Chapter 10
On the evening they had arranged to join the Bingleys at the theatre, Darcy had completed his own preparations early and sat down in the drawing room, waiting for Georgiana to come down.
But when a lady’s tread was heard on the stair, it did not belong to his sister, but to Mrs Annesley. “Mr Darcy,” that good woman said with a small bow. “Might I ask you to come upstairs? Miss Darcy feels uneasy about the suitability of her dress.”
Darcy stood, following her automatically.
“Of course, Mrs Annesley, but I cannot think it necessary,” he told her.
“I have perfect faith in your taste and judgement. Certainly, my understanding of women’s fashion cannot compare to yours.
If you have judged Georgiana’s gown appropriate for an evening at the theatre, I cannot imagine that I will think otherwise. ”
“You honour me with your confidence, sir,” Mrs Annesley replied. “Miss Darcy’s gown is perfectly suitable, of course. I have already reviewed it and assured her of my approval. If you will allow me to say so, it is not a companion’s judgement that is wanted now, but an older brother’s reassurance.”
“I understand you perfectly,” Darcy told her, and knocked at his sister’s door.
“Come in,” Georgiana said from the other side of the door, her voice wobbling a little.
“I shall be just outside if I am needed,” Mrs Annesley told him quietly. Darcy nodded and shut the door behind him.
As Mrs Annesley had said, no one could have disapproved of Georgiana’s dress.
It was modestly cut in the present fashion for long sleeves, at once suitable for an innocent girl and for the elegant young woman that she increasingly was.
A line of delicate lace at the hem and sleeves added a touch of prettiness, while her only ornament was a sapphire necklace that had been their mother’s.
Darcy crossed the room and took his sister’s hands. “You look lovely, Georgiana,” he told her. “I am a proud brother indeed, to have so dear a sister.”
“Do I truly look well?” Georgiana asked anxiously. It was only too clear that she was not looking for a compliment, but for reassurance.
“Indeed you do,” Darcy told her. “Most lovely and most suitable. Your dress is perfectly appropriate for our evening, and it suits you admirably. No one could think anything wanting.”
“I hope you are right,” Georgiana said anxiously. “Oh, I do not mean to question your judgement, of course! But I know that Miss Bingley and Mrs Hurst shall dress very differently.”
“I imagine so,” Darcy said dryly. “Mrs Hurst is a married woman. I should be most distressed if my sixteen-year-old sister dressed in the same manner as a wife nearly twice her age. As for Miss Bingley, her dress communicates sophistication and a dedication to fashion. Both are perfectly suitable qualities, but I confess I prefer simple elegance.”
At that, Georgiana smiled at last. “So do I,” she admitted. “Thank you for indulging me, Fitzwilliam. I know I am being very silly. Mrs Annesley would not steer me wrongly. I am only so very frightened!”
At that, Darcy was forced to conceal a frown. They would soon be in danger of being late, but while he disliked committing such a discourtesy, it was nothing compared to assuring himself that all was well with Georgiana.
Accordingly, he led her to her bed, where they sat down side by side. “Frightened to go out in company?” Darcy inquired gently.
She nodded, looking rather ashamed.
“You need not go tonight, if you do not like,” Darcy said calmly. “I hope you will. I should enjoy your company, and I believe you would enjoy the theatre. But if you do not feel equal to it, there is no need for you to force yourself.”
“But I should be dreadfully ashamed to have them all know me too cowardly to go,” Georgiana whispered. “And I should not wish to insult Mr Bingley by staying away when I had said I would attend. He is such a good friend to you!”
“Bingley is a very kind man,” Darcy told her. “He would understand if he knew why you stayed at home, but all the same, I would not tell him. I would simply explain that you were indisposed, and I thought it better for your health to stay at home.”
“Oh,” Georgiana said, sounding surprised and relieved. “It could really be so simple?”
“Yes, indeed,” Darcy said. “A most convenient excuse.”
“I shall have to remember that,” Georgiana said with a weak chuckle.
Darcy nodded. “Good. And when you are ready, you will tell me whether you wish to join the party tonight.”
