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“Of what do you talk, my beloved Jane,” asked Richard, who noticed little that was not directly related to his much-loved wife.

“We are talking about Lizzy and William,” Jane elucidated her blind husband and brother.

“What of them?” Andrew did not show any more insight that his younger brother.

“Are both of you blind, husband?” Marie asked as she playfully slapped her husband’s arm with her fan.

Seeing the clueless looks from both men, she decided that they needed to have the situation explained to them.

“Do neither of you see the way that they look at each other? Not only that, our sister agreed to dance the first with him.”

“The supper set too,” Jane agreed.

“You are both so mawkish. Are you trying to insinuate that our sister Lizzy and our cousin William have developed a tender regard for each other?” Richard looked from one sister to the other in disbelief.

“That is exactly what we are saying!” Marie replied, exasperated at the wilful blindness of their husbands.

Both men searched their memories and arrived at the realisation at almost the precise moment that each other did.

Suddenly the looks, the shy interactions, how each seemed to seek the other out in company, made sense to the brothers who were too focused on their own wives to see blossoming love in others.

The brothers, Richard especially, grinned mischievously as they considered how much they could tease the stoic and reserved cousin.

Their wives could see their devious minds at work. Jane being older spoke for both after some silent communication that only twins understand. “If either of you tease William or Lizzy, it will be a long while before the ice melts in our bedchambers!”

The fate that was alluded to would be too high a price to pay to tease their cousin, so the two pledged that they would behave with regard to William and Lizzy.

Caroline Bingley danced the third set with Mr. Darcy.

While they danced, she gently canvassed his seemingly closeness with Lady Elizabeth.

He would not delve into the subject, but he did not need to.

She could not miss the way that every time he thought he was not being observed his eyes would find her friend.

She also could not miss that the surreptitious looks were not his alone.

As much as she had set her cap at Darcy for a brief time, she could see without any doubt in her mind that if he was able to capture their Lizzy’s heart, they would be ideal one for the other.

The Bennets and their family were aware that to try and force a confidence or push Lady Elizabeth before she was ready would only engage her stubborn nature with full force in the opposing direction, so they sat back and watched the couple who did not yet know they were a couple.

Lord Thomas Bennet and his brother shook their heads watching the undeclared courtship before their eyes.

Neither brother could comprehend how the two had gone from Lizzy not wanting to be around the man to where they were now friends, and if she would allow herself to see it, much more.

Elizabeth’s father and surrogate father were not unhappy at the development.

There was no doubt that Darcy was an honourable man who would not trifle with Lizzy, so if they ever got to the point, the suit would have the full support of both dukes.

~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~

At the time of the ball, George Wickham was trying to find an exit from his predicament in case his ‘perfect’ plan did not succeed.

After searching his scheming brain, he came to the realisation that there was none.

The Spaniard’s men, although louts, were dogged in their dedication to the duty that they had been given.

The two had split the day into two twelve-hour shifts and one of them was awake and near Wickham at all times.

They had gone so far as to nail the windows shut in the chambers that he shared with his paramour, cutting off that route of escape.

Any time that he was not in Karen’s chambers, they were with him.

When he imbibed, they would sip a drink, but never more than one or two so they were always alert.

Wickham surmised that their boss either paid them very well or that they were afraid of him and did not want to end up in the Thames with a permanent ‘smile’, or a combination of both.

No, there was only one option, and it was not failure.

Soon intelligence would start being collected again.

They would find something; all he needed was one chance.

He was not a religious man, but that night he prayed for divine intervention in his dastardly quest so he could save his own neck.

Even in his prayers to God, he was purely selfish.

He had delayed long enough, he had to go to her, as distasteful as it had become to him.

He needed Karen Younge’s assistance, so having her discover that he had no true regard for her would be disastrous at this point, so he took a deep breath, tipped the contents of his glass down his throat, and headed to Mrs. Younge’s bedchamber to do his duty.

~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~

Upon completion of the supper set, Darcy led the lady that owned his heart to be seated.

They ate at a table with his married cousins, the betrothed couple, and the couple who were aching to make their courtship official.

They were joined by Mr. and Mrs. Pierce.

Lady Elizabeth’s friend Charlotte sat on her other side while Darcy, after canvassing what foods she preferred, left to fulfil his mission.

“Eliza, am I wrong that Mr. Darcy’s company is not as distasteful as it once was?” her friend asked with an arched brow.

“You are not wrong, Charlotte,” Elizabeth offered no more.

“Come now, Eliza. How do you explain the thawing between the two of you?” Mrs. Pierce asked, not satisfied with her friend’s glib answer.

“We apologised to each other and both granted forgiveness. We are cousins now, after all, and I dare say that we have become friends.”

“Friends, Eliza?” Charlotte challenged.

“Yes, Charlotte, friends !” Elizabeth gave her a quelling look that her friend recognised well. Eliza Bennet had told her in no uncertain terms that the subject was closed.

