Chapter Thirty #3
Lady Sophia made a great show of giving her begrudging consent, and a ripple of excitement surged through the room as the Gouldings set the servants about preparing for another game of phantoms.
Elizabeth soaked in the feeling of so much joy, and went to clasp Mr. Darcy’s hand, only to see him leading Mr. Bennet from the room. He looked back over his shoulder and gave Elizabeth a significant look, and she knew that he meant to ask for her father’s permission to marry her.
Georgiana pressed her hand instead. “You look as if you could burst from happiness! Even I have never been so happy, Lizzy! Your family is so wonderful – I am quite envious.”
“You need not be, for they shall be your family, too, dearest. But I know just what you mean. I am quite in awe at joining your family, for I adore them all so very well. I shall be gaining a sister, two cousins – four, counting Lady Blanche and Mr. Bingley – and Lady Matlock wishes me to call her aunt already.”
“And I shall be gaining so many sisters! But I cannot wait for Pemberley to be so noisy!”
“Your brother will not mind it?”
Lady Rebecca had come to sit on the other side of Elizabeth, and she smiled wryly.
“Lizzy, when are you going to learn that Darcy would bear anything for you? Whatever pleases you delights him, including our alarming similar relations. He is vastly contented, I daresay, and so you must accept it. We shall be rowdy and ridiculous together for many years to come.”
***
The Bennets and Gardiners dined with the party at Richmond Cove that evening, and the conversation was the liveliest it had ever been. Every couple present was either betrothed or courting, signifying the most successful year yet for the Gouldings, who reveled in their many triumphs.
Lady Matlock was as animated as her relations had ever seen her, and Elizabeth kept apace with the spirited banter over supper.
They made a great spectacle of besting one another in telling the tale of Lady Catherine’s infamous visit, and Mrs. Bennet was duly scandalized.
She and Mr. Bennet in turn delighted the countess when she asked for an account of Lady Catherine’s vicar.
Elizabeth was gratified to hear her mother at last admit that it was a very fine thing she did not accept Mr. Collins, for Lady Rebecca took inordinate pleasure in speculating to Elizabeth about what that might have been like.
After their meal, a convenient rain once again rattled the windows of the large Tudor dining hall, and Elizabeth whispered to Mr. Darcy that perhaps Lady Sophia did have some influence over the weather.
The small but dignified dowager reprised her ominous role, explaining the rules of the game more than once when Lydia and Kitty whispered through the first telling.
The Gouldings generously agreed to the same arrangement of a treasure chest to be split amongst the winners; it would be a larger prize on this occasion, with so many extra players, and a fourth phantom to be discovered.
Elizabeth was sorry but not surprised when only one coin was placed in her hand, and she was an innocent at the mercy of the phantoms. She spent the game happily searching for talismans of protection with Mr. Darcy, and gleefully hiding with whatever companions were about whenever she caught sight of the cloaked phantoms.
She easily discerned that Georgiana was amongst their number, but resolved not to denounce her at any of the eliminations, even when her own name was spoken after a few rounds.
The countess had already been eliminated, and Elizabeth accepted her own ill fate to join her new aunt in the parlor for champagne and cake, and more lively conversation.
Mr. Darcy made it to the final elimination, and won the game with Lydia and Mrs. Bennet. The latter had evaded elimination purely by being profoundly wrong about the identities of the phantoms in every round, but it was Lydia who sorted it all out and claimed victory for the innocent team.
“But it is far too obvious that it should be Miss Darcy, Miss Dashwood, and Mr. Tilney. They were not at Richmond Cove for the first game, and to be made phantoms was their consolation. I knew it when Lady Matlock was caught out.”
“Shady Pines, Mamma! You have made it far too easy on them,” Lady Dorothea cried.
Lady Sophia laughed and shrugged her shoulders, then resumed her mysterious persona as she awarded the winners their prize chest. Lydia squealed with glee at her share, which was nearly fourteen pounds, and Mr. Darcy very gallantly gave his to Kitty, who had been one of the phantoms’ earliest victims.
Elizabeth took Mr. Darcy by both hands as the game ended and their party broke into smaller groups of conversation. “That was very kind of you, my darling. But I am glad you won this time, as you might have done this first time.”
“The first time, it seemed right that you should have your own way, for you were quite marvelous. But we ought to know by now that between us, things are always better the second time, Mrs. Darcy.”