Page 54 of Elizabeth and Caroline
“I suppose I see what you’re saying,” said Caroline. “Because women have their own rules and they wish for women to rise their way, by following what they think is important for a woman to have in society.”
“Yes, and it’s not the same thing as what charms a man,” said Elizabeth. “What we are attempting to do is to thrust ourselves high enough into the esteem of the women who mind the gates of society that we get them to recommend you to the right sort of men. It’s a more difficult task and it’s more risky but the results, if we achieve it, will be more profound.”
“No one is going to accept me,” said Caroline, sighing. “You, certainly, but not me.”
“It’s a process, Caroline,” said Elizabeth. “We must start somewhere.”
“Well,” said Caroline, “I am ever so grateful to have you in my corner, then. I could not ask for a better friend.”
“We have a vow,” said Elizabeth, smiling at her.
“Yes, we do,” said Caroline.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
THE FIRST BALLwent quite well, if Elizabeth said so herself. She got that day after to rest, spending most of it curled up with a book. She even begged off dinner that day, too exhausted to do anything at all.
But the second day, there were callers.
The women came, and they spoke of her reticule buttoned to her dress, and they spoke of gossip they had heard about eligible men, and Elizabeth began to soon have a list—not of men that she thought would be good for Caroline, admittedly. She had a list of men that Caroline should avoid. It was rather depressing, really.
There was a week of this, and another ball to go to—a rush job on another dress in the same style, this one with the reticule less obvious and more of a stylistic and unobtrusive ornamentation. Elizabeth was excited, feeling as if she was making headway.
Then, callers arrived that she had not been expecting. It was the Lady Matlock and her son, Colonel Fitzwilliam, her husband’s cousin.
Elizabeth received them in the drawing room along with her husband and with Miss Darcy, and she had refreshments brought up. She frantically asked her husband, upon hearing that the countess was there, if he knew what sweets she preferred and he told her she liked lemon squares, and by some miracle some were made up, and Elizabeth was glad.
She was quite prepared for Lady Matlock to disapprove of her.
Lady Matlock did not speak much, at first. Her son quite took control of the conversation. He was an amiable kind of man, not handsome but quite gregarious. He and her husband were obviously close. They spoke with a sort of familiarity that revealed friendship. The colonel told an amusing story about following someone through the wooded areas of France only to discover that it was not a soldier at all but a dog who’d somehow gotten himself tangled up in a French uniform.
“So what did you do?” said Elizabeth.
“I helped get the dog’s front paws out of the arms of it, of course,” said the colonel. “The buttons were tangled up in its fur, too. I don’t know how the poor thing got itself so badly stuck. The dog was grateful, of course. We made him into a pet and named him Milo, only to discover a few days later that Milo was a girl!”
Elizabeth laughed.
Mr. Darcy laughed.
Lady Matlock laughed, too.
Georgiana looked up from the lemon square she’d been eating, seemed to realize she had missed something, and forced out a laugh as well.
Lady Matlock turned to address her niece. “I heard you’d moved in here with your brother, then, Miss Darcy.”
“Oh, yes, well, it seemed expedient is all,” said Georgiana quietly, looking like that frightened squirrel again.
“It was my idea,” spoke up Mr. Darcy smoothly. “I missed my sister. She had been away from me for too long. Indeed, she had been away from everybody for too long. She is doing much better with some company. I have my wife to thank for pointing that out to me, you see. My wife, she understands people very well.”
Lady Matlock and the colonel both turned to gaze upon Elizabeth, who felt herself flushing with embarrassment. She was not at all certain that Mr. Darcy’s family members would appreciate his admiration of her. They might besuspicious of it, in fact.
“Yes,” said Lady Matlock in a lilting voice, “I have heard such things about Mrs. Darcy, of course. Word has traveled far and wide about her. She is, by all accounts, an extraordinary sort of person.”
“I certainly think so,” said Mr. Darcy.
“I can see that,” said the colonel.
Elizabeth was a bit alarmed. “Extraordinary?” she said. “Who could be saying that?”
