Mama was, indeed, swooning. She swept in behind them, breathless and triumphant, her ribbons askew from the crush of the carriage. “Jane, my darling girl, you were perfection. Your papa must hear of it immediately—Mr Bennet! We have had the mostdelightfulevening—”
Jane tried to smooth her gown, still glowing from the dancing. Elizabeth stepped aside to untangle her cloak from Kitty’s elbow, but the hallway was too crowded, too noisy, everyone talking at once.
Papa looked up from his chair as his family descended upon him. “Well,” he said, dryly surveying the flushed faces and swirling gowns, “I see the Meryton Assembly retains its reputation for noise.”
Mama clutched at her heart. “You have no notion of it, Mr Bennet. Jane was the toast of the evening! Mr Bingley could scarcely remove his eyes from her. Did you not hear me? They dancedtwice, and everyone observed how exceedingly pleased he was.”
“Was he, now?” Papa mumbled.
Jane coloured. “He was very obliging, Papa.”
Lydia spun once in the middle of the room to make her point. “And I danced every single dance, Papa—every one! Wally Purvis said—”
Kitty interrupted, “Lizzy would have danced nearly all of them, too, if—”
Elizabeth shot her a look, but Kitty’s excitement outran Elizabeth’s caution.
“—ifshe had not been fighting with Mr Darcy.”
Papa’s gaze sharpened over the edge of his book. “Fighting? With someone named ‘Mr Darcy,’ you say?”
Elizabeth closed her eyes briefly. “Kitty is exaggerating.”
Lydia giggled. “Not at all, Papa. She quitesprangaway from him. Like he slapped her, but he only touched her. Half the room saw.”
Papa’s brows lifted. “Touched my Lizzy, did he? Well, well, that is, indeed, something worth fighting over.”
Elizabeth drew herself up, coat still unfastened. “I didnotfight with Mr Darcy.”
Papa set the book aside. “And yet you sprang?”
“I started,” Elizabeth replied. “There is a difference.”
Kitty popped up behind her. “Mrs Long says she believes Mr Darcy offended you. Mrs Long’s cousin saysyouoffendedhim.I told her you never offend anyone unless you wish to, and then you take care to do it properly so it could not possibly—”
“It wasnothing. A spark. The rooms were close, the air dry. The dancers collided with us, and—”
“And Lizzy flew back as though she had been pricked with a pin,” Lydia finished.
Papa regarded Elizabeth with a flicker of seriousness. “You are unhurt?”
“Hurt! No, not at all,” she said. “Why did everyone make such a fuss over such a little thing? It was nothing.”
He nodded, the brief shadow of concern passing. Then his expression shifted into the familiar dry amusement. “I see. So, Mr Darcy’s touch is enough to send young ladies leaping about the room. A powerful man indeed.”
Mama pressed a hand to her cheek. “Oh, Mr Bennet, do not tease! Lizzy would never leap unless she had good reason. Though I must say,” she added, turning suddenly toward Elizabeth, “you might have handled the matter with a little more grace, my dear. Mr Darcy is a man of consequence, and it does no harm to appear agreeable.”
Elizabeth opened her mouth, but Kitty got there first.
“Shewasagreeable, Mama. And then she said—”
“Kitty,” Elizabeth warned.
Kitty ignored her entirely. “—she said Mr Darcy must drag his feet, or else his valet forgot to brush his coat, because the spark—”
Mama gasped and clapped a hand over her heart. “Lizzy Bennet! You said that?”
“Not to him,” Elizabeth muttered.
