Chapter Eight #3
Jane’s next partner was Mr. Darcy, as it happened; fortunately Elizabeth was not required to speak to him, for Miss Darcy playfully scolded her brother for standing with Jane before their cousin had been introduced, and Mr. Darcy gave his sister an enigmatic smirk before whisking Jane away.
Elizabeth let out a huff of indignation, and said to her aunt, “Mr. Darcy’s cousin the viscount saw Jane and admired her, but I daresay he is not keen to introduce her. ”
“You astonish me! You had a great deal of conversation with him last evening, as his sister has become fast friends with both of you girls.”
“Prepare yourself to be further astonished – to be utterly appalled. Mr. Bingley has gone to Netherfield only this morning – to see Jane of course – and Mr. Darcy told me flatly that he intends to dissuade Mr. Bingley from returning to London again. He thinks his friend would be better occupied attending to his estate, for he thinks Jane fickle! He cannot know what she has suffered, if he thinks she shall forget all about her heartbreak and form some new attachment!”
Mrs. Gardiner furrowed her brow. “But is that not exactly what you have come to London to do? If not to form some new attachment, she must hope to get past her disappointment. I have heard you encourage her to do so. Mr. Edward Ferrars seems to like her, and….”
“Oh, hang Edward Ferrars, and his ghastly relations, too!” Elizabeth crossed her arms, momentarily forgetting her glass of wine, which spilled onto the fake snow that was piled about the white sofa, creating the illusion of sitting atop a snowdrift.
She realized how perverse it was to be so cross in such a setting as this, and shook her head with rueful laughter.
“Do you recall seeing Mr. Ferrars at Mrs. Jennings’s party on Christmas Eve?”
“He did look strangely familiar.”
Elizabeth leaned in and began whispering to her aunt, filling her in on Elinor’s attachment and disappointed hopes, and Lucy Steele’s vindictive machinations.
“He did not stay long on Christmas Eve. Elinor would tell us nothing of what he said to her that night, and I am sure she would not have kept silent if she had anything happy to report. And then to discover Willoughby a blackguard and a seducer – you must allow me to despise the male species a little, Aunt; I am sure it shall pass soon enough, and then I shall simply go back to laughing at them.”
“Your poor cousins – I saw in the paper today that Mr. Willoughby announced his engagement to Miss Grey, an heiress of fifty thousand pounds. She is here tonight, I have heard.”
“If he is here, I shall throttle him in front of his lady and everyone else,” Elizabeth snarled, glaring about the room as her gaze landed on several people she did not like at all.
And then she saw someone she was very pleased to set eyes upon.
Standing amidst a group of ladies, mostly sneering matrons, was Mr. W.
His mother was with him, and when she happened to look around the room herself, Elizabeth waved at her.
Mrs. Hatchard waved back, and a young woman standing beside Mr. W glanced that way.
Her lips curled in disdain as she met Elizabeth’s gaze, and she linked her arms possessively through Mr. W’s.
He glanced back over his shoulder and smiled tensely at Elizabeth before returning to his conversation.
“How strange!”
“What is it, Lizzy?”
Elizabeth gave a discreet tilt of her head in the direction of Mr. W. “He is here! Oh, I ought to be delighted for Jane, but I can only think that it will cause Mr. Darcy to believe he has been proven right.”
“You take too much upon yourself, worrying about the heartbreak of your sister and cousins. And look what that has accomplished – you are not dancing at the grandest ball you have ever been to! You spent the first set in near silence with a very eligible man, and in the second set you argued with an even handsomer gentleman – one who has been very kind, whose sister already adores you, and who is the son of one of the finest men I have ever known. And now you have sat out more dances than your sister, whose ankle was lately injured. You say you have come to London to cheer your spirits – I believe it is time you do so.”
Mrs. Gardiner patted Elizabeth’s cheek, and then laid a hand on her shoulder.
“I love you and Jane dearly, and I see much of myself in you – if I may be so bold, I have been honored to be a motherly influence on you since you were girls. Allow me to influence you now, as I have done before I ever had children of my own. There will be truly great sorrows for you in this life; it is inevitable. Save your anger and distress for those times that unhappiness cannot be prevented. This is not one of those times, Lizzy. Let your stay in London be an event you can look back on with only joy, when you are someday wearing widow’s colors. ”
Tears welled in Elizabeth’s eyes and she nodded her head. “I shall try, but after such provocation, I had to stand up for what is right!”
“Well, and you have said your peace; now it is better to leave it. But, oh! Mr. W is coming this way! Smile, Lizzy.”
Elizabeth was already doing so, and she and her aunt both stood as Mrs. Hatchard and her son came to join them.
Elizabeth introduced her aunt, and Mrs. Hatchard was on the point of presenting her son, finally revealing his name to Elizabeth, when Mrs. Jennings rushed over to them with a wild, frenzied look about her.
“Willoughby! Why, Willoughby, you absolute blackguard! I saw it in the paper this morning, and after you made love to Marianne for months in front of the whole county! How dare you address my friends – for they are the Dashwoods’ own kin.
Miss Lizzy is likely to tear you to strips for how you have treated her cousin! ”
A great many people had turned to observe her admonishments, and the four people who stood before her all had wildly disparate reactions.
Elizabeth looked at her sister’s admirer in dismay. “You are Mr. Willoughby?”
He gaped right back at her. “You are Marianne’s cousin?”
His mother frowned. “John, what have you done?”
Mrs. Gardiner only raised her hands to her face and softly groaned, and then Elizabeth followed her aunt’s gaze, out across the crowd of dancers, to Jane, who was watching the scene with a look of abject horror.