Elizabeth put the finishing touches on her hair, then smoothed her skirt and walked out the door.How she missed Jane!Her sister had been Mrs.Bingley for seven weeks now, and Elizabeth never missed her so much as when her mother was haranguing her and she needed Jane’s calm presence.
“Come along, girls!You cannot keep a countess waiting!”
“They are not even here yet, Mama,” said Lydia.
Elizabeth smiled at her younger sister.Lydia and she had become surprisingly close since Jane moved out.
“Into the drawing room, all of you,” tutted Mrs.Bennet.She shooed Elizabeth, Kitty, and Lydia into Longbourn’s largest room and looked about to make sure all was in order.“Where is your father?”
“I will get him,” said Elizabeth, moving towards the door.
“Oh, no you don’t!I will not risk you missing their arrival.Lydia, fetch your father.”
“Yes, mama.”
Mrs.Bennet was always a mass of nerves when a marriage prospect for one of her daughters was about.She had been remarkably calm after Jane married, though, and they had thought it was the dawning of a new era.It was not.Mrs.Bennet had merely been saving her nerves for Darcy’s aunt, the countess.
“They’re here!”cried Kitty from her place by the window.A large carriage was trundling up the drive.
Mr.Bennet walked in with Lydia just as the knocker sounded on the door.
“Everybody remember your manners,” hissed Mrs.Bennet.
Lydia rolled her eyes and Elizabeth stifled a laugh.In some ways, it was good to know her mother could be relied on to always behave in a predictable manner.
The butler stepped into the room.“Mr.Darcy and his family are here, ma’am.”
“Show them in, Hodges, show them in!”
The butler stepped back into the hall and re-entered with a distinguished woman on his heels.“Lady Matlock.”Darcy followed her and the butler kept announcing names as Darcy’s family entered the room like a royal procession.His sister Georgiana was there, hiding behind her cousins.Darcy’s favorite cousin, Colonel Fitzwilliam had come, along with his elder brother and his wife, Lord and Lady Seaton.Lastly, Darcy’s paternal aunt, Mrs.Davies, had come with her son Jonathon.
Mrs.Bennet was shocked into silence by all the grand people suddenly filling her drawing room.She called for tea and made polite small talk, her voice staying surprisingly soft.Her guests could not know it was intimidation and not manners that kept her volume in check.
“How are the wedding plans coming, Mrs.Bennet?”asked Lady Matlock.
“Very well, my lady.Though if they would wait another month there would be more flowers to choose from.”
Elizabeth discreetly tapped her mother’s hip from her seat beside her and prayed she would move on before she begged Darcy’s aunt to host the wedding breakfast herself.
“I appreciate that you wish to decorate for the wedding breakfast, but I have waited for my bride for three months already.I wish to take her home to Pemberley,” said Darcy.
Colonel Fitzwilliam and his brother snickered behind Darcy, but he ignored them.They were not the ones he needed to impress today.
Conversation continued and eventually Mr.Bennet invited the men to his study to look at some rare book he had acquired, and the ladies were left alone in the drawing room.Elizabeth had already met Georgiana the week before when she had arrived with her companion.She found her delightful and sweet, which was a great relief since they would all be sharing a house.
Since she was already familiar with her new sister, she thought she would get to know her new cousin.
“May I sit with you?”she asked quietly as she approached Minerva on a settee.
“Yes, of course.”
Elizabeth sat next to the nervous woman.She appeared only a few years older than herself.“How was your journey?”
“Oh, it was uneventful, thank you,” she answered quietly, her eyes on her hands.
Darcy had said she was reserved and shy, but Elizabeth had not expected this degree of diffidence.Elizabeth imagined the lady’s husband did not help matters.She had only spoken with Lord Seaton for a few minutes, but it was enough to know he would eat alive someone as gentle as Minerva.
Looking around and seeing that her mother was occupied with Darcy’s aunts and his sister with her own sisters, she said, “Are you fond of music?”
