Five #2
Jane remained happily occupied beside Mr. Bingley, whilst Mrs. Bennet looked ready to commend every musician present for having brought so promising an acquaintance about.
Elizabeth claimed a glass of negus and wandered towards one of the windows.
It was only then that Elizabeth became aware Mr. Darcy had not danced, her attention being drawn to the circumstance by two ladies standing beside her, who were discussing him in lowered voices.
"A remarkably handsome gentleman," one of the ladies observed.
"Indeed," said the other. "Yet he has remained by the wall ever since he arrived, and did not stand up with a single lady during the first set."
"Perhaps he imagines no lady in the room worthy of his notice."
"Not even the ladies of his own party?" the other observed with a little scoff. "Then he must be excessively proud."
Elizabeth glanced almost unconsciously across the room.
In truth, Mr. Darcy remained where Sir William had first left him, one hand resting lightly behind his back, his attention directed neither towards the musicians nor the company assembled before him, but somewhere beyond them all.
Proud?
Elizabeth was not yet persuaded. It seemed rather hasty to condemn a gentleman after scarcely two sets. He might simply dislike dancing, or perhaps know too few people in the room to seek a partner with ease.
Reserved, unquestionably. Silent beyond what was common in such company.
Yet his countenance possessed none of the self-satisfied complacency Elizabeth generally associated with pride.
If anything, he looked preoccupied, as though whatever occupied his thoughts had accompanied him into the assembly and refused to be left outside.
Again, her father’s description of him came to mind.
…a man carrying a burden.
Elizabeth dismissed the thought as the second set began.
There being fewer gentlemen than ladies remaining, Elizabeth found herself obliged to sit it out. She accepted a vacant chair a short distance from where Mr. Darcy stood, more because it happened to be empty than from any deliberate wish to observe him.
Indeed, she doubted he had noticed her at all.
Twice she looked towards him.
Twice she found him gazing absently across the room, as though the assembly scarcely existed.
Whatever occupied his thoughts appeared infinitely more compelling than anything Meryton had to offer.
By the time the second set concluded, Mr. Bingley was making his way towards his friend with the buoyant step of a man whose evening had answered every expectation.
"There you are," he said with a laugh. "I had begun to think you meant to spend the whole evening studying the wallpaper."
Elizabeth smiled despite herself.
She paid little attention to what followed until she heard Mr. Darcy readily agree that Mr. Bingley had been fortunate in securing Jane for the first set.
Elizabeth's eyes sought her sister almost instinctively. Jane's happiness had always been her own, and it pleased her that even a gentleman as reserved as Mr. Darcy should perceive what everyone who truly knew Jane must inevitably discover.
Then her own name reached her ears.
"...Miss Elizabeth..."
Almost without intending it, she listened.
"...an excellent dancer..."
"...a most agreeable companion..."
Heat rose unexpectedly to her cheeks.
Mr. Bingley was speaking of her and complimenting her. Then he heard him persuade his friend further to ask her to dance.
There followed a pause.
Then she heard Mr. Darcy say, "I have no wish to dance."
Elizabeth could not help wondering why everyone appeared so determined that the gentleman should dance if he plainly preferred not to. Surely it was no great offence to remain by the wall if dancing gave one little pleasure.
"Oh, come, Darcy," Mr. Bingley persisted.
Another pause followed, and then, in a voice rather louder than seemed necessary, Mr. Darcy replied, "She is tolerable, I suppose, but not handsome enough to tempt me."
For a single suspended instant Elizabeth wondered whether she had mistaken the words. She had not, and the warmth fled from her cheeks as quickly as it had risen.
She had no desire to sit another moment within hearing of a conversation she ought never to have heard, and rose at once.
It was only as she turned away that she caught sight of Mr. Bingley's expression, his eyes widened in evident horror, and as Mr. Darcy began to follow his friend's gaze, Elizabeth did not wait to discover whether he had recognised that she had heard them.
She had no wish to afford him the satisfaction.
She went in search of Jane, but had not gone far before Charlotte Lucas joined her.
"You seem in a rush, Lizzy."
Elizabeth laughed, though the sound carried rather more spirit than she felt. "I have just been informed that I am tolerable."
Charlotte looked at her in surprise.
"Mr. Darcy has decided I am not handsome enough to tempt him into dancing."
Charlotte laughed outright in shock, then her expression gave way to one of open curiosity. "He said that?"
"I heard it with my own ears, and I daresay others standing near him heard it too."
"The whole room already thinks him proud," Charlotte said. "Two sets, and he has not danced a single one."
Elizabeth presently allowed herself to laugh in earnest, and before another minute had passed, she had almost persuaded herself the gentleman's opinion signified nothing at all.
The third set began soon after, and the evening resumed its usual bustle.
Yet, once before it ended, Elizabeth's eyes wandered, almost in spite of herself, towards the place where Mr. Darcy still stood.
He remained where she had last seen him, his attention seeming as far removed from the assembly as it had been all evening.
Whatever burden the gentleman carried, Elizabeth concluded, it had done little to improve either his spirits or his manners. Before the evening was over, she suspected the greater part of Meryton had arrived at much the same opinion.