Georgiana smiled, if a little shyly. She thought for only a few moments before replying, “I think I would like to. If you still wish me to join you, after how silly I have been.”
“I do, very much,” Darcy told her. With that, Georgiana stood up and crossed to her dressing mirror. She gave a last check of her appearance, rightly saw that all was neat and pretty, and signalled her readiness to go.
The carriage was now waiting below, and had been for some minutes. With no further delay, they set out for Grosvenor Square.
Thanks to the excellence of his driver and the horses, they arrived only a little later than the appointed time, and well before they would have been in danger of missing the curtain.
Georgiana shrank a little when they were shown in, but she bowed and greeted the others in perfect form, and when Bingley took care to speak to her with as much kind friendliness as any brother could have wished to see, she rallied and even began to smile and talk more freely.
To Darcy’s private amusement, Miss Bingley’s dress was exactly as Georgiana had suggested, and he had done his best to describe with delicacy — rather over-loud and over-sophisticated.
They would have to ensure that no one sat behind Miss Bingley in the box, for the ostrich feather in her hair would have obscured much of their view of the stage, and her gown could have been accused of anything rather than elegant simplicity.
Knowing Caroline Bingley, it must have been the latest fashion: Darcy only knew that he was very glad Georgiana did not ask to wear her gowns cut so low.
Though not yet in danger of being late, they did not have enough time to linger, and in the end, they were shown to the box Bingley had taken only a quarter of an hour before the curtain was to rise.
The arrangements were predictable. Mr Hurst at once took himself off to the farthest corner of the box, where he might most easily sleep through the performance without disturbance; his wife took her place beside him with a rather frozen expression.
Bingley kindly urged Georgiana to the best seat in the front and centre of the box, with Mrs Annesley beside her.
He obviously intended to seat his sister next in the line, but Miss Bingley forestalled him.
“No, no, Charles. You must sit there, with Mr Darcy on her other side. Then I shall sit on the other side of Mr Darcy. Surely our guests must have the best seats, do not you think?”
Though disliking her transparent manoeuvring, Darcy thought better of protesting.
He thought it best that he should be seated next to Georgiana, to help her in the event of another attack of shyness.
The rest of it was well enough. Likely he would have to suffer Miss Bingley talking through the performance, and attempting to flirt as well, but if Georgiana enjoyed the show, he would count her enjoyment more than worth his pains.
“Is it not exciting, Miss Darcy?” Miss Bingley murmured, touching his shoulder delicately as she leaned towards Georgiana.
Darcy felt a pang of guilt, thinking that he had judged her too harshly, until she went on to say, “Look at all of society spread out before us! There is Lady Dalrymple, who has a better house than half of London and dresses more finely than any woman I know, though she is grown so old, and there is Captain Hartley, who is being talked of for a title. How much sooner one tires of anything than the theatre!”
To Darcy’s quiet satisfaction, Georgiana seemed to take this exactly as he would have wished: with sober judgement, private amusement, and a civil answer.
“It was so kind of you and your brother to invite us, Miss Bingley,” Georgiana murmured, tactfully not mentioning what she thought of suggesting that one ought to ignore the performers and watch the audience.
“I am most excited. This is only the second time I have been to the theatre.”
“You shall like it prodigiously, I am sure,” Miss Bingley assured her. “When we walk about in the intermission, everyone shall see that it is Spanish lace on your gown, and then of course your jewels will be the envy of every young lady we meet!”
Georgiana shook her head modestly. “Miss Bingley, I confess I am not equal to talking to many people. And I should dread having everyone looking at me.”
“Remember, Miss Bingley, that my sister is not yet out,” Darcy put in. “You must excuse us. It would be best not to introduce Georgiana too widely, to avoid confusing the point.”
“Of course,” Miss Bingley said, a little chastened.
“Do not worry for me, Miss Bingley,” Georgiana reassured her eagerly. “The play is the real thing, do not you think? I shall be very well satisfied to see, without being seen.”
“Ah — I am glad of it,” Miss Bingley replied.
A wave of murmurs then swept through the theatre, followed by an expectant hush. The curtain was opening, and the audience looked eagerly at the stage.
