A Sense of Obligation Page 9

He was clearly watching the entrance. When he saw her, an expression of heartfelt delight came over him. It made her beam with sheer joy that she was able to bring him such happiness. Instantly, she perceived how he kept a good measure of himself hidden away. It would now and forever fall to her to tease him into better spirits.

  Seeing him hold her gaze and approach, her heart began to pound. “Miss Bennet.” He bowed over her gloved hand.

  “Mr. Darcy.” She curtsied.

  “I am pleased to see you and your family here this evening. You are all well?”

  “Yes, I thank you. And you?”

  He smiled a little and raised an eyebrow. “Very well. I had begun to think the sun would never shine in Hertfordshire again, but your brilliant smile is more than sufficient replacement.”

  She blushed deeply at the compliment. Oh, my. He is charming again. Her brow furrowed.

  As though reading her mind, Darcy asked, “May I ask what troubles you?”

  She gave him a teasing smile. “I only wondered if you had been to the punch table already, sir. I have only seen you so amiable one other time....”

  “Have I not the right to be amiable with such a beautiful partner and on such a happy occasion as the night our betrothal is announced?” He leaned closer to her ear and quietly added, “I hope you understand that I have never over-indulged in such a way before and vow never to again.”

  Elizabeth smiled at his words. Perhaps the brandy had given him just enough courage to lose his reserve.

  The musicians began to play the opening notes of the first set, and Darcy spoke hastily. “I apologise for my distraction when I called at your house last. I believe I quite forgot to ask to reserve a set with you.”

  He looked anxious, although he could not really think Elizabeth’s card was full already. The rain had kept all callers at home, and he had been speaking with her since nearly the moment she arrived.

  She sought to put his mind at ease. “Quite understandable, sir. I have reserved space for you on my card.”

  He smiled broadly. “And which one am I allowed the pleasure?”

  Elizabeth answered eagerly, “Why, the first one of course.”

  “Shall we, then?”

  He led her to the dance floor, and they took their place in the line. She could not resist teasing him. “Will you not ask which else?”

  He seemed startled at first, then smiled again. “I am at your disposal for any set you wish, madam.”

  “Since you are proving so charming tonight, I must tell you I gave you the supper set as well, to ensure us some conversation.”

  He seemed rather pleased with the arrangement. They had moved down the set in silence for a moment before Elizabeth pressed again, with a wicked gleam.

  “And might you desire to know the third set you will have with me?”

  For a moment, he seemed quite vexed. No doubt she was pushing him too far, for a man who was not fond of dancing. But soon he smiled and responded with an air of mischievousness, “I would by no means suspend any pleasure of yours.”

  He lingered over the word pleasure, and although Elizabeth was uncertain why, she blushed, which appeared to give Darcy great satisfaction. Upon recovering her breath, she replied with mock innocence, dropping her voice, “I gave you the last, William, as I can think of no better way to end the evening than with you.”

  His nostrils flared, and his eyes grew dark. He glanced around the room, and his eyes found the door to the balcony. Too soon the music signalled the final turn, and the set was over. They held each other’s eyes as he escorted her to her father.

  Was he contemplating luring me to the balcony already? Elizabeth mused as they strolled to her father. Would I have gone?

  Upon reaching Mr. Bennet, Darcy bowed and offered to fetch some refreshment. She found it curious that by the time he returned, she had nearly her entire card full, to the obvious entertainment of her father and adding to Darcy’s frowning displeasure. For the intervening sets, Darcy persistently stayed in her view.

  On the occasions when she glanced at her father, there was invariably some young man in a conference with him. Her betrothed looked excessively disgruntled, but soon his aspect turned to something resembling amusement. The sudden observation of how much Darcy’s manner in company resembled her father’s shocked Elizabeth. She wondered why she had never marked it before. He was not uncivil or truly ungentlemanly, most of the time, but he was not very fond of society. She also noticed Miss Bingley trying to edge nearer to Darcy whenever she was unpartnered, and he steadfastly ignored her hints. As much as she disliked the lady, Elizabeth perceived she would have to remind Darcy of his duty to his hosts. Our union will be to the advantage of both. My ease and liveliness will soften his mind and improve his manners, while his judgment, information, and knowledge of the world will answer all my hopes for a husband of superior understanding.

