My cousin’s face split into a broad grin. “I hope, Miss Elizabeth,” he said jovially, “that you will reconsider, for if you are not dancing this evening I should be very sorry to miss the chance of a set with you.”
“As delightful as that would be, my lord, I am unable to reconsider my decision. Mr Darcy has done me a great favour, you see. He has allowed me to know which among my many new acquaintances are genuine, and which care only for appearances. The latter no longer associate with me. I could not possibly repay him by allowing him to subject himself to a dance with a lady he admittedly does not care to partner. It would embroil him in just the sort of falseness from which he has been so good as to shield me.”
Deane leaned closer with a captivated expression. “Then you mark him as one of the genuine ones, do you, Miss Elizabeth?”
“Why, Mr Darcy is the most honest man in London, I am perfectly convinced. So much so that even civility has no claim upon him,” she declared merrily, those beguiling eyes sparkling as she shredded my pride and my traitorous cousin roared with laughter.
“Madam, I am determined!” he declared. “I shall not attempt to persuade you further with regard to this evening, but when next we meet I shall claim that set.” Her ready assent was another blow to my dignity.
“Come, Darcy,” Deane said, and the promise of escape spurred my feet into movement, though I cannot recall if I even bowed to those we left behind. With every step I was conscious of the many eyes upon me, and the susurrating tide of whispers which followed in our wake.
CHAPTER9
ELIZABETH BENNET
“Lizzy, that was unkind,” Jane chided in her mild way once the two gentlemen had passed beyond hearing. “And now you shall not be able to dance at all.”
I was not at all repentant, and refused to pretend to regrets. “I shall miss only my usual set with Mr Bingley, assuming he meant to ask. Mr Downing is not here, and no one else would have offered.”
“Mr Darcy did, and Lord Deane would have.”
“Mr Darcy wished to dance with my uncle’s influence, and his lordship, I believe, was only trying to assist his cousin. You know that Uncle is displeased with the man, and so am I! I shall not help Mr Darcy recover my uncle’s esteem. He may do that some other way, without reference to me. He has referred to me quite enough for one lifetime.”
“Oh, brava, Miss Elizabeth!” laughed Lady Julia. “Surrender not an inch, for gentlemen are far too accustomed to having their own way.”
“Darcy is not such a bad fellow as you seem to think,” Mr Bingley interjected pleadingly. “I am sure he only said such outrageous things because he did not wish to dance. Perhaps he had the headache.”
The perfect symmetry of the excuses he and Jane had invented made me want to laugh, but their insistence on taking that man’s part killed the joke as soon as it was born. “He is not so bad to you, I am sure,” I answered carefully. “But I have experienced his behaviour to those he deems beneath his notice and I cannot like it. If a gentleman does not wish to dance, or has the headache, he says so. He does not insult those who have done nothing to him. Your friend would do well to imitate your gentleman-like manner, Mr Bingley.”
He did not look satisfied, but neither did he continue to defend his friend. The first set began to form, and he led Jane off to join it.
My aunt hurried up to me during the third, interrupting a lively discourse on novels. “Lizzy, everyone is saying that you refused to dance with Mr Darcy when he asked.”
“It is true, Aunt, and I am unrepentant. As I told Jane, I believe he wished to return himself to my uncle’s good graces, and I will not be used in such a manner.”
“Perhaps he hoped to nullify the effects of his earlier remarks.”
“I am sure he did, and equally certain that it was not for my sake but his own. He had no wish to make amends four nights ago at his own aunt’s ball, but now that my uncle scorns him, his inclinations shift. No, Aunt, I believe I may safely assure you that I shall never dance with Mr Darcy.”
“And I applaud you for it,” interjected Lady Julia. “Perhaps this will be a salutary lesson for him.”
“Be it as you wish, Lizzy,” my aunt replied doubtfully. “If you are happy to bear the consequences of your refusal, I shall say no more.”
CHAPTER10
FITZWILLIAM DARCY
I had taken myself to the opposite corner from that in which the wallflowers congregated, and through the shifting mass of dancers I glowered at Miss Elizabeth Bennet. She had made a spectacle of me and there was little I disliked more. To the small voice which whispered that I had made a spectacle of her first, I was not yet prepared to listen.
There she sat, talking and laughing with her friends, free of cares, while I was forced to lurk even more on the fringes than I usually chose. Did she not appreciate the honour of my request, when I rarely danced and never with one of such low status? That the daughter of a country gentleman, unknown to society, the niece of an elevated tradesman, should refuse Fitzwilliam Darcy of Pemberley...
“Ah, a fine woman, that. If I were not so happily yoked, I might regret not having waited to meet her.”
I startled as my cousin appeared beside me, his smiling gaze fixed upon the object of my angry thoughts. I felt myself frown. “She has made a laughingstock of me.”
Deane grinned. “Disliking the flavour of your own medicine, Cousin? I have no sympathy for you. Few young ladies would have the courage to turn the tables on a man of your stamp, and I applaud her for it. I have just been speaking with Lady Gardiner—a charming woman—and discovered that I may claim my set with Miss Elizabeth at Lady Godfrey’s do in only four days. I am all anticipation.”
“I would call it spite, rather than courage,” I grumbled.