Darcy had seen The Rivals before, but Sheridan, at least when performed well, was and remained a delight.
This revival was good, with the actors skilful in their parts, the romance genuinely affecting, and the comedy not too broad.
Then there was the added joy of watching Georgiana, who was almost in tears of laughter at Mrs Malaprop’s comic speeches and the cleverness of Captain Jack Absolute.
Watching her, Darcy was glad several times over.
Glad he had accepted Bingley’s invitation, and glad that Georgiana had found the courage to come after all.
Glad that Georgiana, who for months after Ramsgate had laboured under a burden of sadness and shame, was at last recovering her spirits and finding her joy.
Glad, simply and finally, that Georgiana was his sister, and that he had the privilege of raising her.
By the time the intermission came, Georgiana had lost much of her shyness in sheer enjoyment. Nor did she need to brave many introductions, for Miss Bingley seemed to prefer staying close to Darcy to seeking out others of her acquaintance.
All the same, Darcy was weary of the constant parrying and manoeuvring a conversation with Miss Bingley required by the time they returned to the box. It was Bingley who, in all innocence, put the spark to the tinder.
“I say, what a pleasant evening this is!” Bingley exclaimed. “I only wish we might have had a larger party, for there is certainly room in the box. If the Miss Bennets happened to be in town, for example, it would have been capital to invite them along.”
“Oh, but a large party is so much less elegant, do not you think, Louisa?” Miss Bingley quickly put to her sister with an edged smile.
“Certainly, Caroline. I think we do very well just as we are.”
“The Miss Bennets?” Georgiana inquired innocently. “Is that the Miss Elizabeth Bennet whom you wrote of, Fitz?”
“You wrote of Eliza Bennet?” Miss Bingley echoed weakly.
Though the shock looked to have been severe, she recovered quickly.
“Ah, of course. You would naturally have written of Miss Eliza’s odd behaviour, walking across the muddy countryside.
And then to constantly debate with you, Mr Darcy, as though her opinions were anything to yours! ”
Georgiana tilted her head curiously to the side. “You meant me to take Miss Elizabeth as a cautionary example, brother? That is not quite what I understood.”
“She is dreadfully pert,” Miss Bingley declared before Darcy could say anything. “I believe a country reputation as a pretty girl and a wit quite went to her head. Certainly not anyone you would wish Miss Darcy to emulate. Do you not think, Mr Darcy?”
An image of Elizabeth Bennet came to Darcy then — smiling at him with her sparkling dark eyes so full of intelligence, and that hint of challenge in her expression.
Utterly free of pretense, agreeing or disagreeing according to what she truly thought, not what might recommend her to an eligible man.
Listening to him soberly and honourably, even when he presented information that she must have found both shocking and unpleasant.
Elizabeth Bennet was lovely in both spirit and form.
Darcy was too much angry to be cautious.
“I am afraid I must disagree with you,” he said coolly.
“I have rarely known a woman of better judgement or more engaging manners than Miss Elizabeth Bennet. Nor one who wore a deserved reputation for beauty so lightly. I should consider her a most desirable friend for my sister.”
His forceful confession stunned the entire party into speechlessness, except for Mr Hurst, who had already fallen back asleep and let out a loud snore into the silence.
Bingley looked at him in astonishment and Mrs Hurst in horror, while Caroline Bingley was gaping like a fish.
Darcy felt the words resonate all through him, something he had not entirely known before he had said it, and which he could not have disowned at any cost.
At that very moment, the curtains opened again, and there was no opportunity to say anything more. Darcy could not regret it.
On a sudden thought, he turned to look at Georgiana. He had half expected her to be looking studiously at the stage, uncomfortable with the moment of dissent, and pretending she had not seen it.
To his surprise, he found it was not so. Georgiana was looking at him steadily, curiously, with a knowing expression that surely belonged to an intelligent young woman rather than an ignorant girl.
Then she smiled a little, as though she had learned something and was pleased by it. Darcy looked away, hiding the embarrassed flush of his cheeks in the dark of the theatre.