Chapter 17
“Louisa, how are we to get away from here?” Miss Bingley whinged. The sisters were in the latter’s private sitting room after dressing for the ball. “You said you would have a plan weeks ago, and yet, we are still mired in the mud of this backwater.”
“I have formulated a plan,” Mrs Hurst claimed.
“Well what is it?” Miss Bingley demanded. “Are you sure it will be effective? Remember, we do not want Mr Darcy to criticise us.”
“Worry not, sister mine. Do you remember two days previously Charles was lamenting that he must rise early after the ball to travel to London? He mentioned that he must meet with his solicitor in Town and see his man of business as well.”
“Indeed, I do. What of it?”
“Caroline, we will follow Charles within an hour or two of his departure. The fact that all of the servants are employed by the landlord works to our advantage, we do not need to tell them anything other than we may not be returning.”
“But, Louisa, what if Charles wants to return to this estate and court the insipid Miss Bennet with her connections to trade?”
“We will convince him to remain. It will not be difficult, you know how easily he is led. As far as Mr Darcy goes, we cannot mention anything to him until Charles departs. He must not know we planned to leave ahead of time, but that will, I believe, not be a problem after tonight. You saw Mrs Bennet’s performance when she was here to see her daughters, did you not? ”
“Yes, what a vulgar tradesman’s daughter,” Miss Bingley crowed.
“Seeing that, I am sure her behaviour at the ball will be equal to or worse than we have already seen. Additionally, as we have noted, her husband will not check her. We will use that as a pretext to follow Charles in the morning. The Bennet parents’ behaviour at the ball will help kill the infatuation Mr Darcy harbours for that chit, Miss Eliza. ”
“That is impressive; you have thought of everything.”
“Caro, there is one thing I need you to do,” Mrs Hurst added. “I will sit with you now while you write a letter to Jane Bennet. We need to kill any hope she has of Charles offering for her. Come sit at the escritoire and write, I will tell you what to scribe. It will be dated for the morrow.”
The sisters rose and glided over to the writing desk. Miss Bingley sat while Mrs Hurst stood behind her. In this manner, they crafted the letter, and as her sister instructed her, Miss Bingley wrote the next day’s date.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
Thankfully for Elizabeth, Papa had told Mr Collins to ride on the box, and then her father had joined the four ladies inside the carriage. Both her mother and the hapless parson had looks of displeasure on their countenances, but neither attempted to countermand her father’s command.
Fanny sniffed and looked out of the window into the dark.
Her husband was so disobliging! Other than at meals, he had made sure that the headstrong hoyden, who was her second daughter, had not spent any significant time in Mr Collins’s presence.
She had spoken to him and convinced him to propose to Lizzy on the morrow.
She was sure the girl would do her duty to her mother and accept the man.
Jane was in great anticipation of arriving.
Mr Bingley had requested all three significant sets.
She had agreed. Surely, he would declare himself at the ball, seeing that dancing those sets with her was tantamount to a proposal.
As much as her heart had been lost to him, she was still troubled that he mostly spoke of her beauty.
Jane told herself that was just Mr Bingley’s way of expressing his love for her.
Contrary to Lizzy’s opinion, Jane believed that Mrs Hurst and Miss Bingley would welcome her as a sister with open arms.
Elizabeth knew she was not in love with Mr Wickham, and especially after what he had shared of his persecution at the hands of Mr Darcy, she was aware he would not be able to afford a wife.
However, she was looking forward to dancing with the handsome officer at least once.
As she was one who loved to dance, she was in anticipation of the ball.
As long as Mr Darcy did not ask her to dance again, all would be well.
It was not only that time at Lucas Lodge when Sir William had prompted Mr Darcy to ask her to dance. One night while she and Jane had been forced to remain at Netherfield Park, Miss Bingley had played a reel, and unprompted Mr Darcy had asked her to stand up with him. She had, of course, refused.
Fanny had made sure they departed Longbourn a little before the time they needed to. She wanted to arrive early to give Jane as much time with Mr Bingley as possible. It slipped her mind that he would be in the receiving line.
As Fanny looked at Jane, she knew no lady at the ball would be more beautiful.
Jane was wearing a sky-blue satin gown; it looked well on her.
