Page 24 of I Thee Wed (Pride And Prejudice Variation #2)
The two sisters stood upstairs eagerly looking down onto the street, and at the appointed hour, Mr. Bingley’s carriage drew up to Gracechurch Street.
As they descended the stairs, Jane looked at her sister and said, “Lizzy, I scarcely dare to breathe, for fear that this is all a dream.” When they arrived, the house was glowing with candlelight, and they could hear the sound of voices, laughter, and music from a pianoforte drifting down from the drawing room above.
Both women then turned as Mr. Bingley himself met them at the door.
The smile on his face was so radiant that Jane trembled, wondering at the sudden change in her life.
“Miss Bennet, Miss Elizabeth, welcome! You do me infinite honor.” He bowed, then offered his arm to Jane, and he led the two women upstairs, treating Jane with such tender solicitude that Elizabeth released all doubts she had held against him.
In the drawing room, Elizabeth saw Mrs. Hurst reclining on a sofa, while her husband stood near the fire conversing with Mr. Darcy.
Georgiana, who sat at the pianoforte, smiled and rose as soon as she saw Elizabeth.
Caroline Bingley also stood to greet the sisters, but she did not smile.
Her civility sounded forced as she said, “Miss Bennet, Miss Elizabeth. What a surprise to see you in town.”
Elizabeth returned the greeting politely but said nothing more.
Jane, however, offered her thanks with warmth, and she took Caroline’s hand in both her own, looking as if she were pleased to see the woman.
When Mr. Bingley placed Jane beside him on the sofa, treating her as the guest of honor, Caroline grimaced briefly before turning toward Mr. Darcy.
Elizabeth saw the look that passed between them and became more certain than ever that they were responsible for the rift between her sister and her sister’s beau.
Georgiana crossed the room to Elizabeth and embraced her briefly. “I am so glad to see you again, Elizabeth. I had not expected such a pleasure this evening.”
The girl’s unaffected sweetness touched Elizabeth. “Come, sit with me and tell me what you thought of my last letter. Was it not fortunate for all of us Bennet sisters that Mr. Collins fell in love with the very sister who most wished to marry him?”
Georgiana giggled. “It was fortunate, Elizabeth. What would you have done had he fallen in love with you?”
Elizabeth laughed, and the two young women fell into easy conversation. From across the room, Mr. Darcy bowed toward the two Bennet ladies and offered a polite greeting, but he did not draw very near, for Miss Bingley had moved to his side and begun to whisper in his ear.
Dinner was announced, and Mr. Bingley offered his arm to Jane.
Caroline seized possession of Mr. Darcy’s arm and sent a smug look at Elizabeth, as if to say, he belongs to me.
The company descended to the dining parlor, where Elizabeth was impressed by a table richly laid with various dishes, the sparkling crystal and silver gleaming in the candlelight.
Mr. Bingley spoke often to Jane, and he looked at her with unconcealed admiration.
Mr. Darcy was silent as he listened to Elizabeth and his sister discussing Mary Bennet’s recent wedding.
He smiled to see how entranced his sister was with the telling of the tale, and with the storyteller herself.
Caroline observed how closely Mr. Darcy attended to Elizabeth.
He stared at the woman all through dinner.
She attempted to secure Mr. Darcy’s attention for herself, recalling entertainments they had attended and acquaintances they had met in recent weeks, all the while casting sly glances at Elizabeth.
Still, he made no answer, and Elizabeth did not see the sly looks, so absorbed was she in her own recitations.
Caroline’s hand fluttered upon his arm to claim his notice or to lend emphasis to her words.
At one point, she even laid her hand boldly upon his wrist while recounting an anecdote from a recent play.
Darcy disengaged himself at once; the next time it occurred, he drew his arm away, and on the third occasion, he brushed her hand aside.
Yet she either did not, or would not, take the hint.
Resolute in her delusion, she was determined to display her supposed possession of him and to warn Elizabeth, emphatically, to keep away from her man.
When dinner concluded, the party removed to their carriages for the drive to Drury Lane. Caroline was livid. Left alone in the carriage with the Hursts, she could no longer restrain herself.
“Charles told me to expect two additional guests at dinner, and I was certain he meant Mr. Sinclair and Sir Gareth Stewart. He has been attempting to shackle me to one or the other of his friends for months. Imagine my astonishment when the Bennet sisters appeared instead!”
Mrs. Hurst raised her brows and gave a languid shrug.
“Caroline, you give it too much meaning. The Bennets are simple country girls who will no doubt scurry back to their little village in Hertfordshire within a week or two, and you will be spared their company. Until that happens, you must endure it with as much grace as you can contrive, because railing against the inevitable will not make them vanish, however much you might wish it.”
