Chapter 17 Adding Insult to Injury
Elizabeth could hardly look at her mother.
Embarrassment burnt in her cheeks. Her family now knew the full extent of the futility of her efforts to conquer the ton.
There was no chance of winning the war when every battle ended in a thorough thrashing.
It was a miracle that Mr Darcy did not yet despise her, though he must be regretting marrying a country maiden of no consequence.
A pang shot through her heart. Should she have behaved more bashfully?
Bowed and scraped before the illustrious peers of the aristocracy?
No. No one enjoyed being subjected to obsequious flattery.
“Do you know whether Mr Darcy will be joining us?” Elizabeth asked a nearby footman.
“No, ma’am. Mr Darcy left half an hour ago with Lord Downshire.”
“Thank you,” she replied mechanically, as her husband’s absence was something to be grateful for.
Lord Downshire was one of Mr Darcy’s friends who had accepted the invitation to her ball then had chosen to forgo attending the event without furthering an explanation. His presence in the house could not foretell anything pleasurable.
“I am shocked. No, grieved at your failure to entice the ton to come to your ball. Something must be done, and we, the Bennets, have nothing to be ashamed of. I suggest we attend every event and prove the nidgets wrong.”
Elizabeth sighed. “We have already attempted that to no avail. I was a fool to believe people, in general, had more sense. I have been judged without evidence, knowledge, or a trial.”
“I shall summon Lydia. Where is it that the militia are encamped… Oh, it is Belle Vue Field. I am certain the officers in Brighton cannot compare to the peers in town. It is a shame that Jane will not be able to join us for another six weeks, but I have four other daughters who are almost as beautiful. Together, as a united front, we shall enter society with our renowned beauty, liveliness, and poise. All heads will turn in our direction.”
Which was exactly what Elizabeth feared the most. Lydia was certain to make a spectacle of herself, Kitty would follow her lead, and Mary would preach Fordyce’s lessons.
“No! Please, do not.”
“We need new dresses. I shall write to your father and demand that he send us a substantial sum,” Mrs Bennet continued, unperturbed.
“I have no need of more dresses,” Mary protested. “Mr Darcy has already purchased more than I could possibly want.”
“He has?” Mrs Bennet squeaked, a dangerous glint in her eyes.
“Please, Mama. Mr Darcy has been very generous, and we cannot expect him to do more than he already has,” Elizabeth objected.
“Leave it to me, dearest. I have more experience than you in convincing a gentleman what he ought to provide.”
Elizabeth rose abruptly, sending her chair reeling back before it clattered to the floor.
“You will do no such thing! Mr Darcy is my husband, and he will not be extorted for money. I have my pin money, Papa must exert himself, and we shall purchase the fabric you need from Uncle Gardiner at a reduced price.”
Only afterwards did she realise that she had agreed to the scheme. Mrs Bennet’s sly smile irked her further. Could it have been her plan all along?
#
A sullen Lydia arrived a week later, escorted to town by Mr Bennet.
“See!” her father whispered in Elizabeth’s ear when he delivered his youngest daughter to Grosvenor Square. “Lydia is no worse for wear and just as silly as when she left Longbourn weeks ago. I dare say the influence of Mrs Forster has not changed your sister one iota.”
“Then we must thank the Lord for his divine intervention,” Elizabeth grumbled. “You should advise Reverend Hinshelwood to preach about fortuity in his next sermon.”
“I have no intention of returning to Longbourn,” Mr Bennet drawled. “Not immediately, at least.”
“But…you hate town.”
Elizabeth had not expected Mr Bennet to remain in London, and the question of bedrooms immediately raised concerns.
Darcy House was large, with a basement where the kitchen, scullery, and various storage rooms were situated.
Above were two drawing rooms and formal and family dining rooms. On the first floor were the entertainment rooms, the music room, the library, and Mr Darcy’s study.
The six bedrooms were on the second floor, beneath the servants’ accommodations and nursery in the attic.
As she, Mr Darcy, Miss Darcy, and Mrs Bennet all had one each, and Mary and Kitty occupied the fifth, there was only one left, which was reserved for Colonel Fitzwilliam.
Her musings were abruptly forgotten by Mr Bennet’s reply.
