk to him on the morrow.
Elizabeth and Louisa were standing with the Lucas family and talking happily to Charlotte as a hush fell over the assembly when the Netherfield Party arrived.
Given there were more young ladies than men in the area, the arrival of four men was most welcome, especially since one of them was a peer of the realm.
Mr. Hurst led the party over to Sir William Lucas and his family and made introductions at the Duke’s request. As had been agreed at tea, no sign of prior acquaintance was shown between Elizabeth and the party from Netherfield.
While the other three were making small talk with the Lucases and Miss Bennet, Mr. Hurst approached Miss Bingley.
“It is good to see you again, Miss Bingley,” Hurst bowed to her curtsy.
“And you, sir,” Louisa returned.
“If I may be so bold, I request the opening set, if you are not otherwise engaged for it,” Hurst requested.
“It will be my pleasure to dance the first with you,” Louisa responded, and Hurst did not miss the heightened colour of her cheeks.
“May I request the final set as well, Miss Bingley?” Hurst hoped she was not engaged for that set either.
“It is yours, sir,” Louisa’s blush deepened with pleasure. The man—a man—wanted to dance two sets with her—a man she was starting to admire greatly.
Across the room, Mrs. Bennet and Caroline Bingley were seething with anger.
As usual, no one would stand and talk to them, but it was worse than that!
The Duke and his party were talking to the Lucas party, which included Cinder-Liza!
Inexplicably, the Duke had bowed over the chit’s hand.
If they were not worried about another cut, they would have attempted to insinuate themselves into the group.
“Why is that chit talking to my Duke?” Caroline hissed to her mother.
“It is no matter, Caroline, for after she is ruined by the coachman tonight, she will do anything we desire to keep her secret!” Martha Bannet cackled in anticipation.
They watched as Sir William accompanied the Duke’s party to introduce them to the prominent families of the area. They watched with envy as the dancers for the first set lined up. Even Louisa had a partner, and as had happened at every other dance, neither Martha nor Caroline was asked to dance.
Elizabeth danced the first set with the Lucas heir, Frederick.
The Duke and Wickham continued their rounds of the room while Richard found a spot to sit and rest his leg.
The fact the Duke passed by them without so much as a glance in their direction added to the anger that the two outcasts were feeling.
When the first set ended, Martha and Caroline saw the Duke approach Cinder-Liza and lead her to the dance floor, the two almost had an apoplexy. “Why is my duke dancing with that nobody? Did you not say she was nothing to me in looks, Mama?” Caroline demanded petulantly.
Mrs. Long and Mrs. Goulding had been passing by the two when the ugly daughter made the comment about her looks compared to Miss Elizabeth’s, and both giggled behind their hands, using all their self-control to hold back the raucous laughter bubbling under the surface.
Martha suspected she and her daughter were the subject of the women’s mirth, but she was not sure, and knew not the reason.
They watched in horror as the Duke seemed to be enjoying his dance and his partner!
How could this be, after she had been so rude to the man?
The list of the offences to be laid at Cinder-Liza’s door was mounting.
When the set was over, both Elizabeth and Louisa were returned to the Lucas family, as Louisa had danced the set with the handsome Major.
The set after she danced with Mr. Hurst, Elizabeth sat out her planned sets that she would not dance. It was something that she and others did at each assembly to allow as many ladies as possible a turn to dance. She would sit out two before the final set as well.
“You know Lizzy, if looks could kill, you would be dead. Have you seen the looks those two have been spearing you with?” Richard asked his cousin, as he leaned toward her.
“It is nothing I am not used to, Richard. They do not scare me as they know what will happen should they harm me at all. I cannot wait until Tommy, Jane, or I are able to get rid of those two!” Elizabeth stated, with steel in her voice.
“Be careful with them, Lizzy; you know, sometimes, angry people are unwise people,” Richard warned.
“I am aware of that, Richard.” The two continued to talk until Elizabeth was collected by her next partner.
“Did you see that wanton hussy flirting with the crippled colonel after her disgusting display with my duke?” Caroline asked her mother softly—as softly as she was capable of.
“Soon all our problems will be over, Caroline. Have patience my dear daughter,” Martha soothed.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
While his family was at the assembly, Charles Bingley was sitting in his room at the Golden Bull Inn at Steveton thinking about his life choices and reaffirming his epiphany that he, and he alone, was responsible for the direction of his life.
In a few short days he would meet with Louisa, and hopefully she would help him contact someone close to the Duke to convey a message to him.
It was not only the right thing to do, but Bingley feared that Lady Catherine was so obsessed with her aim of marrying her daughter to the Duke that next she would send Dryden, and it would not be to compromise Lady Georgiana.
When he thought about Jane Bennet, Miss Bennet, he was sad she was lost for two reasons.
Firstly, it was plain human compassion—something new for Charles Bingley.
Second, he was sad as he would never be able to beg her forgiveness.
That night he made a pledge to himself. Once he had helped all of those he could here, he would become a clergyman worthy of that profession.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
When Elizabeth was sitting out the second set, her cousin, the Duke, sat down next to her, after gaining her permission to do so. “It is admirable of you and the other ladies of the area to voluntarily sit out dances so others may have their turn,” the Duke stated.
“It is good you know the reason why we choose to. It is not that we are not tolerable enough to tempt anyone, nor have we been slighted by other men,” Elizabeth teased.
“You know I was only referring to your stepsister,” he inclined his head towards Caroline Bingley. “You, I find, are one of the handsomest women of my acquaintance!” The Duke made the declaration before his head overruled his heart. He had never met a woman of Elizabeth Bennet’s equal.