Chapter 12 #3
On Wednesday, the staff at Darcy House was moving hither and yon with frenetic energy and purpose.
It did not need the butler and housekeeper to tell them that the dinner, albeit not a formal dinner party, to be held that night was of the utmost importance to the master.
Georgiana escaped to Matlock House to go see her cousin Tiffany for some peace and quiet.
When she informed her aunt how nervous William was about the dinner, Aunt Elaine had not said too much but gave a very knowing smile.
Her nephew was head over heels in love. Richard had attempted to distract Darcy and take him to White’s but had met with little success.
Across the square, the residents at Bennet House were all calm, except for Lydia who was furious that she was again left out, and even more upset that she would be escorted to school on the morrow.
Elizabeth sat in her chambers deep in thought.
‘How do I feel about Mr Darcy now? I am so confused.
I know that I like him very well now, but do I love him?
He has been so gentlemanlike, he has not pushed me or asked for more than that which I am willing to give.
The stirrings and warmth that I feel when he is near, or when I think of him now—what do they mean?
What does it mean that I think about him hourly now, and they are mostly positive thoughts?
‘After the way I delivered my set-down, I would have expected him to run as far away from me as possible, but he did not.
Rather, he has openly acknowledged his faults to his friends, family, and to us, and I would be a prejudiced fool not to see that the changes he is making are real.
I know that he loves me, and unlike Bingley he has proved that he has consistency and resolution in spades.
“If he were to offer for me, I am not ready to accept him, but I may be open to a courtship. Oh my, even that would have been abhorrent to me not long ago. Jane does not seem to suffer over Bingley at all. In fact, I believe another has caught her eye. Colonel Fitzwilliam is a man where Bingley was a petulant boy. If they come together, I will be very happy with a brother such as him.’
Elizabeth was roused out of her ruminations as her maid pointed out that it was time to dress for dinner.
She dressed her mistress in one of her new yellow and gold silk gowns.
The pins that Jacqui placed in her coiffure were tipped with yellow diamond chips.
Most of her hair was piled up on her head, but there were some curls that hung down her neck.
She wore an emerald choker that made the green flecks in her eyes stand out more than usual.
It was a family dinner, but that did not mean that the dress would be casual.
The family met in the entrance hall where the Gardiners, who had just arrived, waited for them at ten minutes before the hour.
Once everyone had donned their gloves and outerwear, accompanied by Biggs and two of his massive fellow footmen, the family made the walk across the square.
As they departed Bennet House, the family noticed the Fitzwilliams heading toward Darcy House.
Tiffany, on spying the four Bennet sisters that she was on first name basis with and counted as friends, walked to join the Bennets as fast as she could without any unladylike running.
The Bennets entered Darcy House a little ahead of the Fitzwilliams and were shown into the largest of the drawing rooms. The only people that needed introductions was the Countess to Bennet and the Earl and Andrew to Mr and Mrs Bennet.
The Gardiners had been acquainted with the Fitzwilliams for a number of years.
Georgiana was in her element. There were five young ladies with herself all close in age and that had very similar interests.
On the two or three occasions that she had been with the two younger Bennet sisters, she had become a lot closer to them.
She, Tiffany, and Mary shared a love of music, and Bennet had retained the same music master for Mary as the other two.
The bond with Kitty was over drawing and the Greenlake School for Young Ladies that both cousins had attended and where Kitty would commence on the Monday following the next.
The two older Gardiner children were to eat with the adults. Lilly at twelve and James at ten felt very proud that they were allowed to remain with the rest of the party.
Lord Matlock was speaking to Bennet about their brief acquaintanceship at Cambridge and they were discovering that they had many shared interests, not the least of which were books and chess as Gardiner listened.
Lord Matlock had accepted a challenge and an invitation to Bennet House to test his wits against Bennet on the morrow.
The three matriarchs were furthering their acquaintance and quietly chatting as they sat on a settee in one corner of the room.
The balance of the younger adults was in a group sitting and talking.
It was no surprise that Darcy sat next to Elizabeth and the Colonel next to Jane while the married couple sat together.
Darcy’s butler, Killion, soon announced that dinner was served.
It was an informal family dinner so there was no precedence observed.
Darcy made sure that Miss Elizabeth was seated to his right.
Jane Bennet sat to his left and his cousin Richard was very quick to take the seat next to her.
The rest of the party sat with the two Gardiner children seated between their parents.
After the soup, Darcy rose and welcomed the Bennets to the Square, the welcome was repeated and seconded by his uncle.
Bennet answered the toast on behalf of his family thanking both the Darcy and Fitzwilliam families for welcoming the Bennet family so warmly.
Elizabeth Bennet sat watching the man that she used to think of as hypocritical, proud, taciturn, even arrogant.
She saw no trace of that man in the one that sat next to her.
He was smiling and for the first time she saw them displayed, his dimples.
‘Oh my, if he smiles at me like that it would be hard to refuse him. He does not realise how much more handsome he looks when he smiles. And good Lord above, when he displays those dimples…’ She did not realise it but she was blushing furiously when she thought about the man to her left.
Her reaction was not missed by many others sitting at the table.
‘I am going to lose my Lizzy to that man, sooner than later,’ Bennet thought wistfully, ‘I know he is worthy, from all of his actions that he has taken and from the report that Sir Randolph had his investigators compile. He is not as wealthy as we are, but he is very wealthy by any measure so even if I did not know that he had offered for her when he thought her penniless, I know that her fortune is not a motivating factor.’
Mrs Bennet was hit as if by a bolt of lightning as she saw what was in front of her, ‘Who would have thought that Mr Darcy would fall in love with my Lizzy? Even when she disclosed all, I did not allow myself to believe, but my eyes do not lie to me. It is a good thing that he is not the same man who insulted her at the assembly. It is hard to comprehend that after she roundly rejected his horrendous proposal and the set-down she gave him, he still persists. Jane was correct, there is nothing to repine in the loss of Mr Bingley! Mr Darcy and the Colonel are proper men. No one will convince them to do anything that they do not want to do. I always knew that Lizzy could not be so intelligent for nothing,’ she finally admitted to herself.
After dinner, the party adjourned to the music room where the Gardiners excused themselves before the entertainment, as they needed to get the younger children home to bed, the older two as well, even if the two preferred to think that it was only the younger siblings that needed to go to bed.
After tea, coffee and cake, was served, Jane on the harp was followed by Lizzy, Mary, Tiffany and lastly Georgie, who all played music on the pianoforte to entertain the party. Ladies Elaine and Marie were asked to exhibit but politely declined and deferred to the single ladies.
Not long after the last song was played, the Bennets and Fitzwilliams left after everyone affirmed that they would be at Bennet House for the formal dinner party on Friday.