Page 57 of Heiress of Longbourn (Pride and Prejudice Variations)
“Charles, I require your escort to Lady Mostyn’s ball tonight. Charles! Charles!!”
Her brother, who had been gazing raptly into his full cup of tea, lifted a startled countenance to his unmarried sister. “What did you say, Caroline?”
Miss Bingley huffed indignantly. “I said that you need to escort me to Lady Mostyn’s ball this evening. Really, Charles, what is wrong with you? You have been completely distracted since yesterday. Are you unwell?”
Her brother shook his head absently. “I have never been better, Caroline. As for tonight, I am not entirely certain that I will be available.”
“How could you fail to be available?” the lady snapped. “You can go to your club or boxing saloon some other time if you please, but I require...”
She trailed off as a maid opened the breakfast parlor door and announced an early morning guest. “Mr. Darcy.”
Caroline Bingley flew to her feet so quickly that her nearly empty tea cup knocked over, dribbling liquid on the white tablecloth. “Mr. Darcy! What a pleasant surprise to see you so early this morning! I understood that you were visiting your esteemed aunt, Lady Catherine de Bourgh!”
“Thank you, Miss Bingley, and good morning. I returned from Kent yesterday,” Darcy replied repressively. “Bingley, I apologize for arriving so early, but I have grown unaccustomed to the sounds of the City in the morning.”
His friend chuckled. “I too woke up early, my friend, though more out of anticipation than anything else. But it is not time for visiting hours; would you care to join me for ham and eggs and coffee?”
Darcy cast a hunted look at Miss Bingley, which she misinterpreted as seeking her approval. “Oh, do sit down, Mr. Darcy! It is always a great pleasure to welcome my brother’s closest friend. Emily! Emily! Bring fresh coffee for Mr. Darcy.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Darcy sat down rather reluctantly, but it was too early to visit his aunt and cousin. He had come in the hopes of discussing strategy with Bingley and was quite put out that Miss Bingley was present; generally, the lady kept to her bed until a fashionably late hour of the morning.
“If you are to be with Mr. Darcy this evening, I can have Mr. Hurst and Louisa escort me to Lady Mostyn’s ball, Charles. Or perhaps you will be joining us there, Mr. Darcy? The ball is to be one of the great squeezes of the season. Everyone will be there!”
Darcy opened his mouth to say something vague and suddenly remembered that being overly vague had caused a great deal of confusion.
“No, I do not believe I will be participating in any of society’s events in the near future. I have entered a courtship with a young lady and will be spending a great deal of my time with her.”
Miss Bingley jerked in shock and horror, causing her newly filled cup of tea to spill. The laundry maid would have her hands full with this particular tablecloth. “A courtship, Mr. Darcy? You have entered a courtship?”
“Yes, Miss Bingley,” the gentleman replied precisely. “I had the honor of meeting Miss Elizabeth Bennet recently in Kent, who was visiting my aunt’s rector, and I have come to greatly esteem her. We have entered a courtship to determine whether we are compatible for marriage.”
“Elizabeth Bennet!” Caroline Bingley squealed, her face flushed with rage. “No, it is not possible. Her family is vulgar, her dowry is nonexistent, and she is not at all handsome. You cannot...”
Darcy interrupted in his iciest tone. “I must request that you refrain from insulting the lady whom I hope to make my wife.”
Bingley, who had been watching all this with a mixture of anxiety and enthusiasm, decided to go for the jugular. “Darcy and I are meeting today with Miss Elizabeth and her elder sister, Miss Bennet, and I plan to ask for Miss Bennet’s hand in marriage. I am informed by Darcy that Miss Bennet loved me and was greatly distressed when I did not return to Netherfield. I used her very ill indeed. I only hope that she will forgive me for listening to my foolish friend and shrew of a sister.”
Caroline Bingley had always disdained ladies who fainted in hot rooms and at the sight of mice, but she found the world suddenly swaying and swirling in her vision and she fell back in her chair with a feeble cry of anguish.
“Emily,” Bingley instructed the maid, rising to his feet, “would you be so kind as to call for the housekeeper to assist Miss Bingley? Mr. Darcy and I are going out.”
“Yes, sir,” Emily replied, suppressing her mirth. Miss Bingley was an arrogant and unkind mistress, and it was a pleasure to see her taken down a peg.
“Darcy,” Bingley said as they exited the dining parlor hastily, “since it is still early, perhaps I can show you the new team of chestnut horses I recently acquired?”
“Lead the way, Bingley.”
***
“Elizabeth!” Anne de Bourgh cried out as the two eldest Miss Bennets entered the drawing room of the de Bourgh mansion in London. “How delightful to see you! Please, will you not introduce me to your sister?”
Elizabeth smiled gratefully at the heiress of Rosings. “Anne, may I please introduce you to my sister, Miss Jane Bennet? Jane, Miss Anne de Bourgh.”
“Miss de Bourgh,” Jane replied, curtseying.
