And thus, we shortly found ourselves gathered in an entirely different atmosphere than the one we had left behind.
I expected to enter a cloud of lingering resentment, but instead, we were met with a sea of smiles.
Mrs Bennet did not come downstairs to greet us. Upon my sister’s enquiry, Elizabeth explained that her mother had likely eaten something that did not agree with her, but with such lightness as made clear Mrs Bennet was more likely nursing her ill feelings than truly unwell.
“Indeed,” Mr Bennet said with a smirk, which only confirmed my suspicions. “She did not come down for breakfast, and though I am certain she would prefer to entertain guests, she is awaiting the visit of the local apothecary and must be excused.” Without apology, he then wandered out of the room.
“What have you ladies been about this morning?” Fitzwilliam then asked to smooth over the desertion of our host, and though he addressed them generally, he looked to Miss Bennet for her reply.
“I am attempting to encourage my sisters to read more,” she said sweetly. “We have lately been working on a play.”
“Ambitious. What work pray tell?”
“Oh well, nothing so very erudite, sir. We are attempting to adapt Mrs Edgeworth’s latest novel for the stage, complete with drawings of the costumes and set pieces.”
“What mischief is this? You poor lambs,” he said, directing his remark to the youngest ladies in the room. “Have you no notion you are being tricked into reading, writing, drawing, and planning?”
“I,sir,have no plans to read a novel,” Mary Bennet said stiffly.
“Lord, Mary. Make a play out of Dr Johnson’s sermons, then,” Lydia said with a lavish roll of her eyes. “We would all dearly love to seethat.”
My sister, interrupting whatever sermon was forming on the lips of the accused, spoke up. “I myself have had a regimen of study, but I dislike sums so much, my cousin devises little puzzles which require me to figure.”
“Truly?” exclaimed Miss Bennet. “I would like to see how that is done. Might you show me, sir?”
“If you have a piece of paper…” he said. And thus our party was again pared down as the two of them sat at a table in the corner engaged in creating puzzles and numerical riddles.
Georgiana, seeking to console Mary Bennet’s affronted feelings, sat near her and asked after her musical practice and whether she had found anything to her liking in the sheet music she brought. Kitty and Lydia, who refused to be left out of my sister’s consideration, went to retrieve the gazettes of fashion she had brought, and the three of them cheerfully contested one another for Georgiana’s attention.
“Are you well, Mr Darcy?” Elizabeth asked, taking a seat nearby from which she could observe the room.
“Tolerably. And you?”
“I am as well as you claim to be,” she said with a sneaking glance at my face. Then she looked away, and with a slight shrug she said, “though I woke this morning with a strong desire to stay in bed. What a strain we endured last night.”
“Your mother took it with admirable restraint,” I murmured.
“Oh, as tothat,I had given her a strong lecture on how easily Colonel Fitzwilliam could be put off visiting our family with any outbursts from her. Because his father is an earl, she bit her tongue, and I mean she did so literally. I assure you, however, she indulged her feelings thoroughly thereafter, so much so, she is exhausted. And your sister? She looks a touch careworn this morning if I am not mistaken.”
“She is thirsty to avenge you and your relationsin trade,” I said lightly. “I await the proper moment to advise her to be kind to her adversary, for this sort of indignation only ever wears on a person.”
“I had much the same thought when I saw her bristle last night. Her temper is not unlike yours, I believe. Still, she shouldnot fall into resentment, or she might make herself ill. Allow me to make the suggestion, if I may?”
“By all means,” I said. “Your advice is likely to be more salient than my own in this case.”
And with this, she abandoned me and went to Miss Bennet, who had beckoned her to see how cleverly Fitzwilliam had made a puzzle of sums.
CHAPTER 38
Absent Mrs Bennet’s overriding presence, none of us paid particular attention to the clock during that visit, which slipped past the acceptable time strictly allotted to morning calls. After such leisurely pursuits as puzzle-making and the dissection of fanciful gowns no human woman could actually wear, we endured a Mozart piece performed by Miss Mary which pleased her greatly. Elizabeth, striving to overcome the impatience in her voice after that performance, suggested we go for a walk to a patch of wilderness on her father’s estate.
She and Georgiana went ahead of us with their heads together in earnest conversation, Fitzwilliam took Miss Bennet’s arm and followed them, and the youngest sisters—having forgotten me—trailed behind the eldest and engaged in senseless observations of the previous night’s dinner party. This left me to walk beside Mary Bennet, who was well-occupied with her own thoughts—perhaps reliving her recent recital, for she did hum a little as we went. My position in this train was reminiscent of plodding up long-abandoned Roman roads with no clear idea what was just over the next rise, mirroring the fact that I was not privy to what was unfolding at the front of our procession.
Eventually, our party could stay at Longbourn no longer without becoming a nuisance, and we called for our horses and rode back to Netherfield Park. My sister’s mood was now complacent, and my cousin seemed to be lost in thought, both leaving me to guess what conversations they had on that walk.
In Georgiana’s case, what her friend might have said to her soon became clear. She came downstairs after changing out of her riding clothes, and with a pleasant expression fixed upon her face, she joined Mrs Annesley on a settee and engaged the other ladies of the party—including Miss Bingley—in polite conversation.
What had passed between Miss Bennet and Fitzwilliam was less apparent, for he seemed a closed book for the rest of the day.