  Elizabeth’s attention could not be held by any of her partners, and it seemed they asked many odd, unconnected questions. Each of them praised the Hertfordshire countryside, eyed her strangely as they opined they knew she loved the Longbourn area, and strongly hoped she would never leave it for long. Elizabeth was unsurprised by this obvious ignorance of her engagement, as only her family were informed due to the recent, persistent rain. Nonetheless, she was astonished that those she had known her whole life thought her local attachment so strong and her so unadventurous. Nothing could be further from the truth. Elizabeth firmly believed a woman could be settled too near her family—hers in particular!—and she longed to travel and experience the beauties of the world if fortune would allow.

  At last came the supper set, and as Miss Bingley saw Darcy partner with Elizabeth, she called out “The Town Square” and “Ship’s Cook.” Such lively reels left little opportunity to speak to one’s partner but inspired much gaiety amongst the young people, Kitty and Lydia in particular. Elizabeth had seen them sampling the punch a bit heavily, especially given they had not eaten in many hours. She was mortified that their behaviour now bordered on drunkenness.

  Undoubtedly, Miss Bingley enjoyed showing Darcy the downfalls of Elizabeth’s family. Surprisingly, their hostess missed her mark, for Darcy was all smiles during the dances, and Elizabeth had never seen him so lively.

  After the invigorating reels, Darcy escorted her to the supper room and set out to make up her plate. It was not too many minutes later when she discovered the most perverse and unwelcome news—she had somehow been seated near her mother! She trembled for what the interval might hold in store as Mrs. Bennet was already holding forth on the virtues of Jane soon being settled in this very house. Soon after Darcy was seated, Mr. Bingley stood to make an announcement.

  “My good ladies and gentlemen! I welcome you to my home with my deepest and warmest gratitude for your reception of me and my family and friends into your charming neighbourhood.” He paused and nodded at Sir William Lucas, who stood. “Now I understand there are some very important and happy announcements to be heard! Sir William, I welcome you to begin.”

  “Capital! Capital! It is with much happiness I announce the betrothal of my eldest daughter, Charlotte, to Mr. Samuel Long.” A general cry of astonishment went up before breaking into applause. Elizabeth stole a look at her friend, who glowed with joy. Elizabeth could scarce believe her eyes or ears.

  Well before she was recovered, the elder Mr. Long was making an announcement of his own. “And I am to welcome Mr. John Lucas as nephew, as he has asked for my niece Susanna’s hand!” Another cry of merriment went forward. What was the cause for all this? Had Cupid’s arrows struck all of Hertfordshire so decidedly?

  Colonel Forster stood next. “And I am pleased to announce the engagement of a first-rate gentleman, Captain Denny, to the charming and accomplished Miss Mary King.” As Miss King stayed with a spinster aunt, it was understandable that Colonel Forster made the announcement. The news was met with Lydia and Kitty’s cries of disbelief and dismay at Mary King catching Denny. Elizabeth w
as astonished when her father quietly reprimanded them, but it seemed he did so only to make an announcement himself.

  Mr. Bennet stood and declared, “As my own wife marked Mr. Bingley for one of our daughters before we had ever even met the gentleman, it should come as no surprise to hear that he has asked for my Jane’s hand.”

  After the necessary shrieking from certain women of the room, most of them his own relations, the assembled party paused and looked at Mr. Bennet curiously when he continued to stand. With a slight tremor in his voice, he next declared, “And I also announce the engagement of my little Lizzy to Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy. Jane, Lizzy, I wish you very happy, my dears.”

  The room collectively stared, coloured, and doubted, but everyone soon saw the truth when Mr. Darcy took Elizabeth’s hand and kissed it while looking at her intently with an expression of sincere and devoted admiration. It was Elizabeth’s turn to blush brightly. She heard an audible gasp and sigh from nearly every lady in the room before cheers and congratulations broke out, followed by mortifyingly loud comments by a familiar and familial voice on his ten thousand a year, how everyone knew he could not be so disagreeable, how he had been instantly smitten with “our Lizzy,” and that he had been observed looking at her particularly these many weeks. Unsurprisingly, her mother was profuse in praise of her new favourite.

