Chapter 15 Dancing
"You have it backwards, Mary. It is clap, clap and then turn left," fourteen-year-old Lizzy Bennet said, breaking off the lively tune she had been playing.
"I am sorry," Mary said. "This dance just seems more complex than the others we have learned. I keep getting the turns confused."
"It is complex, and that is why I need to practice," Jane said. "I need to run through this until I am perfect, so I need you to either be my partner or to play for us and let Lizzy do the dancing."
"Would you be so kind as to show Mary that sequence again, Jane? Perhaps starting from the spin? You know we are supposed to show our younger sisters the steps, since you and I are the only ones who had the benefit of working with the dance master."
"I suppose so," Jane said, making a slight show of reluctance. All the same, Lizzy knew her older sister liked to be appealed to as the expert, and this was no exception. She would help Mary now.
With deliberate grace, Jane demonstrated the troublesome sequence twice over, while Mary watched intently. Then Mary ran through it once before they returned to their places across from one another. They looked to Lizzy at the pianoforte.
"From just before the spin?" she asked. They nodded, and Lizzy began to play.
This run-through went far better than the previous one had.
Lizzy could see the added confidence in Mary's steps just from having reviewed them once again.
She and Jane easily continued dancing past that sequence and through another round of steps to the end of the dance.
All three of them were surprised by the sound of applause as Lizzy played the final flourish.
They turned to find Kitty and Lydia at the door.
"Miss Parks gave us a break from our lessons, and we heard you playing when we came downstairs. We just had to watch," Lydia explained to her sisters.
"It is such a lively dance. Will you teach me the steps? Please?" Kitty begged.
"Kitty and I have both learned that tune in our pianoforte lessons," Lydia added. "I will play for you so you can teach her while Jane and Mary continue their practice, if you will run through it with me afterwards. Then Kitty and I can practice on our own later."
"What do you think, Jane?" Lizzy asked. "You did say you wanted to practice it until you are perfect. It always helps to have a second couple with which to interact."
"That is true," Jane agreed. "I suppose we can break it up into sections again like the dance master did for us, so Kitty and Lydia can both see it and Mary can review the steps again.
After that we can do two full runs with you dancing while Lydia and Kitty each take their turn to play it through. "
Together Jane and Lizzy went through each segment of the new dance for their sisters, doing their best to remember everything the dancing master had taught them.
Since shortly after Jane had officially come out, their father had hired a London dancing master to come to Meryton one day each month to keep the girls up on the latest dances.
For more than two students, the man would double his fees, so the two older girls had been charged with passing on what they learned to their younger sisters, with Mary's training being the highest priority. The system worked out well overall.
Although they did not participate in the teaching sessions with the dance master, Miss Stanton and Miss Parks took turns chaperoning the all-day event so that each also had a chance to learn the new dances by watching the lesson.
They practiced with their charges later, after the girls had all learned the steps from each other.
Lizzy often chose days like this one, when Miss Stanton had her half-day off, to begin teaching Mary whatever new dances they had learned during the latest session with the master.
Jane usually helped since it gave her more practice as well.
Jane had softened towards her younger sisters over time, particularly once she discovered that being the eldest Bennet girl did not count for much in local society.
Although she was now sixteen and very beautiful, she was still the youngest of the girls in the area who were officially out.
And while the Bennets were among the leading families in Meryton, some of their neighbors, or more to the point their husband-hunting daughters, outranked them.
Jane quickly learned she would need both the support and the success of her younger sisters to lift her own reputation and make her more likely to succeed in finding a good match.
Spending a little time teaching her sisters to dance well was a small price to pay if it kept them in good humor so they would help her practice as well.
Over time, what had started as a self-serving association softened into true affection, shallow though it might sometimes appear.
She still sometimes needed to be cajoled into participating, but when she did, times like these strengthened the tender bonds between the sisters.
As Madeline had predicted, Jane was finding the society in Meryton limited from the standpoint of appropriate marriage opportunities.
Miss Stanton had taught Jane to aim high.
Unfortunately, most of those higher-ranking girls who were Jane's competition did not have brothers old enough or well-settled enough to make good marriage prospects.
Most of the men who were single and of the right age were either not available or not eligible by the standards she had been taught.
The discovery of her low importance in Meryton society prompted Jane to mend fences with her London aunt.
Previously limited to thank you notes and terse responses to her aunt's occasional letters, Jane's correspondence with the Gardiner household became a regular monthly missive.
After the first few tentative exchanges, Jane learned there was more to like about her aunt than she had previously suspected.
As it continued, she began to understand the constant affection Lizzy and the others expressed for Madeline Gardiner, even as she dropped hints to her sisters that a visit to London would no longer be unwelcome in hopes they would pass the message on.
To Jane's surprise, Miss Stanton discouraged such plans very firmly.
The governess reminded all three of her charges that London Society expected far more of young ladies than Meryton ever could.
Jane would need to polish her already graceful and demure manners, improve her dancing and conversation and build upon her accomplishments before she ventured into such deep waters.
Madeline saw no reason to disagree with Miss Stanton and suggested Jane wait another year or two and do the work her governess suggested before coming to London for part of the Season.
Fortified by the promise of London Society to come, Jane threw herself into her lessons with determination.
One thing Jane had not been able to fully overcome was her tendency to pick up on gossip like her mother did.
