Page 39 of Ever After End
CHAPTER 38
T he household spent the day after the dance and the compromise playing hide and seek again. The rain had lessened, not enough to go outside, but there was enough improvement to give hope for the morrow.
Mrs Darlington instructed that the rules were to be the same. The music room, her study, and the second and third floor were off limits, and ladies must hide and seek in pairs to prevent compromises. The ground and first floors were theirs to explore and use for hiding, but all doors must remain open. Elizabeth spent the last time the house played hide and seek in the music room with Georgiana and Miss Bates. Today Georgiana and Miss Bates were joined by Miss Darlington, as Edith was now called amongst everyone in the house.
Mary claimed Jane as her hiding partner. Elizabeth claimed Miss Bingley, who looked pleased to have been asked. The gentlemen hid first, and the ladies searched for them in pairs.
Elizabeth and Miss Bingley giggled quietly as they made their way along a corridor on the ground floor. “I do not suppose there is any hope of Mr Darcy hiding behind curtains. He is far too dignified for such childish diversions,” Elizabeth said to her companion.
“I would not be surprised to learn he pretended to go and hide, only to go straight to the library and sit down to read,” Miss Bingley giggled.
“True, though I can easily imagine him tucked behind a bookshelf, attempting to finish a chapter in peace while the rest of us scramble about.” Elizabeth peeked into a darkened alcove where a gentleman could be hiding.
“That does sound like him. Once upon a time I would have followed him there, and declared his reserve admirable, for I did not understand it then,” Miss Bingley confessed.
“Have you truly resigned to giving up on him?” Elizabeth asked curiously.
“Entirely,” Miss Bingley insisted, ducking her head behind a door. “When I finally came to understand him, I realised that we want completely different lives. We should be perfectly miserable together. I prefer to find someone who welcomes my smiles; someone who wants what I want.”
“I hope you find success here,” Elizabeth said sincerely.
“I wish you the same, Miss Elizabeth. You know? You may have a point about the library. Let us go and search there.”
The two ladies linked arms, and went to the first floor, where they found Mr Darcy, just as they suspected, sitting in the open and reading a book.
“You found me.” He smiled as he stood when they entered the room together.
“Mr Darcy, you are entirely too predictable,” Elizabeth laughed.
“Not always, Miss Elizabeth. I am only so predictable when I wish to be found.” He grinned at her.
Miss Bingley looked over from where she was snooping around the bookshelves, and said, “If the two of you have finished flirting, Mr Darcy, I will pay you a shilling to tell me where Lord Chesley is hiding.”
“Miss Bingley, I would never stoop so low as to turn on my fellow man.” Mr Darcy’s eyebrows rose as he tilted his head at a nearby curtain.
Miss Bingley burst into giggles as she pulled the drapes back to reveal Lord Chesley. “You are brave to play such a game after your experience last night, my lord. One might think you would be hiding with a great deal more purpose.”
“I chose my companions with care. Darcy would never abandon me,” Chesley laughed.
Suddenly there was a sneeze from the far end of the room. “Aha!” Miss Bingley cried triumphantly as she rushed behind a bookcase. “Defeated by your susceptibility to dust, Brother!”
“I have no desire to be found by you, Caroline! Go away and ensure Miss Bennet finds me,” they heard Bingley’s voice from behind the stacks.
With a peal of laughter, Miss Bingley returned, and said to Elizabeth and the other two gentlemen, “What shall we do while we wait for the others?”
“I am certain we are meant to return to the drawing room and wait, but must we ?” whined Darcy. “We are such a merry party here.”
Miss Bingley looked at him with a strange expression, “I am certain that must be the nicest thing you have ever said to me, Mr Darcy.”
“I meant every word, Miss Bingley.” Then, to Elizabeth, “Perhaps if we close the door, it will take them longer to locate us.”
Just before anyone could comply, Mary and Jane entered the room followed by Mr Elwood. “We are trying to help Jane find Mr Bingley. Has anyone seen him?” asked Mary, pink-cheeked.
“Mary!” Jane objected in mortification.
“Oh no! You found me, Miss Bennet, what a shame the game has ended so quickly.” Bingley tumbled out from behind the stacks and bowed before Jane. “Quickly, someone lock that door, before anyone spoils our charming group.”
“We are not meant to close the doors,” Elizabeth worried.
“With a group as large as ours, and I am a participant, all should be well,” Darcy insisted, going to lock the door himself. “Now, how should we entertain ourselves?’
“We could read from a play,” suggested Lord Chesley. “Shakespeare? ”
“Everyone always wants to read from boring old Shakespeare.” Caroline went to a shelf that Elizabeth had visited when she selected reading material. She pulled out a novel. “We should read from Mrs Radcliffe!”
Elizabeth doubled over in laughter. “Miss Bingley, I take it that you found something acceptable to read from the selections we chose?”
After a hilarious hour spent reading from “The Mysteries of Udolpho,” they heard screaming from far down the hall.
Darcy quickly jumped up from the settee and unlocked the door, then chased the screaming person down the hall and dragged her back.
“Help! Please! Help Miss Blackwood! Someone is murdering Miss Blackwood!” Miss Abernathy cried in terror.
Try as they might, they could get nothing else from her until Elizabeth slapped the girl lightly. “Charlotte! Where is Miss Blackwood?” she demanded.
“I went to retrieve the Wordsworth from my room. Someone is in her bedroom with her. She was crying out, crying out for God. And there was a man’s voice. Someone is murdering her!”
