By now Elinor was dancing the supper set with the colonel, and the pair seemed to be chatting happily together.Though the day had been a complete disaster for Marianne, she was glad to see that Elinor was enjoying herself. “Your brother made a favorable impression on my relations yesterday. If my sister has any enjoyment in his company, I am glad of it. She has had her own heartaches.”
This was more than Marianne had meant to say, and Lady Rebecca seized upon the revelation. “Has she? I hope she was not as ill-used as your cousin Jane.”
Marianne considered this as she watched her sister dancing. At least Mr. Bingley had not made love to Jane while secretly engaged to the worst person Marianne had ever met. She sighed as she looked back at Lady Rebecca. “I shall only say that I think it rather worse.”
She had scarcely spoken to Edward on Christmas Eve, and Elinor had revealed nothing of what she and Edward had discussed. Marianne felt certain that if he were there at present, she would speak to him just as she had done with Mr. Bingley. “I hope the colonel shall prove to be a worthy acquaintance, Lady Rebecca. I begin to fear the entire male species will only ever vex me.”
Lady Rebecca smiled brightly. “Ha! Then we have each chosen wisely in our present companions; any time you feel such sentiments as these, Miss Marianne, you must always sit and drink wine with me.”
Chapter Eight
London
The Mortons’ ballroom was larger than Longbourn and opulently decorated. Though there was no snow on the ground outside at present, the palatial ballroom was decorated as a winter wonderland. Fake snow was scattered about the marble floors, everywhere except in the area designated for dancing. Small trees with snow dusting their leaves were placed at intervals along the wall, which were draped in shimmering silver silk, and from the barren branches hung small candles suspended in blue glass and crystal lanterns. A fire burned in the massive hearth at the back of the room, still trimmed with festive boughs of greenery. The entire room seemed to twinkle and glow.
Their environs were truly magical, and the Bennet sisters knew themselves to be in remarkably fine looks as well.
Elizabeth wore a gown cut from thin, shimmering velvet in her favorite shade of periwinkle, lightly trimmed with dark blue lace and organza. A satin ribbon of the same shade ran through her thick, chestnut hair. Though the neckline was rather daring, Elizabeth had refused the offered loan of Mrs. Jennings’s sapphire pendant and elected to wear a simple but lustrous strand of pearls her uncle had given her the year she came out.
Jane, pale and fair, wore pink silk with a shimmering gold overlay; in the cool, ethereal tones of the ballroom, sheseemed to glow with warmth. Her hair was elaborately arranged with pink topaz pins Mrs. Gardiner had lent her. She looked incredibly stunning, but their Aunt Madeline and Mrs. Jennings were both afraid for her ankle.
“I am sure I saw you limp a little as we came downstairs,” Mrs. Gardiner sighed as the ladies moved past the receiving line.
“I rested all day, and I have shown you that I can move the ankle completely without flinching,” Jane said.
“If you are in any pain tonight, you must promise to tell me, and I shall take you home at once. Madeline can stay with Lizzy, or if yourbeauxare not pleasing you, we can all depart!” Mrs. Jennings offered Jane a solicitous smile, then turned to scan the room for their acquaintance.
Colonel Brandon approached them at once, for he had claimed Elizabeth’s first set and Jane’s second. He bowed and then took in the sight of all the ladies, clearly impressed. “I am sure you must be wishing your cousins, the Miss Dashwoods, could behold such a sight as this.”
Elizabeth looked around the ballroom in wonder. “It is splendid, is it not? I believe those are real trees!”
Her aunt gave her a playful nudge. “I believe the colonel is paying you girls a compliment.”
“To all of you ladies,” he said, giving her a gracious nod. Mrs. Gardiner did indeed look as lovely as her nieces. Her silk gown was neither lavender nor grey, but some shade in between, and though the color signified mourning, it suited her well.
“Do you mean to dance this evening, Mrs. Gardiner?”
“Oh! I am an old widow, I have no thoughts of dancing, especially when my nieces’ dance cards are not yet full.”
The colonel shook his head with bemusement. “If you are too old to dance, I fear there is little hope for me.” Even so, he cajoled her into promising him a set, as even those in the dotageof their thirties required exercise. And then, he led Elizabeth to join the dancing, as Edward Ferrars came to claim Jane.
Elizabeth pitied her sister for having such a partner. She hoped that Jane would spend the dance telling the man who had caused their cousin such anguish that Elinor was having a fabulous time in Meryton, and all the officers of the regiment were madly in love with her.
“I hope my dancing does not displease you, Miss Elizabeth,” the colonel said to her after they passed the first few minutes together in silence.
She tore her gaze from Jane and looked up at Colonel Brandon. “No, indeed! Forgive me, I was wool-gathering. I am afraid I do not think much of Jane’s present partner.”
It was evident that Colonel Brandon did not know what to make of such candor. “I see. I believe he is connected to you through your relations?”
“After a fashion. His sister is married to the half-brother of my cousins, Elinor and Marianne, andtheythought well of him when they met. But I cannot like the way he seeks to placate his mother and sister’s high-minded hauteur.”
“You think him a snob?”
“No, but last evening’s supper was enough to demonstrate that he is governed by his family’s snobbery. I cannot like it.”
“An all-too common condition in London society,” the colonel said thoughtfully.
“I suppose you are right. I daresay Jane and I would not have been welcome here, nor at Mrs. Ferrars’s home last evening, if Mrs. Jennings had not made it common knowledge that we have come into an inheritance.”
