One thing I love about this series is the devotion I get to write between Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet! Can’t wait to start Book 5.
XOXOXO Elizabeth Ann West
Chapter 3 - To Capture Mr. Darcy, a Pride and Prejudice Variation
November 17, 1811
The Bennet sisters enjoyed a late morning meal in the elder sister’s room on the first unplanned morning of their Netherfield stay. Elizabeth managed to make her sister smile and laugh as she described in detail some of the encounters with the Bingley sisters that occurred while Jane had still been sick in bed earlier in the week.
Jane, the Bennet sister most interested in harmony between the Bingleys and the Bennets, found her laughter under better regulation faster than her younger sister. “You ascribe a great deal of jealousy and contempt on Miss Bingley’s part. I wonder if you perhaps lay too much at her feet, Lizzie.”
Elizabeth Bennet shook her head most enthusiastically. “She slants her eyes at me when she’s truly vexed by the attentions Mr. Darcy gives to anyone but herself. I speak true that you must watch yourself around her, Jane. I do not get the impression that Mr. Bingley’s sisters are as enamored with either of us as much as perhaps Mr. Bingley is.” Elizabeth spread more jam on her biscuit with a wistful expression on her face.
Replacing her teacup to her breakfast tray, Jane looked at her younger sister thoughtfully. “You mean more than Mr. Bingley and his friend, Mr. Darcy.”
Elizabeth’s head shot up and glared at Jane as if she had just pronounced the sky should turn green. “I care not for Mr. Darcy’s amorous pursuits, be they towards me or any other woman. I believe he is just as snobbish and prejudiced and prideful as Miss Bingley, but he has taken more of an effort to hide his true nature.”
“I think you’re being very hard on both of them.”
Elizabeth shrugged and wiped crumbs from her mouth. “People are a fascinating study and it is my experience the true self is the one you encounter in their most comfortable surroundings. That Mr. Darcy can muster politeness at a dining table or in company should have less weight on an estimation of his person than what he says carelessly or when he feels unobserved.”
Jane frowned and tenderly flipped her teaspoon over and over along the axis of its slender spine. Elizabeth Bennet long held the title of the most stubborn sister and there was very little one could do to change her mind once it was set. Jane could only hope that with time perhaps her sister would give more estimation to Mr. Bingley’s family and friends.
“I should hope you are not a victim of your own philosophy. It is quite easy for one to utter words in a harmful way and not intend such harm with malice, but merely a result of a slip of the tongue.”
Elizabeth rolled her eyes at Jane taking on the mantle of eldest in her admonishment. “Then it is incumbent upon all to school their words.”
Jane sighed. “But you must allow for mistakes.”
“And I do! But I can hardly credit Miss Bingley or Mr. Darcy with an error rate so high that every other encounter with them I am insulted in the extreme and a few times, permitted myself to insult them back!”
Elizabeth’s agitation signaled to Jane that she needed to change the subject. “Just promise me that while you are here, you will try to give them more forgiveness instead of censure?”
“Only if you promise we can go home the moment the roads are dry enough for a carriage.”
Jane laughed. “And here I worried you would demand we walk!”
Elizabeth shook her head and helped herself to another biscuit on the basis of their lovely taste and not her hunger level. “No, no, I am quite content to take the carriage home. I prefer my rambles to be purposeless. There is no beauty in merely shuffling yourself from one destination to another.”
“And if we are to have more days of rain? Your loss of walking won’t affect you?” Jane knew her sister to dread being cooped up indoors.
Elizabeth weighed Jane’s concern about her willingness to forgo walking home if she could not take her constitutional walks for more than one more day. It was true two days of indoor activity stressed her nerves and three days was nigh on unbearable. Taking a deep breath, she made another oath she prayed would not come to pass. “I shall take the carriage with you no matter how long we are trapped here by rain, but I shall take a walk at home just as soon as I am able.”
Jane finished her tea and Elizabeth picked up a book of poems to read to her sister.
“Oh no, please do not begin to read. I wish to dress and go downstairs.”
Elizabeth arched an eyebrow at her sister. “Are you certain you are strong enough?”