Darcy’s eyes widened as he and the others jumped up and abandoned Miss Abernathy on the settee as they all raced to the staircase and up the stairs, followed by a maid who joined them halfway there.
Minutes later, they all stood, panting outside the door belonging to Miss Lavinia Blackwood. Emanating from the room was a very different kind of panting, and, as Miss Abernathy reported, a great deal of crying out, accompanied by obviously enthusiastic moans. It was clear that whoever was behind the doors was enjoying themselves immensely.
There was a great deal of disbelief on the faces of the men, and confusion on the faces of the ladies, none of whom quite understood what they were hearing, when Darcy spoke. “I really must insist that the ladies retire to the Bennets’ private parlour immediately. Miss Blackwood is not in the sort of danger you imagine.” He then turned to the maid and said, “Please find my godmother, another of the female chaperones, and Major Bartholomew, and send them here without delay.”
As they were bid, the ladies retreated to Elizabeth’s parlour and rang for tea, though they left the door open to hear what was happening in the hall. Ten minutes later, all four ladies poked their heads out of the door of the Bennets’ private parlour as Mrs Darlington strode purposefully down the hall, followed by Lady Millicent, and unlocked the door to Miss Blackwood’s room. She entered, followed by the chaperone.
Seconds later, there were shrieks, and Mr Mercer was ejected in his drawers from Miss Blackwood’s bedroom, as Lady Millicent followed and beat him about the head with the giant feathered fan that she carried everywhere.
“Fiend! You wicked! Wicked! Man!” Feathers flew about the hall as Lady Millicent emphasized each of her words with a swat from her enormous fan. Mrs Darlington shooed the ladies back into Elizabeth’s parlour and closed the door.
Mr Mercer was dragged up to the third floor, beaten soundly, and deposited in his room by the men, who were grim regarding Mercer’s shameless disrespect of Mrs Darlington’s hospitality. That lady joined him there later, accompanied by Major Bartholomew and Mr Darcy, where she informed him that it was one thing for her not to allow compromises in her home, but he had not compromised a lady. He had openly and brazenly strolled up the stairs to the ladies sleeping quarters, and ravished a woman, however willing. Right in Mrs Darlington’s family wing . It was impressed upon Mercer that he would be required to marry Miss Blackwood without delay, or face worse than being called out, for Darcy, Bingley, and Lord Chesley were furious, and there was no doubt the other men would be as well when they learned of it.
The following morning, Mrs Darlington announced the upcoming nuptials. “Over the years, some hasty couples have rushed into the village to purchase common licences from Mr Irving and marry before leaving the neighbourhood, but almost all of my guests have preferred to marry from their homes, or from London or Bath following the end of the house party. Due to the necessity posed by Miss Blackwood and Mr Mercer, the banns will be called this Sunday for their wedding. The house party, which was intended to end on the third of August, will now be extended to the fifth of August.”
She waited for the murmurs of her guests to die down before she continued. “If anyone else wishes to announce their engagements and call the banns this Sunday, for a wedding on August fourth, or if you become engaged in the next few weeks, you may purchase a common license and make it a group wedding, after which, a breakfast will be held here. I am certain I do not need to ask you all to keep your silence on this matter when you leave Ever After End. None of you, I am sure, would wish to have such a tale hanging over the place where you spent the summer, let alone the place where you met your future husband or wife.”
“You have all been robbed of a most romantic activity,” Miss Larkspur spoke up angrily. “Now that a goodly number of pairings have become apparent, I had planned with Mrs Darlington to have the gardens lit and chaperoned at night for moonlit strolls, to better advance your courtships. Sadly, due to the misbehaviour of some people, we have decided that we cannot risk any further mishaps.”
Two hours later, Mary caught Elizabeth and Jane in the morning parlour. The rain had finally ceased, and their young men were in the study, making arrangements for the evictions. Most of the other party guests had elected to spend the day in the gardens, even though they were still quite damp.
“Lizzy, Jane, I want to tell you before anyone else that Mr Elwood has offered for me, and I have accepted him.” Mary said happily .
“Oh Mary, how wonderful! Our mother will be so happy to hear of it!” Jane cried, throwing her arms around her sister. “Will Mr Elwood go to Longbourn?”
“No, I do not believe that necessary. Papa gave Uncle Gardiner a letter allowing me to wed. We will send my uncle an express today, and ask him to arrive early, and bring a marriage settlement with him. Mr Elwood will write to Papa, asking for his blessing.”
“Why would that be necessary?” Elizabeth asked, not having caught onto Mary’s plan.
“We plan to join the wedding ceremony here, and avoid Mama’s fits,” confirmed Mary.
“Oh Mary, I had hoped that if we all accepted offers, that we might have a triple wedding in Meryton,” Jane objected.
“If you accept offers, we could all be married here.” Mary was firm. She had no desire to suffer her mother. She wished to marry, and begin her new life directly.
“Whatever you decide is best for you, Mary, we will stand by you,” Elizabeth vowed.
At dinner, the engagements of Mr Pemberton and Miss Abernathy, Mr Fletcher and Miss Penfield, and Mr Elwood and Mary were announced. All three couples declared an intention of marrying from Ever After End with Miss Blackwood and Mr Mercer. Mrs Higglebottom and Lady Millicent were beside themselves planning such a wedding and breakfast, and though Mary might have thought she had escaped, she was informed that she must appear in the morning parlour with the other brides each day to assist with wedding preparations. Mary still considered it an escape from the hysterics of Mrs Bennet.