Chapter 18 #2
The song that Mrs Goddard had been so keen to hear was easily executed.
It was a favourite of Elizabeth’s too, and for a few minutes, she succeeded in keeping Mr Darcy’s nearness out of her head.
As Mr Darcy had predicted, however, they did urge her to play another.
Elizabeth thought she might induce Miss Bingley to play—experience taught her it required very little in the way of encouragement for that lady to exhibit—but Miss Bingley had left the room.
Surveying the room quickly, she saw none other who could save her.
“It seems you were correct, sir,” she said to Mr Darcy. “They will have another. Do you have any preferences?”
“I do,” he said and handed her a song which laid nearby.
Elizabeth laughed immediately and handed it back. “I happen to know that song is laid there as a joke!”
“A joke?” Mr Darcy glanced down at it and handed it back to her. “Forgive me, but I do not think it is meant to be sung in jest.”
“Not the song itself—the song itself is rather, um…” Elizabeth pursed her mouth a moment, then said, “Passionate.”
“So I gathered from the title,” he said. “But the music is lovely and I daresay your voice would do it much credit.”
She handed the song back again with a laugh. “I could not sing these words in company. I would be too embarrassed.”
“Some other time, then?” His eyes had a soft twinkle in them. “Perhaps when we are not in company.”
Sensing that her cheeks were again growing pink, and dismayed by her susceptibility to discomposure at Mr Darcy’s hand, Elizabeth looked away from him. “I cannot imagine what that circumstance would be. One would have to be betrothed at least to sing such a thing to a man.”
“Betrothed?” Mr Darcy raised his eyebrows. “Are you proposing to me?”
Elizabeth laughed aloud, belatedly raising her hand to cover her mouth.
He handed her the music for a different song. “I confess I am willing to consider your suit.”
She took the pages from him, shaking her head as she positioned them on the instrument. “My suit! Upon my word, you have missed my meaning entirely.”
He leant over her, his voice a throaty rumble as he said to her, “I hope you have not missed mine.”
She glanced over at him, her giggles gone. “Mr Darcy, as much as I might have misunderstood you before, tonight I find you absolutely bewildering.”
“Pray forgive me if I have made you uncomfortable.” His gaze was dark upon her, filling the scant space between them with something she could not identify. Something like the air before a storm.
“You have not made me uncomfortable,” she said in a voice that emerged in a whisper.
“Miss Eliza! How charming your little song was!” Miss Bingley’s voice startled them both. Mr Darcy straightened, and Elizabeth turned her attention to the instrument before her. “And now you are playing another for us?”
“If you would like to exhibit, I should be more than happy to give way,” Elizabeth said with a forced smile.
“Oh, I am more than happy to allow you your moment,” said Miss Bingley. “In any case, I daresay there are some in the party who would be exceedingly disappointed if you did not.”
She gave a pointed look that Elizabeth followed to behold Sir James lingering about at a short distance.
“I am sure I do not know what you mean, Miss Bingley.”
Miss Bingley leant over the instrument. “He seems quite taken with you.”
Elizabeth blushed but had no idea what to say about that.
Through the awkward moment, she turned her eyes to the second song Mr Darcy had selected.
She played it easily, willing her emotions to subside as she played.
Miss Bingley remained where she was, still leant against the instrument and looking down on Elizabeth with a slight sneer of disdain on her face which, oddly enough, Elizabeth found reassuring.
At least some things were as they had always been.
What is the meaning of all this? Mr Darcy, her response to him…all of it so peculiar. Just get through this song, she advised herself. Then you can remove yourself from it.
The remainder of the evening was not entirely agreeable to Elizabeth, and its pleasures diminished as the evening wore on.
Mr Darcy had apparently decided to guard her, and thus did not leave her side for a moment.
Miss Bingley appeared equally determined to be fixed to Mr Darcy.
Sir James had also, for reasons of his own, decided to accompany the group wherever it went.
Thus, there they were, an awkward, determined foursome, all evidently joined at the hip.
Elizabeth, as the sole member of the group who wished for escape, was somewhat mystified to find that no one else at the party saw fit to break them up: no requests for Miss Bingley to sing, not even by Miss Bingley herself; no ‘come, let me tell you this story’; and no departures for drink or refreshment that would have been common at other parties.
It would have been highly amusing were it not so extraordinarily annoying.
At last the evening drew to its close, and Elizabeth fled with Jane to the comfortable solitude of their father’s carriage.
As they walked out, Mr Bingley cried, “What a shame we have brought so many conveyances to the party. Miss Bennet, the next time we all attend a party together, you must allow us to escort you.”
Elizabeth rolled her eyes, and entered the carriage, and the night was, at last, ended.