Page 27 of The Countess and Her Sister

When Elizabeth and Rebecca came down to breakfast the next morning, they found Jane sitting alone at the table, in a pensive pose.

There were ink stains on her fingers; Elizabeth supposed that her sister had confided in her diary the previous night, for she had not retired in humor to speak with her sisters.

Rebecca did not wait to discern Jane’s mood.

As soon as she had made herself a plate at the sideboard, she sat down across from Jane and began her questioning directly.

“Will you now tell us why you were in such haste to leave the party last night? Not that I should ever complain of removing myself from Lady Catherine’s company, but I am vastly curious.

Did you quarrel with Mr. Bingley, or any of his erstwhile paramours? What did they say to you at dinner?”

Jane gave a heavy sigh. “It is a cruel twist of irony, perhaps – at dinner they were all very civil to me, and spoke not a word of Mr. Bingley. Lady Catherine’s scheme might have failed entirely, but for Lady Susan’s attempt to thwart it.”

Elizabeth studied Jane; it was evident that she had slept poorly. “Would you have preferred not to know?”

Rebecca chortled. “I cannot think it necessary to know who an admirer might have fancied before you; better to imagine that until they met you , they never knew romance. I am sure all the gentlemen convince themselves that a woman is quite incapable of appreciating a man’s charms until pays his addresses to her; in this rare aspect, I believe they show tremendous circumspection. ”

Jane shook her head. “I am a widow with a child – no gentleman could reasonably conclude that I have never….”

“But that is not fair,” Elizabeth cried.

“I have been up half the night, Lizzy, and have found a sense of balance in it.”

“Tell us at once,” Rebecca purred. “I am sure you have convinced yourself that it is perfectly rational to continue admiring Mr. Bingley, and I must know how you have done it.”

Jane pursed her lips as she considered the arguments that must have seemed more sensible in the wee hours.

“To begin with, I must tell you that I left the party early because I wished to deny Lady Catherine the satisfaction of seeing me so discomposed. Mr. Bingley was quite beside himself, and I could not in good conscience add to his mortification – and thus her triumph.”

“Jane, you really are the best of us all,” Elizabeth said. “It had not occurred to me that our hasty departure could be borne of such compassion. I hope Lady Catherine was heartily disappointed in the failure of her scheme – if indeed it was such.”

“And another time, Lizzy, I shall hear why you quarreled with her,” Rebecca said with a pointed look.

Elizabeth did not meet her sisters’ eyes. Fidgeting with her fork, she asked, “ Did Lady Catherine’s purpose succeed?”

When Elizabeth finally looked up, Jane sat up straighter and held her chin high.

“You are right that I spent many hours agonizing over the matter – certainly I cannot let her succeed in distressing me. I mean to make my own choice, in my own time. She may seek to pressure me into a decision not of my own making, but I am older and wiser than the first time such a choice was forced upon me.”

“ Brava, Jane!” Rebecca clapped her hands.

“Lady Catherine is ten times as dangerous as your mother, and I am glad you have the good sense to withstand her machinations. Poor Bingley! I should hate to be in a room with all the dolts I have ever fancied – many years ago, before I developed the good sense to aspire to spinsterhood.”

“That is just what I wrote in my diary,” Jane said with a sad little laugh.

“I thought of the years I spent as an ingenue. I came out at fifteen, when I knew so little of the world that I was inclined to like everybody. Over the next four years, I am sure I admired many of the gentlemen I met; two or three times, I formed an attachment, only for Mamma to spoil it with her meddling. She assiduously courted every eligible suitor and discouraged those she thought beneath me, and I was left always disappointed until the next prospect came along.”

“No great difference to Mr. Bingley, and the interference of his pernicious sister,” Elizabeth suggested.

“Exactly,” Jane agreed. “Forgive me for retiring without confiding in you last night. I know you both so well that I believe your counsel resides in my mind already, and I wanted only my diary to organize my own sentiments.”

“Well, if you think no worse of Mr. Bingley, I am perfectly satisfied,” Rebecca declared with a grin. “That he did not perish of apoplexy speaks well of him, for I have seen my aunt have a far worse effect on many a greater man.”

“He was very uncomfortable,” Jane said. “I believe Lady Susan was correct, that the three young ladies whose presence embarrassed him must all have been perfectly willing to receive his attentions. I am not entirely without reservation on that score, but I am resolved to judge him no more harshly than I should wish to be regarded myself.”

