Page 10 of The Sole Love

They passed the invitation from one to another while Mr Gardiner continued. “I hope you realise what an incredible help this might be for my business and, of course, what splendid prospects it might offer you too, my dear nieces.”

He stopped long enough to pour himself a glass of sherry and then continued. “I can meet people who might be interested in my trade, while you will encounter young gentlemen from the best society.”

∞∞∞

Preparations for the ball began immediately. A seamstress arrived early the following morning to make gowns from the exquisite fabrics they had purchased a few days earlier.

The result was magnificent. Even Elizabeth had to admit that an interest in fashion was not quite as futile as she had always considered it.

On the afternoon of the ball, two maids worked for several hours on the ladies’ coiffures, and then, just half an hour before they were to leave, they joined Mr Gardiner in the parlour.

Their uncle was pacing the room, nervous and excited. The moment they arrived, however, he had to sit down, overwhelmed by surprise. His wife looked exactly like the angel he had married some ten years earlier and still loved, while Elizabeth and Jane were stunning. One as blonde as honey, the other brunette, they both smiled at their uncle’s enchantment.

Happy and proud, he stood and kissed his wife’s hand. “I shall stay beside you all night long, madam. Otherwise, someone might steal you from me.”

“Mr Gardiner,” she said, laughing with delight, “what a thing to say in front of our nieces!”

“Well, it is the truth. A gentleman has to defend his treasure. As for you, my dear nieces, I shall ignore any suitor lower than an earl,” he jested with a broad smile.

They departed amid the happy voices of the younger Gardiner children, who adored being left at home with only their governess and nanny, while Claire already dreamed of the day when she would be old enough to accompany her parents to balls.

There was almost no conversation in the carriage, for everyone’s thoughts were elsewhere. Elizabeth looked at her sister and hoped that, just this once, Jane would not search the crowd for Mr Bingley. As for herself, she was determined to enjoy the evening and perhaps meet an amiable gentleman; although she could not deny that there was one particular gentleman she hoped to see.

Mrs Gardiner hoped the sadness would finally leave their house, while her husband anticipated meeting wealthy and influential men who might help him expand his business.

The ballroom gleamed beneath elegant chandeliers, their thousands of lights reflected in the mirrors covering two walls of the vast hall.

When they heard their names announced, Elizabeth took Jane’s hand. It was as cold as her own. Without doubt, this was the most impressive event either of them had ever attended. Compared with the Grandville ball, the one at Netherfield seemed small and provincial.

Jane remembered how impressed she had been that night, some seven months earlier, when Netherfield had seemed the most elegant place in the world. Elizabeth was right about one thing: she could not spend her life waiting for Mr Bingley. She had to look around her again, enjoy the evening, and allow herself to meet other people without feeling that she was somehow betraying a man who had chosen to leave her behind.

They had expected their entrance to pass unnoticed, but they were wrong. The Mansfield family immediately gathered around them, and both Elizabeth and Jane had to open their cards for the two brothers, who were delighted to be their first partners. Other invitations followed one after another until they had scarcely time to rest or even remember the names of all the young gentlemen who asked them to dance.

“There are more than a hundred people here,” Mrs Gardiner said with admiration during a short pause. They were on a terrace overlooking the small but exquisite garden, where a few young couples strolled in the partial darkness.

“Come, my dears,” Mr Gardiner said when he found them on the terrace. “I want you to meet an old friend.”

Unseen by the others, Elizabeth pressed Mrs Gardiner’s hand, silently asking to be allowed another moment on the terrace. She pretended to enjoy the freshness of the night, but in truth not one of the gentlemen on her dance card had attracted her attention.

Her thoughts returned to the Netherfield ball and to how differently she might have behaved if she had seen then what she understood now. Instead of provoking Mr Darcy and turning every conversation into a contest, she might have spoken to him about matters that truly interested them both. Beneath all their misunderstandings and disagreements, she had enjoyed his company and had wanted his friendship. Even her rejection of his proposal had been driven largely by what she believed he had done to others and by his contempt for her family. Her own feelings towards the man himself had scarcely entered into her decision.

And now, surrounded by gentlemen eager for her attention, she found herself thinking of Mr Darcy instead. She wanted to see him again, to speak to him without anger and discover whether the connexion they had so carelessly destroyed might somehow be restored.

The past mistakes seemed painfully clear now, when it might already be too late.

So absorbed was she that she did not notice anyone approaching until a familiar voice behind her made her tremble.

“Good evening, Miss Elizabeth.”

She knew the voice at once. Mr Darcy, the man who had occupied her thoughts ever since Kent, stood behind her.

She blushed violently at the absurd notion that he might somehow perceive how much she had been thinking of him, then turned and found his eyes fixed upon her.

“Mr Darcy,” she said as she curtseyed, hoping her voice betrayed neither the pleasure of seeing him nor the regrets that inevitably accompanied it.

“What a surprise. I did not know you were in London.”

Elizabeth immediately supplied the rest of the sentence he had not spoken: nor had he expected to find her at such a distinguished ball. She recognised the old impulse to quarrel with him and deliberately resisted it. Instead, she smiled.