There were no secrets between Miss Anne and Miss Lizzy, so Mrs. Jenkinson knew she was allowed to tell Miss Lizzy anything, regardless of how personal it may be.
“Lizzy,” Anne greeted with more power in her voice than Elizabeth had heard for some time. “Come tell me…all” Anne patted a spot near her on the bed.
“Rather than us sit indoors, what say you we have Biggs and some of the men carry you downstairs in your bath chair and we take a ramble in Hyde Park?” Elizabeth suggested. “It is a warm day already so you will have no issue with the cold.”
Biggs was consulted, and as Elizabeth surmised, Johns was sleeping having been on duty the night before. While her maid and Jenki assisted her to dress, Biggs rounded up two brawny footmen to assist in carrying the young mistress and her bath chair to the first floor.
With Jenki pushing Anne in the bath chair, they headed towards the park—after informing the butler where they intended to walk and for how long they would be away—escorted by Biggs and two additional men.
They found a nice, shaded spot along the Serpentine. With Anne’s chair next to her, Elizabeth sat at the end of thebench and related everything she was able to remember about the ball. Thankfully her memory was like a steel trap and she was able to retain all of the information she wanted to relate to Anne.
“Richard’s friend is a very affable fellow,” Elizabeth told after describing the rest of the ball. She saw her best friend raise her eyebrows. “No Anne, we would not suit. I think he is too young to think of marrying, and quite frankly, I am too. Truly, we would not do well together. He is a nice fellow but interested in more frivolous pursuits than I am.”
“In other words…he is not…intelligent enough…for you,” Anne managed.
“You may have the right of it,” Elizabeth owned. “That however does not change the fact he is pleasant to dance and hold a conversation with.” She shook her head. “You have heard Richard talk about the younger sister, have you not?”
Anne nodded.
“Richard informed me even with her brother categorically refusing to bring her to the ball when she asked yester-morning, she tried to insert herself before he departed his house.”
Anne just shook her head in wonder.
“Yes, she seems very delusional. Mayhap Mr. Bingley needs to have her committed to an asylum.”
“You danced the…final set with a…marquess?” Anne verified as she changed the subject.
“I did. Anne he asked to call on me,” Elizabeth admitted. “I will have to put him off as I am not ready to think of a serious relationship yet, and although he is a pleasant man, I do not believe we would suit. Of course it is a great compliment to be singled out by him, but unless I loved him, that would be of no matter.”
“You would be…the Duchess of…Hertfordshire,” Anne pointed out.
“You know as well as anyone that is not important to me. I will allow him to call once and then inform him of my disinterest—as respectfully as I am able.”
Anne shook her head. Other than Elizabeth and her sisters, Anne could not imagine any young ladies in theTonnot jumping at the chance to become a marchioness and one day a duchess.
With Elizabeth doing almost all of the talking the friends chatted for a while longer as they walked—Elizabeth pushing Anne—for a little after leaving the area around the shaded bench. When Mrs. Jenkinson pointed out they were approaching the time for the belated morning meal, they made their way back towards the Grosvenor gate.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
When Andrew—who was residing at Hilldale House on Portman Square now that he and Jane were engaged—arrived at Matlock House in time to join everyone in breaking their fasts, Jane could not have been happier to see her fiancé again. The fact they had been parted for little more than six hours was immaterial.
After the meal, Andrew led Jane into his father’s study. The door was wide open and the maid who had been assigned to Jane at Matlock House was seated on a chair in the hallway.
The engaged couple examined a calendar. They decided to marry on the third Wednesday of June, the fifteenth day of the month, a little more than three months from the date of their betrothal. The fact the date was about two months shy of his birthday caused no objection to be raised by Andrew.
They would, of course, marry from Longbourn.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
Two days after the ball her brother had refused to take her to, Miss Bingley was reading the only part of the paper which bore any interest for her—the society pages.
Much to her chagrin she read the announcement of the engagement of Lord Andrew Fitzwilliam to a Miss Jane Bennet of Longbourn in Hertfordshire. The lady was an unknown—to Caroline at least—in society.
She threw the paper down in disgust. A marriage option had been removed, so it would have to be Mr. Darcy. If he would not come to the point on his own, she would force the issue.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
There had already been a few callers the second day after the ball when The Marquess of Holder Heights was shown into Matlock House’s drawing room. Elizabeth was present with her mother, Jane, and Aunt Elaine. The ladies all curtsied to his bow.
