Chapter 25 #3
At supper all six of the Bennet sisters, the three men, Lord Westmore, and the girls, including Lily Gardiner who had comported herself with credit, sat and ate together. After supper, the girls not yet out said their farewells and were shepherded out by their companions to retire for the night.
All three eldest Bennet daughters danced the last set with their betrothed or suitors, and to their pleasure and excitement it was another waltz.
Mary, who had never danced a waltz before this ball, felt warmth suffuse her body as she danced this second waltz of her life with Hugh as she had when he had drawn her into him during the first. ‘I never want to dance this particular dance with anyone other than Hugh. I hope that he asks for my hand the very day the courtship period that Papa imposed is over,’ she thought as her partner expertly led her around the dance floor.
Darcy and the bridegroom too revelled in dancing a second waltz with their ladyloves.
Darcy had drawn Lady Elizabeth a little closer than propriety allowed but she did not seem to object, rather a light pink blush was evident.
Her suitor saw her reaction and the fact that she did not draw back from him, was a sign that his love would not be unrequited for much longer.
He did not know that it was already requited.
The bride and groom, who were the reason for the ball, were floating on a cloud thinking about the fact that in less than two days they would be joined and would never have to be parted again.
Fitzwilliam still felt that he needed to pinch himself that one such as the beauty in his arms would accept a ‘broken down’ ex-soldier such as himself.
He had never believed he was capable, or deserving, of the love that he felt for, and received, from his betrothed.
He was often caught off guard by the strength of his deep, irrevocable and all-consuming love for his Jane.
If Bingley was still in the Kingdom, Richard would have sought him out to thank him for being such a spineless fool, as Bingley’s loss was most definitely a gain for Richard Fitzwilliam.
He shuddered as he thought that had things been slightly different, Jane Bennet would have been out of his reach forever.
And for as much as he stared at her with love, he did not miss the love that was reflected back in her eyes when she looked at him which made him pull her in even closer.
Lord Granville had come very close to requesting a third set from Lady Sarah Ashby but had restrained himself.
It was not because he did not want to dance with the lady again, he most certainly did, but he was afraid to unnerve her if his attentions were too marked too fast. He was gratified to see that she had declined all requests to dance the final set and was sitting next to her parents talking amiably with her mother.
‘I will ask to call on them at Ashbury House in Town. Andrew told me that they will be in town for a week before they return to Surrey for the summer. When I see her again, if I still feel as I do now, I will request a courtship and I am reasonably sure she will grant my request,’ Lord Granville promised himself.
The ball concluded close to four o’clock in the morning.
It was somewhat later when the last of the heads finally found a pillow at Bennet Fields.
The following morning and for long after, the Bennet pre-wedding ball would be the only ball anyone mentioned, until the Bennets held another event for their neighbours.
It was an unintended consequence that the previous ball that had been held in the area faded into history but such is the way of all society.
After dancing with the women that they loved, three men, one who would meet his beloved at the altar in less than four and twenty hours and the two courting said lady’s sisters, all had long, detailed, and very explicit dreams throughout the early morning hours.
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The morning after the ball, the three gentlemen separately chose a very long sunrise ride to expend some of their pent-up energy.
On their return from three different directions there were sheepish looks shared as they dismounted and entered the house to have their valets help them change and bathe so they could look respectable, even if thoughts of their ladies were far from pure.
Each gentleman would have been relieved to know that the ladies were just as uncomfortable having their own dreams that maidens should not have, and for them there was no relief.
They were possibly more anxious to marry than their men.
When presentable, the men descended the stairs to join the large group that had already assembled in the breakfast room to break their fasts.
Charlotte Collins had stayed home to keep up the illusion of mourning.
She was already packed and ready to depart with Eliza and the Gardiners the day after the wedding.
She was very much looking forward to being able to relax and not have acquaintances judge the depth of her mourning or whether she displayed the right amount of sorrow for her ‘dear’ departed husband.
She had no regrets that it would be a long while before she returned to this place where she no longer felt at home.