Chapter Nine
“Dear God, what are you wearing?” Elizabeth heard from behind her as she entered Netherfield’s ballroom after greeting Mr Bingley and leaving Jane and her parents in the receiving line. She turned to find Priscilla, Georgiana, and Mr Darcy staring at her gown.
“Prissy!” Georgiana hissed in alarm, wondering how her cousin could be so impolite as to point out the unsuitability of Miss Elizabeth’s gown to her face.
“Nonsense, Georgie, there has been mischief, and Lizzy is our friend. What on Earth has your sister done now?” Priscilla demanded as she turned back to Elizabeth.
“Oh! Nothing, of course. My ivory silk met with misfortune. I fear I am excessively clumsy.” Elizabeth bobbed a curtsey. “Mr Darcy. Georgie, it is very good to see you. Are you excited to dance with your brother at your first private ball?”
“Yes, I am, and Brother says I may also stand up with Mr Bingley and Mr Collins. Oh, and Priscilla says that young ladies stand up with their friends or sisters at private balls and assemblies in the country.”
“We do, and I am certain I will stand up with you as well,” Elizabeth promised, trying valiantly to avoid Priscilla’s eye. It was no good.
“Lizzy, come with me to my room.” Priscilla held out her hand. “My maid will still be in my dressing room, and I have at least three more white gowns.”
“Oh, I could not possibly cause any fuss!” Elizabeth insisted, blushing to have such a discussion in front of Mr Darcy.
“I am perfectly well. This is the gown I would have worn to a ball if it were held in July…it is not so very unsuitable.” She trailed off, hoping her friend would leave the matter at that, but it was not to be.
“It is not July, Lizzy, it is nearly December. I insist. We will be back before the first dance if you hurry.”
“Miss Elizabeth, if you have returned in time, would you stand up with me for the first?” Mr Darcy blurted out.
Elizabeth blushed. “But what about Georgiana?”
“We are to dance the second,” Georgiana assured her. “It is already arranged. I have never seen a private ball before. I am too nervous to dance the first, but I am certain I will be ready after watching a set. You will give me courage.”
“And your supper set as well, Miss Elizabeth, if I might be so bold.” Mr Darcy bowed.
“Oh do, Prissy and I are to dance the supper set, and then we may all sit together!” Georgiana.
Elizabeth accepted with another blush, then Georgiana and Priscilla each took an arm and bustled her up the stairs, as she objected all the way.
They were correct, Priscilla’s maid had Elizabeth changed in no time, and her muslin was wrapped up and sent down to return to Longbourn with the Bennet carriage.
Elizabeth flatly refused to wear the first gown that was presented to her. It was pure white with a stunning full lace overdress that Mrs Bennet would faint if she saw.
“But why, Lizzy?” Priscilla pleaded. “It will fit you perfectly, you are just my height, and if I may say so, rather better endowed, so the bodice will flatter you even more.”
“For the same reason that you did not wear it, Priscilla. This is Jane’s night, not mine.
I would never single myself out so. I am perfectly happy with my muslin,” Elizabeth said firmly.
“Would you like to see Jane cry again? I would rather not be declared the cause for it tonight if you do not mind. My mother would make a scene if I wore that, and rightly so.”
“I would rather say that it would serve Miss Bennet right. Though you still have not told us what has happened, I suspect her mischief to be the reason you content yourself with your muslin,” Priscilla grumbled.
Elizabeth selected the plainer of Priscilla’s other two ivory gowns, a taffeta that, while the plainest there, was still a cut above Elizabeth’s beloved ivory silk.
“You had a divine idea with the amaranthine ribbon, Lady Lucas was quite right, it is the perfect colour for you, but that one is entirely the wrong ribbon for this gown.” Priscilla emerged from her dressing room with an impressively wide and elaborate amaranthine taffeta sash, which she handed over to her maid, who wrapped it about Elizabeth’s waist and tied it into an impossibly large bow in the back. The effect was quite becoming.
“Thankfully, I am fond of the colour myself. Now, Lizzy, I must insist that you keep this gown and sash. No…no, I will not hear otherwise! You are my friend, and you look far better in it than I ever would have, how happily proportioned you are. Besides, I visited my modiste before we left London. I will have an entire new wardrobe waiting for me at Matlock House when I return for the festive season. You will save me from having to send this to my father’s estate to be stored away. ”
Overwhelmed, Elizabeth refused the loan of a string of pearls, citing an attachment to her garnet cross.
