His Uncle's Favorite (63 page)

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Elizabeth divided her time before Lydia’s wedding between her sister and Georgiana, who was reluctant to come to Gracechurch Street. The second evening, just before dinner, Elizabeth received a note from Lady Selina, informing her that Lady Brightmore was hosting a party in three days’ time and insisted that Elizabeth and her father attend.

“Well, if you wish to go, we will go,” said Mr. Bennet. “What do you say, Madeleine?”

“Lady Brightmore is a kind lady, and she is fond of Elizabeth. Her parties are pleasant and amusing; I see no reason not to go.”

“Oh, I want to go,” said Lydia. “Will there be a ball, too?”

“Ball or no ball, you will not be able to come,” Mr. Bennet intervened. “You will marry that very day, and as Lord Matlock said, you are expected to leave London immediately.”

“Oh, but I am certain we can stay a night longer.”

“No, and you will not even have time to stop in Hertfordshire. A married woman must understand that nothing is more important than her husband’s duty.”

“Oh, that is so unfair! But I am sure we will have enough balls later. I shall invite Kitty to come and visit as soon as we are settled. Oh, but I would so like to go to Lady Brightmore’s party! It is so unfair!”

“So unfair, indeed,” replied Mr. Bennet sternly.

Without any particular incidents, the day of Lydia’s marriage came. Elizabeth, her aunt, and her father were joined by the earl and Darcy, and they went together to the church. The colonel and the viscount excused themselves, declaring they had other engagements. And so, the ceremony went as easily as expected, and Mr. and Mrs. Wickham departed in their carriage—a gift from Darcy—to start a new life, followed by the circumspect and worried faces of their relatives. It was done!

Elizabeth’s heart was heavy; she had little hope that her sister would be happy. She held Darcy’s arm tightly, her dazed eyes lost to the sky. She felt Darcy’s hand press hers as he whispered, “Do not worry; we will not abandon her.”

She returned to him a loving, grateful gaze, whispering, “Thank you.”

Later that day, after much torment, long discussions and shared concerns, Elizabeth, her father, and her aunt prepared themselves for Lady Brightmore’s party.

Darcy and Georgiana came to fetch them, and the group, happily reunited, arrived at Lady Brightmore’s residence with the pleasant anticipation of a delightful evening.

As before, the party seemed to number about thirty persons at least. Mr. Bennet was introduced to Lady Brightmore, who welcomed him; she kissed Georgiana, and then her attention moved to Darcy and Elizabeth.

“Oh, my dears, I was so happy to hear of your engagement! The best news since my son married Selina! My dear Elizabeth, you look so beautiful! And Darcy—you are more handsome than ever. I am sure all the ladies will envy Elizabeth. Oh, you are such a beautiful couple! Just look at you! And you will marry in two weeks? Well, just seeing how you look at each other, I understand why you want to marry sooner! And I imagine you will lock yourself in at Pemberley after the wedding!”

“Your ladyship is very kind and amusing, as always,” said Darcy with his usual composure while Elizabeth blushed violently. “Yes, we will go to Pemberley.”

“Oh, well, I am so happy! Who can believe Darcy would make a love match with a girl from Hertfordshire?” Lady Brightmore laughed. “The heart has strange ways.”

“Yes, very strange. Who would believe such a thing, indeed? Mr. Darcy, such a surprise to see you here!” They turned in surprise at the newly arrived guest, and Elizabeth startled, slightly uneasy as Darcy greeted the lady.

“Eve, such a surprise to see you here,” Lady Brightmore said, and Lady Sinclair smiled.

“I came with my cousin as I did not receive an invitation myself. I imagine you forgot to invite me, Lady Brightmore.”

“I did not forget; I purposely did not invite you as Lord Matlock seemed quite upset with you,” Lady Brightmore said bluntly. Lady Sinclair attempted a laugh.

“You are so amusing, Lady Brightmore—and so is Lord Matlock.”

“No, I am not. And I really wish you to leave, dear.”

“Excuse us,” Darcy said as he took Elizabeth’s arm and walked to where his cousins were standing, allowing the two ladies to continue their argument. They noticed Lady Sinclair pass undisturbed through the group, ignoring Lady Brightmore’s disapproving gaze.

