Page 31 of A Rational Man (Pride and Prejudice Variation)

“Yes, to dance!” He offered his hand, which she took, and he led her to the dance floor. He had forgotten how very graceful she was, how well her movements matched his own, as if they had been formed for one another! “Miss Elizabeth…”

“Yes, Mr. Darcy?”

“Soon I must return to Pemberley, and then almost immediately to London.”

She stumbled but quickly caught herself. “Oh?”

“Yes; I have delayed my dealings with Wickham until after the ball, not wanting to cause a fuss in the neighbourhood; but as soon as that is done, I must go home to set my affairs in order and then return to Town to participate in the Season.”

“And find a wife, I suppose,” she said, sounding very calm.

“That is my intention, yes. Miss Elizabeth – “ His voice caught for a moment. “Surely you know, you must know, that I find you – compelling.”

“I do know, Mr. Darcy.”

The dance then separated them. When she returned to him, he said, “Given that I must soon leave, will you dance with me a second time? Just this once?”

“I think not, Mr. Darcy. If we are soon to separate, there is little point in us spending more time together.” Her tone was crisp and certain.

“Little point! How can you say so?”

“I believe there is an apt quote for this situation: True friendship's laws are by this rule expressed: welcome the coming, speed the parting guest . Cowper, I believe. You are, in this instance, the parting guest.”

“So I am to speed away?” His tone expressed utter disbelief.

“Yes.”

The dance came to an end. In stony silence, Mr. Darcy escorted Elizabeth to Charlotte Lucas, who was standing beside Colonel Fitzwilliam. Both looked up as Mr. Darcy approached.

The Colonel said at once, “Ah! This must be Miss Elizabeth. Introduce us, will you not, cuz?”

Mr. Darcy performed rather terse introductions and then promptly left.

“Heavens! What did you say to him, Miss Elizabeth?” The Colonel asked, staring after his cousin.

She shrugged. “He wished for a second dance and I refused.”

“You did not enjoy your dance with him?” The Colonel’s tone was easy, but he was thinking furiously.

“Oh, I did, of course; but there is always a shortage of gentlemen, and so I simply thought to allow him to dance with someone who had not yet had that opportunity.”

“Yet he has danced only with you, I believe, and even now he stalks the edges of the room, looking upset.”

“Surely I cannot be held accountable for that, Colonel Fitzwilliam.”

“No, of course not, Miss Elizabeth. Might I solicit you for the next dance? I promise not to ask for a second, if that will induce you to give me this honour.”

Elizabeth laughed lightly. “I would be happy to dance with you, Colonel.”

The next half hour gave Colonel Fitzwilliam the opportunity to understand why his cousin had fallen in love with this young lady – for Darcy most certainly had done so, deny it as he might.

She was lovely, she was intelligent; indeed, she asked him any number of questions about his war experiences and was quick to grasp the implications of his replies.

“You have a keen understanding of the battlefield,” he complimented her.

She blushed. “I have been studying geography, Colonel, and it has come in most handy when reading the war reports in the newspapers.”

“Your father allows you to read the papers?” He could not hide his astonishment.

“Certainly; I wish to understand what is going on in the world, Colonel. My father allows me to read anything and everything. Well, perhaps not quite everything. He has a private collection of books that he keeps under lock and key, and I dare not peruse them even though I know where he hides the key!”

They laughed together. The Colonel thought he himself might have been in some danger of forming an attachment to the young lady, had he not known full well that he could not afford to do so.

But he could spend more time with her, could he not?

“Have you promised the supper dance to anyone, Miss Elizabeth?”

She admitted that she had not.

“I know I promised not to ask you for a second dance, but I find now that I am tempted to break that promise. Might you partner me for the supper dance?”

She laughed, and agreed at once.

When the dance ended, the Colonel thought he had better find Darcy and calm him down.

It took the Colonel a full twenty minutes to locate his cousin, who was standing behind a pillar with a glass of some amber-coloured liquid. “How did you manage that? All I saw was champagne, negus and orgeat,” the Colonel began.

Mr. Darcy shrugged. “I have been at Netherfield several weeks now; the servants know me. Why did you dance with her?” His tone was brittle.

“So that I might learn to know her a little.”

“And?”

“She is perfect.”

“Ha! She is, yes. Did she tell you that she refused my offer of a second dance?”

“She said that she wanted to give you the opportunity to dance with young ladies who had not yet danced.”

“It was a lie.”

“Was it?”

“Yes; she quoted Cowper at me! True friendship's laws are by this rule expressed: welcome the coming, speed the parting guest. With me as the parting guest, you understand.”

The Colonel decided this would likely not the best time to mention that Miss Elizabeth had granted him a second dance. Instead, he said, “I do not know her at all well…”

“No.”

“But I venture to say that it does not sound like her at all.”

“Why, then, would she not dance with me again?”

“Did you ever think that perhaps it was not just your heart that had been touched?”

Mr. Darcy leaned toward the pillar and hit his head against it. And then again. And then again.

“Stop it, Darcy; you will do yourself an injury!”

Staring at the pillar he had so recently attacked, he said, “I do not agree that my heart was touched; it is not rational.”

The Colonel quoted, “Love is merely a madness; and, I tell you, deserves as well a dark house and a whip as madmen do; and the reason why they are not so punish'd and cured is that the lunacy is so ordinary that the whippers are in love too.”

Mr. Darcy muttered, “I am a fool.”

“Very likely,” the Colonel said.