Page 17 of The Heroic Mr Darcy's Bad Manners
“Whyever not?” Charlotte enquired, yet she did what Elizabeth suggested.
Elizabeth sat heavily beside her and hid her face in her hands. “Because he has just insulted me most grievously, and when I believed nothing worse could be said, he mortified me beyond redemption.” Her voice was hoarse and muffled by her hands.
“Eavesdroppers never hear anything good about themselves,” Charlotte reminded her.
Elizabeth leapt to her feet, resumed her restless pacing, and told her friend about Mr Darcy’s mortifying words. After this admission, she slumped down on the bench and buried her head in her hands. “My mother heard, and she accused him of being a nobody in Meryton, and Mary eagerly joined in to preach about improper pride. I have never been so humiliated in all my life,” she sobbed. “How could he do it? How could he, within a few months, have changed from the witty and charming gentleman I met in town to a disdainful and selfish oaf who has no regard for my feelings?”
“Dearest Elizabeth, I had no idea that you met him in town.”
Elizabeth removed her hands from her face and drew a fortifying breath. It was better to relate the last without facing her friend. Instead, she gazed into the darkness. “I did not tell you because I thought I would never see him again. We met at a masquerade ball at the Argyll Rooms, a week before I returned to Meryton. He had discarded his mask, so I immediately recognised him. I hardly believed my luck when he requested an introduction. I eagerly accepted, and we danced two sets and spoke for the rest of the evening. He singled me out—in a ballroom filled with the most beautiful, accomplished, and even some titled ladies. How could I not be flattered?”
Charlotte embraced her, and Elizabeth rested her aching head on her friend’s shoulder.
“Has the gentleman touched your heart?” Charlotte gently enquired.
“Yes,” Elizabeth whispered.
They sat in quiet contemplation until Elizabeth managed to compose herself tolerably well.
“As for his pride,” Charlotte remarked, “he has arightto think highly of himself. Mr Darcy is an exceptionally fine young man with family, fortune, connections, and everything in his favour. It is his behaviour towards you that offends me. He was probably the object of rumours of the marital kind after the masquerade. Could he simply be trying to quash them to avoid ruining your reputation?”
“Too far-fetched. I am certain that Grandmother or Uncle Henry would have notified me if such was the case.”
Charlotte shivered, and Elizabeth sat up. “You are cold and should go back inside,” she admonished.
“Will you join me?”
“Only as far as the anteroom to fetch my pelisse. Would you be so kind as to tell my mother that I have returned home with a headache?”
“You cannot walk alone in the dark!”
“I shall take the carriage.”
“Is there anything I can say to persuade you to stay?”
“Indeed, there is not.”
“Very well.” Charlotte rose, and they walked inside, parting at the anteroom.
“I shall see you in the morning when Mama calls on Mrs Bennet.”
“I shall look forward to it with pleasure,” Elizabeth lied as she left and made her way to their family’s carriage, which was fortunately waiting just outside the assembly hall.
Her father was still awake when she reached Longbourn, but she required only solitude and retired to her chamber with a sore heart.
#
Lady Lucas was a good and kind woman who was not too clever to be a valuable neighbour to Mrs Bennet. She had several children of which the majority were boys, but the two daughters were the Bennet girls’ intimate friends. After an assembly, the Lucas ladies paid an absolutely necessary visit to Longbourn to enumerate every little detail from the eventful ball.
It pained Elizabeth to even hear about Mr Darcy, but he was naturally the focal point. His ill-treatment of Elizabeth and disagreeable manners were communicated to exhaustion. Fortunately, Mr Bingley’s attentiveness to Jane eventually steered the conversation to a more pleasant topic, and Elizabeth could ease her troubled mind with her sister’s good report.
Charlotte’s fortune in securing Mr Bingley’s first set had soon been surpassed by him dancing two sets with a blushing Jane.
“Oh yes. I heard him call her an angel,” Elizabeth added to their discussion about Mr Bingley’s intentions.
“I heard Mr Robinson ask Mr Bingley how he liked Meryton and who was the most beautiful girl in the room. He replied immediately to the latter, ‘Oh, Miss Bennet. There cannot be two opinions upon that point.’”Charlotte imitated Mr Bingley’s voice.
“Upon my word! That was very decided. Oh well, it may still come to nothing, you know,” Mrs Bennet gushed, rather flustered.
