Without a word, the butler closed the door. Miss Bingley used the knocker, combined with her screeches, to keep demanding the door be opened and was thinking what pleasure she would have by sacking the rude man with no character.
The door opened. Before Miss Bingley could release her vitriol, her aunt spoke. “Caroline Maleficent Bingley! What is the meaning of this behaviour more akin to one who frequents the fish market than one who holds herself out to be a sophisticated lady?” Hildebrand Bingley demanded, arms akimbo, all the while skewering her niece with a disdainful look.
“Charles invited me…” Caroline Bingley began to prevaricate.
“Do not dare stand here before me and lie!” her aunt responded with asperity. “Is that why you made sure to send your carriage away before you were returned to your home in it?” The older Miss Bingley turned to the butler. “Mr. Nichols, allow her entry and then have your wife assign my niece a chamber, on a floor where no one else is residing. Her room is to be guarded at all times. When my nephew returns he will decide what to do with his wayward sister.”
After instructing some of his footmen to collect the trunks in the drive, Mr. Nichols stood back to allow the lady entrance.
“How can you treat me in this way?” Caroline Bingley screeched before the door was closed fully.
“Do not take that tone with me!” Miss Hildebrand Bingley stated as she delivered her niece a slap to her cheek. “You arrive here uninvited and unwanted, and you expect to be welcomed with open arms. I am sure you are here for Mr. Darcy. You, Niece, are delusional!”
By now Mrs. Nichols arrived in the entrance hall, her husband having conveyed the mistress’s instructions to her.
Caroline Bingley was still reeling from the combination of the slap and her aunt’s anger. She followed the housekeeper without a word. She was placed in a corner room on the fourth floor, two floors above where the others in residence were situated.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
Not long after entering the assembly hall, Elizabeth joined a group with the Long sisters, the Goulding daughter, and the two Lucas sons.
Johnny Lucas who knew his crush on Eliza was unrequited, still made sure he requested her first set. If he did not know she would have denied him more than one, he wouldhave requested two more.
The eldest Lucas offspring, Franklin, who was engaged to Jennifer Goulding, requested Eliza’s fifth set. He felt badly for his little brother, but there was no missing Eliza did not return his feelings; she was far too intelligent for Johnny. While they waited for the first set to be called, Franklin shared Charlotte’s news that she was in the family way.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
When the visiting men joined those in the hall, they were approached by Sir William. As he was most familiar with Miss Mary’s fiancé, he requested that Richard introduce him to the one man he had not met.
Darcy looked around the hall as he was introduced to the jovial and ebullient knight. People were dressed in the quality of clothing he would expect to see at an assembly in Lambton. That was until he spied Richard’s fiancée who was smiling at his cousin. She was standing with an older couple and one young lady. He assumed they were some of the Bennets. The other young lady looked even more like Jane Fitzwilliam than Miss Mary, so she had to be the sister who was out locally.
They were all dressed in clothing as fine as he would expect to see in London. When combined with his questions about the quality of Miss Bennet’s mount, seeing the way they were clothed only added to his wondering about their supposed lack of wealth.
Darcy was frustrated the one he really wanted to meet, Miss Bennet, was not with them. He looked around the room but before he spied her, Sir William led them over to introduce him and Bingley to his wife and youngest. Richard had placed himself at his betrothed’s side and was not aware of any others around him.
Next, Bingley and Darcy were presented to the Bennets. Seeing Mrs. Bennet up close he could see where Jane and thetwo daughters with her got their looks. Darcy heard a tinkling laugh and looked up to notice Miss Bennet in a group of two men and three other ladies.
He could only see her from behind, as he had seen her when she was flying across the field.
His inspection of Miss Bennet’s back was interrupted by Bingley’s voice. “Miss Kitty, if you are available, may I dance this set with you?” Bingley requested, “and if it is not yet claimed, may I have the next, Miss Mary?”
Kitty looked to her parents who nodded. “I am not engaged for the first, thank you Mr. Bingley,” Kitty accepted.
She looked like an angel to Bingley but he remembered Fitzwilliam’s admonitions. These ladies were his sisters and he would not take kindly to anyone who trifled with their emotions. Fitzwilliam had secured the next older while the Viscount was married to the eldest one. He took his friend’s warnings to heart and would be very careful.
As the ladies were technically his cousins, Darcy knew he must do his duty. “Miss Kitty, may I have your second and Miss Mary, your third?” Darcy requested. Miss Mary accepted as did Miss Kitty once her parents nodded to her.
The line for the first set formed leaving Darcy alone with the Bennet parents.
“We were very sorry to hear of first your mother and then your father’s passing,” Fanny stated sympathetically. “We are only sorry we did not get to know them better than we did.”
“Yes, they were excellent people, thank you, Mrs. Bennet,” Darcy averred, his voice thick with emotion.
Darcy looked up as the dance began and his breath hitched as he saw Miss Bennet’s face for the first time. Her emerald-green eyes were shining with mirth at something either she or her partner said. In beauty, she outshone her sisters. Darcy wanted nothing more than to be introduced to her.
As they watched Mr. Darcy’s eyes lock on to Lizzy, Fanny and Bennet smiled at one another. It was not the first time they had seen a man react in that fashion on seeing their second daughter. Whether he would be acceptable or not to Lizzy was yet to be determined.
Chapter 25
