Page 103 of Regrets

Jane looked down. “None of those sound particularly appealing, if I am honest.”

“I concur, of course, but what else can we do?”

“Let me think on it, Charles.”

He agreed hastily, glad to leave the matter with her.

Chapter Ninety-One

Do you know, we have not had a Rosings Park ball for at least seven years,” Lady Catherine informed her daughter over breakfast one morning.

“Oh! At least that long!” Anne agreed, setting her fork down at once. “Are you considering hosting one, Mother?”

“I am thinking on it, yes,” her mother replied.

“That would be wonderful!” Anne clapped her hands, heedless of the piece of buttered toast in her right hand.

Mrs. Jenkinson asked, quietly, “Who would you invite, Lady Catherine?”

“Oh, everyone! Well, everyone of consequence, in any case. Let me think. Lord and Lady Bellingham, of course, with their two daughters and two sons. Lord and Lady Castleton –“

Her daughter interrupted her. “Lady Castleton died last winter; do you not recall it? We attended the funeral.”

“Quite right! I had forgotten. In any case, I will make up a list, Anne, and you shall review it for me.”

Her ladyship made up her list that very afternoon, and by the next morning, Anne had made some corrections, scratched one name out and added three others. All in all, there would be some twenty couples and a variety of offspring; a very respectable number for a country ball.

“I suppose there is no point in inviting Darcy,” Lady Catherine said, rather mournfully.

“No, I think not,” Anne said. “Particularly as we did not attend his wedding.”

“I was not well, Anne, you know I was not.”

“If you insist, Mother.”

“I do.”

Anne still felt rather peevish at not having been allowed to attend her cousin’s wedding, particularly as she would have been able to see Georgiana again. Georgiana had turned out to be not much of a correspondent, particularly after her argument, or whatever it had been, with her George Wickham. But a ball, right here at Rosings, well, that would almost make up for her having missed the wedding.

Chapter Ninety-Two

Elizabeth did her best not to seem over-awed by Darcy House. She had spent some time in London with her Aunt and Uncle Gardiner, and had seen townhouses such as this one from the outside, but never had she the opportunity to actually be inside one of these splendid homes.

To do so know, and to know it to be her own home, might have been overwhelming for a less self-assured soul, but Elizabeth held her head high, greeting the butler and the housekeeper as if it were perfectly normal for her to be standing in a luxurious townhouse in Mayfair. Inside, she was already planning the letter she would write to her mother, who would use it as ammunition in her endless war with Lady Lucas!

She agreed to meet with the housekeeper the next day, to go over menus and the like, but any idea of entertaining was promptly forgotten when Mr. Darcy announced that the knocker should not go up on the front door. “Not for several days, in any case,” he said.

Everyone nodded, without the slightest hint of embarrassment or surprise. Certainly the master would wish to be alone with his new bride, would he not?

Mrs. Layton offered refreshments, which Elizabeth was happy to accept. “And then a tour of the house, I think?” she said, turning to Mr. Darcy.

Mr. Darcy, who had entertained a vision of Elizabeth in his bed the moment they arrived at Darcy House, smiled ruefully, understanding that this fantasy could never have actually occurred. The formalities must be observed, no matter what; and in any case, certainly he did not wish his servants to observe him behaving in such a manner.

“Of course,” he replied to Elizabeth.

She smiled at him, a twinkle in her expressive eyes.

Once the refreshments had been enjoyed, Mr. Darcy rose and offered Elizabeth his arm. “It is time for our tour, I believe?”