Page 8 of The Happiness of a Most Beloved Sister (Pride and Prejudice Variation)
CHAPTER SEVEN
E lizabeth gratefully took a seat against the wall next to her friend Charlotte, not at all ready to subject her throbbing feet to another dance just yet.
It was only the second set, but standing up with Mr Collins for the first had temporarily hobbled her; it would be a miracle if she could countenance another before supper.
Poor Mary seemed to be enjoying her dance with Mr Collins as much as Elizabeth had, but she had not been as quick to escape as Kitty and Lydia.
All of Jane’s dances were likely spoken for already, so she was almost certainly safe from the ungainly parson.
Even if not, Jane could surely claim indisposition as her excuse; presently, she was sitting out the second set in the company of Mr Bingley, having nearly swooned at the conclusion of the first. Elizabeth had limped through the crowd to examine her elder sister’s condition only to be waved away by Mrs Bennet with assurances that Jane was ‘very well with Mr Bingley’.
Elizabeth had then adjourned to where Charlotte was placed with the matrons and affirmed spinsters .
“Did you enjoy dancing with your cousin?”
She turned an exasperated scowl upon her friend. “I believe you very well know the answer to that.”
Charlotte chuckled and flicked open her fan. “Now, Eliza, it could not have been that bad. He is an eligible man, one who has been most pointed in his attentions to you. Women have endured far worse things.”
Although verbally conceding that this was true, to herself Elizabeth vowed to never accept any offer Mr Collins might make her.
She was hardly inclined to marry in general, much less throw herself away on a man who could not follow the simple steps of a country dance.
This fault alone did not disqualify the clergyman as a potential husband, but his stupidity and undeserved superiority in all other areas certainly did.
Matters of love and fidelity aside, she could not possibly bear his company on a permanent basis.
Knowing that their opinions on matrimony rarely aligned, Elizabeth sought to change the subject.
“Speaking of what I shall be forced to endure, I am engaged to dance the supper set with Mr Darcy, of all gentlemen. I cannot say I am looking forward to it, but, based on his performance at the assembly, I can at least reassure myself that my toes will likely escape the experience no worse for wear.”
“The supper set, you say?” repeated Charlotte, straightening in her chair and leaning towards her with avid interest. “A significant choice. Perhaps he means to single you out.”
“For some mischievous reason of his own, I am sure. No doubt he means to critique my dancing over the meal.”
Charlotte shook her head at Elizabeth as if she were being intentionally obtuse. “Do not be nonsensical, Eliza, it does not suit you. I daresay he will be a fine partner and you will find him very agreeable.”
“Heaven forbid! That would be the greatest misfortune of all, to find a man agreeable whom one is determined to hate. Do not wish me such an evil.”
“You want me to pity you, but you will find me incapable of it. You have been singled out by two highly eligible men this evening, whereas I have been approached by none. When you have reached my age and find yourself lacking dance partners altogether, you will find the complaints of younger, prettier ladies far more tedious than you do now.”
Elizabeth winced at her inconsiderate faux pas . “Oh, Charlotte, do forgive me. I have been so unfeeling!”
Charlotte merely smiled and tapped Elizabeth on the knee with her closed fan. “You are forgiven. I know you never intended any insult.”
“I assuredly did not. You are very good.”
“Not so very good, only familiar with you and your prejudices. You will absolutely refuse to trust the interest of any gentleman, or accept that his overtures might be honourable.”
“You mean Mr Bingley?”
“I refer to Mr Darcy.”
“Mr Darcy!” Elizabeth’s surprise was a palpable thing, and she blinked at Charlotte with incomprehension. “You cannot be serious.”
“As serious as anything. You will not see it, but he admires you.”
Elizabeth gaped at her smirking friend in silence for several long moments. She then shook her head, dispelling the shock that rendered her mute. “What a preposterous notion! Charlotte, where do you get these ideas?”
Charlotte sighed and rolled her eyes to the ceiling as if praying for patience.
“You are wilfully blind. Have you not noticed his stares? The way he follows you about a room? He secured your company for a dance and supper, for heaven’s sake.
