Chapter 17
Elizabeth
As promised, the colonel apologised to Elizabeth in writing and in person. He was much more stand-offish than ever before; in fact, he acted as if there was a thick wall of restraint between them at all times, which led her to believe he was truly attempting to turn over a new leaf.
Of course, she forgave him almost entirely because he was a dear relative and friend of Mr Darcy’s. Her other considerations were that he was a beloved cousin and guardian to Miss Darcy, and that he was the son of Aunt Helen, who had been kind to her.
Elizabeth had liked the colonel well enough, as a person, before that awful morning, but after it, she would not have dreamt of ever being in his company again if it were not for the Darcys and the countess.
He is the reason you met Mr Darcy, she scolded her uncharitable self.
However, another part of her argued that she and Mr Darcy would have discovered one another some other way, even if the colonel had not accidentally brought them together.
Mr Darcy’s close friends—including the two she had met, the Viscount Wessex and Mr Wright—were basically in the same circle with Julia, Grace, and Amelia.
If she had been attending balls and other parties, she would have likely met all of them sometime in the next two months; even had she continued to avoid balls and only attended lectures and concerts, she still might have met them.
At any rate, Colonel Fitzwilliam was important to Mr Darcy, and she had forgiven him.
When she accepted his apology, he bowed low and expressed his gratitude.
She responded by telling the colonel, “Please do not go to the Stoddards’ ball tonight.
” She felt strongly that, if he did go, he would have to ask her to dance, and she would have to agree to do so…
and she did not think she could bear it. Not that night, at least.
As he stood from his bow, he shook his head a tiny bit, and then gave a small nod. She looked into his grey-blue eyes and read there his promise more clearly than in his gestures. He would stay away.
That evening would be Elizabeth’s first London ball.
Mr Darcy had informed her that the Stoddards were a very old, well established family; Lord Stoddard was an earl, and his wife was the daughter of a marquess.
He had explained, “Many people consider their annual ball as the ball one simply must attend, but for me, I believe that there is no must when it comes to attendance at balls. Still, I am bowing to convention and to my aunt’s wisdom in escorting you to this particular ball. ”
Elizabeth wondered if that meant the Stoddards were terribly snobbish people who would spend the evening looking down their patrician noses at her.
She girded herself against any obvious excuses for others’ disapprobation by careful grooming.
Her new ivory-coloured gown—which Aunt Maddie had insisted on ordering the very day that Elizabeth agreed to Mr Darcy escorting her to public events—was perfect for a young lady; it was flattering to her figure but still demure.
Instead of ribbons in her hair, her maid scattered pearl-topped pins amongst her dark curls, and her Aunt Maddie loaned her a necklace of perfectly-matched pearls.
Elizabeth thought that the single colour used for gown, hair ornaments, and jewellery looked especially elegant.
Mr Darcy literally rocked back on his heels when he saw her at the top of the stairs. When she reached him, he whispered, “It is not possible for you to look even more beautiful than you did this morning, and yet, somehow, you do.”
Her smiling response prompted his own dimple-displaying smile. She felt that his words pertained even more to his own masculine beauty: it was impossible for him to look even more handsome, but somehow he always managed to do so.
The Gardiners had never been invited to the Stoddards’ ball before, of course; the “smell of the shop” clung to their family despite Uncle Edward’s notably high annual income, their large and elegant home on Gracechurch Street, and Aunt Maddie’s work in charitable societies patronised by noblewomen.
However, with Lady Matlock’s influence, Aunt Maddie was invited to chaperone Elizabeth, and she looked very well in an emerald silk gown.
Mr Darcy handed both ladies up into his barouche, and then he took the bench seat facing them.
He could not seem to tear his eyes away from Elizabeth, and she blushed during the entirety of the ride.
There was something about his intense gaze that was even more incendiary than usual.
She trembled, despite her redingote and cashmere shawl, and she dropped her own eyes, although she could not prevent herself from looking back up multiple times as if checking the direction of his gaze.
Mr Darcy’s dark eyes remained, of course, steadfast. There was something very reassuring about his constancy.
When the barouche slowed, joining the queue slowly making its way to deposit guests at the front door, Mr Darcy still gazed at Elizabeth as he asked her aunt, “Would it be proper, Mrs Gardiner, if I asked your niece for the first and last dance as well as the supper dance?”