  Darcy managed to sit with an air of assumed tranquillity during the whole of it, and Elizabeth could not account for him in the slightest. “Mr. Darcy, you seem rather amused by these proceedings. Do you care to explain yourself?” He turned to Elizabeth, and she was diverted to see he wore a half-smile.

  “Certainly, Miss Elizabeth. Mr. Black gave a very rousing sermon the other Sunday on, among other subjects, the benefits of marriage, and it seems the attendees of the Meryton Church took his words quite to heart.”

  He seemed to be holding back a larger smile, and Elizabeth narrowed her eyes. “And this diverts you?”

  “You may have noticed many men were in conference with your father this evening.”

  “Yes.”

  “It seems I was very fortunate to seek your hand when I did or else any one of six potential suitors might have beaten me to it. I daresay I have won the brightest jewel in the county!”

  Elizabeth’s vanity could not credit the fact that six men sought her hand, but she chose to tease Darcy in return. Fixing an arch look upon him, she coyly replied, “Only in the county? And to think that with six other offers, I might have taken my pick, Mr. Darcy!”

  Before Darcy could express himself as sensibly and as warmly as a man violently in love can be supposed to do, their tête-à-tête was interrupted by Lydia dashing through the supper room with an officer’s sword above her head, shrieking with laughter, and shamelessly flirting. Kitty followed hard on her heels, taunting another officer by refusing to return his gloves.

  Ignoring this, Mrs. Bennet’s remarks of delight at the matches of her eldest daughters were growing more clamorous by the minute. Elizabeth knew her mother’s pride was affronted to have shared the news of their engagements with so many other announcements. Mrs. Bennet sought to remind everyone of the superiority in wealth and circumstance of the men her daughters had captured. She detailed at length how Elizabeth was remarkably clever in ensnaring Mr Darcy, as her beauty was nothing to Jane’s, and Mrs. Bennet had frequently worried such a wayward girl would never catch the eye of any man.

  Elizabeth could not quite guess at her mother’s meaning, except that perhaps Mrs. Bennet believed Darcy was attracted to her second eldest because of her wit and lively mind, but Darcy listened with an air of increased gravity tending towards indignation. Elizabeth attempted to shush her mother but to no avail. Mr. Bennet sat silent, staring and unseeing at yet another glass of wine. Elizabeth blushed again and again with shame and mortification. Her only consolation was that Bingley and Jane were seated far away and seemed not to notice the behaviour of the Bennets.

  Soon the instrument was opened, and Mr. Bingley begged for some performance. Mary approached with alacrity, even before allowing Miss Bingley to arise from her chair. Mary’s manner was affected and her voice weak; after completing one piece, which offered little reward for the effort of hearing it, she immediately began another song. Elizabeth was in agony, and Darcy seemed even more fixed in his solemn silence. At last, Elizabeth’s pleading looks roused the interest of her father, who approached Mary mid-song and spoke too loudly.

  “That will do extremely well, Child. You have delighted us long enough. Let the other young ladies have time to exhibit.” Mary barely left the pianoforte before tears sprang to her eyes.

  To Elizabeth, it seemed her whole family was suddenly intent on exposing themselves to all possible public ridicule. At least Mr. Collins was sick at Longbourn with a cold. As the gravity of this humiliation sank in—on the very evening announcing Elizabeth’s betrothal, which should have been a memory of great delight—she felt a crushing sensation in her heart. Nearly leaping from her chair, she mumbled an excuse and sped towards the balcony.

  *****

  “Lizzy!” Jane jumped from her chair at the sight of her dearest sister in such distress. She had tried to appear composed despite the events of the evening. Her third glass of wine had not calmed her nerves. She nearly knocked over the fourth as she stood.

  Bingley took her hand. “Look, there goes Darcy after her. He will see to her.”