The men returned with sumptuous fare for the ladies then sat down next to the lady with whom each had danced the previous set and Elizabeth turned to Miss Bingley. “Are you enjoying your ball, Caroline?” The answer was obvious from the look of contentment on Caroline’s face.

“Yes, thank you, Lizzy. I am most decidedly enjoying the ball.” She looked at her betrothed. “Though I think that I will enjoy the celebration in a few short weeks even more!”

“I could not agree with my fiancée more,” Graham Phillips agreed as he looked into his beloved’s eyes. “That will be the best of days for me as well.”

“I wish that Papa would relent and let Ch…, er, anyone that may desire to declare for me to do so,” Miss Phillips said with a tinge of petulance.

Bingley took her hand under the table and squeezed it in solidarity with her.

She was the woman that he loved beyond the capacity he had believed existed in him.

Yes, he would have liked to have been allowed to ask for her hand already, never mind request a courtship, but he would honour her father’s wishes.

He would not, could not, put his beloved in a position where she would have to choose between him and her father.

At a table across the room, the Dukes and their Duchesses were seated with the Matlocks and Ladies Anne and Catherine.

“My Anne would have enjoyed this ball immensely,” Lady Catherine opined. “She is in town with Mrs. Jenkinson. She was not feeling well when we left, and I advised her that her health was more important than the ball. If it were more than a trifling cold, I would have remained with her.”

“Have Anne and Ashby set a date for their wedding, Catherine?” Lady Rose Bennet asked.

“They have, Rose. They selected Saturday the 21st day of March, and she will, of course, marry from Rosings,” the proud mother reported.

“You must let us know if we can be of assistance, Catherine. We are all family, after all,” Lady Sarah Bennet offered genuinely.

“Anything that you need Catherine, all you need do is ask,” her brother added, Reggie doing something that he had not done in many years, he winked at his sister and was rewarded with a giggle just as she had when they were younger.

“Is everything ready for Anne’s engagement ball, sister?” Lady Anne asked her sister-in-law. “It is less than a fortnight. I apologise if I have been remiss, Elaine, but please inform me if there is anything that you need me to make my namesake’s ball a success.”

“There is no reason to apologise, Anne. You know that I would not have been recalcitrant in requesting if I had the need for assistance.” All who knew Elaine as the force of nature that she was nodded in agreement.

“The plans are all made, the invitations will be sent out as soon as we arrive back at Matlock House, and all that is needed is for chef to start making enough white soup.”

“I cannot believe that the Georgie that I see here tonight is the same one that we met last year, Anne,” the Duchess of Hertfordshire stated.

“You do not know how it warms my heart, Sarah,” Lady Anne smiled with love for her daughter.

“I credit much of her recovery to your daughters, most specifically Lizzy. She has become the best of friends with Kitty, Loretta, and Mary, but it was Lizzy that drew her out and showed her that even though she knew about Ramsgate there was no judgement, only love and acceptance.” A tear of gratitude rolled down Lady Anne’s cheek.

“Our Lizzy, when she is not delivering a set down,” Lord Thomas smiled at the family elders gathered, “has that way with people. I, for one, was not surprised that she was able to draw Georgiana out the way that she did.”

“Whatever the reason, I have never seen my Georgie happier or more self-assured and self-confident. I used to despair for her having no company but Mrs. Annesley, William, and myself. Now look at her; she revels in her connection to girls of similar ages. The other girl, the one with the light brown hair with curls, that is Maria Lucas, is it not?” Lady Anne asked.

“Yes, that is Maria,” Lady Sarah agreed. “She is a good sort of girl, mayhap not the most intelligent, but a loyal friend and she would never do anything to harm anyone.”

At the end of the dinner hour, Ladies Loretta, Mary, and Kitty, along with Misses Darcy and Lucas, wished their parents good night together as Sir William and Lady Lucas had joined the Bennets’ table toward the end of the meal.

Sir William’s wife, Sarah Lucas, was an acquaintance of the Duchess but not as close as her husband was to the Duke.

The loquacious knight had long ago realised that company like those at the Duke’s table had no interest in hearing about his knighting, so he remained silent on the subject in their presence.

Soon after the farewells, the young ladies retired from the ball and were escorted back to Longbourn by companions and guards. Maria Lucas had been invited to overnight with her new friends, and, with permission from her mother, had readily accepted the invitation.

Lady Elizabeth turned down all applications to dance the final set, a waltz, without consciously knowing that her heart had communicated to her head that if she were not to dance the final set with her cousin William, then she would not dance with another.

The man in question did not ask any lady to dance the final set for the same reason.

At the end of the ball, the Bennet Party was one of the first to leave as they had no desire to keep their hosts from retiring any longer than necessary.

As Caroline Bigley lay down in her bed, she could not but think of the kiss that her betrothed had managed before the Phillips party departed.

Graham had pulled her aside into a darkened parlour near the entrance and had bestowed a toe-curling kiss full of passion and promise.

Caroline felt that the days between this one and the one on which she would resign the name Bingley and replace it with Phillips could not pass fast enough.