Page 26 of The Cheapside Runners
“Dead serious.”
She turned to Charlotte. “Have you changed your mind.”
“Not in the least. You assert you have a man that requires female instruction, and you think that abad thing?” she asked with a laugh.
It had never occurred to Elizabeth that someone might actuallywanta malleable husband. She thought she might need to put that thought aside for use later when thinking about Jane and Mr Bingley. Insomuch as she wanted a man at all, she wanted a full-grown one who had a mind of his own like her uncle—at least, if she could find one who was not impervious to change or suggestion. It seemed a fine line, and thus far, she had never met a single man who was steadfast, reasonable, and available.
She finally replied, “Let us try the hard way. I am to dance the supper set with Mr Darcy. If necessary, I can ask him then but let us try subtlety first.”
~~~~~
The subtle way turned out to not be all that hard. All Elizabeth had to do was take her two friends to a spot where they could gossip within hearing of Mr Collins. She spent some time discussing how little she would approve Lady Catherine’s interference in her affairs and then spent an equal amount of effort saying how unlikely that outcome was.
Mary helpfully queried her about Mr Collins’ particular attentions, but Elizabeth simply said she had noticed no such thing. He may have spoken slightly more to her than others, but she thought he was just being polite. She bit her tongue as she expounded on how she found him an eligible man, but not oneto her taste. She twisted the knife by speaking about how much she enjoyed staying with her tradesman relatives in Cheapside, and even how she might well find a husband there. She even did it a bit brown by openly wondering how Lady Catherine would appreciate a clergyman’s wife with ties to trade, conveniently omitting that Charlotte’sfatherhad been in trade a few years earlier. What Lady Catherine did not know would not vex her.
Charlotte played her part with aplomb, countering every argument Elizabeth made, agreeing with Mary on the right points, and generally making it known that she envied Elizabeth the attentions she had received thus far, even if they were not marked enough to raise expectations.
Long before Mr Darcy came for the supper set, Mr Collins had asked Charlotte for the same, and Elizabeth considered the problem entirely solved—aside from the fit her mother was likely to throw when she became aware of who would displace her as mistress of Longbourn. Charlotte would have the parson trussed up and at the church before the poor man knew what hit him, and he would be all the better for it.
~~~~~
Mr Darcy appeared right on time, and Elizabeth noticed her neighbours’ sly looks at her being stood up with him. She suspected enough of the neighbours had learnt that they spent a couple of days in the house together but had never danced. That was the sort of thing the gossiping matrons (and men) liked to discuss to death. She did not think it particularly noteworthy, but small towns had to work with what they had.
At first, she did not say much, partially because she was accustomed to being silent around him, and partly because she was watching her two younger sisters in consternation. Their behaviour was even worse than she had expected, and at about the point that Elizabeth suspected that alone would be sufficient to dissuade Mr Bingley from Jane. She thought that if she werean eligible gentleman, it would certainly dissuade her.
They had been some minutes at the dance, and she noticed that not only did he dance very well, but they danced very well together. She had danced with a sizeable number of men who were skilled at the steps, but not in seamlessly interacting with their partners. Mr Darcy had learnt the subtle art of treating the couple as a unit and adjusting to their quirks, and she very much appreciated it.
After some minutes, Darcy said, “Come, Miss Elizabeth. We must have some conversation. A very little will do.”
“Do you talk by rule, then, while you are dancing?”she asked curiously, having never paid the slightest attention to whether he spoke with his other dance partners or not.
“Sometimes. One must speak a little, you know. It would look odd to be entirely silent for half an hour together; and yet for the advantage of some, conversation ought to be so arranged, as that they may have the trouble of saying as little as possible.”
“Are you consulting your own feelings in the present case, or do you imagine that you are gratifying mine?”she asked good-naturedly. “If the latter, I suppose you have ample justification.”
“Both, for I have always seen a great similarity in the turn of our minds. We are each of an unsocial, taciturn disposition, unwilling to speak, unless we expect to say something that will amaze the whole room, and be handed down to posterity with all the eclat of a proverb.”
She laughed gaily, and his booming laughter joined it shortly. Most of her neighbours were surprised, but she did not pay much attention to that. Given how noisy the matrons were in their corner, a little laughter could not be all that amiss.
She shook her finger at him like a disapproving tutor. “I suspect you are punishing me for my silence of the first month.”
“I would not have it so,” he said, then looked at her pensively. “Do you know that, absent your uncle’s intervention, it probably would have beenmewho ignored you the first month. I was quite eaten up with pride.”
“I hope he was not too hard on you.”
“In some ways he was not hard enough, but he does seem to know just the right amount of chastisement required to obtain the desired result.”
Elizabeth laughed a bit, then became pensive, “I can assure you that I could speak at great length on the efficacy of his chastisement, as I have made a detailed study of it.”
The first dance of the set ended, which was probably for the best as that was a subject Elizabeth thought it would be better to say less than more.
The second dance of the set proceeded very pleasantly. Just as an experiment, they tried speaking of the things that passed for standard dancing fare at a ball, but abandoned the effort within minutes, and had a much more agreeable discussion about current events in the capital and the ongoing (and seemingly endless) war on the continent.
By the end, Elizabeth was quite in charity with Mr Darcy, though still quite peevish with her mother.
~~~~~
When they sat down to supper, therefore, she considered it a most unlucky perverseness which placed them within one of each other; and deeply was she vexed to find that her mother was talking to that one person (Lady Lucas) freely, openly, and of nothing else but her expectation that Jane would soon be married to Mr Bingley. It was an animating subject, and Mrs Bennet seemed incapable of fatigue while enumerating the advantages of the match. His being such a charming young man, and so rich, and living but three miles from them, were the first points of self-gratulation; and then it was such acomfort to think how fond the two sisters were of Jane, and to be certain that they must desire the connexion as much as she could do. It was, moreover, such a promising thing for her younger daughters, as Jane’s marrying so greatly must throw them in the way of other rich men.
