“Oh, you did? I think I would enjoy that; just remember to ask Papa’s permission. After all, I am not of age yet. Of course, if you prefer not to request permission from him, you need to wait until the first week of March when I will reach my majority,” Elizabeth jested.
“You teasing woman! I will speak to your father before you all return to Longbourn.” Darcy could not but smile, revealing his dimples to the playful woman he loved.
It was no surprise that Bennet gave his permission for the private interview on the morrow.
Some of the ladies exhibited after the meal. As she always did, Mary waited until all those who wanted to play did so before she sat at the instrument. The applause for her was thunderous, and none more so than the enthusiastic expressions of admiration from her betrothed.
Thankfully, there were no unfortunate interruptions for the rest of the ball. The final set was a pair of waltzes, which pleased many immensely. When Mr Pierce took to the floor with Miss Bingley, the third set the two danced; speculation that another announcement would be forthcoming was rife.
Even though the younger Medford twin did not ask Miss de Bourgh to dance the final set with him, the two did sit and talk with the ever-loyal Mrs Jenkinson not far off.
By the time those who attended the ball found their beds, the last thing they were thinking of was the fate of the Kingstons.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
“Well, who did you catch? Why did your betrotheds notbring you back in a fancy coach?” Drusilla demanded when her dejected daughters walked into the house.
By the time the two eldest Kingston sisters had told the tale of their abject failure, Drusilla feigned fainting, and their father drowned his sorrows in a bottle.
He told himself it was everyone else’s fault. How could he be responsible for bad cards and not checking his wife or daughters? He sat at his desk, drinking tumbler after tumbler of brandy, staring at his top right-hand drawer where he stored the loaded pistol.
In the small hours of the morning, a shot was heard as Julius Kingston took the coward’s way out of the mess he had created with his gambling. By doing so, he left his wife and daughters on their own to deal with the debts and other issues.
Given that all of the pain was self-inflicted, Drusilla Kingston knew she would find no sympathy in the area.
Chapter 38
Drusilla Kingston and her three daughters abandoned Kingston Hall the next morning. The widow could not face the ignominy of having the Bennets claim their estate—her husband had told her who would soon own the Hall after the girls arrived home the previous night. She had told him she and the girls were better off with him dead; he had taken her advice. Hence, they stuffed as much as they could into the carriage and were on the road to her parents’ home in Cornwall with the light.
She had to hope the coachman would convey them all of the way, as she had discovered that her late useless husband had not paid the servants the last quarter day. She had some coin with her, and Drusilla had to pray it was enough to reach her parents’ home.
The next question would be whether or not her mother and father would take them in. Her father was in trade, and when Drusilla had forced the issue by compromising Mr Kingston, he would only marry her if she distanced herself from her parents and the stench of trade. That had been more than six and twenty years past, and her parents had not ever met their granddaughters. She would have to play on her parents’ sympathies so they would not be turned away. In her contemplation, she never considered that her parents may no longer be alive.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
It had been a late night or an early morning, dependingon one’s perspective. Darcy had rested his head on his pillow and Morpheus had claimed him immediately. Regardless of what time he went to bed, he still woke up with the first light of the day.
Even had he wanted to sleep later, the anticipation of proposing to Elizabeth that morning would have made that impossible. As it was, like most nights, his dreams were full of the emerald-green-eyed beauty, and as loathe as he was to admit it, some of those dreams had been decidedly ungentlemanlike.
How he did it, Darcy would never know, but Carstens was at his bedside to hold his robe as soon as he stood. “A nice hot bath, please,” Darcy requested.
The valet exited the chamber and spoke to a footman in the hall. “The bath will be ready for you in about a half hour, Mr Darcy,” Carstens reported on his return. “Would you like me to shave you while we wait? If so, I have an ewer with hot water in the bathing room.”
Not only did his valet appear each morning as if by magic, but he always knew what Darcy wanted. “A shave would be welcome,” he replied.
Within an hour, Darcy had been shaved, bathed, and dressed. Even though it was early, he made his way down to the breakfast parlour, where he knew a pot of coffee and some fresh-baked items would be on the sideboard.
Darcy was on his second cup of coffee, had enjoyed some freshly baked muffins, and was reading theTimes of Londonwhen, about an hour after he entered the room, he heard the voices of young ladies getting louder as they approached the breakfast parlour.
He remembered that the youngest two Bennet sisters, Miss Lucas, and Miss Cara Long had spent the night as Anna’s guests after they left the ball once the ladies had exhibited.
“William!” Anna exclaimed as she entered the breakfast parlour with the other girls, Mrs Annesley, and Miss Dudley. “I would have thought today would be an exception, and you would rise after the light as you were at the ball until its conclusion, unlike us,” she indicated her four friends, “who left after supper.”
“I have an appointment at Longbourn; one I do not intend to miss,” Darcy said cryptically.
“You are going to propose to Lizzy!” Lydia guessed. “I should have waited for you to tell us what your purpose is.” Lydia was looking at her former governess, who had her eyebrows raised.
“It is not a secret, Lydia. Your assumption was a good one. If Elizabeth accepts me, I hope to return to Netherfield Park an engaged man,” Darcy shared.
