“Miss Elizabeth, I apologize, I did not intend to be unkind to either of you.”
“No,” Miss Elizabeth replied cheerfully, “I am quite confident, you did not think much about us at all.”
Darcy flushed.
Miss Lydia stared at him, with a somewhat chagrined expression.
With another bow to them, Darcy asked again, “May I hope that you accept my apology?”
In reply Miss Elizabeth said, still in that cheerful tone, “Oh, I never expect to be tempting to anyone. That is nevermyaim. But Lydia, doyouforgive him?”
Miss Lydia giggled and looked down.
This was not quite what he expected, though it left him more confused and fascinated by Miss Elizabeth than before.
“I think,” Miss Elizabeth said, “that to undo the horrible cruelty of claiming that Miss Lydia was insufficiently tempting, you must show yourself tempted to dance with her, and quickly.”
“If you would dance with me,” Darcy said, accepting that thiswasa proper consequence of his words, “I would be willing to do so.”
“Such an eager offer,” Miss Elizabeth laughed. “And Lydia, if you refuse him, I shall tell Mrs. Bennet.”
From the way that Miss Lydia looked at what Bingley had proclaimed to be her cousin—in truth Darcy could see little family resemblance—this whole statement was brought about by some feminine joke that the two had shared.
Then Miss Lydia said, “Oh, very well, since Lizzy insists, I shall dance with you.”
She rose and offered him her hand, and they all came in from the balcony, and Darcy followed her to the line. They did not speak for several minutes, not until Darcy perceived that the set was nearly over.
He did not know if dancing with her for less than ten minutes was a sufficient apology, but as Miss Lydia was resolutely silent, he must assume that asking for an additional set would not please her. “Tell me about Miss Elizabeth, how is she related to you all?”
“Ha!” Miss Lydia exclaimed. “I thought you were looking at her, and not at me. But I am not offended. You should dance withher. But I suppose that would make Mama very unhappy. Lizzy is never bothered by not being tempting. I think she could be very pretty if Mama would let her. Youaremost interested in her?”
Then, perhaps due to the forbidding expression which this suggestion gave to Mr. Darcy, Miss Lydia looked away from him, stared at the floor, stared at the chandeliers, and resolutely refused to speak for the remaining three minutes of the dance.
For his part Darcy twice more barely stopped himself from asking Miss Lydia again about Miss Elizabeth, but he resisted both times. He had at least learned something from the whole that made him understand her odd mode of dressing better, and her situation.
A poor dependent relation whom the mother feared would outshine her daughters.
And yet it was clear from Miss Elizabeth’s manner that she liked the family well enough, and that she had lively manners. Darcy felt sad for her.
When the dance ended, he walked them off the floor towards where Miss Elizabeth stood. Next to her was a woman who Darcy recalled was Mrs. Bennet. Bingley and the eldest Miss Bennet walked to the same place, and Bingley cheerfully exclaimed, “You did dance! Tempting enough!”
Darcy was effusively greeted by Mrs. Bennet, to whom he had unfortunately been introduced already once this evening. “I saw that you enjoyed that dance very much! My Lydia is the most enchanting creature in England, is she not? Few girls in the whole world who can match her for liveliness or good humor. You cannot know any such, can you?”
This was a point on which Mr. Darcy could hardly agree, given how little the two had spoken, and that the chief emotion he had seen from her was misery and a rather improper sobbing outburst following a slight.
However, Darcy bowed to Mrs. Bennet.
He considered simply stalking away, but Miss Elizabeth studied him with some interest. He had already danced once; he may as well indulge himself and dance with someone who he wished to become acquainted with. As they had not been formally introduced to Elizabeth, Darcy gestured at Elizabeth and said to Mrs. Bennet, “Might I beg an introduction?”
She had said that he was a more interesting person than Mr. Bingley. What had she meant by that?
“What?” Mrs. Bennet seemed startled and confused at first.
She looked around and then laughed. “Oh, Lord! That is just Miss Lizzy. She is nobody. Just my husband’s ward. She is a very poor relation, but we have brought her up since she was four or five. We always show her all of the kindness in the world. You will never hearmecomplain about the expense of her education and board—it has been very great. But I have always treated her as though she were one of my own daughters. You do not seemedemand that she always know her own inferiority.Ido not demand she treat my daughters as always her superiors. She is a biddable creature, I do not repine at all—Lizzy, fetch a drink for Jane, you can see that she is fagged from the dancing.”
“I would be happy to take that office,” Mr. Bingley suggested, smiling at Miss Bennet.
“Nonsense,” Mrs. Bennet said, “Lizzy is quite capable and happy. A glass of punch for me as well.”