She kept it tightly under control around others, but she still could not resist sharing the occasional juicy tidbit with her sisters.
As they finished the first run-through of the dance steps together, she announced, "Mrs. Ansel told Mama that Charlotte Lucas turned down a proposal of marriage from Eben Tarleton.
Apparently, Charlotte also slapped him for being too fresh when he made his proposal.
Mrs. Ansel saw it happen just this morning in the village. "
While information about the proposal and slap was news to Lizzy, it was not as much of a surprise as her sister might have hoped.
Lizzy and her friend continued to take weekly walks together as often as possible, and they had already discussed the unwanted attention Miss Lucas had been receiving from Mr. Tarleton.
"I have tried every polite way I can think of to convince him that I am not interested in knowing him any better," Miss Lucas had said on their most recent walk. "It would be unladylike to simply tell him to go away, although I will do so if I must."
"You are not turning him down because you are carrying a torch for Captain Fitzwilliam, are you? You know how dedicated he is to his career. There is no chance of marriage to him any time soon," Lizzy said, looking at her friend searchingly.
Miss Lucas blushed slightly as she stoutly replied.
"I know that. I am not 'carrying a torch' for anyone.
I do not want Mr. Tarleton's attention because I do not like his company.
He is pushy, rude and does not respect me in the least. I am not even certain his intentions are honorable enough to include marriage.
I want him to stay away from me, and I will not be shy about saying so if he pushes me too far. "
"He is an eligible match, at least for around here," Lizzy said lightly.
"He is single and will one day inherit the dilapidated house and tiny property his father owns, assuming they are not taken up for debt first. That does not make him eligible even if he was a more pleasant person."
"If he does propose, what will your mother say if you turn him down? I know my mother would fall over in the vapors if one of her daughters turned down a proposal, no matter how unpleasant the suitor."
"I hope he does not come to the point, but if I must turn him down, I think my mother will be reasonable should she find out.
I would tell my father, of course. He supported me when I turned down Tommy Hoskins, although I noticed he did not mention it to my mother even after he had words with Mr. Hoskins. " Miss Lucas shook her head slightly.
"Yes, if I am ever in a like situation, I hope it never reaches Mama's ears either. At least Papa will always support me."
It seemed that this time Lizzy's friend would not be able to hide the unwanted proposal from her mother. Mrs. Ansel had probably already spread the word far and wide.
"Charlotte can do much better than Mr. Tarleton and she does not like him," she said to Jane as Lydia headed for the pianoforte to play for their first two-couple run with music. "She never led him on and was hoping he would find someone else to importune."
"I suppose I can understand that," Jane admitted.
"I had to ask Papa to warn him away from me.
He made several inappropriate comments at the dance last Christmas that made me most uncomfortable.
You remember that Captain Fitzwilliam was here at the time, and I think he went with Papa to speak to Mr. Tarleton and his father, although they never said anything about what happened afterwards.
Since then, Mr. Tarleton has stuck to only the most basic of civilities and generally stays far away from me. "
Lizzy could imagine exactly what Richard had said to Mr. Tarleton.
He would probably say something even worse if he knew the man was bothering Miss Lucas.
Although her friend denied it, Lizzy knew she still considered the one-time "Sir Richard" as one of the best of men.
The dance Jane mentioned had happened during one of his rare visits to Longbourn and he had gone as a guest of their family.
Although he was in Portugal now, Richard had been back in England on leave before Christmas and spent a few days with the Bennets before heading on to his family estate.
Charlotte had been floating on air after he danced with her that night.
Of course, he had also danced with Jane and several other young ladies, so he gave Lizzy's friend no improper attention.
In fact, he had been the talk of the village girls for the following few weeks because he had been cheerful, kind and obliging in true Sir Richard fashion in addition to wearing that fancy red coat.
Above all, he had danced every dance, a true blessing to the young ladies, since male dance partners were in such short supply.
The talk had only died down after Jane made it known that he was not only a second son, he had few expectations and was not in good favor with his father.
The supposed feud between Viscount Rand, Richard and Lizzy's father had been slowly softened over time.
Viscount Rand used the excuse of checking on Mary to explain his brief stops in Meryton, although he had yet to spend another night under Longbourn's roof.
Richard wrote openly to Bennet but sent only the briefest of messages directly to his father.
His real correspondence when through the hands of Edward Gardiner, with whom the Viscount was doing business in truth as well as for purposes of their ruse.
Lizzy never would have corresponded directly with Richard, of course.
Her father quietly read her the portions of his godson's letters that he thought were fit for her to hear.
Lizzy then passed on that information to Charlotte's eager ears during their walks together.
She might tease and warn her friend not to wait for Captain Fitzwilliam to return, but Lizzy secretly hoped the two would make a match one day.
"I think we must not blame Charlotte for her actions, then," Lizzy told Jane. "Before I judge, I will wait to see what she has to tell me of events. After all, she is our friend and I would not wish to harm her. Are we ready to continue our practice?"
"If Lydia is ready to play," Jane said.
"I was just waiting for you two to stop gossiping," Lydia teased as she sat at the pianoforte bench. "I hope you are done now, or I will never get my turn to practice the steps."
Lizzy turned to her partner as Jane took up her place opposite Mary. "Thank you for honoring me with this dance, Miss Kitty," she laughed as she offered her sister an elegant bow. Lydia struck up the tune and the dance began.