Elizabeth’s heart raced, and her smile widened. Three dance sets at the same event was generally considered confirmation that the couple was engaged to marry. She looked hopefully at her aunt.
Aunt Maddie said, “I believe it would be wise to stick with two sets only, Mr Darcy. Elizabeth is still but eighteen years old, you have not yet met her parents, and an actual wedding is likely at least a year away. Let us not give wagging tongues additional fodder.”
Her aunt was, of course, correct, but Elizabeth felt disappointed. Mr Darcy addressed her, “Then, Miss Bennet, would you do me the honour of dancing the first and the supper set with me?”
“Of course,” she said.
When they arrived at the steps, a footman stood ready to help them out of the barouche.
However, Mr Darcy waved him off, stepped out by himself, and handed the two ladies out.
He looked as proud as anyone could, escorting them up the stairway and through the front door, and Elizabeth loved him for the respect he displayed and thus elicited from others for her and her relations.
The Stoddards were a handsome enough couple, but Lady Stoddard’s conspicuous display of wealth in her overly-ornamented gown and massive diamond jewellery made her look a bit like a social climber rather than a well-established noblewoman.
Elizabeth decided that the fussy and ostentatious ballroom decor was another sign that the Stoddards’ wealth exceeded their taste.
Of course, Elizabeth said all the gracious things required of her, and she was sincerely excited to be there.
Dancing with Mr Darcy was as splendid as she could have hoped.
He was not a merely competent dancer, but a surprisingly graceful one.
The familiar music sounded lusher, given that the orchestra was twice as large as the one that played at the country assemblies Elizabeth had attended, and the smell of the roses and lilies in the many floral displays combined with the familiar smell of beeswax candles, giving the ballroom a complex perfume.
Even though the dance patterns required Elizabeth and Mr Darcy to sometimes turn with other dancers, it seemed to Elizabeth that the other participants of the dance were faceless figures in a world of just the two of them.
Mr Darcy brought her hand to his lips for a long, reverent kiss at the end of the set, and then he escorted her to Mrs Gardiner.
Mr Darcy’s friend, Mr Wright, came up to them almost the moment Elizabeth arrived at her aunt’s side. “Darcy, Miss Bennet, it is wonderful to see you here,” he said. He turned to Elizabeth and asked, “Would you do me the honour of dancing the next with me, if you are not otherwise engaged?”
“Of course,” Elizabeth said. She was pleased to have a chance to better know one of Mr Darcy’s friends.
Mr Darcy smiled, apparently also content, but then he frowned as two other men converged on them.
One of them said, “I have never seen the Monk dance a first set! Darcy, you must introduce me to this siren who lured you to take such a remarkable step!”
The other man said, “Yes, Darcy, I should like an introduction as well!”
Elizabeth saw that Mr Darcy looked a bit anxious, which she took as a directive to be on her guard with these two men.
She smiled at him reassuringly, and he grudgingly introduced her to Lord Stewart and Mr Jenkins.
The latter swiftly asked her for the supper dance.
She smiled and said, “I am sorry, but I am already promised to another.”
“Then your next available,” Mr Jenkins said.
Elizabeth had to promise him her third set, but she was dismayed when Lord Stewart asked for the last dance set.
“Actually, I just asked Miss Bennet for that set, as well as the second,” Mr Wright said.
Elizabeth was floored by his words but murmured that, indeed, she was promised to Mr Wright for the last set.
Lord Stewart then claimed her fourth. At that point, the opening notes of music sounded, and Mr Wright led Elizabeth to the lines of dancers.
He leant towards her and whispered, “I lied because you and Darcy both looked upset. I will not actually dance with you, but will instead escort you to wherever Darcy is for the last set; thus tongues will not wag about me and you.”
“I appreciate your gallantry, sir, but I imagine that tongues may wag if Lord Stewart tells others what you said about asking me for two sets.”
Mr Wright’s eyes twinkled, and he replied, “That is unlikely, because it makes him look deficient. Basically, he asked for a particular set and was rejected. If he said that he was rejected because the lady was already promised to dance with me, it will not look well for Lord Stewart if you do not, in fact, dance that set with me.”