Page 57 of Elizabeth and Caroline
The man looked up. He had an interesting sort of countenance, she thought, almost weathered, craggy. Not handsome, not exactly, but compelling in another way. “Oh, pardon me. I was looking for my snuff tin, and I think I may…” He reached into the pocket of his pants and pulled it out. “Ah, there it is.” He proffered it. “Care for any?”
“No, indeed,” said Louisa.
Caroline shook her head. “Thank you, no.”
“I suppose this is the height of impropriety, here, us conversing without an introduction,” said the man. “Let us simply pretend to have known each other all along, shall we?”
Caroline smiled. “Of course. Why, you have always known my sister Mrs. Hurst and myself, Miss Bingley.”
“Yes, and you have always known me, Colonel Fitzwilliam,” he said. “We are old, old friends.”
“The oldest,” said Caroline.
“The very oldest,” said Colonel Fitzwilliam. “Why, I have already claimed the first two dances on your card, have I not, Miss Bingley?”
She let out a little laugh. “So, you have.” She looked at the card. “There you are, right there, written in.” She pointed to the empty lines.
“We have, indeed, been planning on meeting up here tonight for positively ages.”
“Months, truly,” said Caroline. “We have been speaking of simply nothing else every time we see each other.”
“And, being such old and faithful friends, we see each other very often,” said the colonel.
Louisa looked back and forth between them, shaking her head. “I think I am going to seek my husband in the whist room.”
“Of course,” said Caroline.
The colonel gave her a wave. “Best of luck. Safe travels.”
Caroline smirked.
“It is only the next room, sir,” said Louisa. She looked at Caroline. “You will not go off somewhere with this strange man.”
“Strange man?” said Caroline. “We have known Colonel Fitzwilliam since infancy, my dear sister.”
“Yes, really, how could you forget such a thing?” said the colonel to Louisa. “You wound me.”
“You two enjoy your little joke,” said Louisa and fled.
They watched her go.
“You’re much more fun than your sister, aren’t you?” said the colonel.
“Oh, indeed,” said Caroline, even though no one at all would describe her as fun.
“It’s a good thing you’re the one who’s not married, then,” said the colonel. “That’s excellent luck.”
“Is it?” she said. “Are you single, sir? Are you looking for a wife?” My, she was forward now, wasn’t she?
“It is a truth universally acknowledged that any single man at a ball must be in want of a wife,” said the colonel. “But in my case, I want a wife much more than any wife must want me. You do not know of me, truly?”
“Fitzwilliam,” she said. “Not those Fitwilliams?”
“Oh, yes, can there be any other Fitzwilliams?”
“Then you must know my dearest friend, who I am eagerly awaiting the arrival of, Mrs. Darcy,” said Caroline.
“Yes, my cousin’s wife! She’s your dearest friend, you say? Good, then, she can introduce us.”
