Page 12 of The Best Of Relations

Mary blushed uncharacteristically red and nodded mutely. The gentleman, who had been just about to draw out a seat for himself, shot upright and bowed. Seeing that Mary appeared to have lost her tongue, Mrs Bennet leaped into the breach.

“How kind of you to bring our dear Mary into supper, sir! I am her mother Mrs Bennet, and this is her father Mr Bennet, and my sister Mrs Gardiner.”

“A p-p-pleasure to m-m-make your acq-acqua-acquaintance,” the gentleman stuttered out. “Mr John Hutton, at your service.”

They settled down together, Mrs Gardiner hissing in Mrs Bennet’s ear “He is shy, Fanny, don’t scare him off!” She turned a charming smile on Mr Hutton. “Are you a friend of Mr Bingley’s, pray?”

“B-Both Mr Bingley and Mr D-Darcy, actually. D-D-Darcy introduced me to Miss M-M-Mary. Darcy and I were at school t-together, and Cambridge.”

“How lovely. And are you from Derbyshire too? I once lived in Lambton, close to Pemberley.” Mrs Gardiner smiled at him. “Mr Darcy and I are very distant cousins, though quite well acquainted.”

He brightened at her friendly manner, and the stammer eased. “Pemberley is so b-beautiful is it not? I have been there a number of times, t-travelling through on my way home. I am from near Northallerton, in the N-North Riding of Yorkshire.” He smiled, and then said, “But I p-pray you will excuse me for a few moments. I have promised Miss M-Mary some supper, and I must make g-good on my word. May I bring either of you anything?”

“Oh no, Mr Bennet has gone to get our plates,” Mrs Bennet said, and as soon as Mr Hutton was out of earshot, leaned over to Mary and hissed “Who is he, child? If he is a friend of Bingley and Darcy’s he must be well to account, but he is not proud at all!”

“I know little of him, Mama, save that he very kindly asked me to dance when Mr Darcy brought him over to introduce him just before the supper dance. Mr Darcy said that Mr Hutton has a very great enjoyment of music, and plays the violin, and that he had heard him play a piece of Haydn that I played at Lucas Lodge a few weeks ago.” Mary shook her head in amazement. “I cannot imagine that Mr Darcy has ever noticed what I play! But I was so startled that I did not say no when Mr Hutton asked me to dance, and – well, he is very nice. We talked about Haydn, and he said that he should particularly like to hear me play one of his sonatas.” She frowned. “The one he mentioned is rather simple – I learned it long ago…”

“Then you shall no doubt play it exceedingly well, and he shall be most impressed,” Mrs Gardiner put in, well aware that Mary often tried to exhibit above her skill level and showed poorly.

The gentlemen returned then, followed by a small procession of footmen with a pitcher of lemonade, glasses, a bottle of wine and several plates piled high with food.

The group set to with a will, Mrs Bennet far too busy enjoying the delightful meal, and wondering on why Mr Darcy should introduce an apparently eligible young man to Mary, of all people, to speculate too busily on what her other daughters might be up to. Mrs Gardiner controlled the conversation adeptly to avoid embarrassing either Mary or Mr Hutton, and Mr Bennet listened quietly and kept a weather eye out for his other daughters. He was pleased to note that although Kitty had been escorted in by an officer, it was the slightly older and more sensible Captain Carter, who had seated Kitty between himself and Colonel Forster, where she could not get into mischief with the younger officers. He was glad he had put his foot down and insisted Lydia stay at home. Undoubtedly she would be behaving disgracefully and making a cake of herself, rather like young Maria Lucas who was giggling incessantly between two of the younger officers.

Mr Bennet glanced around the room, checking for his other girls, and saw them sitting together. Jane, of course, was beside Mr Bingley – from this angle, Mr Bennet suspected they were actually holding hands under the table! He smiled indulgently. The puzzle, though, was that Elizabeth sat beside Mr Darcy, who was leaning over towards her and listening intently to every word out of her mouth! The man was even smiling, the first time that Mr Bennet had seen that expression on him in their several meetings.

Miss Bingley sat on the other side of Mr Darcy, her mouth turned down sulkily. This evening was not going at all the way she had planned. None of her Town friends had come, sending various excuses, but she could read between the lines that they pitied her, forced to host a ball for her brother in this ghastly country backwater. Several of her brother’s friends had, though, and while they obligingly asked her to dance so that she was never without a partner, they all seemed far more interested in dancing with one or the other of those ghastly Bennet girls! And while Darcy had danced the first with her – she hadn’t really left him much option – he seemed to have been avoiding her thereafter, and was now being monopolised by Miss Eliza! Caroline’s palm itched with the desire to smack that arch little smirk off the chit’s face.

