Chapter Five #2
“I see,” Mr Bennet plucked his own large handkerchief from his pocket and handed it to his wife, seeing that her lace-trimmed scrap was thoroughly wet as she was, for once, genuinely crying.
“Well, well, my dear. Allow me to alleviate your suffering by assuring you that none of our daughters, and most certainly not my Lizzy, will ever be scrubbing floors in the Hunsford parsonage. I had already determined to refuse Mr Collins’ suit, even if one of them should be silly enough to accept him. ”
“But the entail!” Mrs Bennet sobbed. “We shall all be out in the hedgerows!”
“Mrs Bennet, if you will just cease wailing and dry your eyes, and come into supper with me, I have reason to believe that we may hear some news which may appease you a little.”
Mrs Bennet demanded that he tell her at once, but Mr Bennet refused, claiming that it was not his news to tell, and she would just have to settle herself and come into supper, or suffer hearing all about it from Lady Lucas and Mrs Phillips.
The thought of having to hear yet more (possibly scandalous) gossip from her friends compelled Mrs Bennet to calm herself expeditiously, and within a few minutes she was breathing sedately and suffering Mrs Gardiner to wipe her face with a cool cloth.
“There, I hear the supper bell,” Mr Bennet had settled himself in a chair to wait and drawn a book from his pocket. “Allow me to escort the two loveliest ladies here tonight into supper.”
Both his wife and sister laughed at his nonsense, and Mrs Gardiner exclaimed “Thomas, you dreadful creature! You know very well your daughters outshine us by far!”
“Yes, but I have no chance of escorting any of them into supper, do I?” Mr Bennet smiled. “They are no doubt at this very moment surrounded by fervent young swains begging for the honour.”
“You do like to jest with us, Mr Bennet!” His wife laughed.
“I am sure poor Mary will not – well I never!” They were approaching the door of the dining-room, and there right in front of them was indeed her aforementioned middle daughter, being escorted in on the arm of a tall, fair-haired gentleman in a very well-cut brown coat. “Who is that, Mr Bennet?”
“I am sure I have no idea, madam, but let us find out directly,” Mr Bennet steered the two ladies to the table where the young man was just pulling out a chair for Mary to sit down. “Well, well, daughter, are you having a good time tonight?”
Mary blushed uncharacteristically red and nodded mutely. The gentleman, who had been just about to draw out a seat for himself, shot upright and bowed. Seeing that Mary appeared to have lost her tongue, Mrs Bennet leaped into the breach.
“How kind of you to bring our dear Mary into supper, sir! I am her mother Mrs Bennet, and this is her father Mr Bennet, and my sister Mrs Gardiner.”
“A p-p-pleasure to m-m-make your acq-acqua-acquaintance,” the gentleman stuttered out. “Mr John Hutton, at your service.”
They settled down together, Mrs Gardiner hissing in Mrs Bennet’s ear “He is shy, Fanny, don’t scare him off!” She turned a charming smile on Mr Hutton. “Are you a friend of Mr Bingley’s, pray?”
“B-Both Mr Bingley and Mr D-Darcy, actually. D-D-Darcy introduced me to Miss M-M-Mary. Darcy and I were at school t-together, and Cambridge.”
“How lovely. And are you from Derbyshire too? I once lived in Lambton, close to Pemberley.” Mrs Gardiner smiled at him. “Mr Darcy and I are very distant cousins, though quite well acquainted.”
He brightened at her friendly manner, and the stammer eased.
“Pemberley is so b-beautiful is it not? I have been there a number of times, t-travelling through on my way home. I am from near Northallerton, in the N-North Riding of Yorkshire.” He smiled, and then said, “But I p-pray you will excuse me for a few moments. I have promised Miss M-Mary some supper, and I must make g-good on my word. May I bring either of you anything?”
“Oh no, Mr Bennet has gone to get our plates,” Mrs Bennet said, and as soon as Mr Hutton was out of earshot, leaned over to Mary and hissed “Who is he, child? If he is a friend of Bingley and Darcy’s he must be well to account, but he is not proud at all!”
“I know little of him, Mama, save that he very kindly asked me to dance when Mr Darcy brought him over to introduce him just before the supper dance. Mr Darcy said that Mr Hutton has a very great enjoyment of music, and plays the violin, and that he had heard him play a piece of Haydn that I played at Lucas Lodge a few weeks ago.” Mary shook her head in amazement.
“I cannot imagine that Mr Darcy has ever noticed what I play! But I was so startled that I did not say no when Mr Hutton asked me to dance, and – well, he is very nice. We talked about Haydn, and he said that he should particularly like to hear me play one of his sonatas.” She frowned.
“The one he mentioned is rather simple – I learned it long ago…”
“Then you shall no doubt play it exceedingly well, and he shall be most impressed,” Mrs Gardiner put in, well aware that Mary often tried to exhibit above her skill level and showed poorly.
The gentlemen returned then, followed by a small procession of footmen with a pitcher of lemonade, glasses, a bottle of wine and several plates piled high with food.
The group set to with a will, Mrs Bennet far too busy enjoying the delightful meal, and wondering on why Mr Darcy should introduce an apparently eligible young man to Mary, of all people, to speculate too busily on what her other daughters might be up to.
Mrs Gardiner controlled the conversation adeptly to avoid embarrassing either Mary or Mr Hutton, and Mr Bennet listened quietly and kept a weather eye out for his other daughters.
He was pleased to note that although Kitty had been escorted in by an officer, it was the slightly older and more sensible Captain Carter, who had seated Kitty between himself and Colonel Forster, where she could not get into mischief with the younger officers.
He was glad he had put his foot down and insisted Lydia stay at home.
Undoubtedly she would be behaving disgracefully and making a cake of herself, rather like young Maria Lucas who was giggling incessantly between two of the younger officers.
Mr Bennet glanced around the room, checking for his other girls, and saw them sitting together.
Jane, of course, was beside Mr Bingley – from this angle, Mr Bennet suspected they were actually holding hands under the table!
He smiled indulgently. The puzzle, though, was that Elizabeth sat beside Mr Darcy, who was leaning over towards her and listening intently to every word out of her mouth!
The man was even smiling, the first time that Mr Bennet had seen that expression on him in their several meetings.
Miss Bingley sat on the other side of Mr Darcy, her mouth turned down sulkily.
This evening was not going at all the way she had planned.
None of her Town friends had come, sending various excuses, but she could read between the lines that they pitied her, forced to host a ball for her brother in this ghastly country backwater.
Several of her brother’s friends had, though, and while they obligingly asked her to dance so that she was never without a partner, they all seemed far more interested in dancing with one or the other of those ghastly Bennet girls!
And while Darcy had danced the first with her – she hadn’t really left him much option – he seemed to have been avoiding her thereafter, and was now being monopolised by Miss Eliza!
Caroline’s palm itched with the desire to smack that arch little smirk off the chit’s face.