“Please do call me Anne, Miss Bennet,” Anne invited, taking a step forward and inspecting her new acquaintance with interest. “My dear Elizabeth, beauty certainly runs in your family. Miss Bennet, you must have the gentlemen clustered around you like bees around honeysuckle. You are quite the most handsome woman I have ever beheld.”
Jane blushed rosily at this, making her even more attractive, and said softly, “Thank you, Miss ... Anne. Please, do call me Jane.”
“Thank you, Jane,” Anne returned. “I realize that we are proceeding to Christian names rapidly, but we do not have all the time in the world. Elizabeth, I presume you told your sister about the League of the Golden Daffodil?”
“Yes, on the way over from my relatives’ home on Gracechurch Street in Cheapside. Given that it was but a thirty minute journey, I could not explain everything to Jane, nor do I know everything. I suspect Jane is still trying to make sense of it.”
“That is both expected and preferable,” Anne said briskly. “With regards to the League’s more unusual activities, it is safest if the right hand does not know what the left hand is doing. But come, Miss Colby arrived last night and I wish you both to meet with her now so that we can begin training as quickly as possible.”
Jane’s eyes widened fearfully and when she spoke, her voice trembled, “Training? Surely you do not truly advocate that we learn to fight with knives!”
“Perhaps in time,” Anne proclaimed, “but for now, the first weapon in our repertoire is our voices. Please, do come along.”
***
“I confess to being quite shocked,” Charles Bingley mused aloud as the Darcy carriage rolled gracefully towards the de Bourgh residence. “I knew you disliked Wickham, but I had no idea the man was such a devil. It quite terrifies me that he has been walking freely in Meryton society all these months.”
Darcy sighed deeply. “My aunt and cousins recently took me severely to task on that matter, Bingley. Georgiana is my primary responsibility, and she was so broken-hearted over what passed at Ramsgate that I felt I could not move against Wickham for fear that he in turn would ruin her reputation.”
“Miss Darcy is a charming, gentle young lady. I completely understand.”
“I was wrong, though,” Darcy continued, grimly determined to make a clean breast of things. “I was, without a doubt, most arrogant when I first came to Meryton. It did not even occur to me that the families there were worthy of my protection. Worse than that, I have been informed by Colonel Fitzwilliam that Wickham is suspected of attacking a young maid at Pemberley and taking her virtue.”
“Darcy, that is terrible! Surely you would have known if such a thing came to pass?”
“I fear not as when the attack supposedly occurred, my father was in the throes of his final decline, and I was overwhelmed with caring for him and the estate. My father could never see Wickham for what he was, and it was a source of great frustration to me.”
The carriage came to a gentle halt, and the two men stepped out. Bingley, whose face was grave, suddenly looked down at himself worriedly. “Do I look well enough, Darcy? This is the first time I will have seen Miss Bennet since the 26 th of November last year, at the ball at Netherfield.”
Darcy shook himself free of dark thoughts and did a quick but thorough inspection. “Fear not, you look very well. Come along.”
Mr. Hay, an old retainer of the de Bourgh family, greeted Darcy with a smile. “Good morning, Mr. Darcy. The ladies are waiting for you in the ball room.”
Darcy nodded courteously at the man and guided Bingley toward the ball room located at the back of the mansion. It seemed an odd place for a morning visit, but...
A sudden scream pierced the air, causing Darcy’s heart to speed from normal to frenetic in a second.
“Get away from me! No! NO! STOP! ... STOP!!”
“Elizabeth!” Darcy gasped and raced forward with Bingley at his heels. He hurled the door open and tore into the ball room, only to freeze in confusion. The four ladies present were the two eldest Miss Bennets, Miss de Bourgh, and an unknown dark haired woman of medium height. Elizabeth stood with her back to the door, her arms held out in front of her, her posture stiff and defensive.
“Excellent, Miss Elizabeth!” the unfamiliar young woman declared with a clap of her hands. “Miss Bennet, that is how it is done. Indeed, it was so well done that I see help has come!”
Jane Bennet shook her head in wonder. “I do not think I can ... oh!”
The ladies all turned around in surprise and Bingley, his eyes dilated with confusion and anxiety, took a hasty step forward. “Miss Bennet, are you well?”
Jane narrowed her eyes and answered in a cool tone. “I am very well, Mr. Bingley.”
“May I inquire what is going on?” Darcy demanded, stepping closer to the love of his life. “We heard a scream from Miss Elizabeth and...”
“And came rushing to my rescue, Mr. Darcy?” Elizabeth finished with a gurgle of laughter. “I do thank you for your heroism, sir, but it is quite unnecessary. Miss Colby is beginning her instruction in the art of self-defense, and the first step is screaming loudly.”
Anne took in her cousin’s pale face, the confusion of Mr. Bingley, and smirked in amusement. “I do believe the time for screaming has come to an end. Shall we repair to the parlor for some tea and allow these gentlemen’s hearts to slow?”