Chapter 7 #2
Finally the dinner bell rang and Darcy quickly moved between his mother and sister, noticing far too late that he needed not worry about Miss Elizabeth, for she grabbed her sister’s arm and refused to budge until Mr Bingley offered his arm to both of them.
Bingley hesitated a little and looked at Lady Anne apologetically.
She smiled at him and nodded. He moved first with one Bennet sister each on his arm while Miss Bingley had to be escorted by Mr Hurst who seemed sober enough to offer his arm to both his wife and sister in law, with Darcy bringing up the rear with the Darcy ladies.
The dinner had begun in a manner sufficiently awkward, yet a greater inconvenience was soon revealed.
Miss Bingley, whose partiality for form and display would not permit even a small family party to dine anywhere but in the formal dining room, had insisted upon the use of a table designed to accommodate at least thirty guests.
The consequence of this arrangement was particularly unfortunate.
As they approached the table, Jane and Elizabeth perceived that their names had been carefully inscribed upon place cards and assigned positions near the centre of the vast expanse of mahogany.
This distinction, wholly unnecessary in a party so small that every person present could scarcely fail to know his own seat, had the additional effect of dividing the company into two separate groups.
The sisters looked at one another and were obliged to exert all their composure to suppress their amusement.
Such devotion to elegance at the expense of sense was not merely ridiculous; but totally absurd beyond anything they could reasonably have expected, even at Netherfield.
Surrounded by a multitude of empty chairs, the two sisters appeared almost abandoned amidst the vast expanse of polished mahogany.
But as soon as the company found their seats, Lady Anne asked loudly, “Miss Bennet, Miss Elizabeth why are you sitting at the middle of this ridiculously large table all by yourselves?”
Elizabeth looked at her and simply smiled. Darcy noticed that the two sisters were a little embarrassed, but it certainly had not been them who organised the seating.
“Miss Bingley?” Lady Anne turned to her hostess expectantly.
The woman paled but did not respond. Instead she signalled to the butler to start the dinner service.
“Well,” Lady Anne said irritated, “this is certainly not my house and I should not reorganise the seating plan, but I have never seen such a disregard for common courtesy as this, and I simply refuse to allow these two lovely young ladies, and our neighbours I might add, the embarrassment of eating alone in a room full of people.” Lady Anne then stood up and picking up her own plate and cutlery moved to sit at the middle joining the Bennet sisters, “you too, Georgiana, come.”
“Certainly, Mama,” Georgiana said and got up to do her mother’s bidding with alacrity.
Miss Bingley was crimson with anger and embarrassment. In her unequivocal dislike of the Bennets sisters she did not foresee that her own rudeness would be met with such a blunt challenge and instead turned against herself.
Darcy, after a short consideration also excused himself and moved to sit next to his sister and immediately opposite Miss Elizabeth, leaving Miss Bingley completely alone at one end of the long table.
Bingley, who also sat in complete consternation when he noticed Caroline’s faux pas, watched the Darcys joining them, and then said loudly, “Yes, this has been an oversight. Hurst, Louisa, let us join our guests.” He then got up, picked up his plate and cutlery and sat next to Jane.
His sister and brother in law sat a little further down the table closing the gap between the now completely abandoned Miss Bingley and the group in the middle.
Elizabeth laughed, “This is like a parlour game, only performed in the dining room instead.”
Bingley chuckled and soon the group in the middle was talking animatedly as if no awkwardness had initiated this chaotic change on the seating plan.
Elizabeth ignored Darcy for the entire duration of the meal and laughed with his mother and the others as if he had not been present. They seemed to be forming a connection from which he had been excluded.
His mother was only nineteen years his senior and until now had been his most staunch supporter and confidant. He realised sadly that he was losing her friendship in favour of the local, penniless gentlewoman.
He felt jealous and intimidated by the diminutive woman, the sprite who managed to discompose him with one look or a raise of her brows, as no other had ever done before.
He felt lost and confused but mostly hurt, since he was the one who had ended up isolated even though he was surrounded by people.
He looked down the table at Miss Bingley and noticed her sour look, and his insides twisted when it dawned on him that he had become very much like that woman: an arrogant simpleton who measured people by their worth established by the Ton.
Things had to change... and fast!
The dessert course had hardly finished when all the ladies had to scramble to their feet and follow Miss Bingley when she abruptly stood up and moved to the drawing room, effectively putting an end to the most embarrassing dinner of her life.