“That was my mother’s doing, not mine,” said Charlotte.
“You cannot fool me, Miss Lucas,” he said. “You were the one who gave the order to replenish the food. You were the one whose seating charts were used more than once. While yourmother may have planned the event, though even that is in doubt in my mind, you are the reason it went so well.”
Charlotte did not know what to say to such a flow of confident compliments. So, she did what anyone would do when they were overwhelmed. She retreated.
“Thank you, Colonel,” she said. “I am afraid I must leave you, for I believe my mother needs me for something.”
She walked away from him, towards her mother who was at the opposite end of the room. She felt his gaze on her back, and everything in her screamed for her to turn around, but she kept walking.
For the first time in her life, Charlotte Lucas was falling in love. It was not a happy feeling, despite the effervescence in her heart that bubbled up when he looked at her. No, it was one of the most depressing things she had ever experienced.
Charlotte was engaged to Mr. Collins. Her promise had been given. Her troth had been plighted. Her honor was engaged. Falling in love with any other man could only end in heartbreak.
Even so, when she reached her destination at her mother’s side, she couldn’t help but look back at Colonel Fitzwilliam just once more.
Chapter 10
Jane was confused and out of sorts. It was rare for her. She usually seemed calm and serene, because shewascalm and serene. There was very little that others could do that would truly upset her. This last week, however, had pushed her serenity to its limits.
She decided to do what she had always seen Elizabeth do any time her sister was out of sorts. She went for a walk alone.
It was rare for Jane to go anywhere alone. It was rare for her to be alone at all. Between her four sisters, her sporadically attentive mother, her doting Aunt Phillips, and her many friends, it often felt as if the only time she was alone was when she was asleep.
Most of the time, she preferred it that way. She loved her family and friends and would not truly wish to be apart from any of them. Today, however, was different.
To ensure as much privacy as possible, Jane headed toward a little used path behind Longbourn. The reason it wasn’t used much was that it didn’t really go anywhere. It simply ended partway through the woods. Elizabeth had often speculated why it even existed, but neither of them could come up with any believable suggestion.
This was the path Jane took as she hurried away from Longbourn. While she was in the open, she was full of fear thatone of her sisters would see her from a window and rush to join her. It was only when she reached the shade of the woods that she could finally breathe easily.
It was colder in the shade, and she pulled her cloak more tightly around her. As she did so, she relaxed her mind and allowed her thoughts to roam freely.
There were two main reasons for her confusion: Mr. Bingley and Mr. Masters.
Jane had spent the last six weeks gradually falling in love with Mr. Bingley. He was exactly what every man ought to be, cheerful, charming, and handsome. Jane had thought he returned her growing affection. He had certainly paid a great deal of attention to her, giving rise to expectations among her neighbors that he would propose.
On the day after the ball, he had to go to London for a few days for business. He had promised so earnestly that he would return as soon as he could. He had even accepted an invitation from Mama to come to dinner as soon as he did.
But he didn’t come back. Instead, Miss Bingley had closed the house and followed after him. She wrote a letter saying that none of them planned to return.
It was hard enough to be abandoned in such a way, but she had to put up with her mother’s constant complaints about it and Elizabeth’s constant reassurance that he did love her and that he still would return for her, neither of which were helpful. They both merely highlighted her own pain.
It was all a mess, and it hurt her far more than anyone knew. It wasn’t just that her heart was broken. That would have been difficult, but manageable. It was the way people talked about it. Even worse, it was simply not knowing what happened. Why didhe leave? Would he ever return? If he did return, how should she treat him?
Into the midst of this confusion, Mr. Masters entered. In so many ways, he was the exact opposite of Mr. Bingley. Where Mr. Bingley was cheerful, Mr. Masters was serious. Where Mr. Bingley was fair, Mr. Masters was dark.
As Jane had come to know him a bit more over the last week, she had come to realize an even more important contrast between the two gentlemen. Where Mr. Bingley was far too tractable and flighty, easily swayed by friends and family, Mr. Masters was firm and steady, both in his purpose and in his relationships.
She knew this by the way they each spoke of their friends and family and by how they talked of their business. Mr. Bingley didn’t even have much business, only a few large investments which he managed from a distance most of the time. Mr. Masters, on the other hand, was still active in managing the mills he owned. While he didn’t go to them in person, he was very much involved in hiring and overseeing those who managed them. He was kept apprised of many of the details of their operation.
Mr. Bingley had often told stories of how various people had convinced him to do something, often something which seemed unwise, and it either turned out wonderful or hilariously bad. At the time, Jane had simply seen that as amiable, but she had lately come to realize that a man who could not foresee the consequences of his own actions, who could not say no when a friend suggested doing something unwise, was not a man she should have put her faith in.
Mr. Masters spoke of his sister in Manchester and even his friends, but when he spoke of seeing them, he always said thathe had decided to go see them rather than that he had been persuaded to do so.
It was a subtle difference, and Jane would never have noticed that there even was such a distinction if she had not been hurt so badly by Mr. Bingley’s fickleness.
The reason Jane was confused on this particular day was that, while comparing the two gentlemen, she realized they both had something in common. They both paid her a great deal of attention.
Mr. Masters had come to Longbourn with Mr. Darcy every single day except Sunday ever since they arrived in the neighborhood nearly a week ago. Every time, Mr. Masters would speak with her while Mr. Darcy spoke to Elizabeth.