Anything did, but Fanny was vexed that Jane had not attached more lace to her gown or allowed the gown to be altered so it would be lower cut around the area of her bosom.
She did not evaluate her next two younger daughters’ ensembles as she was sure no man would be interested in them with Jane present.
“Look at all of the torches!” Mary exclaimed.
They had been placed either side of the drive from the gateposts on up to the house, about a yard between each one giving more than enough light for the coachmen to navigate the drive.
“That is nothing to the house,” Elizabeth observed.
She was sitting on the rear facing bench next to Papa, but she had turned to look at the structure which was on her side of the carriage.
“Look at all of the light pouring from the windows, it is almost like daylight. I cannot imagine how many candles are lit, and I would wager that not one is tallow. The house is fairly glowing, almost as much as Janey.”
Jane swatted at Lizzy’s arm across the distance between the forward and rear facing benches.
“For someone who is supposed to be intelligent, the fact that you do not realise that one as wealthy as Mr Bingley would only allow beeswax candles in his home is rather silly,” Fanny said nastily.
She was still smarting from being thwarted in her desire for Mr Collins and Lizzy to spend as much time together as possible.
She could not say anything to her husband without risking her allowance, but she felt no such restraint with her second daughter.
Bennet said nothing to his wife. It would not help if he did.
Mary just looked at Lizzy, squeezed her hand closest to herself and shrugged her shoulders. She was fully aware Lizzy had said what she did as a tease to Jane. Like Lizzy had, Mary wisely said nothing.
She felt bad that Mama had attacked Lizzy for no reason, but as was her wont, Jane did not comment, not wanting to cause conflict.
As Fanny had planned, the Bennets were one of the first families to arrive, right behind the Lucases. She was, however, not pleased that Lady Lucas and her family had arrived before the Bennets.
Those arriving were not unobserved. Darcy stood in his chamber on the third floor watching as the guests began to arrive. When he noted the second carriage was that belonging to the Bennets, without meaning to, he walked forward until he was close to the panes of glass in the windows.
He grinned when he saw the corpulent man who had been with the Bennets the day he had seen the miscreant in Meryton.
He was having trouble lumbering down from the box.
Meanwhile, Mr Bennet alighted, and began to hand out those within, beginning with his wife.
Miss Bennet, looking as serene as ever was next, and then, not allowing the man who had been seated on the box to do the honours, Mr Bennet handed his second daughter out.
Darcy had never seen her look more beautiful.
He leaned forward until his forehead was against the glass.
It was then that she looked straight up at him as though she knew he was looking at her.
She gave a saucy look with an arched eyebrow.
Having been caught staring at her, Darcy jumped back and almost fell onto the floor, but steadied himself on the bedframe.
He had Carstens close the curtains right away.
Elizabeth wondered if her looks were so repellent to Mr Darcy that they had caused him to jump back the way he had. She cared not what he thought of her. At least, that is what she tried to convince herself.
While Carstens brushed his jacket to make sure it was lint free, Darcy promised himself he would not ask Miss Elizabeth for a dance.
He knew he was in danger of falling in love with the impertinent slip of a woman.
It was a pity he had not thought to ask Bingley if he could accompany him to London on the morrow.
It was not too late; he would tell Bingley he too needed to be in Town.
It was, in a certain sense, true. Before he exited his suite, Darcy ordered Carstens to pack.
He was certain being back in London among those of his level of society would banish thoughts of Miss Elizabeth Bennet from his mind.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
When the Bennets followed the Lucases in the receiving line, even seeing Mr Bingley standing next to his sisters and brother-in-law did not make Fanny realise they had come early for no good reason.
While their mother and Jane did not notice the sneers from the Bingley sisters, Elizabeth and Mary did.
With Jane right behind her, Fanny heard the warm welcome Mr Bingley delivered, and if her husband had not been leading her in the direction of the ballroom, she would have begun to exclaim over Jane’s good fortune there and then, when she heard Mr Bingley confirm the three significant sets with Jane.
Miss Bingley heard as well, and she looked alarmed. When the Bennets were past, Mrs Hurst leant close to her younger sister’s ear. “Do not forget after tonight Charles will never see her again. It will be her reputation to suffer, not his.”