The man could not be more obvious without getting down on bended knee and reciting a ballad. ”
I have been used to consider poetry as the food of love.
The memory of the gentleman in question championing verse as a method of wooing an unsuspecting maiden in the same style as Mr Wilbur strengthened Elizabeth’s resolve against him further.
Coolly, she replied to Charlotte, “Even were Mr Darcy inclined to do such a thing, I can assure you that it would have no effect on me .”
It was Charlotte’s turn to apologise, and she did so with genuine contrition. “Forgive me, I had quite forgotten about…well. I am truly sorry to have reminded you of that .”
Elizabeth relaxed, realising that she had been too quick to claim offence.
“No, no, you did not mean it. Nor are you at all to blame for the way I feel. I know, rationally, that not all suitors are as fickle as Mr Wilbur, but how can one determine which of them are in earnest and which are merely in it for the sport? One cannot tell the sincere from the sinister.”
Charlotte reached out and patted her arm. “I cannot imagine Mr Darcy ever trifling with a lady’s feelings.”
Elizabeth waved her hand, dismissing Charlotte’s unnecessary defence of Mr Darcy.
“I do not speak of him, for I am sure you are wrong about this ‘admiration’ you believe he possesses. I mean Mr Bingley. What if his sisters are correct and he is easily beguiled by every pretty face? What if his feelings do not remain constant to Jane?”
Sighing, Charlotte withdrew her hand into her lap. “If Mr Bingley has a wandering eye, then Jane ought to take every chance to fix it upon herself while she can.”
“You cannot be serious!”
“I am in earnest. Jane should make the most of every half an hour in which she can command his attention. She is already doing an admirable job of it—see how she plays at being the wilting damsel to maintain his interest?”
Elizabeth looked to Charlotte, her eyes wide and mouth agape. “What are you insinuating?”
“I insinuate nothing,” Charlotte replied with a queer smirk. “I am saying directly that Jane is clever in how she utilises her ostensible frailty to capture Mr Bingley’s full attention.”
Hearing this opinion of Jane for the third time in recent memory had Elizabeth feeling decidedly off-balance.
Were her powers of discernment so lacking?
She could readily believe that Jane might suffer convenient faintness to avoid Mr Collins—who would not?
—but intentionally deceiving them all? Impossible!
“Nonsense! She would never do such a thing.”
“I suppose a single set has exhausted her, then?”
Elizabeth pressed her lips together in vexation. “She has been ill recently, as you are well aware. That, plus the exercise and heat of the room, have conspired to make her light-headed, that is all. She pretends nothing.”
“Believe as you will, but I only meant it as a compliment. I shall caution, however, that she ought to be wary of appearing too enfeebled. Men want a wife, not an invalid, to oversee their household. If Mr Bingley should come to believe her too frail to attend to her duties, or bear him children, then he might seek a spouse elsewhere.”
“Your warning is entirely moot, for as I have said, Jane pretends nothing. She is exactly what she seems, no more, no less, and I only hope Mr Bingley is deserving of her. Which brings me back to my actual concern over his constancy. What if he hies off to London and forgets her for some other pretty face?”
“I would not worry overmuch, so long as Jane stays her course and elicits a proposal before he leaves the area. When she is secure of him, he is sure to settle down. Even if not, she will still have the respectability and security of being married.”
“And if Mr Bingley proves faithless once they are married?”
“Happiness in marriage is a matter of chance, as I have oft said before. There is no benefit in being unduly anxious over a gentleman’s proclivities prior to the wedding day. Afterwards, it is up to the wife to keep him happy and content at home.”
Biting her thumb through her glove, Elizabeth considered Charlotte’s point. It did not sit well with her, not at all. Could Jane withstand the betrayal of a husband when that of a mere suitor had nearly killed her?
The second set officially came to an end, and they observed the dancers disperse.
When Mr Long arrived to collect Jane for the next, Mr Bingley stood and transferred her hand into his with obvious reluctance.
The pair of them exchanged smiles before Jane was led away and Mr Bingley departed, presumably to find his own partner.
The pair of them certainly appeared delighted with one another; was Elizabeth worried over nothing?