Jane nodded most vigorously and Elizabeth set the tray aside to allow her sister to rise from her bed. Although she could call a maid, the sisters were at ease in helping one another to dress, so Elizabeth happily took on such a duty for her eldest sister. It was not perhaps as fine of a hairstyle as the parlors of London were accustomed to, but Elizabeth’s nimble fingers pinned Jane’s curls in a fetching manner. Before they left, Elizabeth tucked the one stubborn curl of hers which refused to remain pinned behind her ear and brushed off any remaining crumbs on her skirts.
If Jane was willing to brave most of the day downstairs, then hope remained alive as soon as the rain might stop, they could hurry home to perhaps not peace and tranquility, but at least the raucous environment they were familiar with.
While the storm held less bluster on the second day of its rages, and hardly any rain fell, the previous day’s drenching still made the roads utterly impassable. As Jane desired to spend as much time with Mr. Bingley as possible, Elizabeth found herself once again in the drawing room with the three gentlemen of the house and the other two ladies. She continued to read her copy of Don Quixote, finding herself genuinely pleased with the environment so long as she was not asked to take part in the conversations.
Mrs. Hurst and her sister appeared quite at ease discussing any and all subjects related to London and the fashions. With so many days in their company, Elizabeth was quite confident she could list and describe the various gowns and accoutrements of London’s top set alphabetically and by occasion if she were so pressed. The thought of such an examination made her own natural optimism bubble over and a small laugh escaped her lips, drawing the attention of Miss Bingley.
“My, my Miss Eliza, do share your joy.”
“Forgive me, twas merely a funny moment in my novel. I apologize for disturbing you.”
“The afternoon has passed rather quietly. Perhaps you would play for us, Miss Bingley?” Mr. Darcy asked, glancing up from his own novel he had been reading in peace.
While Caroline did not actually blush, she looked down and back up again through her eyelashes as if she were embarrassed by such a request.
No sooner had Caroline begun playing than her brother invited the eldest Bennet sister for a dance. Elizabeth smiled to see Jane and Mr. Bingley preparing to dance, a more perfect couple she could never claim to have seen. Her thoughts were interrupted when Mr. Darcy stood and blocked her view.
“Miss Elizabeth, may I humbly request your hand for this dance?”
Elizabeth looked up and found herself remarkably out of breath as a gentler set of eyes than she had ever seen in a man peered at her full of desire. Unwilling to upset the afternoon’s politeness, she acquiesced to Mr. Darcy’s request by holding out her hand and allowing him to assist her from her chair. A dissonant note clanged out before Miss Bingley recovered herself and continued the jovial reel that was still unfamiliar to Elizabeth’s ears. Quickly she whispered to Mr. Darcy, “I’m afraid, sir, I’m not familiar with the steps of this dance.” Jane appeared to be equally unaware in moving slightly behind Mr. Bingleys movements.
Mr. Darcy quickly leaned closer to Elizabeth’s ear and whispered back “Fear not my lady, and I shall lead.”
As Mr. Bingley clasped the upper form of her sister Jane, Elizabeth soon found herself whisked away in the arms of Mr. Darcy, twirling and spinning around Mr. Bingley and his partner. The dance was a variation on a Scottish reel and Elizabeth could only best describe it as topsy-turvy in a teacup! Before too long, she and Jane were merrily laughing to the smiles of both gentlemen as they bumped and pardoned and continued the dance. Whether by accident or design, the tempo of the music increased until the final movements were nothing less than a complete frenzy. The music abruptly came to an end and Elizabeth’s face, bright and flushed from the exertion, looked up to Mr. Darcy to admire the tinge of pink in his cheeks. Poor Jane fell into a coughing fit.
Elizabeth ceased her obligatory applause for Caroline Bingley and rushed to her sister’s side, holding the opposite elbow of Mr. Bingley.
“Forgive me, forgive me, Miss Bennet, I was a fool to ask you to participate in such a lively dance.” Mr. Bingley struggled with his guilt.
Jane contradicted him between coughs as both of them escorted her to the nearest chair. Elizabeth furtively looked about for assistance and felt surprised when it was Mr. Darcy handed her a glass of water for Jane. She quickly nodded and helped Jane take the glass as her lungs still struggled for air.
“Perhaps Miss Bennet is not as recovered as she thought and should retire above stairs? For her own health, of course.” Miss Bingley offered in a singsong voice with slanted eyes.
