“And perhaps an extra man so it will be a set of matching couples. All of an age with us. If a success, Bingley shall throw aprivateandexclusiveball for her to be showcased to the best — that is the least Missish — of the neighborhood. You would not wish to miss it.”
“Oooh! A ball!” Maria exclaimed, clapping her hands. “What would I wear?”
“You would not be invited.”
“But—”
“Remember, your maidenly delicacy!”
Maria stuck her tongue out, showing that she’d been acquainted with Elizabeth since before she could walk. “I want to meet Miss Darcy. She cannot be soindelicatein her speech asourMrs. Wickham. And no one stops me from talking to Lydia.”
“Yes, Maria,” John Lucas said, “but Lydia was a married woman — you should know nothing else about the matter.”
“Oh Lydiatoldme everything aboutthematter.”
Elizabeth raised her eyebrows and asked in a slightly breathless voice. “What matter, pray tell?”
“You knowthematter.” Maria blinked a little helplessly, plainly having not expected to be questioned onthe matter.
“I know nothing of the sort. Which matter?”
“Ummm, when two—” Maria blushed and looked at her brother and his wife before looking down. “The matter.”
Elizabeth seriously nodded.
Maria said accusingly, “You are teasing me.”
“She always is,” Lucas replied for Elizabeth. “Ishall talk to Father about reducing the circle of your acquaintances.”
“It is a matter too late,” Elizabeth replied, giggling internally at using the wordmatter. “Ignorance ofthematter cannot be regained.”
“I want to go to the ball! There are never enough balls. The neighborhood is too small. I wish I’d had a season in London!”
“Do not worry.” Lucas patted Maria on the shoulder. “I shall tell you every detail.”
“Faith! You never remember anything.” Maria crossed her arms with a huff. “I want to go.”
“If it cheers you,” Elizabeth said, “Mrs. Bennet hopes to keep yourmotheraway, due to her horrid efforts to elevate her consequence above her natural consequence.”
“Lady Lucaswaspleased that she was listened to, and that the committee agreed it was a kindness to excludeyourmother from the decision.” Felicia wryly shaped her lips. “But it was entirely done in kindness.”
“Shewasbeing kind.” Lucas pushed his wife’s arm. “You and Lizzy always seek hidden motives. It wasrightto ban her. No matter how good of a girl she is, a standard of decency must be maintained. I am my parent’s child that far. This is Hertfordshire, not London where anyone might do as they please.”
“Not in the LondonI’vevisited!” Elizabeth replied with a quick laugh.
Lucas rolled his eyes, but there was also that squire’s mulishness about him.
Elizabeth suppressed the desire to argue that Georgiana should have been permitted to attend the assembly. It was wrong, of course, what Georgiana had done, but not such a terrible sin. Elizabeth recalled what Mama said about Lady Lucas being advanced with Charlotte when she married. “I will not argue with you, but even if she cannot be expected to be treated as an ordinary young Miss of twenty, even if you think she should be kept away from girls such as Maria—”
“OurLydiais the one who should be removed from contact, as proven by our conversation here. If you believe there is no harm in Miss Darcy, I trust you. So long as such contact is limited and private — not intimacy or showing particular attention to Miss Darcy, I would not hesitate to allow Maria to meet the young lady.”
With that Elizabeth knew she had her old friend. “You mean you do not think she must be kept from all the impressionable young women?”
“It is the men I worry for,” Lucas replied solemnly. “She might make a great impression on the bachelors with her loose ways.”
“And her thirty thousand.”
“A yet greater impression with that.”
