Page 16

For her sisters’ sake, Elizabeth tried to be excited for the Netherfield ball.

For her own part, she was nearly dreading it.

Ever since the news of her inheritance had spread, she had been much too much the centre of attention.

Worse still, Mr Collins had been hinting for several days leading up to the event that he had an announcement to make to her that night.

Elizabeth imagined he referred to asking her to dance, though why he made such a fuss of a simple request was entirely beyond her.

She sighed heavily as she sat in front of the vanity.

Elizabeth had dressed in a white gown, and Jane was threading tiny white silk flowers into her hair.

Jane leaned forward, placing both hands on her shoulders.

“You’ve uttered a sigh like that five times since you’ve been in front of that mirror.

Is there something amiss? Do not tell me you dislike the flowers,” Jane said.

“No, it is not the flowers,” Elizabeth replied, giving her a weak smile through the mirror’s reflection. She tried to think, but could muster nothing more than a weak excuse. “I am only a little tired.”

“Tired? My goodness, already? We have not even made it to the ball yet. Perhaps you should have laid down for a rest before we started dressing.”

Jane turned and went to retrieve more of the delicate flowers, and Elizabeth blew out a breath so her sister wouldn’t see.

Dreading it as she was, she would need to put on a cheerful face for the ball that evening.

Perhaps she could find a lonely corner in which to hide from Mr Collins.

And Charlotte Lucas could come and visit her from time to time to keep her company.

The Bennets left Longbourn in stages, there not being sufficient room to carry all of them to the ball at once.

Unfortunately, Elizabeth’s mother insisted that she ride with Mr Collins, along with Lydia and Kitty.

Her parents would come along in the second wave, along with Jane and Mary.

Lydia and Kitty were eager to arrive and chattered brightly as they rode to the party.

Elizabeth did her best to be accommodating to their moods, but she found it difficult with Mr Collins sitting beside her, chattering on with his usual inattention to what anyone else might say in response.

“I say, I hope you will not find me too forward if I pay a compliment to your gown, Cousin Elizabeth. Very exemplary for a woman of your station.” Mr Collins gave a superior look, as if he had given her a great compliment instead of a backhanded insult. What did he mean, for a woman of her station?

Elizabeth could have spent the rest of the evening offended, but such was not her nature.

With an effort, she resolved to dismiss her cousin’s attempted compliments and accidental insults from her mind as quickly as possible.

She smiled and nodded. “Thank you, Cousin. I am pleased with my gown as well. My mother kindly ordered it for me only some weeks ago.” Of course, Mrs Bennet might not have been quite so generous if she had known how very disobliging Elizabeth intended to be on the subject of marriage.

Either she would find a husband whom she could love, or she would spend the rest of her existence in quiet solitude.

If her mother knew she would rather be a spinster than married to Mr Collins, Mrs Bennet would likely have refused to buy her anything at all.

“Oh, Lizzy, look!” Lydia said as they pulled up to the Netherfield gates. “It is as if we are heading straight into a fairytale!”

Lydia clapped her hands and bounced in the seat, and Kitty followed suit. Elizabeth hushed them as they came alongside the house. “Decorum — both of you,” she reminded them. But her chidings went entirely unheeded.

The coachman helped them out, and they all walked up the grand limestone steps together.

Elizabeth wished they could wait outside for the carriage to retrieve her parents and sisters before they went in, but it would have taken far too long.

Almost before their dancing slippers had reached the ground, Mr Collins was hurrying them inside.

“I do not wish any of you, least of all you, Miss Elizabeth, to catch cold this evening. Not with the important announcement I have to share,” he added in a whisper.

Elizabeth gave a small, forced smile before hurrying to the foyer, where Mr Bingley and Caroline Bingley were receiving the guests as they streamed through the door.

Elizabeth walked ahead of the others, and Mr Collins came behind, followed by the youngest Bennet sisters.

She bowed to Mr Bingley. What a relief to see a gentleman for whom she could smile sincerely!

“Good evening, Miss Elizabeth. How well you look,” he complimented her. His eyes shifted to those following behind her, and she saw the disappointment flash through his gaze.