“Wait!” Georgiana ran from the room. She returned a few moments later with a pair of beaded ear drops. “They are not expensive, only glass beads. But they match your cross very well, and they are not too much. I bought them myself last year. Please allow me to contribute something!”
“Very well. Thank you, Georgie. You are far too good, my friend.” Elizabeth sniffed back a tear as she took her handkerchief from the maid.
“You must keep them, I insist upon giving you a gift as well.” Georgiana hurried them from the room. “We must hurry, you will miss the first!”
Darcy saw Elizabeth return to the drawing room and stopped speaking to Collins in the middle of a sentence.
He might have stopped breathing, he could not even tell.
Collins, who had first attempted to gain Elizabeth’s favour when he entered Meryton, had abruptly stopped and reverted to friendly and familial exchanges once he saw Darcy’s interest. Darcy knew that he had done so deliberately, he observed Collins just as closely as his friend and the incumbent of his livings had observed him.
Collins had said nothing, for which Darcy was grateful, for he still knew not what he wished to do about his attraction to Elizabeth.
“Cousin Mary, are you engaged for the first set?” Collins raised an eyebrow to Darcy and moved along to speak with Elizabeth’s sister as she approached them with Priscilla and Georgiana.
“You are…” he trailed off, forgetting how to speak while in the midst of speaking.
“You may tell her that she looks beautiful, Cousin,” Priscilla said pertly. “You will not be trapped into marriage.”
Darcy glared at his cousin, then returned his gaze to Elizabeth. “You look lovely, Miss Elizabeth,” he said, bowing gentlemanly. “And a great deal warmer.”
“Your cousin saved my dignity, and I am grateful,” Elizabeth answered. “At least now I need not embarrass my sister and Mr Bingley.”
The strings of the first set began, and couples began to line up on the side of the dance floor, waiting for the host and his bride to begin the dancing. Darcy saw that Miss Bennet noticed Elizabeth’s gown with a sharp look as Bingley swept her onto the floor.
The gentle population of Meryton and Mr Bingley’s guests from London released wistful sighs and murmurs of approval for the delighted and handsome couple. Jane was beaming, and Bingley was no less ecstatic.
After a moment or two, couples began to join their host on the dance floor, lining up and whirling around in an elegant display. Darcy and Elizabeth took their place among them, Darcy noting that Mrs Bennet was pointing at them and gesticulating wildly to her husband.
Elizabeth noticed as well and shook her head.
“It seems I cannot do anything right just now. First my mother was angry that my muslin would make us look shabby, and now I am certain she will say that I am seeking attention by accepting such a gown, even though I took the plainest one Priscilla had. I shall be grateful when the wedding has passed, and my mother’s nerves return to normal, as eventually they must.”
“My mother has been gone for many years, but I am certain that her anxiety as Georgiana’s wedding approached–if she were with us at such a happy event–would be noteworthy,” Darcy mused.
Elizabeth looked furtively down the line at Bingley and Jane. “They seem very happy.” She sounded hopeful.
“Yes,” Darcy acknowledged. Then, though he ought not, he confessed. “I hope that they will be.”
“Your friend’s happiness must be very important to you,” Elizabeth observed.
“It is,” Darcy replied. “Which is why I will not interfere where my worries are not welcome.”
Darcy searched his mind for anything besides books or Bingley to speak of. “I wished to thank you again for your unexampled kindness to my sister and your friendship to my cousin. They speak of you often and with great affection.”
“Oh! I could hardly be anything but a friend to a sweet girl like Miss Darcy, and Lady Priscilla is everything lovely and diverting.” Elizabeth blushed. “You might as well thank me for enjoying sunshine and flowers.”
“I have never seen my cousin invite another lady to address her with informality, and Georgiana has certainly never expressed such courage.” Darcy smiled at her with great warmth. “I was gratified that the first time I ever witnessed it, that they chose a friend with kindness and authenticity.”
Elizabeth blushed again and sought a new topic. “Are you enjoying the ball so far, Mr Darcy?”
“To be entirely truthful, until the dance began, I was feeling rather oppressed,” Darcy confessed. “I envy the ease with which you seem to navigate such events.”
“That is because I am accustomed to assemblies,” Elizabeth answered.
“I have hardly lived in a cave,” he assured her.
She laughed at the thought. “What I meant is that you only endure them rather than accustom yourself. It is not at all the same.”
“I am certain you are right,” Darcy agreed.
“You do not seem to struggle in conversation with me,” she said impishly. “What could possibly be the cause of your ease?”