Rebbecca grinned. “Truly, he looked as if he would shuffle off his mortal coil at once when he saw that all his former paramours were seated near you at dinner.”

“My concern is not that any of those ladies might recapture his admiration. I fear only that I may yet become one of them, if his interest in me proves to be of similarly short duration. But I shall maintain an open mind where all my suitors are concerned – except of course for Captain Tilney, who has shown himself to be most unsuitable.”

Rebecca shook her head with a rueful laugh. “You mean to still receive the addresses of Darcy and Henry, as well as Mr. Bingley?”

“It has been but a month,” Jane said with a little shrug.

“It is rather ironic,” Elizabeth mused. “Lady Catherine meant to slander Mr. Bingley by exposing his previous attachments, but it is you, Jane, to be presently receiving the attentions of more than just Mr. Bingley.”

Jane looked a little offended. “Did you not encourage me to enjoy the luxury of choice?”

“Of course,” Elizabeth replied, fearing her own selfish feelings had intruded upon her sentiments toward Jane.

She recalled what Mr. Darcy had told her, that he wished to withdraw his courtship of Jane, but decided she could not interfere in the matter, despite the secret hope she had begun to cherish.

Rebecca grinned. “Then you will not heed Lizzy’s abysmal advice to quit society entirely?”

Jane blushed and smiled back at them. “I know you both are enjoying our return to society, and I would not deny you that pleasure any more than I would shy away from a chance at happiness. Besides, Rebecca, I am not entirely sure Henry Tilney is courting me when you are present. Lizzy and Richard will owe me a million pounds between the pair of them if you do not end an old maid.”

Elizabeth was relieved that her sister would not draw the household back into seclusion, and even more at ease once Richard and Lady Augusta joined them and turned the subject to Lady Thurston’s upcoming ball.

The event was to be a masquerade in honor of Lady Thurston’s friend, Lady Susan Vernon.

The merry widow had come out of mourning for her daughter and made no secret of her desire to wed again while she could still have another child.

The occasion of her thirty-fifth birthday promised to be an evening of romance and revelry, for Lady Thurston’s parties were never dull.

“We shall be entirely debauched if Lady Susan has anything to say about it,” Rebecca cried. “But how are we to have costumes made on such short notice? We have but two days.”

“I shall see to that,” Lady Augusta declared.

After their repast, she had an old trunk brought down from the attic, and she examined its contents in the drawing room with her children.

“Twenty years ago, my husband and I, and the Darcys and Tilneys – we used to be quite a set! I remember one ball we attended had a medieval theme.”

It was just as she opened the trunk to peruse its contents that Mr. Bingley and Mr. Darcy were announced, and Lady Augusta entreated them to take tea as she reminisced on the happy event where she and the dearest companions of her youth had made merry in their medieval garb.

It did not escape Rebecca’s notice that there were six costumes in the old trunk, and six young people present.

She took to her mother’s scheme with alacrity, and the two women began to distribute the Arthurian themed costumes.

“I am the same size as Mamma, and I could not allow anyone else to be Morgan le Fay.”

“Nobody should challenge you for the role, I am sure,” Richard drawled as Rebecca rested a very ominous dark crown atop her head and then inspected the deep purple velvet of the gown.

Rebecca gave a dramatic flourish of her hand, as if casting some enchantment on Richard. “Shall you be my brother, King Arthur?”

“No indeed,” Lady Augusta said, holding up armored shoulder pads and a deep green cape with a gold clasp. “You are the same size as your father, Darcy, or near enough. Do try it on!”

Mr. Darcy looked hesitantly at the proffered costume. “I shall attend the ball to please you and Lady Susan, but you must allow me to consult with my valet if any alterations are required.”

“And here is Lady Anne’s gown – she looked so beautiful as Queen Guinevere! I recall she was with child at the time – the gown may require some alteration.” Lady August gazed down fondly at the green and gold garment in her hands, but before she could offer it to Jane, Lady Rebecca interjected.

“This shimmery, sheer blue confection is surely the loveliest of the three! Look, Jane! It is the same color as your cherished diary – are you not fond of that shade? And see how it sparkles like water?”

“The Lady of the Lake,” Mr. Bingley cried, obviously keen to imagine Jane wearing the nymph-like gown as Rebecca held it up to Jane’s body.