“Thank you for having us, Mr Bingley.” She lowered her voice so only he could hear. “Do not fret, sir. My parents and the rest of my sisters are on their way.”

His face brightened. “Ah, very good. It would have been a shame if any of them had fallen ill and could not attend.”

“I assure you, we are all healthy and well,” Elizabeth said. “We would not have wished to miss this for the world.” She looked at Miss Caroline Bingley and bowed. “Miss Bingley, such a pleasure to see you as well.”

“Likewise, I am sure,” Miss Bingley said coldly. Elizabeth looked at her curiously. Odd — the woman had seemed almost to push her at her brother, and yet Elizabeth was certain Miss Bingley did not like her at all.

“Well, please go through and enjoy the party,” Mr Bingley said heartily. “I believe the dancing is about to begin.”

Elizabeth’s evening was not off to a propitious beginning. Mr Collins asked her for the first dance, and she was forced to accept, as it would have been the height of rudeness to refuse. He offered her his hand, and she placed hers on top of his.

Though Elizabeth told herself not to allow vexation to ruin her evening, she could not help but notice the stares they received as other guests overheard Mr Collins’s singular style of conversation.

She could not call it anything less than mortifying.

Worse, she caught Mr Darcy’s intent gaze, watching her as Mr Collins led her to their place in the line of dancers.

Her heart leapt as the music began. She could not get away from the feeling that Mr Darcy’s eyes were boring into her back.

Tingles ran up her spine that she could not account for.

Why was he so interested in her? Having once asked his advice, had he now had attached himself to her as a protector?

Surely not. His attention must be nothing more than fodder for his conversations with Miss Bingley.

The two seemed as thick as thieves in their bid to direct Mr Bingley’s life and future happiness.

As Elizabeth twirled, she risked a glance in Mr Darcy’s direction and saw that Miss Bingley had indeed joined him.

The young woman’s look of contempt did not escape Elizabeth, nor the mocking smile that crossed Miss Bingley’s face at the sight of Elizabeth dancing with the most ridiculous man in the room.

No, she certainly was not imagining things — Miss Bingley did not like her.

“I must say, you are very light on your feet, Miss Elizabeth,” Mr Collins said, panting a little for lack of breath. “It has been a long while since I enjoyed the company of such an accomplished dancer.”

Elizabeth could only smile and nod. She was afraid if she tried to answer him, she would not be able to keep herself from bursting out in laughter.

His movements were anything but fluid or graceful.

He danced with a rigidity that was comical, his face so serious and strained that one was forced to wonder if he was suffering from indigestion.

Finally, the dance ended. Elizabeth bowed quickly to Mr Collins and rushed out of the room before he could follow her.

Or at least, she intended to. Elizabeth had not taken six steps before the eldest Lucas boy stopped her and asked for a dance.

She would have welcomed a chance to talk with her old friend if she had not seen a gleam of greed in his eyes.

Even John Lucas did not look at her as he used to, ruining all her usual pleasure in the dance.

Upon its conclusion, Elizabeth resolved she would not dance the next — a resolution that quickly required her to refuse two officers of the militia and the most recent tenant of Purvis Lodge, a gentleman fully twice her own age.

The fraying ends of Elizabeth’s patience were almost worn through before she succeeded in escaping her admirers — and even so, she heard Mr Collins inquiring if anyone had seen her as she went.

As a lady did not curse, Elizabeth could only laugh.

She wove through the party-goers and found a solitary place to catch her breath.

When she had taken a few moments to collect herself, she slowly made her way back to the ballroom but stayed without, hidden behind others to keep away from Mr Collins.

Her heart lifted when she saw that Mr Bingley and Jane were dancing.

Thankfully, Charlotte came to find her, and Elizabeth pulled her out into the hall.

“My goodness, whatever is the excitement for, Lizzy?” Charlotte asked.

She giggled as Elizabeth pulled her down the corridor.

With luck, there must be somewhere remote enough that they would not be disturbed.

The dimness of the corridor added to the clandestine air, and Elizabeth gave a relieved sigh when she did not see hide nor hair of Mr Collins coming after her.