“I see no reason to forgo the pleasures of town now that your grandmother has reconciled with her brother.”
“She has? When? I thought she had decided not to pursue an amity due to her disgust for sea voyages.”
“Some weeks ago, I believe. She changed her mind when the weather took a pleasant turn. And if it had not, she could have travelled to Ritterhof by carriage.”
“Has she been restored to her family’s good graces?”
“I suppose so. She signed her last letter with her title, Lady Louise. Which reminds me—” Mr Bennet hailed one of the trunks that were being carried up the stairs and rummaged through its contents. He returned with a stack of letters. “I believe this is yours.”
Elizabeth stared at the envelopes and counted five unopened missives.
“Do you not want your grandmother’s correspondence?”
Elizabeth snatched the pile from her father’s hands, hastened up the stairs to her sitting room for privacy, and ripped off the seal.
After a longish rant about the atrocities her grandmother had encountered at sea, Elizabeth skimmed through a pleasant visit to a friend’s house in Cuxhaven to her arrival at Ritterhof Castle.
There were no wishes of felicity upon her nuptials.
It would be just like her father not to mention anything of worth in his letters to his mother.
With a heart threatening to beat through her chest, she read about the reunion between brother and sister.
Dear Herman was not as ill as his letter implied but rather suffered from melancholy after losing his second wife.
His first wife died childless some thirty years ago, and he had quite given up on marriage when he met Lady Wilhelmine and sired a son, his only child, who is four years your senior and very fond of parties and balls.
He has been roaming the continent, leaving his father too much to his own desolation.
I was at first very cross with the frivolous young man, but when I discovered that he was occupied on official diplomatic business, I could not quite fault him. He is the statesman of Rendsburg.
Either way, I cannot complain because it has brought me and my brother together again, even though five decades have passed.
It is such a shame we allowed our father to drive a wedge between us.
I have since discovered that Herman never agreed with our father’s cruel rejection of me, but he dared not gainsay him either.
After he inherited Reimarus, as a compensation of sorts he recompensed my fortune in a gift to be willed to me upon his death.
The silly fool did not even imagine that I would welcome his outstretched hand, and the letter I received had been written under the influence of a bottle of cognac.
Herman is not used to over-imbibing and must have become quite sentimental.
He did not even remember writing the letter, so my arrival came as a great surprise, though not an unwelcome one.
He has since given me full control of my fortune, which has grown significantly over the years.
Well, enough said about the vulgarity of wealth.
I am happy to relate that we are quite the pair. Spending our days sharing everything we can remember of the last fifty years. I predict we shall be thus occupied until the Lord reclaims us because I shall never set a foot on the deck of a ship ever again.
Here began another rant about the perils of the sea that Elizabeth needed not to read at the current moment. It was much more important to find her husband to impart the good news. She skipped down the stairs and encountered Tommy at the foot.
“Has Mr Darcy returned?”
“No, but Mr Augustus Darcy and Miss Clarissa Darcy have come to visit Miss Bennet and Miss Catherine, ma’am.”
“Oh,” was her ridiculous reply.
“Miss Bennet is practising with Miss Darcy in the music room. Miss Catherine and Miss Lydia are listening. Shall I escort the Darcys there?”
“Yes, and I shall join them.”
It was possible that the brother and sister had called and requested her sisters’ company for a nefarious purpose, and if so, Elizabeth would discover what.
The tableau in the music room was not quite what she had expected.
Mary lit up with delight upon espying Miss Clarissa Darcy.
The girls greeted each other warmly, immediately opened Fordyce’s Sermons, and bent their heads together over the book.
It was heart-warming to watch Mary, who had never had a close confidante in Meryton, developing a strong friendship with another lady.
Even though the lady in question had such a father.
If she was to be honest, Charlotte had a ridiculous father, and Elizabeth had never held that against her friend.
She would not do so in this instance either.
Mr Augustus Darcy bowed particularly low over Kitty’s hand and took his leave of the ladies. He had an appointment at court but would return to collect his sister once his business had concluded.
Kitty joined the girls, trying to look over Mary’s shoulder. It would be infinitely better if she were to emulate Mary rather than their youngest sister. Lydia was currently occupied with interrogating poor Georgiana, who looked more and more uncomfortable by the minute.