Chapter Six
Elizabeth broke into a smile as she saw Mr. Darcy enter the ballroom with his cousin and sister.
She might have even rushed through the greetings she gave the other guests who milled past the receiving line.
She certainly did not consider why she was so eager to introduce the newcomers to her uncle, who greeted them with the same hospitality he bestowed on all his guests.
“So, you are the family that my Lizzy has set up in Sandpiper Cottage, eh?” There was something almost imperceptibly wistful about Sir Edward Gardiner’s face as he mentioned the place where his late wife had spent her final months.
“It is the most charming house I ever beheld, and the sea views are breathtaking! It is wonderfully kind of you to let it to us.” Miss Darcy bounced up on her toes as if unable to contain her excitement.
Elizabeth liked her very well already. She could recall her own awkwardness at that age—perhaps about seventeen—when she had far more feelings and opinions than she could give voice to, when she was simply excited to be included in society.
Miss Darcy lacked the confidence that all the Bennet sisters possessed, in their own ways, but she made up for it with such earnest enthusiasm that Elizabeth was keen to know her better.
Mr. Darcy nodded his agreement, his response civil but minimal.
He could not have been more different from his sister, nor from his cousin, who shook hands warmly with Sir Edward before moving on to recommend himself to Charlotte and the affable Sir Thomas.
Mr. Darcy only searched the room, his eyes moving as the rest of him stood rigid.
Elizabeth detected the moment he found Miss de Bourgh in the growing crowd of guests.
The lady’s affected laughter carried across the gleaming marble floor as she clung to Sir Sidney Parker’s arm, gazing up at him as if they were the only two people in the room. Mr. Darcy’s shoulders sagged.
Elizabeth and Miss Darcy shared a look of silent commiseration before the latter pressed her lips together and drew in a long, slow breath.
Elizabeth recognized this frustration and forbearance; she wished to say something encouraging to the girl, but they were forestalled by the approach of Lady Catherine de Bourgh.
“Fitzwilliam!” The great lady extended her walking stick in an imperious pose.
It seemed an entirely extraneous object, in Elizabeth’s estimation—Lady Catherine was far from infirm.
As Elizabeth indulged in imagining the dowager brandishing the walking stick as a weapon and beating Sir Sidney about the head with it, both Mr. Darcy and his cousin turned to regard their aunt with trepidation.
“Fitzwilliam, you must oblige me! Anne is determined to dine with those upstart Parkers, and without you I might not hear two words of sense together all evening.”
Two of those upstart Parkers—Charlotte and Sir Thomas—were certainly near enough to hear her, though they did not betray any offense at her derision, which seemed all for Sir Sidney.
Elizabeth had not been especially impressed by that gentleman, but after such an insult to Charlotte and her amiable husband, Lady’s Catherine’s dislike of the middle Parker brother began to seem a sterling commendation in his favor.
Mr. Darcy’s brow furrowed at his aunt’s rudeness; his gaze seemed to Elizabeth to betray as much mortification as disapproval, but he did not give voice to either.
He only nodded curtly. Once again, it was his sister and his cousin who put themselves forward.
“If you mean to dine with Darcy, you shan’t hear two words spoken at all.
I could sit beside you, Aunt—I may not be able to offer sense, but I could provide scenery.
” The colonel offered her a dashing smile.
Miss Darcy clung to her cousin’s arm, her enthusiasm at odds with that singular impulse to cringe and cower that her ladyship seemed to inspire in others.
Finally, she said, “Surely there are so many new acquaintances to be met with—and I daresay many of them must be terribly interesting—I see a great many people with an altogether worldly look about them.”
“It is fortunate for everyone that the custom of our Saturday Supper Club is to change seats in between every course. One might make three times as many new acquaintances, and never be stuck with an unpleasant companion for too terribly long.” Elizabeth made a sweeping gesture across the dozen elegantly dressed round tables that occupied most of the ballroom, and then her eyes landed on Mr. Darcy.
He nodded just enough to signal his appreciation, and she reciprocated the gesture.
Lady Catherine curled her upper lip with disdain as she spoke.
“How very clever of you to employ your niece, Sir Edward. She always seems to be on hand and full of information; but then a businessman must seize every advantage. And I suppose it is a fortuitous arrangement for you, too, Miss Bennet; you are required to do little else than interject your helpful opinions in exchange for the chance to mingle amongst fine society.”
