“I must leave at once,” Jane replied in panic.
“Whatever for?”
Jane pointed to a set of new entrants in the receiving line.
“I have not told you about this, and I imagine a ballroom is not the best place to do so, but I had a… disappointment last winter. A man paid particular attention to me for six weeks, then left the neighbourhood without a by your leave. I have been as heartbroken as a green girl for the last four months. That red-haired so-called gentleman is Mr Bingley.”
Anne forgot what she had shared with her new best friend and what she had not. “So that is the spineless worm.”
Jane stared at her a moment with a frown. “Howexactlydid you arrive at precisely the same adjective my sister Lizzy used, and how do you know he is as you said?”
For just a moment, the two ladies’ friendship hung on a precipice. They had built a surprising level of trust, very quickly, on little direct evidence, but it was fragile and could just as easily be shattered. Jane was, for the first time in her life, suspicious of someone’s motives, and she did not like the feeling one bit.
Anne was deathly afraid of losing the first true friend she had ever made. “Please Jane, will you forgive me. I learned about Mr Bingley just two days ago. I do not know your sister’s words. I merely used the best phrase for someone with the poor sense to take advice about women fromFitzwilliam Darcyof all people. If it makes you feel any better, my cousin is wandering about London with my handprint on his face.”
Jane laughed nervously. “You did not!”
“I did.”
“I do not imagine he enjoyed that, but at least it probably shook him from his reserve for a moment. Did he… that is to say… did he retaliate?”
Her obvious concern nearly broke Anne’s heart, burdened as she was by the confidence she must keep. “Believe me, Jane, thatwas the highlight of his evening. I wish I could tell you the rest, but—”
“You shall not break a confidence, Miss Anne de Bourgh. Let it be forgotten.”
Anne breathed a huge sigh of relief. “I assume you have no intention of dancing with Mr Worm.”
It was hardly a question, yet Jane nodded.
“Refusing him would be great fun, but propriety would demand you sit out the rest of the evening. I have a better idea.”
“Which is?”
Anne turned to Lady Clarissa, who conversed with a friend nearby, asked a quick question, then seized Jane’s hand and dragged her unceremoniously through the crowd.
“Uncle Andrew, I need your help.”
Major-General Andrew McConnell regarded his grandniece with satisfaction. Their relationship was distant, and he had always worried about the girl; but here she was, making demands with all the implacable stubbornness of her mother, yet with a sweetness no uncle could deny. He was pleased to see it and wondered if the young lady with her was cause or effect.
“How can I help you, Little Anne?”
The young lady giggled in surprise, not having been called that in quite some years, but she did not oppose the scheme.
“This is my particular friend, Miss Jane Bennet. Jane, my great-uncle, Major-General McConnell. Oh, and he is a Member of Parliament, and I forget what else.”
“You forgot father of four daughters.”
The young lady before them laughed uneasily, but her smile was certain to command the attention of every heart and mind among the young men in attendance.
“What a coincidence, General. I am the eldest of five daughters myself.”
The general, much enchanted with the young lady, laughed. “My grandniece did not come here merely to introduce you, my dear. How may I be of service?”
The general had learned to come to the point in most situations. While he would have been content to sit and converse with young ladies for hours, and intended to do so later, it did not escape his notice that their arrival was precipitous.
Anne, sounding like a much sweeter version of her mother, asked, “Uncle, would you do me a great favour?”
“What do you need?”
