Page 15 of May I Have the Pleasure
The standard bows and curtsies were exchanged, though the eldest Miss Drake had a rough go of it, owing to the need to lean rather heavily on a cane.
After appropriate greetings were exchanged, Miss Eliza continued, “Here is your challenge, should you decide to accept. My elder sister never dances for obvious reasons. I should like you to work out a way for her to do so.”
Darcy found himself more intrigued by the challenge than put out. “Has no one ever attempted to remedy your situation, Miss Drake.”
“Eliza is the only one who holds such ambitions, sir. I can barely walk, let alone dance, and have neither desire nor intention to make a fool of myself.”
“Aaaaahhhhhhh…” he replied slowly, in what he hoped sounded more like wise old sage than confused schoolboy. “I see your predicament. You assume that trying and failing will make you look foolish?”
She blushed and stared at the floor, but finally nodded.
He leaned in closer to almost whisper, “I have tried and failed many times, Miss Drake. I can assure you in no uncertain terms, that I do not like failure one little bit—but most of those, when seen in a prudential light, acted to improve my character.
“My father liked to quote Seneca:It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare; it is because we do not dare that things are difficult.
“I cannot blame you for not trying to catch the wind, but perhaps you might be generous enough to preventmefrom feeling foolish?”
She stared in confusion. “I do not understand.”
He chuckled and was pleased to see her relax marginally—perhaps enough to be just tight as a bowstring, but at least one that was not yet drawn.
“I am a scion of an ancient estate, trained from birth to solve challenges. Your sister has thrown the gauntlet, and I would find it beyond foolish to simply slink off, unable to even make the attempt. What would my ancestors think?”
That did it, and Miss Drake burst into laughter. He still thought her nervous, but at least he had distracted her from her own fears.
“How about it, Miss Drake? Shall we look foolish together? I can assure you that failure to answer the challenge would be far more humiliating to me than you.”
Still laughing, she shook her finger at him. “Let us see what you and your ancestors are made of, good sir.”
With a laugh, he asked the ladies to await his return, then walked quickly across the room to confer with Bingley and several ladies.
Five minutes later, he returned with what looked like most of the Bennet family.
“What think you, Miss Lydia? Can you manage it?”
"Oh!" said Lydia stoutly, "I am not afraid; for though I am the youngest, I’m the tallest.”
“What exactly isit?” asked Miss Drake nervously.
“La! Dancing, of course! Ready, Mr Darcy?”
Darcy turned to signal Miss Mary, who began the slow tune he requested. Darcy bowed and held his hand, while Miss Lydia took the cane from Miss Drake and handed it off to Mrs Bennet who had come along to see what all the fuss was about. Miss Lydia boldly placed Miss Drake’s arm over her shoulders, grabbed her waist, and bodily manhandled her into the dance, using herself as a replacement for the cane.
Darcy took up his position, and they began the slow, stately moves of the minuet. Bingley and Miss Bennet joined, as did Miss Catherine with Captain Carter, and Miss Lucas with an officer Darcy did not know.
The dance proceeded in fits and starts. Miss Drake was quite self-conscious at the start, but Miss Lydia chattered incessantly whilst treating every misstep as a grand adventure, laughing gaily.
Darcy and Miss Lydia’s reflexes were quick enough to avoid any collisions, so things proceeded much better than anyone had any right to expect. Miss Mary kept an eye on theproceedings and varied the tempo as necessary to keep everyone on their toes.
By the end of the exercise, Miss Lydia and Miss Drake were laughing together, and the entire company was having a marvellous time.
At the end of the dance, Darcy could see that Miss Drake was tired, so he thanked the ladies for their service, and offered his arm to take her to a chair. While he went to fetch punch, Miss Lydia sat down and chattered happily with her about how much fun it was, and how very impressed the officers must have been, and how she would gladly engage with Miss Drake for any and all future dances she might need, though if Miss Eliza should eat a bit more than a bird she might be able to help her sister, though Kitty might well be able to take her place, for even though she was two years older, she was still shorter and not quite so robust, though would it not be wonderful to have her own beau someday to —
Darcy finally came back with punch for all the ladies, to find them still chattering happily away, so he considered his work for the evening complete.
Miss Bingley naturally had a few nasty things to say about what a tedious way it was to spend an evening, to which Darcy just ignored her as was becoming his habit. He hated to admit that his thoughts previously had more in common with Miss Bingley than her brother. For a while he became quite irritated with her, particularly when he was embarking on his new adventure, but then a new thought struck him.
Since he learnt how to enjoy himself, he mostly found Miss Bingley’s pique easy to ignore.