“I hope you will not permit her to ruin your evening,” Darcy whispered.

“Fear not—the days when Lady Sinclair succeeds in upsetting me have passed.”

“I cannot believe Eve dared to come here,” Lady Selina said angrily. “What on earth is to be done to keep her away?”

“Are we to talk about Eve the rest of the evening?” asked the colonel. “For heaven’s sake, a whole week we talked about Wickham; now we change to another annoying character. Anne, you must secure me a dance tonight, and so too Miss Bennet.”

Anne de Bourgh stared at her cousin, eyes wide in disbelief. “What do you mean dance? This is not a ball, is it?”

“It is not a ball, but surely there will be a chance to dance.”

“But I never dance in public,” Anne whispered.

“Well, this would be an excellent moment to start,” said the colonel.

“Then I must secure a dance, too.” Darcy smiled, and Anne turned to him in surprise.

“Well, Cousin Darcy, it is strange that you discover a willingness to dance precisely when it will make me uncomfortable,” Anne said seriously while the others could only laugh.

The first part of the evening passed equally pleasantly; at supper, they sat close together, a united family sharing joy and support. After dinner, the gentlemen briefly retired to the library for brandy; as the colonel anticipated, four musicians were preparing to perform, and the ladies happily anticipated the pleasure of dancing. Elizabeth poured herself a cup of tea and moved into a far corner, needing a peaceful moment as her thoughts were still preoccupied with Lydia. She was surprised and puzzled to see Lady Sinclair approach and address her directly.

“Well, well, Miss Bennet—I must say you are the author of the most astonishing surprise of this year. To make Darcy marry you—it is quite extraordinary.”

Elizabeth smiled politely and made no reply.

“In truth, one cannot help wondering what sort of accomplishments a woman must possess to convince a man of excellent position and wealth—desired by many eligible young ladies—to marry her. Especially as she does not have anything exceptional—neither beauty, nor fortune or title—except a sister married in haste to hide the shame of an improper elopement. Will you be so kind as to enlighten me, Miss Bennet? I must say I misjudged you completely when we first met. I thought you to be a little country girl of not much consequence. My first impression of you has proven completely wrong.”

Elizabeth turned her eyes to Lady Sinclair, holding her impertinent gaze for a moment in a silent battle of wills. Then she allowed a large smile to spread over her face.

“That is true for both of us, Lady Sinclair; my first impression of you was wrong, as well. I thought you to be a lady. It seems we both misjudged the other completely.”

Lady Sinclair went white; then her cheeks coloured with anger.

“I was told your chief quality is your insolence, and this has proven to be true. How dare you speak to me in such a manner? Do you have the presumption to believe that, in marrying Darcy, you will become our equal? Do not expect to be noticed by anyone of consequence. You will be censured, slighted, and despised by everyone connected with Darcy. Your alliance will be disgraced and your name will never be mentioned by any of us. You shall never be invited nor visited by any of us, you must be aware of that!”

Elizabeth smiled again, glancing quickly to the other side of the room.

“These are heavy misfortunes,,” she replied without attempting to hide her amusement. “But the wife of Mr. Darcy must have such extraordinary sources of happiness necessarily attached to her situation that she, upon the whole, could have no cause to repine. And if no one ever issues an invitation, as you so kindly warn me, I shall be forced to spend more time at home alone with my husband. I dare say that would be to my advantage, would you not agree?”

As Lady Sinclair paled again and seemed to stop breathing, Darcy approached them, a glass in his hand, watching with uneasiness. He met Elizabeth’s eyes and noticed their mischievous sparkle. He smiled at her.

“Forgive me, ladies. I hope I am not interrupting anything.”“No, not at all,” answered Elizabeth, returning his smile. “Lady Sinclair was curious to know how I succeeded in convincing you to marry me.”

“Oh, I see…and did you tell her the truth—that it was I who struggled for months to convince you to marry me?”

“No…
that
I did not tell her,” Elizabeth replied as his dark gaze and mischievous smile caused her heart to race.

