“I sense you are chastising me. You are right to, I suppose, for Ioughtto be more open, but it does not come easily to me,” he confessed.
“No?” Elizabeth asked.
“I find myself ill-qualified to recommend myself to strangers. I have not the talent for conversing with those I have never seen before. I struggle to catch their tone of conversation, and appear interested in their concerns, as I see often done.”
“Why is that, I wonder?” Elizabeth asked as they moved with the dance. “Is it perhaps because you will not take the trouble of making an effort?”
Darcy looked chastised. “Probably,” he admitted. “But those who are reserved are often uncomfortable calling attention to themselves. I have noted that your eldest sister seems like such a person. I assume that this may be why the two of you are so close. Your convivial demeanour is the perfect compliment to her reticence. It is thus with myself and Bingley. I often put my foot in it when I am nervous, but his proficiency in conversing with others often eases my path. Though I have been much occupied in correspondence with my steward the last two weeks,I hope that I have made a beginning at being on good terms with my friend’s neighbours.”
Elizabeth thought over what he had said. She had not taken it into consideration that Mr Darcy might be shy. Indeed, hehadimproved in the opinion of the neighbourhood since the Meryton Assembly. It had been noted among the matrons of the town and their husbands that the gentleman, while still excessively restrained in his speech, paid attention to the conversations of those about him, offered sound and useful advice when appropriate. He had been of small assistance to a number of the residents in Meryton. First, when he heard during a visit to Lucas Lodge that Mrs Long’s chicken house had collapsed, he had, the very next morning, sent his grooms and footmen with lumber to build her a new one. He had given several local gentlemen very sound advice regarding troubles they were facing on their estates. He sent a letter of recommendation for Mr Mitchell’s third son, which resulted in the young man obtaining a good position as a deputy steward to an estate of great wealth and importance, and one afternoon when out riding, he spotted Mr Goulding and his son struggling with their labourers to dig a drainage ditch. According to Mr Goulding, Mr Darcy had been the first to encourage Bingley to dismount, remove their coats, and roll up their sleeves to assist. A possible storm had been expected, and the completion of the proper drainage had ensured the safety of the field in question. As a result, despite his reserve, Mr Darcy had quietly earned the approbation of the matrons in the little town, and the respect of the gentlemen.
The dance ended as Elizabeth continued her musings; Darcy wondered what she might be thinking, but felt too awkward to ask. He left her with her mother, who exclaimed far too loudly of her expectations for Jane. Elizabeth felt chagrined. Already, her father had humiliated the lot of them when her next youngersister had displayed her talents at the pianoforte for far too long during dinner, making an even worse spectacle of Mary, and appalling everyone in earshot with his cruel words. She spotted Kittyrunningat full speed through the drawing room, brandishing Lieutenant Chamberlain's sword over her head. Why was Lydia not leading this charge? By the time she was seven and her sister was two, Elizabeth had learned that if Lydia was separated from Kitty, and you could not hear her anywhere, that she was probably getting into trouble. This pattern had not changed since her youngest sister’s infancy. She scanned the ballroom just in time to see Lydia slip out onto the terrace with Lieutenant Wickham.
She made haste across the ballroom, Charlotte Lucas noticing her hurry, and following hot on her heels. Lydia had just begun to enjoy her fourth kiss from a gentleman, but her first in the moonlight – her first, second, and third having been bestowed upon Lieutenant Denny, Lieutenant Chamberlain, and Lieutenant Saunderson over the last two weeks – when her second eldest sister pulled her out of a shadow on the terrace by her ear.
“Lydia Frances Bennet, how dare you? What on earth do you think you are doing?” Elizabeth hissed.
“La! Don’t be so jealous, Lizzy!” Lydia cried. “Just because I helped Mary select a gown does not mean I have changed my mind about being the first of my sisters to wed! Go away, and leave me be! You are only jealous!”
“How do you plan to be married, when Mr Wickham confessed to me that he has no fortune the very day he met me!” Elizabeth spat out. “He has nothing but his army pay! Is it worth living in a tent for the rest of your life just to be the first to wed?”
Lydia and Wickham, not even having noticed Charlotte standing quietly by a potted fern in another shadow, pushed past her back into the drawing room. Suddenly Lydia pushed thedoors closed, and Elizabeth heard a tell tale click as her younger sister locked it.
“Lydia! Lydia Bennet, you open this door immediately!” Elizabeth shook the doorknob violently.
“What a lark!” Lydia trilled behind the door.
Charlotte went around the other corner of the terrace to see if there was another door, and as she did so, Elizabeth heard a smothered shriek, and Charlotte came back as quickly as she had gone.
“Whowasthat?” Elizabeth hissed.
Charlotte only shook her head, and said nothing. A moment later Captain Carter came from around the same corner holding the hand of Miss Edwina Long, whose face was flaming and appeared near tears.
“Charlotte,” the girl said plaintively.
“I saw nothing, Edwina,” Charlotte said firmly, giving the captain a hard glare.
“Miss Elizabeth,” Miss Edwina whispered.
“I know nothing, Miss Edwina,” Elizabeth assured her. “Now compose yourself, or everyone will suspect something when we finally return to the ballroom.”
A moment later, the door opened, to reveal Lydia and Wickham with Mrs Bennet and Lady Lucas. When Lydia spotted the other ladies, she whirled on Wickham, “When you said Captain Carter had just gone around the corner, I thought you meant alone!” The man shrugged his shoulders, unconcerned.
“Lydia Bennet, have you just attempted tocompromiseyour own sister?” Lady Lucas demanded.
“As if Eliza Bennet – of all respectable young women – would go anywhere alone with a gentleman,” Charlotte said in derision. “There were any number of us out here as you can see, it was a childish attempt.”
“She deserves it for spoiling my fun!” Lydia said hotly, tossing her head. “How dare she follow me about! Lizzy is not my governess!”
The matrons stood there, squabbling with Lydia, as Elizabeth, Charlotte, Edwina, and the gentlemen made themselves scarce.
A moment later, Mr Collins appeared at her elbow. “Cousin, is that Mr Darcy of Pemberley in Derbyshire?”
“I believe so, Cousin.” Elizabeth replied.
“I must make myself known to him, instantly! He is the nephew of my esteemed patroness, Lady Catherine!” Mr Collins insisted. “Her ladyship would expect me to pay my respects!”
“Mr Collins, you cannot! Considering that Mr Darcy is the man of higher rank, he must request that you be made known to him! The man will consider it to be impudent!” Elizabeth insisted.