While Elizabeth saw through Caroline’s charade, Jane remained blissfully unaware. Or perhaps she did not, for Jane held her hands out and asked Miss Bingley to help her upstairs. After such a direct request, Caroline certainly could not refuse but Elizabeth’s jaw dropped as her sister abandoned her in a room once more with the Hursts, Mr. Bingley, and Mr. Darcy!
Elizabeth glanced at the remaining patrons of the room and quickly curtsied. “I beg your pardon, but I do not wish to burden Miss Bingley with my sister’s care for the remainder of the afternoon. I hope you understand.”
“Of course, we do dear. I hope she is well again soon.” Louisa Hurst offered without even looking up from her knitting.
Frowning at yet another slight from a Bingley family member, Elizabeth scooped her hands to retrieve her thick novel and hastened above stairs.
Darcy’s throat tightened as Miss Elizabeth dashed out of the room. He had thought she enjoyed the dance as much as he had, so why was she so eager to quit his company? Frustrated, he stormed over to the brandy to pour himself a glass. Mr. Bingley quickly joined his side to mimic his actions.
Chapter 3 (cont'd) - To Capture Mr. Darcy, a Pride and Prejudice Variation
“I say, aside from Miss Bennet being unwell once again, what a jolly, good time! I am surprised Miss Elizabeth seemed to enjoy dancing with you, Darcy.” Bingley knocked back a healthy portion of his liquor.
“That was rather offensive, Charles. Why ever should a woman of her background not enjoy a dance with me? There are scores of ladies in London who would enjoy nothing more than the same pleasure.”
Bingley laughed at his friend’s ego. Few could fault Darcy, though, the man was worth over £10,000 a year and one of the largest landowners in the country. Still, sometimes his friend did not know his own limits of attraction. “I tried to explain to you yesterday, she overheard your remark at the first night’s assembly calling her not tolerable enough to tempt anyone.”
Frowning, Darcy felt a sharp pain in his chest. His words said out of anger at Bingley’s constant nagging that he pick a partner and dance echoed in his memories.
“Not handsome enough to tempt me. Those are the words I uttered.”
Bingley finished his drink and slammed the glass back on the sideboard. His sister Caroline reentered the room and started a conversation with Louisa, who still sat on the other side. “Either way, you accuse Miss Elizabeth of flirtation and I am afraid to say she has been trying to match your original disdain with her own.”
“Thank you ever so much for this intelligence, though I do wish you might have made a greater effort to apprise me of it earlier in their visit. I owe her an apology.” Darcy walked away but Charles called for his friend to come back. Darcy obliged, expecting more intelligence of similar value.
Instead, with a hiss, Bingley explained Darcy could not apologize to Miss Elizabeth as it was a confidence Jane gave him in the first place.
“You would undermine my trust with Miss Bennet. No Darcy, you must find another way to make Miss Elizabeth confess and make your amends that way.”
Just as the two men finished their semi-private conversation, Darcy found Miss Bingley suddenly very much attached to his left arm.
“Mr. Darcy, if you are still in the mood to dance, I have arranged with my sister to play for us.” Darcy looked over and Louisa Hurst indeed sat at the pianoforte and was beginning the first strains of a reel. Involuntarily, Darcy groaned and Bingley laughed at him. Caroline pretended not to notice the reaction and instead escorted a very reluctant Mr. Darcy to the open space of the room for her own turn with the elusive man of Derbyshire. Halfhearted, Darcy completed the moves but his mind was elsewhere.
After taking a full inventory of his exchanges with Miss Elizabeth Bennet, the totality of her hatred towards him appeared to be an insurmountable obstacle. How on earth was he to make amends and apologize to a woman he could not acknowledge offending in the first place? The problem would require strategy and stealth.
“Ooh!” Caroline stopped the dance and stood on one foot, her face crumpled in a pout.
Darcy also stopped and forgot his worrying about Elizabeth for a moment in response to his dance partner’s pain. “Did you turn your ankle?”
“No,” Caroline said meekly as Darcy helped to escort her to the nearby sofa, forcing her to hop in a most undignified manner. “You stepped on my foot!”
“I am terribly sorry,” Darcy bowed in apology but secretly thanked his bumbling feet for ending the set early.
