Page 20 of May I Have the Pleasure
“Yes, another interesting connection. He seems to be courting Miss Mary. She does not seem averse to the idea, but I rarely have any idea what Miss Mary thinks about most things.”
“Neither do I, so it is good that I was absent. I think if I were here, Mama might have pointed him at me, mainly because I know more about estate management, and to be perfectly honest, I am the one she would most like married and… elsewhere.”
“A fortunate escape?”
“Oh, definitely!” she sighed happily. “However ambiguous Mary’s feelings might be, mine would have been very clear, and not the least bit favourable. Just the two days I have been in his company have been more than sufficient. With some men, a little goes a long way.”
He laughed, then sighed and continued.
“Despite your ready forgiveness, I do apologise and shall never repeat my error. I can say that I was on a very bad path, and your intervention diverted me to a much better one.You taught me a lesson, hard indeed at first, but most advantageous. By you, I was properly humbled. You showed me how insufficient were all my pretensions to please a woman worthy of being pleased."
“You have done more than enough good in this neighbourhood to be welcome by one and all. If I had some small part in that, I am satisfied.”
There was no telling how long they might have talked around in circles had the music for the first dance not begun.
It seemed fate decided the couple had endured enough awkward conversation for an initial meeting, because the first dance was a reel so fast it left very little time for conversation, thus allowing them to simply enjoy the pleasure of a dance well executed. (The fact that ‘fate’ was actually named Jane Bennet had no bearing on the matter). Both were excellent dancers, and both were aware of the fact within half a minute. They leapt, swirled, twirled, swayed, darted, and skipped through the dance with good natured laughing all around.
The dance came to an end, and by mutual agreement, they left the discussion of the assembly behind—perhaps for the nonce or perhaps forever. Time would tell.
Darcy was so happy to have found his angel he decided the obvious remedy was to let the entire assembly know how his reformation came about. It would be an amusing tale for the neighbours, and since they all knew Darcy so well, amusement would be had by one and all (with the obvious exceptions of the female Bingley portion of the crowd).
Naturally, he asked Miss Elizabeth if she was amenable to the plan and received a laugh in return. He was too lazy to spend the evening spreading the story, so they simply told Mrs Bennet and Lady Lucas and considered the task complete.
Of course, Darcy had engaged in every dance since the last half of the Meryton assembly, so that evening was no exception. He was already engaged with Miss Drake for the second, and since that involved Miss Lydia serving as her cane, he considered his dance with the youngest Bennet satisfied as well.
Miss Lucas and Miss Melody Goulding brought him up to the supper set. Since he knew and liked both ladies quite well by then, and neither entertained any ambitions for themselves, both spent much of the dance telling him about Elizabeth, since his attentions to her had not exactly been subtle—a pattern that would continue through the evening for both members of the unacknowledged couple.
Before the second dance, he had screwed his courage up to ask Miss Elizabeth for the supper set. She had not been quite ready for such an overt show of favour, so had asked him to repeat the request at the appropriate time.
His request was duly made and granted, and they found the supper set entirely congenial. By some strange quirk of fate, the musicians took up a country dance that left a great deal of time for talking. Darcy assumed they followed Miss Bennet’s suggestion over Miss Bingley’s because the local musicians had a good sense of which side their bread was buttered on; but he thought it also likely they just decided that being hired by the present mistress again would be more punishment than profit. Either way, their conversation flowed with the greatest of ease, and the other dancers mostly left them to become acquainted.
It was missed by exactly nobody that Darcy was dancing a second set for the first time—and they were both significant sets. He had danced at least once with every unmarried lady in the room, and many of the married—but he had never danced a second set in the same evening with anybody. Of course, with everyone watching and listening, they spent most of the dance speaking of relatively silly subjects and laughing over Darcy’s obtuseness, with a few apt comparisons between him and Miss Lydia (in which, he did not necessarily emerge the victor).
Sir William interrupted them with his observations that they were excellent dancers, and perhaps they might see much more of that if a certain anticipated event occurred. Subtlety was not Sir William’s strong suit, but since Bingley had taken his advice and increased his attentions to Miss Bennet gradually, all Darcy could suggest was that the man should not put the cart in front of the horse. A betting man would probably favour the possibility, though it was still too early tocall the race, and a wise man would keep his speculations to himself, lest he might endanger the lady’s reputation.
Sitting together at supper gave the nascent couple more time to talk quietly among themselves. They both liked what they heard exceedingly.
Mrs Bennet tended to get a bit boisterous with enthusiasm over the possibility of Jane becoming the mistress of Netherfield (not to mention perhaps a bit more wine than was ideal), but a quick word-to-the-wise from Darcy caused her to reconsider whether she was helping or hurting her cause, and the rest of the evening went well.
Miss Mary played a light and pleasing piece Darcy had suggested earlier, using the pretext that his sister highly recommended it for just that sort of occasion. Mr Collins started a long-winded speech that Darcy managed to divert by the simple expedient of congratulating the man on his appointed living and suggesting they might discuss his aunt’s health.
The Longbourn party were the last of all the company to depart, and, by a manoeuvre of Mrs Bennet,might havehad to wait for their carriage a quarter of an hour after everybody else was gone,if not for the intervention of Jane.
Darcy asked permission to call on Elizabeth, to which she readily agreed. He had not been the only one to have his ear bent throughout the ball, and in fact, thought it might be the biggest collection of determined matchmakers in history.
Mrs Bennet invited the Netherfield gentlemen for dinner the very next day, and nearly everyone left the ball satisfied.
The Rule-of-Six
Dinner at Longbourn was as noisy as a fox hunt, but Darcy and Bingley were well accustomed to it by then.
Their arrival two hours before dinner gave the acknowledged couple plenty of time to walk in the garden despite the late November chill. Their conversation was assisted by the unacknowledged couple performing as the worst chaperones in the world (with the possible exception of Lydia or Kitty).
The conversation flowed surprisingly smoothly for two who had been acquainted less than eight hours. It was wide-ranging and enjoyable. Whether it was as productive as the other couple’s was impossible to tell, but such comparisons were far from their minds.
By the time they sat to dinner seated next to each other (Mrs Bennet was still Mrs Bennet after all), they again entered the conversation readily and easily.
Elizabeth found the table had undergone a subtle shift during her absence. Mary was less moralizing and pedantic, perhaps thoughtful, even with her probable-beau to impress. Lydia and Kitty giggled about a quarter as much as before and even occasionally had something sensible to say.
