Page 13 of The Best Of Relations

Darcy had to turn his back, covering his mouth. His cousin had a wicked wit and sense of humour, and clearly Elizabeth had spent a lot of time in her company. He could hear them now behind him, discussing what Miss Bingley might have eaten to put that expression on her face.

“No – I know – curdled milk,” Elizabeth said with satisfaction.

“Soured wine!”

“An apple with a wasp in it.”

“Please cease,” Mr Darcy choked out, “or I am going to disgrace myself with a fit of laughter I cannot control.”

He felt Mrs Gardiner’s hand press lightly on his arm. “All right, Fitzwilliam, we will not force you to make yourself ridiculous.”

“Oh, Mr Darcy could never look ridiculous, he is without fault; we concluded that a few days hence,” Elizabeth said lightly.

“You said such; I never claimed it. I said that anyone might be made ridiculous by one whose first object in life is a joke.”

“And I said that is no faithful picture of me, I love to laugh but I do not laugh at what is wise or good!”

“Now, now, play nicely, my dears,” Mrs Gardiner said, hearing their voices becoming raised.

Mr Darcy and Elizabeth both paused, glanced at their mutual relative, and silently acknowledged her to be correct.

“I no longer believe that your defect is your propensity to hate everyone,” Elizabeth offered, in a quieter tone.

Darcy smiled. “I do believe that you choose to wilfully misunderstand, but it is done so charmingly that I cannot call it a fault in you. Besides, your eyes sparkle in a particular way when you are deliberately misinterpreting my words, I am learning to recognise when you are teasing me.”

Elizabeth smiled at that, her cheeks turning bewitchingly pink. Darcy gazed into her fine eyes and thought about asked her to dance, before realising regretfully that he had already done so twice and a third time would be well beyond the limits of propriety. Instead he bowed to them both. “May I escort you back into the ballroom? Cousin Madeline, might I request a dance?”

“How delightful!” Mrs Gardiner said, “I should love to.”

On re-entering the ballroom, Elizabeth looked around a little fearfully for Mr Collins, but he was nowhere in sight. As Mrs Gardiner and Darcy walked to join the dancers, Elizabeth looked for Charlotte; but she was dancing too. In the end she spotted Mary sitting down, and went over to join her, but to her surprise found that she was in very earnest conversation with an unfamiliar gentleman.

On seeing Elizabeth, Mary smiled and called her over to introduce Mr Hutton, who was so delighted that a young lady was talking to him without so much as mentioning his stammer or looking at him with pity, he almost forgot to stammer at all. He made a very good impression on Elizabeth, who, on seeing a slightly insecure, jealous look on Mary’s face, consciously made an effort not to appear too vivacious and charming. She could not help a start of surprise, though, when Mr Hutton said;

“Oh, I would not have missed this b-ball for the world. Both Bingley and D-Darcy wrote to me, saying that I must c-come, for this part of Hertfordshire held such an abundance of b-beauty I would be foolish to m-miss out.” He smiled, bowing slightly to both ladies, leaving them in no doubt what type of beauty his friends had described.

“Of Mr Bingley, I can well believe it,” Elizabeth said, “but Mr Darcy? Surely you exaggerate.”

“N-Never, Miss Elizabeth. Let me see, what did the letter say?” He frowned, looking upwards in thought. “I have lately found much felicity, in admiring the sparkling eyes of a beautiful woman – of whom there are several hereabouts…”

“Oh, shocking!” Elizabeth and Mary cried at once, both blushing, and Mr Hutton chuckled.

“Honestly, I was quite shocked too, I had no idea that D-Darcy could wax so eloquent! I d-decided I had to come for m-myself to see whose eyes had engendered such sentiments.” His gaze rested curiously on Elizabeth for a moment, and he offered her a small bow.

Scarlet-cheeked, she could not meet his gaze, recalling Mr Darcy’s words of just a few moments ago. Your eyes sparkle in a particular way, he had said, and earlier when they were dancing he had called her uncommonly handsome. Thinking that Mr Darcy might possibly admire her created an unfamiliar warm feeling in Elizabeth’s stomach.

“I don’t even know if I like him,” she murmured under her breath, watching Mr Darcy and her aunt dance gracefully. Her aunt was laughing and Mr Darcy produced that broad smile again, the one that showed his dimples. Before tonight, I did not even know that he had dimples! But he is really a very handsome man, especially when he smiles… she sighed and turned away. He might admire her, but it would surely go no further than that. No doubt even if he did not marry his de Bourgh cousin, there were wealthy and probably titled ladies queuing up for him to select his bride. A penniless country girl would be a very long way down the line.

Elizabeth half-expected to be importuned by Mr Collins at any moment, now that she no longer had Mr Darcy standing beside her to protect her with his superior rank, and was quite delighted to hear from her aunt Philips that he had been offered a ride as far as Longbourn with the Gouldings, who were going early, and left with them, pleading a headache.

Mrs Bennet, on hearing this news, just restrained herself from screaming and fainting. Her darling Lydia was home at Longbourn with only servants to guard her. The last thing Mrs Bennet wanted was a potential compromise of her favourite daughter by that odious man, who would make poor darling Lydia scrub floors! She found her husband, and hissed to him the news, and that they must return home at once to protect Lydia’s reputation!

Glancing about the room, Mr Bennet spied Kitty coming off the floor breathless and heading for the punch bowl. “Now, now, my girl, that’s quite enough of that. Your mother is tired and I am taking her home now, and I think you had best come with us. Your aunt can escort the other girls.” Spying Elizabeth watching the dancing, he made his way over to tell her. She only nodded abstractedly and wished him a good night.

Following his dance with Mrs Gardiner, Darcy could not quite resist returning to Elizabeth’s side. He offered to fetch her a glass of punch or lemonade, but she declined politely, saying that she was not thirsty.

“May I ask you a question, Mr Darcy?” Elizabeth asked after they had watched the dancing in silence for a few minutes.

“You may ask anything you wish of me, Miss Elizabeth,” he said quite sincerely. Elizabeth’s cheeks again turned pink, she looked away from him, and then she took a deep breath, seeming to gather her courage.