Page 8 of The Widower of Pemberley

She had briefly known she was falling before she hit the ground.

The bones of the legs cracking and the head smashing against the stone.

“My dear fellow! You had better dance.” Bingley grinned. He had taken Georgiana down the line again in this set but had stepped out from the pattern to speak to Darcy. “You have been quite social this evening, and I would hate to see you regress to your usual state of standing about the corners of every room in a stupid manner and staring at portraits.”

Darcy glared back at his friend.

Georgiana also approached. She frowned at her brother. “You do not look well.”

“I am perfectly content,” Darcy replied.

Anger at his current ill humour being noticed rushed through him. He hated this tightness in his chest. He hated the way that he could not manage emotions that in the past never required management.

Georgiana put a hand on his arm. “We can return to Netherfield early. You must not strain yourself.”

“I have a duty.”

“Oh no! I am satisfied. I have danced enough. But I am glad you brought me.” Her look was one of concern. The way she had looked at him ever since Mary died.

Darcy wondered whether Georgiana thought that he had killed Mary.

“Please, return to the line and find what pleasure you might tonight. I am done.”

At hearing this Bingley exclaimed, “Nonsense! Nonsense. Why, there are a great many pretty girls here, and you have only danced with a few of them. Nonsense.”

“None of my partners were pretty,” Darcy replied sharply.

Georgiana’s eyes went wide. “You must notsaythat. EvenIknow that.”

“I would not be so fastidious as you for a kingdom,” Bingley replied. “But look—Miss Elizabeth sits there. You cannot deny that she is pretty enough to tempt you.”

“I do not deny that,” Darcy said yet more loudly. “Rather she is too pretty to tempt me. I know the character of pretty women, and I shall never dance with another one. Leave me and finish your dance with Georgie. It is not polite to leave her standing about.”

“Oh, I do not mind,” Georgiana said. “But you ought to dance with Miss Elizabeth. She put me quite at my ease. I hope to pursue a further acquaintance with her.”

“Then you do so for your own sake,” Darcy replied. “Leave me in peace.”

He was on the verge of becoming furious with his own sister for attempting to be kind and of use to him. What had become of him? He had once been able to keep himself under good regulation. He felt suddenly on the verge of tears.

Georgiana put her hand on his arm. She smiled up at him and said, “If this is what you think is best.”

Bingley and Georgiana left.

Darcy glanced over again at Miss Elizabeth. She studied him with a disapproving frown, and her air made him suspect that she had heard most of his words.

He was not quite sure what he thought about that.

Chapter Two

The assembly was described by Elizabeth to her sister Jane as a delight, despite the awkwardness of Mr. Darcy’s comment about her being too pretty to be moral, which had been widely spread about by Mrs. Long.

If Elizabeth dwelt overlong in her detailing for her blind sister her impressions of Mr. Darcy’s fine appearance, haughty nose and strong jaw, well-tailored coat and fitted white breeches, Elizabeth hoped that Jane thought she had merely noticed so much out of pique and not prurient fascination.

Unfortunately, despite Mrs. Bennet’s crowing at the brilliance of her success in seeing Elizabeth as the first person outside his own party to dance with Mr. Bingley, Elizabeth considered that amiable gentleman as being of no particular interest.

She had the joy, such as it was, in thinking that she had evidently not been to Mr. Bingley’s particular interest either, as he had made her no second offer of a dance. This, despite Elizabeth looking particularly well. Sarah, the maid who naturally, as her mother was Mrs. Bennet’s lady’s maid, served the Bennet daughters, had proved to have a particular talent for making the most of Elizabeth’s beauty over the past months.

Mrs. Bennet’s hopes, though dimmed, were not quenched, as the only person in the room that Mr. Bingley danced with twice was Miss Darcy.