“Well, it is fortunate that I came just in time to extend to Lady Sinclair all the details she needs. Now, if you will excuse us, I wish to dance with Miss Bennet. In truth, I can hardly stay away from her for more than a few minutes.”

Darcy took Elizabeth’s arm and held it tightly. She turned her head to meet his eyes and smiled at him. He leaned his head and kissed her hands, then took her to the dance floor while Eve Sinclair, her pale face barely concealing the anger that twisted her usually beautiful features, left the house in haste.

Lady Brightmore, a glass of her finest port in hand, considered that she should host such parties at least once a month as this one proved to be most diverting.

Chapter 22

Mrs. Bennet was certain that her nerves would never survive the distress of such extraordinary events.

After Lydia’s unexpected marriage—at the precocious age of fifteen—to the handsome but reckless Mr. Wickham, Mrs. Bennet struggled now to endure the greater happiness of soon having three daughters married. In two days, both Lizzy and Jane would be wedded more advantageously than she had ever imagined.

Until then, however, she had to rise to the expectation of having Lady Selina, Lord Brightmore, Lord Matlock and his youngest son as guests for dinner. So many titled persons gathered together were unheard of both at Longbourn and in Meryton.

Of course, Lady Lucas dared to presume that she could offer advice and support.
What a joke, indeed! Charlotte marries Mr. Collins, and suddenly that makes Lady Lucas qualified to deal with the nobility? Oh, where is Hill?

In the library, Mr. Bennet returned to his usual habits. He was quite devastated at the thought that he would lose his favourite daughter and seldom have the joy of sensible conversation, but he was content to know that he was losing his eldest daughters to lives full of joy and happiness. Besides, Darcy already told him—repeatedly—that he was most welcome to visit any of their homes whenever he pleased, so he anticipated that he would travel frequently in the future.

Two days earlier, Mrs. Gardiner and her children had arrived; Darcy and Bingley were already at Netherfield, and the Matlocks and Miss Darcy were expected later that day. That evening, they were all invited to dine at Netherfield, and the next evening they would enjoy a great dinner at Longbourn.

To distract him from his emotions, Mr. Bennet opened the letter he received a week before from Mr. Collins. Until that point, he was not particularly curious to discover what his cousin had to say, but now he thought it might be an amusing diversion.

Mr. Bennet started to read, and each passing moment the smile on his face grew. Mr. Collins began with congratulations on the approaching nuptials of the eldest daughters and gave a fair amount of attention to Elizabeth’s wedding to Mr. Darcy, a
“young gentleman who is blessed, in a peculiar way, with everything the heart of mortal can most desire—splendid property, noble kindred, and extensive patronage.”
Yet in spite of such obvious temptations, Mr. Collins generously warned Elizabeth and Mr. Bennet of
“what evils you may incur by a precipitate marriage to that gentleman, which, of course, you will be inclined to take immediate advantage of. My motive for cautioning you is as follows: we have reason to imagine that his aunt Lady Catherine de Bourgh does not look on the match with a friendly eye; her ladyship expressed very clearly her opinion against this alliance, which she termed so disgraceful a match. I thought it my duty to give the speediest intelligence of this to you and to my cousin, that she and her noble admirer may be aware of what they are about and not run hastily into a marriage that has not been properly sanctioned.”
Mr. Collins moreover added,
“I am truly rejoiced that my cousin Lydia’s sad business has been so well hushed up, and I am only concerned that their scandalous elopement before the marriage took place should be so generally known and will greatly affect the reputation of your entire family. I hope that you will not encourage the vice by receiving them at Longbourn any time again; you ought certainly to forgive them as a Christian but never to admit them in your sight or allow their names to be mentioned in your hearing; Lady Catherine herself was very specific about this.”

The rest of his letter was only about his dear Charlotte’s situation and his expectation of a young olive branch, and Mr. Bennet could hardly contain his laughter, imagining the discussion between Lady Catherine—wildly furious—and Mr. Collins—struggling to direct her anger towards any other person than himself. By then, Mr. Collins surely must know that Elizabeth’s marriage to Mr. Darcy would happen, no matter how little Lady Catherine approved it. Surely, her anger had become a deadly storm, and Mr. Collins was a willow in her wind.