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“I believe the Lucases offered him a place in their carriage, Mama,” said Lizzy.

“The Lucases? What can Mr Collins want with the Lucases? He is supposed to be visiting relatives! I am sure we could have folded out the dickie seat!”

“Yes, but would his comb-over have survived the experience!” snorted Lydia.

Kitty tittered while Mrs Bennet hid her mouth behind her fan.

Composing herself, Mrs Bennet squeezed Mary’s arm. “You will have to wait till the ball to captivate him, dear. Do not forget to smile!”

At that moment, Mr Bennet walked into the vestibule wearing a waistcoat and satin knee breeches, but no coat.

“Ah! There you are, Mr Bennet!” said his wife. “We are ready to depart.”

“Very well,” replied her husband. “Have a good time.”

“Surely you jest, Mr Bennet. Are you not coming with us?”

“Alas,” said Mr Bennet, “I appear to have changed my mind.”

“How could you, Mr Bennet! You never accompany us anywhere!”

“Indeed, you have my apologies. I thought Netherfield could tempt me, but as the time draws near, I find the call of my study stronger. You have Mr Collins as your escort.”

“He has gone with the Lucases!” cried Mrs Bennet.

“Indeed! How extraordinary of him! I suppose he thought the carriage too crowded. Give my compliments to Mr Bingley, my dear,” he said; and with this valedictory speech, Mr Bennet retired to his study.

None of his daughters were particularly surprised. Lizzy and Jane called a parting good evening to their father; then, gathering their shawls about them, they followed their sisters and Mr Hill out into the night.

“Oooohhh!” fumed Mrs Bennet, before adjusting her turban in the hall mirror and following her daughters out to the carriage.

Chapter 3: The tryst on the balcony

Upon arriving at Netherfield, Mr Hill descended from beside John Coachman to let down the step, and the ladies alighted. Although, by rights, it was the eldest Miss Bennet’s privilege to take precedence, there was an unseemly scramble by Kitty and Lydia to be first out the door. Lydia was the victor, but Kitty managed to give her sister a push as she squeezed through the aperture ahead of her so that she missed the step.

Lydia landed on her feet like a cat, nonetheless, and twisting around, mocked her sister with a “Ha, ha!” as Kitty followed her out the door.

Disregarding this slight contretemps, the sisters were immediately once more in perfect amity and scanning for redcoats.

“There’s Chamberlayne and Mr Denny,” Lydia giggled excitedly at Kitty, before adding in a voice that would have carried well across the fields of Longbourn: “Yoo-Hoo! Mr Denny!”

Mr Denny, who was waiting for some of his fellow officers to dismount by the light of the flambéaux, lifted a gloved hand in salutation.

Lydia would have picked up her skirts and run over to the junior officers, but her mother, who had followed Kitty out of the carriage, grabbed her youngest daughter’s elbow and said in a very audible whisper: “They are only ensigns, Lydia! If you want pretty things, you must settle for nothing less than a captain!”

When Lizzy emerged from the carriage after Jane, she quickly saw that Mr Bingley and his sisters were manning the receiving line, but of Mr Darcy and Mr Hurst there was no sign. Last to appear, Mary stepped carefully down to avoid soiling her pale pink satin slippers.

As Mrs Bennet stopped with Jane to talk to Mr Bingley, Lizzy saw her chance to get Mary alone, and dropping back next to her sister, she whispered, “Come with me, Mary. I want to talk to you.”

Smiling and curtseying at the Bingley sisters, Lizzy drew Mary past their hosts. Caroline was busy talking to Louisa behind the tip of her fan, but she managed a false smile and an inclination of her head as they passed.

Moving through the newly arrived guests still loitering in the foyer, Elizabeth enquired the direction of the ladies’ retiring room of a footman before ushering Mary inside.

“Mary, what do you think of all these ribbons?” asked Elizabeth, positioning her sister in front of a mirror.

“Oh! I look terrible!” moaned Mary, “just like Kitty or Lydia!”

“No! No!” averred Lizzy. “The pink becomes you very well, but there are rather a quantity of these bows, aren’t there?”