Gregory joined her on the trip, though he took a separate carriage to avoid even the appearance of scandal. Elizabeth, however, decided to spend that time at Longbourn, since she did not wish to miss the assembly, nor did she wish to live alone at Braydon Hall.
Elizabeth settled back in at Longbourn easily enough. It was genuinely good to be with Jane again, although Lydia was a bit more demanding of attention than usual, since Kitty was not there to giggle with.
On the day of the assembly, Elizabeth, Jane, and Lydia dressed in their finest gowns and helped each other style their hair in the finest styles. Elizabeth wore pearl hairpins in her hair and a pearl necklace Mary had bought for her in London.
The ladies of the house left in very good time and were among the first to arrive at the assembly rooms in Meryton. It was one of the few times Mama could be counted on not to dither, because she loved to arrive early so she could see who arrived and when, so she could discuss it all with her friends at a later time.
Everyone noticed when Mr. Bingley arrived. Elizabeth had not met him, but her good friend, Charlotte Lucas, told her about him. “The blonde one in the front of the group is Mr. Bingley,” she said.
“Do you know who the others are?” asked Elizabeth. Other than Mr. Bingley, there was a young lady, a lady in her late twenties, and a man whose red face hinted that he had already had some wine even before arriving at the assembly.
Additionally, there was a tall, very handsome man standing at the back of the group, though his stern face indicated that he was not particularly pleased with his surroundings. Elizabeth felt she had seen him a couple of times in London, but she could not remember who he was.
“I do not know for certain,” answered Charlotte. “I suspect the young lady is his sister. He did mention he had a younger sister. The others, I couldn’t say.”
They did not have long to wait. The group was greeted by Charlotte’s father, Sir William Lucas, who often acted as the master of ceremonies at these kinds of public events. Once he had greeted them, he offered to introduce them to some of the families.
The tall, handsome one immediately declined to be introduced, and he peeled away from the group to go stand by the wall. The rest were immediately led over to Charlotte and Elizabeth. Mr. Bingley requested a dance from Charlotte, since he was already familiar with her father. Elizabeth discovered that both the ladies were sisters to Mr. Bingley, though the older lady was married to the red-faced gentleman, Mr. Hurst.
Before Mr. Bingley moved on to his next set of introductions, he did indicate that his friend’s name was Mr. Darcy.
Elizabeth immediately remembered where she had seen him. He was nephew to Mary’s good friend, Lady Matlock. She had only seen him twice, and both those times were in the Lady’shome. Apparently, he didn’t particularly like circulating among society.
She briefly wondered if Mr. Darcy would remember who she was, but she immediately discarded the idea. She barely recalled him, and there was no way someone who avoided people as much as he did would remember someone as ordinary as she was. Elizabeth decided to ignore the man and focus on her own enjoyment instead.
Fitzwilliam Darcy was annoyed. He was happy to accompany his friend, Bingley, into the country, but he had not counted on the fact that his friend was a sociable creature. This facet of Bingley’s personality meant that there was bound to be much more to this trip than simply hunting, fishing, and riding.
Take this assembly, for instance; Darcy would never have attended an assembly like this on his own, not even in his home county. Now, because of Bingley, he was here amongst strangers whose condition in life was so different than what he was used to. It was decidedly uncomfortable.
As a way of showing respect for his host, he did dance with Miss Bingley and Mrs. Hurst, but then he retired to the edge of the room, simply attempting to bear up under the weight of the noise and the chaos.
Bingley thrived in this kind of environment, but Darcy tended to wither. Well-organized balls were tolerable, though not particularly pleasant. This, however, was a seething chaotic mess of unfamiliar faces, unpleasant odors, and appalling noise.
At one point, Bingley was so overcome with the joy of the evening, he left his dance partner for a few moments, simply to cajole Darcy into joining the dance. Of course, Darcy refused,but Bingley would not let it go, eventually going so far as to threaten to introduce him to the lady sitting down behind him.
After a very brief glance, Darcy declared her not handsome enough to attract his attention. He may have said something else, but it was not important. What was important was that Bingley then went back to his partner just as the line of the dance was beginning to move again.
Oddly, after Darcy had dismissed the young lady from his mind, his eyes kept being drawn to her. He supposed he was looking more closely at her to determine if his initial judgment had been correct. He also felt that there was something vaguely familiar about her.
So, he watched her as she danced several dances. He could not place why she seemed familiar, but he did come to the conclusion that his initial assessment was not entirely accurate. When her face was at rest, there was nothing notable about it, but when she spoke, when she smiled, and especially when she laughed, there was a light of intelligence and life that lit within her, changing her face from something ordinary to something quite out of the ordinary.
Darcy did not ask her to dance. He would never stoop so low as to deliberately court the attention of a simple country miss. He did, however, very much look forward to the next time they might meet in company, so that he could once again enjoy the sight of such remarkable expressions.
Chapter 14
Mary’s trip to Eastbourne was delightful. To get there, they traveled through the weald, which was a delightfully hilly area. Though it was difficult for the horses to manage, it certainly made for a picturesque and interesting landscape. Once there, Mary and Kitty settled in at the inn in Eastbourne. Gregory had wanted to secure a house for them, but Mary said it would be silly to do so for such a short stay.
The following day, they visited Gregory’s home, and Mary found it utterly charming. She had feared that it would be a little too grand for her, since her fiancé was nobility, but it turned out to be not much bigger than Braydon Hall and decorated in a similar style.
She gave orders to have a few of the rooms refurbished and replaced most of the curtains in the house, which were showing signs of being a bit moth-eaten. It was very different from when she had been hesitant to make even the slightest change at Braydon Hall before her first marriage. This time, she knew how much things would cost, how much money she had to work with, and she had enough experience to know how important some updates were and how unimportant others were.
The rest of the week was spent enjoying all Eastbourne had to offer. There was a little boardwalk that trailed along the shore, making it easy to enjoy the sea air and the view without the hassle of getting sand everywhere. There were quite a fewlittle shops, some of which were perfectly normal and some of which sold little knickknacks related to the sea, often decorated in seashells.
Mary was glad to have Kitty with her for the trip. Kitty was eager to see every new thing, and her exuberance helped Mary to see the village with more open eyes.
The day before she was to return to Hertfordshire, Gregory took Mary on a very memorable walk along the shore. It was a gloriously warm day for the season. The sun was shining, and the wind coming off of the sea wasn’t particularly strong.
The two of them chatted about many things, sharing various experiences both past and present. Towards the end of their walk, Gregory surprised Mary by saying, “I am afraid I have some rather disappointing news.”
