Chapter One #3
"My dear child," replied Mrs Bennet, "how should I know?" She switched to a more placating tone. "I am certain you will get an invitation when you are a little older."
There was a sound very like stamping feet.
Kitty sighed. "I should have liked to go."
"It is unwise to be covetous, sister," said Mary. "Envy is not a productive emotion."
"I am not envious," said Lydia with a huff. "I merely think Lady Hortensia has exercised very poor judgement."
Elizabeth pushed open the door to find her whole family gathered together.
"There you are at last!" cried Mrs Bennet. "Upon my word, I thought you intended to remain with the Carters until Christmas. Come here directly. I have something to show you."
Two large cream envelopes lay upon the table before her. Their seals were broken, the paper so thick and finely made that Elizabeth could not imagine who in their acquaintance would send them.
"They are for you and Jane," said Mrs Bennet, fluttering her fan so energetically that Elizabeth feared it might take flight. "Just imagine! They arrived together by special messenger."
Lydia looked from one envelope to the other with unconcealed dissatisfaction. "But I should enjoy a house party much more than either of them!"
"I have no doubt you would enjoy it far too much," said Mr Bennet from behind his book.
Elizabeth picked up one of the pieces of parchment. "Let me see, Lydia," she said with a smile. "You may discover you have escaped something perfectly dreadful."
She turned it over in her hands. The seal was deeply impressed with an elaborate crest she did not recognise and the direction was written in a bold, elegant hand unlike any she had seen before.
"'Lady Hortensia Settle,'" she read aloud.
Jane frowned as she examined the second invitation. "Mine is the same. But I do not think I know the lady."
"No," said Mr Bennet, lowering his book at last. "I should not expect that you would."
Elizabeth looked across at him. "You know her, Papa?"
"I did have that privilege."
"Who is she?" asked Jane.
Mr Bennet leaned back in his chair, pulled his pipe out of his pocket and began filling it from a small enamelled tobacco tin.
"Lady Hortensia Settle was one of the most unusual—and certainly one of the most intriguing—ladies of my acquaintance.
I was invited to one of her house parties a few years before I married your mother. "
Mrs Bennet gave a little sigh. "Oh, I remember it very well.
Everybody spoke of nothing else for weeks beforehand.
I begged my mother to contrive an invitation for me, but I was full young and she knew nobody of sufficient consequence.
It was said there was nothing else like it anywhere in England. "
"There was not," agreed Mr Bennet. "Every spring Lady Hortensia invited ten ladies and ten gentlemen to Chaffley Hall for what she called the Ladies vs.
Gentlemen Challenge. The guests were divided into two teams and spent the week competing in all manner of contests.
Some required wit, others skill and some, as I recall, a great willingness to make a fool of oneself before strangers. "
Lydia sat upright and clapped her hands together, her jealousy momentarily forgotten. "That sounds excellent."
"The winning side claimed the Challenge Cup. The ladies won it in my year, and deservedly so," he said with a wink at Elizabeth.
"It was not merely the games," said Mrs Bennet eagerly. "People said the parties were the finest in England. There were concerts, picnics, masquerades and all of the most eligible ladies and gentlemen of the season." She sniffed. "I am still not sure how your father contrived an invitation."
Mr Bennet shook his head affectionately at his wife.
"My father had been at Cambridge with Lady Hortensia’s husband, Sir Malcolm.
But I admit to feeling rather below my company among the titled gentlemen and heiresses that made up the party.
However, the lady herself was very kind.
Indeed I have never forgotten our conversations. "
Mrs Bennet fingered the corner of one creamy invitation wistfully. "I should have dearly loved to attend one."
"So would half the ton. Lady Hortensia had an extraordinary gift for bringing people together. A remarkable number of engagements began at Chaffley Hall."
Elizabeth glanced down at the invitation again. "If everyone wished to go, why have we never heard of it?"
Mr Bennet's smile faded a little. "Because the year after I attended, Sir Malcolm died.
Lady Hortensia cancelled the following Challenge and never announced another.
For a time society expected the invitations to return.
They never did. Before long the Ladies vs Gentlemen Challenge became a pleasant memory. "
Elizabeth unfolded the thick sheet of paper. "'Lady Hortensia Settle requests the pleasure of Miss Elizabeth Bennet's company at Chaffley Hall,'" she read, before pausing at the next line. "'...for the revival of the Ladies vs Gentlemen Challenge.'"
Mr Bennet looked at the invitation for a long moment. "Well," he said quietly, "I never thought I should see those words again."