  “I still think I ought to go. Maybe after Mary?” Caroline and Louisa were looking harshly at her. How had she not seen before that they disliked the idea of her marrying their brother? They clearly believed she was not worthy! Pulling her hand free from Bingley, she left. She certainly agreed. If only her father had not announced their engagement! She might release him without tarnishing her sisters’ names.

  “Jane!” She heard Bingley call after her, but she needed space. Tears fought to run from her eyes, and she blindly walked through the rooms of Netherfield. Rounding a corner, she found Mary and Mr. Bennet.

  “Mary! How are you?” She pulled her sister into an embrace and glared at her father.

  “I practiced so hard!” Mary said through sniffles. “I hate balls! I hate that I am not pretty and charming like you and Lizzy!”

  Mr. Bennet stood still, entirely useless, and Jane rubbed Mary’s back. “You are lovely, dear, especially when you have confidence. You worry too much about the opinion of others. Now, you must never let them know they hurt you.”

  Mary pulled back from Jane with awe in her eyes. “You have felt pain? You always seem so happy!”

  “Why do you think I try so hard to make everything appear pleasant? It pains me to acknowledge the failings of those I love or that others may harm them. It is better to curse myself for having an uncharitable thought than to allow that it is true.”

  “So…so I do not play very badly? It is that the others were rude?”

  “Oh, my sweet sister! If you played so badly, no one would request for you to play, and you are always asked for dancing after the dinners. Your music makes people joyous!”

  “But it means I can never dance. I had thought they simply did not wish to see me on the floor.”

  Jane frowned; she had not considered that. “Have you not had partners this evening?”

  “Yes, every set. It is most unusual.”

  “Indeed,” Mr. Bennet said. Jane sent him a sharp look, and he explained, “All but Jane have been flooded with young gentlemen wishing to dance.”

  “You see!” Jane cried. “Now dry your tears and return to the supper. We must keep Mama from growing anxious. I will be along in a moment.”

  “Thank you,” Mary said and squeezed Jane’s hand before leaving.

  Mr. Bennet kissed her cheek. “You are such a good girl. You can always clear up the messes we make.”

  His words infuriated Jane more, and she left for the library. She wanted to toss all the books off the shelves and throw them across the room. She never threw a tantrum as a child, but did not the
occasion deserve one? If for just one night her family could act with dignity, it should have been tonight! Not only for her sake, but for Lizzy and Mr. Darcy’s as well!

  Her anger could not last long. Soon it turned to reproach. She paced around the room, and when Bingley entered, she burst into tears.

  “Jane, darling, why are you crying?” he asked.

  She was too consumed with despair to reply and was only briefly aware that Bingley stood before her for what must have been an awkward length of time before engulfing her in his arms.

  “Here, love.” He led her to a settee, and she sobbed anew. “What has you so upset?” he asked while rubbing her back. He squeezed his handkerchief into her hand.

  She stared at her hands. At length, she finally replied, “I must release you from this engagement.”

  “No!” he shouted forcefully. She said nothing and he leapt from the seat. “Your father has announced our betrothal. You cannot break our engagement without harming your sisters’ reputations! Yours would be beyond repair!”

  She had thought of that, but she desired his happiness above her own, even more than she cared for her sisters. “Lizzy will marry Mr. Darcy. All will not be lost. Mary is too serious for most to taint her with any wrong I do, and perhaps in a few years, the gossip will wane. I daresay Kitty and Lydia need a few years before marriage.” She made the mistake of looking at Bingley. His face was pained. Why was making the right choice hurting them both so much?

  He sat next to her again. “Why? Why are you doing this? I thought you loved me!”

  “I do!” she cried. “I do! But surely you see love is not enough. Not with all that stands between us.”

  “What stands between us?”

  “My family is terrible!”

  “No, they are exuberant and lively…”

  “And too much for even Meryton to handle, let alone London. You deserve more than I can bring you. You deserve someone with wealth and standing in society. What of your sister?”

  “What of her?” he asked through gritted teeth.

  “Would her prospects be harmed by our marriage?”