Mr. Hurst mumbled, “I wish Caroline would vanish,” but neither sister heard him. Caroline was too incensed to answer, and she turned her face to look out the window, an angry frown upon her features.
The theatre was alive with ladies in silks and feathers, gentlemen in their evening coats, and the murmur of hundreds of voices filling the air.
Mr. Bingley’s box was well situated, and he soon had Jane seated beside him.
He scarcely took his eyes from her and was careful to explain the scenes when she asked what was happening.
The couple were easy in each other’s company.
Elizabeth, seated behind with Georgiana, observed the lovers with satisfaction.
Caroline, however, could hardly contain her vexation with her brother’s fawning behavior and Mr. Darcy’s evident fascination with Elizabeth.
Every whispered word between her brother and Jane sealed her fate.
She would, in the end, be connected to trade through this country upstart.
Caroline leaned toward Mrs. Hurst and muttered, “Look at our fool of a brother. He is bewitched.”
Mr. Hurst drawled dryly, “My dear Caroline, if I were in Bingley’s shoes, I should be quite undone by those blue eyes and that figure.
What man in his right mind could resist such charms?
” Both sisters frowned darkly at him, but he only chuckled unabashedly.
Caroline became more restless than before and, in turn, snapped her fan, adjusted her gloves, and cast frequent glances at Darcy, only to find him entirely transfixed by the other Bennet sister.
His gaze was fixed not upon herself, but upon Elizabeth. When the country nobody leaned forward to whisper some remark to Georgiana, the girl laughed softly, and the sight was almost more than Caroline could endure, for the woman had won the approbation of the brother.
When the performance ended, the Bingley party stood and began to exit their boxes to their waiting carriages. The night air was brisk, and the street was crowded with carriages and people pouring out of the theatre.
Sir Lawrence Pembroke spied Elizabeth in the throng and pressed forward, fighting the crush lest he lose sight of her. When he reached her side, he bowed deeply and took her hand in his.
“Miss Elizabeth! I am happy to see that you are in London, and that I have been fortunate enough to discover you.” He inclined his head politely to the rest of the party. “Good evening. So happy to encounter friends in this crush.”
His greeting was general, and then he turned quickly back to Elizabeth, watching her with evident admiration. “Tell me, Miss Elizabeth, how long do you remain in town? If you would allow me, might I have the honor of calling upon you?”
Elizabeth, surprised by his pointed and eager attentions, replied with composure. “Yes, Sir Lawrence. I am staying with my aunt and uncle at 23 Gracechurch Street. I have no fixed engagements, if it would please you to call upon me tomorrow.”
He bowed again, satisfied with her answer and with the smile of invitation he perceived in her eyes. Mr. Darcy, however, was not pleased and frowned down at Pembroke with visible displeasure before offering Elizabeth his arm.
“Miss Elizabeth,” he said curtly, “we must be going, or your uncle will begin to worry.” Without waiting for further parley, he took her elbow and guided her toward the carriage.
Bingley, meanwhile, lingered behind with Jane. He would not let her go until he had secured her promise of another meeting. “Miss Bennet, I hope you and Miss Elizabeth will allow me to call tomorrow. I will not be able to sleep without your invitation to do so.”
Jane, her eyes lowered but her smile full of happiness, replied, “We shall be very glad to see you again tomorrow, sir.”
Caroline Bingley watched the exchange between Darcy and Elizabeth and could not remove the frown from her face, nor the purse of her lips, which revealed clearly enough to anyone who cared to see what she thought of it all.
Never in all the seven years of her acquaintance with Darcy had he once displayed such possessiveness toward her, nor anything approaching it.
The sight of his hand upon Elizabeth’s arm stung bitterly.
Leaning toward her sister, she whispered, “Do you see how he guards her, Louisa? As though she were already his! In all these years, he has never so much as raised a brow in jealousy for me.”
Mrs. Hurst gave a noncommittal hum, too practiced in her sister’s complaints to engage them deeply.
Mr. Hurst, however, muttered under his breath, “No man in his right mind would feel possessive of that harridan.”
Louisa shot him a quelling look, but the corners of his mouth twitched as though he had amused himself exceedingly. Caroline, fortunately, had not caught his remark, else the scene would have ended in a very public quarrel upon the steps of the theatre.
And as Mr. Bingley’s second carriage conveyed them back toward Gracechurch Street, Elizabeth, observing the glow upon her sister’s countenance, thought with quiet triumph, Yes, Mr. Bingley is still Jane’s.