After nearly a year of assisting her uncle in a variety of ways at the hotel, Elizabeth had learnt to maintain her equanimity through every manner of discourtesy and delinquency.
The upper class, as much as anybody else—and perhaps a great deal more—were prone to behaving as they chose, rather than as they ought to do, when away from home.
This gave her some right, she supposed, to think of them as she pleased, and what Elizabeth was thinking at that moment certainly put a smile on her face.
Her companions, however, all appeared to be waiting for one amongst them to reply to Lady Catherine’s incivility.
It was then that Sir Sidney sauntered over without any apprehension of interrupting what must have appeared to be a dreadfully tense moment. “Good evening, Sanditon supper lovers!”
He extended his arms wide, clapping his brother and Sir Edward informally on the back.
“Lord, that sounded rather saucy, but I cannot say why! Supper lovers! But which of you is Darcy, then? Oy, she did warn me you were a tall fellow—but you are a handsome one, even without a stylish tailor! And that would make you the military cousin, eh? Well, you have my gratitude, Colonel, for keeping the frogs away. Jolly well done—a much-deserved seaside holiday, my good man.”
Were Elizabeth’s first object in life simply a jest, she would have liked Sir Sidney Parker better than any other citizen of Sanditon.
At present, she could take no pleasure in this exhibition of absurdity.
Sir Thomas appeared oblivious to the smell of alcohol on Sir Sidney’s breath, though the general awkwardness was not entirely lost on him.
Charlotte frowned at the flagrant embarrassment Sir Sidney Parker was causing his brother, and Elizabeth in turn resented the discomfiture this drunken dandy had inflicted on her friends.
Mr. Darcy gave Sir Sidney a withering glare that would have turned a sober man to ashes on the spot, and then strode away without another word.
His cousin and sister exchanged a worried glance as he approached Miss de Bourgh, who looked as haughty and cross as ever.
Lady Catherine squared her shoulders in a pose of triumph.
“I suppose I ought to thank you, young man—my daughter must learn to distinguish gentlemanly behavior from foppery, and a sojourn in this little town shall certainly prove an education in the dangers of judging by appearances.”
Sir Sidney grinned. “Your ladyship, I am certain a summer in Sanditon will work wonders for a young lady whose education has hitherto been so impeded by domestic circumstances. Could we not all benefit from a broader view of the world? See something new instead of the same old thing, right? Might we not all do well to learn a thing or two for ourselves in the schoolroom of life, rather than having irrelevant and arbitrary lessons of stuff and nonsense beaten into us by a drudge?” He made a poetical, flourishing gesture as he gazed into the distance.
Elizabeth pressed her lips together to contain her mirth.
She might sell tickets to such a performance as this; for her own part, she could have happily watched the two people most capable of amusing and annoying her battle with words all evening.
Her companions, however, still looked uncomfortable.
Charlotte was giving Elizabeth such wide-eyed looks as to ensure they would find an opportunity to speak privately about the spectacle as soon as possible, while Sir Thomas remained determined to consider the verbal sparring merely a spirited exchange.
The colonel brought his hand to his hip as if expecting to find a weapon there.
Miss Darcy, who had every right to be upset that such a libertine had stolen the affections of her brother’s betrothed, fanned her face to hide the rosy shade of pink that flushed her cheeks.
When she perceived that Elizabeth was watching her, she linked their arms together and drew Elizabeth away from the others.
Elizabeth tried not to draw any attention to her afflicted companion, uttering soft reassurances to ease her distress, but when they had removed themselves a sufficient distance, Miss Darcy burst out laughing.
“I am not at all dismayed; I am delighted! Oh, he is unbearably debauched, insufferably forward, and somehow both brilliant and beef-brained. He will make her a proper husband indeed!”
Astonished laughter bubbled from Elizabeth’s throat as she considered Miss Darcy’s rather comprehensive outburst. “Yes, I suppose he is all of those things. The rest of his relations are more amiable, I promise.”
“Oh! I meant no offense at all. Lady Parker is charming, and I think it perfectly genteel of Sir Thomas Parker not to notice anything unpleasant.”