Chapter Six

Supper was over, and singing began to be talked of. Mr Hutton leaned over to Mary, to whom he had been talking very seriously throughout the meal, and said; “M-Miss M-Mary, it would g-give me the greatest p-p-pleasure to hear you p-play. Do you have the Haydn with you, or am I to be d-disappointed?”

“I know it by heart, Mr Hutton,” Mary said shyly. “Of course I shall play it for you.” And she went to the pianoforte, sat down, and played a lovely, simple air with unaffected grace. Afterwards she was so astounded by the enthusiastic applause that she froze, her hands over the keyboard, her eyes as wide as a startled deer. Seeing her sister’s panic, Elizabeth rose and went to her.

“Let us have a duet, Mary!” She mentioned another piece that they both knew well and had often played together, and they played and sang very prettily, Elizabeth taking the trickier high part, her voice supporting Mary’s weaker one so that they sounded very well together.

Again the applause was most enthusiastic. Mary caught a glimpse of Mr Hutton standing, clapping vigorously, and blushed scarlet. Elizabeth made her stand up and they both curtseyed to the audience. Mr Bingley approached, a huge smile spread across his face.

“Charming, charming! Well, my friends,” he turned about to face his guests, “this seems like the most opportune time for me to thank you all for attending our ball,” he paused as they applauded again, and bowed, “and to share with you the information that the two talented ladies who have just entertained you so well, I am proud to claim as my future sisters. Yes,” he nodded and smiled as a gasp went through the room, “the lovely Miss Jane Bennet has tonight consented to make me the happiest man alive!”

“You’re already the happiest man alive, Charles!” one of his friends shouted, “but now you’re the luckiest, too!”

Amid the laughter and cheers, Darcy escorted a blushing Jane to Bingley’s side. He took her hand in his and kissed it flamboyantly.

Left with her sister and a somnolent Mr Hurst, Caroline Bingley buried her face in her hands and groaned. Could this wretched night get any worse? She flinched as a screech sounded behind her.

“Oh, Mr Bennet!” Mrs Bennet screamed. “You teasing, teasing man – you let out not a hint of this!” she whacked him gently on the arm. “Oh, Jane – Mr Bingley!” but there was a whole crush of people between herself and her daughter and son-to-be, and she had to content herself to wait. They came to her, soon enough, and she embraced Jane with tears of delight, and Mr Bingley no less happily.

“You will be the happiest couple in the world!” she cried. “Oh Jane, you will never want for anything!”

“I assure you that she will not, Mrs Bennet,” Mr Bingley said jovially. “I fully intend to order Jane her own carriage as a wedding-gift, and while we may not have the family jewels of some of the oldest families, I have some very nice pieces left to me by my mother, and I am sure that I can find more that will do justice to your daughter’s beauty. Indeed, just a few weeks ago I saw a wonderful sapphire necklace in the window at Garrards that would match her blue eyes quite perfectly.” He kissed Jane’s hand again, and she smiled at him, a blaze of love in her gaze, though she said softly that she needed no such extravagant gifts.

“Sapphires from Garrards! A new carriage! Oh, Jane!” Mrs Bennet fell weeping on her daughter’s neck.

Caroline Bingley ground her teeth. She had been the one who pointed that necklace out to her brother, hinting that he might buy it for her. And now this country nobody would be the one draped in the jewels she had coveted. Hatred coursed through her, but then she took a deep breath and comforted herself that such nouveau riche jewels would be beneath her, once she took possession of the Darcy ancestral jewels. She had coaxed Georgiana into talking about them once, when looking at the painted images of spectacular pieces on the Darcy ancestors in Pemberley’s portrait gallery, and coveted them ever since. The necklace of pearls and diamonds worn by Darcy’s mother in her portrait made the sapphires at Garrards look like cheap glass beads. Comforting herself by imagining the magnificent choker around her own throat as she hosted a ball for the cream of the Ton in Darcy’s grand house in Town enabled her to paste a smile onto her face as she went to congratulate her brother and welcome Jane to the family.

“Miss Bingley looks as though she just tasted a lemon, doesn’t she?” Mrs Gardiner said softly, having walked up beside them, unnoticed by Elizabeth and Darcy. She spoke so quietly that only the two of them could hear her, but Darcy let out a snort of laughter and Elizabeth had to hastily bite her tongue to suppress an impending fit of giggles.

“Aunt Madeline, that is unkind,” Elizabeth said primly, when she finally got control of herself. “Surely not a lemon. Perhaps an unripe gooseberry?”