Page 48 of A Life Diverted
“That useless brother-in-law of mine went and got himself killed,” Granville shared.
“You know he would wager on anything?” Other than Miss Wendel, l those listening to the Earl nodded.
“All I can say is thank goodness my late father tied her dowry up so that neither Sainsbury nor Tesco could touch the principal. About five months ago, he wagered someone, a man to whom he owed enormous debts of honour, that to wipe out or double his debt, he could make an impossibly high jump on his horse. Knowing it was impossible, the wager was taken. Without going into the gory detail, a good horse’s life was ended that day along with Tesco’s.
Melody is free of an unwanted marriage. At least on his deathbed, my late father owned up to his error in arranging the match for Melody, so she forgave him before he was called home. ”
“Where is she, and are there children?” Richard asked urgently.
“She is at Granville, where society thinks she is mourning. Mother is giving her succour. No children. Sainsbury was incensed at the lack of an heir, and Melody is not increasing. His line will die out with him, as the patents do not allow the title to flow through either of his two daughters.”
“That dishonourable man deserves no less,” Darcy opined.
“Why did I read nothing of Tesco’s demise in the papers?” Richard enquired. “I would have thought such an end would be the talk of the Ton .”
“Sainsbury made sure his son’s stupidity was not known,” Granville related.
“Is it too soon for me to call on Melody?” Richard demanded. “We all travel north a few days after the ball. I do not want to intrude on her mourning.”
“Fitzwilliam, if it was not for being seen to flout society’s arbitrary mourning customs, she would have joined Marie and me,” Granville revealed.
“As soon as she heard the family names of those we would see, Melody wanted nothing more than to be present. Mother convinced her it was not worth the scandal, so yes, you are welcome at Granville at any time. Convenient that my estate is but fifteen miles east of Pemberley in Nottinghamshire, is it not?”
“Very much so,” Richard replied with a face-splitting grin. “We will be at Willowmere with Ellie, but I will be at Granville soon after.”
Seeing the questioning look and arched eyebrow on Ellie’s countenance, just like his mother and aunt would do when they needed something explained, Richard explained all to his cousin.
“You deserve your happiness; I will pray that you get it,” Elizabeth said.
Emily approached and waited until Ellie had completed speaking to her brother-in-law.
“My parents would like to meet you. They were upstairs wishing my younger brother and sister goodnight.” She led Ellie across the room to a couple speaking with Aunt Elaine and Uncle Reggie.
“Mama and Papa, it is my pleasure to introduce my cousin, Elizabeth Elaine Wendell. Ellie, my parents, Lord Paul and Lady Edith Carrington, the Earl and Countess of Holder.”
“Your aunt and uncle have been regaling us with the incredible tale of your discovery. It is quite fantastical,” Lady Edith remarked.
“If I had not lived through it all myself, I too would have thought it was fiction, my Lady,” Elizabeth responded. “It pleases me greatly because now I have even more family than I had before. One can never have too much family.”
“Indeed,” Lady Edith agreed.
“How old are your younger children?” Elizabeth asked. “I ask because there are four younger children who remained at Longbourn.”
“Paul the younger is ten and Rebecca is almost thirteen,” Lady Edith replied.
“Depending on how long you remain in the area, I am sure my sisters, brother and Giana Darcy would welcome getting to know them. The twins, Lydia and Henry, are eight. Mary is twelve, and Giana is fourteen.
“I will confer with Mrs Bennet during the ball and arrange something for the morrow. Thank you, Ellie.” Lady Edith squeezed Elizabeth’s hand. When the younger lady walked away to join her sister and David, she turned to Elaine. “What a wonderful girl your niece is.”
“We tend to agree with you,” Lady Matlock stated proudly.
“Those in the receiving line need to take up their positions,” Lady Catherine announced, “the first carriages are approaching.”
The line was comprised of Lady Catherine, the Bennet and Wendell parents, as well as the newly engaged couple. Elizabeth was grateful the news of her being reunited with her birth family was now common knowledge which excused her from the need of being a member of the receiving line.
Between Papa and Father, it had been decided that the latter would open the ball with her while the former would take the second dance of the set. This would be a graphic display that Elizabeth would maintain the connection with both of her families.
William had escorted her into the ballroom, which had been very tastefully decorated by the two aunts and Emily in a style which suited Janie’s personality perfectly. They were standing off to one side of the ballroom when Charlotte, on Barney’s arm, entered with the Lucas brothers trailing.
“Miss Elizabeth, or I suppose I should address you as Miss Wendell, how do you do?” Franklin Lucas enquired once his sister had greeted her friend.
“Very formal tonight, are we not, Mr Lucas?” Elizabeth teased.
“It is a private ball, not a public assembly,” the eldest Lucas son explained. “Do you have a set open?”
“The second one before the supper set is available,” Elizabeth stated as she handed her friend’s older brother her dance card. She watched as Franklin Lucas pencilled his name in for that set.
“Miss Lizzy, you are looking very well,” Johnathan Lucas stated. “May I claim a set?”
“Thank you, Mr Johnny.” Elizabeth handed him the dance card. She did not miss his disappointment when he saw most of her sets, and all of the significant ones were already taken.
Even though he knew that Lizzy had no interest in him as anything more than her friend’s brother, the younger Lucas son had hoped at least one of her important sets would be open, preferably the supper set.
Instead, the name ‘W Darcy’ was written in.
The same name was there for the final set as well.
