Mr. Darcy groaned just a bit and said, “I would dearly love to make it quick, for you are entirely too tempting, my love, especially after I have spent nearly a year completely under your spell but unable to reach you for one reason or another. But I think it would establish you better in society for us to wait.”
“I don’t wish to wait either, but I think you are correct,” said Elizabeth. “If our happiness was the only happiness at stake, I would demand you take me to the altar next week, but my entire family’s reputation is at stake. We, none of us, are yet established firmly in the minds of the rest of society.”
“Then, what do you say to December first?” he asked. “It is two months away, so there should be plenty of time, but it also allows us to finish our wedding journey before Christmas so that we can spend the holiday with Georgiana.”
“That sounds perfect,” Elizabeth answered.
She lifted herself up on her tiptoes and kissed him to seal the date. There followed many more kisses, various caresses, and murmurs of affection.
Eventually, Elizabeth came to her senses and insisted they go tell her father.
Chapter 16
Jane was overjoyed for her sister when it was announced that Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy were engaged. Though Elizabeth had not given any hint about her true feelings for the gentleman, it had been clear to Jane for some time now that her sister was very much in love.
Now that she was free to marry the man she loved, Elizabeth’s happiness overflowed, making everyone around her happy as well. Jane certainly felt it, and she congratulated them both multiple times.
Mama immediately began making plans for an engagement ball, but Papa requested that it be an engagement dinner instead. Mama easily acquiesced, though Jane wondered if Papa would regret it when she ended up with a guest list of fifty or more, which she was certain to do.
Just as she had done when planning her ball, Mama almost immediately turned to Lady Matlock for assistance, both with making the guest list and determining what was best to serve under such circumstances. It wasn’t because Mamaneededthe assistance but rather because she wished to share the joy of it all with someone.
Despite the fact that it was for Elizabeth’s engagement, Jane’s sister stayed far away any time the dinner was being discussed.
Jane also managed to avoid most of the planning sessions, though for her it was not intentional. Rather, it was because of her new duties as a chaperone.
Mr. Darcy called on Elizabeth every day to take her walking. Each time he did so, Jane’s company was requested as chaperone, though they also took two footmen with them as well. These walks almost always coincided with the time that Mama and Lady Matlock were planning the engagement dinner.
The first time this happened was incredibly boring for Jane. The happy couple were absorbed in their own conversation, and Jane’s presence was completely forgotten. Though Elizabeth apologized when they returned home, Jane knew it was bound to happen again.
Fortunately, the next time Mr. Darcy called, and every subsequent time, he brought his cousin, Colonel Fitzwilliam, with him.
Jane clearly remembered her dance with the colonel, since it had been the most pleasant dance of the evening. He seemed genuinely kind, and when she could get him to speak, he was fairly intelligent, enough to be interesting but not so much as to be intimidating.
The one drawback to Colonel Fitzwilliam’s company was the way he sometimes had trouble speaking to her directly. She knew he had no such trouble in general, because she had both seen and heard him speaking to others at the ball. With her, however, he occasionally stumbled over his words or lost track of the conversation.
Jane had experienced this before, but it was usually younger men who were so struck by her appearance. It was surprising, to say the least, that a man with so much life experience as a colonel must have would be nervous around her in such a way.
As Jane and the colonel walked together, trailing Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy, they didn’t say much at first. Eventually, Colonel Fitzwilliam said, “What do you think about this pairing?” He gestured toward the two walking in front of them.
“I am not surprised in the least,” said Jane, “and I am very happy for my sister. I have never seen her so happy before.”
“Perhaps it is because you know her better than I, but I admit that I was quite taken by surprise when Darcy told me a couple days ago,” he said. After a pause, he added, “Do you know, when I was preparing for the ball, I had plans to attempt to convince Lady Elizabeth to marry me.”
“Truly?” asked Jane. “You did not act like a man attempting to win her love. You seemed to spread your attention rather evenly, I thought.”
“Ah. That is because my plans were changed when I entered the house,” he said. There was an odd note to his voice, and Jane was tempted to turn to see his expression, but the fact that he was not looking at her seemed to make him more comfortable, and she did not wish to interrupt their conversation with awkwardness.
“And what changed your plans?” Jane asked.
Colonel Fitzwilliam cleared his throat. “I think I would rather not say,” he said.
“Well, then, let us talk of something else,” said Jane. She had no wish to make the man even more uncomfortable. “Will you tell me about your life in the army?”
He chuckled. “Honestly there is not much to tell,” he said. “The rank of colonel is strictly an administrative role which I was assigned by the crown as a favor to my father. My father wished for his younger son to have some amount of respectability, but he did not wish to have to pay too much for it. The rank ofColonel was perfect. It gives me an income, though some of it goes to pay my two secretaries and my adjutant who do all the real work, and it gives me a uniform which proclaims to all the world that I am a gentleman. It even gives me plenty of free time to get into trouble with.” She could hear a cheeky grin coming through his voice at this last statement.
“Do you ever resent being the younger son, not having land or property of your own?” asked Jane.
“Not really,” he said. “My brother is chained to his estate and will be constrained by the requirements of filling his seat in parliament when my father dies. Whereas I am free as a bird as long as my secretaries and adjutant don’t quit on me.” He chuckled again. “Well, I am as free as a relatively small income can make me.”