Johnny had never seen the object of his desire dance more than one set with any man.
He was aware that Darcy fellow was a cousin from the newly discovered family, but that did not make it sting any less.
He was about to make an acerbic comment when he noticed his brother and older sister both watching him intently.
As if reading his mind, both gave a quick shake of their heads.
Rather than comment, Johnny wrote his name in for the second set after supper.
He told himself it was time to give up on that particular dream. He had to admit that even before discovering her family, he had never had a chance with her.
Many of those who filtered into the ballroom had not seen Miss Elizabeth since the news of her family had been disseminated. So it was that many of them came to congratulate her and ask questions—a few, but not many, impertinent—almost as if she was part of a secondary receiving line.
Elizabeth answered them all with good cheer and received the good wishes gracefully.
She was not displeased when Aunt Catherine and the others who had made up the receiving line entered the ballroom.
Soon enough, Aunt Catherine called the first dance of the night.
Father collected her while William lined up opposite Mama.
Had she been dancing the first with William in addition to the two sets he had been granted, Elizabeth knew she would not have objected.
As the ball progressed, Elizabeth enjoyed her dances immensely, but she would have been dissembling to herself had she attempted to say that her mind was not on the supper set, or more accurately, her partner for that set.
Eventually, and not a moment too soon for Elizabeth, Aunt Catherine called the supper set.
William came to collect her. She had seen him earlier, of course, but now for some reason his handsomeness was standing out to her more so than ever.
As much as she fought against it, Elizabeth felt her cheeks warming.
When she realised William noticed her reaction and seemed pleased by it, it only made her blush more and in a deeper colour.
They reached the line which was forming and took their positions opposite one another.
In her mortification, she prayed the dance would begin soon so she would be able to concentrate on the steps and not on William’s handsomeness, which would return the heightened colour of her face to her normal hue and hide her embarrassment.
Her reprieve came when the music commenced, and they began to dance.
Darcy was delighted at the way Ellie was reacting to him.
He was as sure as he could be without asking her directly that she was not indifferent to him.
He waited a few minutes to see if she would speak, but she remained stubbornly silent, looking at her feet and not at him. He decided to change things.
“Our aunts and Emily have done a capital job with the decorations,” Darcy stated when they came back together.
“Indeed, they have,” Elizabeth replied and was again silent.
After a pause of some moments, he addressed her for a second time, “Ellie, it is your turn to say something now. I talked about the décor. You ought to make some sort of remark on the size of the room or the number of couples.”
She smiled. “Whatever you wish me to say will be said,” Elizabeth claimed.
“Very well. That reply will do for the present. Perhaps by and by, I may observe that private balls are much pleasanter than public ones. But now we may be silent.” The dance separated them again.
“Do you talk by rule, then, while you are dancing?” Elizabeth asked with her lips upturned.
“Not as a rule. However, Ellie, we are family, so we must speak a little, you know. It would look odd for cousins to be entirely silent for half an hour together; and yet for the advantage of some, conversation ought to be so arranged, so that they may have the trouble of saying as little as possible.”
“Are you consulting your own feelings in the present case, or do you imagine that you are gratifying mine?” Ellie had to fight to maintain her equanimity and not giggle.
“Both,” Darcy said archly, “for since meeting you again, I have seen a great similarity in the turn of our minds. If we choose to be, we can both display an unsocial, taciturn disposition, unwilling to speak, unless we expect to say something that will amaze the whole room and be handed down to posterity with all the éclat of a proverb.”
“Enough nonsense, William. If your aim was to put me at ease, you have succeeded,” Elizabeth said as she fought to stop a laugh escaping. She failed.
Hearing her tinkling laugh made Darcy very happy. How he loved to hear it.
For the remainder of the first dance and the whole of the second one, they were both relaxed, and conversation flowed naturally between them.
At the end of the dance, Darcy had the pleasure of leading Elizabeth to supper. As soon as he had her seated at a table with Jane, Emily, Charlotte, and Lady Marie Smythe, Granville’s wife, Darcy went to make plates for both of them.
Like it had been during the dance, conversation at supper flowed easily.
They were close to the table where a group of parents were seated.
The Gardiners—who had arrived that morning—the Bennets, Wendells, Lucases, and Matlocks were all at the table.
There was a lull in the conversation when Mrs Ravenclaw approached Fanny Bennet.
“So, my son was not good enough for your Jane when our estate earns as much or more than Willowmere? For one who said she cared not about material considerations, it seems that the connections they have were the difference,” Mrs Ravenclaw hissed nastily.
“You were invited because, against my better judgement, I believed you would behave with propriety. I was wrong. Before you and that rakehell of a son of yours, and your rude and nasty daughter leave the ball, understand that as it was then and as it is now, it is about character—something of which your son has none—and compatibility. You could have been a duchess with more money than God, yet my husband and I still would not have allowed my daughter to marry your son. He is a debaucher and a gambler. It is time for you to take your leave.” Fanny nodded to two footmen-guards and gave them instructions to escort the lady , her son, and daughter from the premises.
Once the woman was gone, those close by who saw and heard the confrontation, clapped politely.
The rest of the ball passed without incident. During her dance with Johnny Lucas, Elizabeth was pleased to note that he had finally given up his doomed attempt to court her. She was looking very much forward to the final set and was determined not to have to be teased into speaking.
The last dance of the night was a waltz. Neither Elizabeth nor Darcy felt the need to converse during the dance.