Louisa stopped playing the piano and came to see to her sister, causing Caroline even more agitation. “Louisa!”
“You are injured, you do not need me to play any longer. You only wanted to dance with Mr. Darcy.” Louisa Hurst huffed as her condition made her more fatigued though her gowns scarcely showed the future joy expected to arrive in mid-summer.
Mr. Darcy looked at Charles who shrugged and the two sisters ignored one another.
“Charles,” Darcy addressed his friend, “was there not some estate business on which you wished my opinion?”
“Estate business? No, I do not believe so.”
“The spring plantings. You mentioned yesterday you wanted more explanation about Pemberley’s plans.” Darcy clasped his hands behind his back and glared at his friend.
“Why not discuss the matter here? I am certain I should find the knowledge of your excellent stewardship of your family’s land most fascinating.” Caroline Bingley attempted to encourage Mr. Darcy to join her on the sofa with a barely perceptible lay of her hand on the corner of the cushion next to her.
“Er— I am afraid the subject matter is quite dull. And you would not have the experience to see the benefits of rotation and soil restoration. Charles, might we return to your study?” Mr. Darcy’s glare became an icy stare. One even Charles recognized as a final warning.
“Oh, yes, how daft of me to forget not just the spring plantings, but also the contract for the butcher,” Charles smirked as he led the way to his study, the last refuge for the men of the house. He always enjoyed the sport of watching Darcy squirm away from Caroline’s advances. But he had to be more mindful to not push his own entertainment too far, he did not wish for Darcy to abandon him with his sisters and that idiot brother of his over Caroline’s forwardness.
As the men escaped the drawing room, Caroline stood and stomped out her frustrations in front of the window, frowning at the weather outdoors.
“This is patently unfair! The entire point of this house lease with Mr. Darcy instructing Charles was to give me more time with the man!” Caroline fumed and clenched her fists at her sides.
Louisa looped her yarn over her hook and continued to work the needles. “If it rains another week, mark my words we will have a double wedding by Christmas.”
Caroline stopped her progress and considered her sister’s words. “You truly think so? I do not approve of our brother marrying such a penniless bloom, but my match with Mr. Darcy will more than compensate. And we can make sure Jane cuts herself off from her family once we take her to London.”
Sighing, Louise flopped her knitting into her lap and looked at her sister with exasperation. “I am warning you it will be a ceremony of Bennet brides. Not Bingley.”
Caroline scowled as she realized Louisa was pointing out Mr. Darcy preferred Miss Elizabeth’s company to her own, a fact that had not escaped her own notice. Her mind raced over how she might combat Nature’s inconvenience to her own profit. And soon, a plan unraveled in her thoughts that was fairly simple. Every time Mr. Darcy enjoyed Miss Eliza’s company, Caroline would find a way to best her. It was the only way to prove, once and for all, she was the best match for a man of his stature.
“Do not underestimate me, sister, for I have a plan.”
Lack of interest in Don Quixote for over two hours justified in Elizabeth’s mind another trip to the library. She knew the estate had not magically spawned new titles for her to peruse, but something about the room still drew her to browse the shelves. Jane was truly on the mend, and she wondered perhaps if the elder Bennet sister milked her illness as an attempt to avoid Caroline Bingley and Louisa Hurst. But such malice was uncharacteristic of Jane though Elizabeth would gladly play the part of the invalid if it meant she might stay abed in such a lovely home as Netherfield.
After edging her way between the heavy doors, the room offered a warmness and smell of leather bindings, despite the meager offerings. Her heart raced wildly as she wondered if Mr. Darcy were present, hiding in a corner or some other dark shadows as was his habit. The innocent chess board remained directly in front of her, but the arrangement had captured her attention. Someone had moved a pawn.
Giddy elation bubbled up in her chest as she stepped forward to inspect the board. She took a deep breath and with a shaky hand reached out to move her queen’s knight from behind the defensive line of pawns to greet her adversary. A deep, baritone voice startled her.
“You agree to another game? Does this mean you have forgiven me?”
Elizabeth spun around and tucked her hands behind her back. Remembering she was not a wayward child caught in mischief, she pulled her hands back in front of her, but could not cease wringing them in worry. What might she say? She had not truly thought through the implications of starting another game, another stupid headstrong move would cause her trouble!
“And what, sir, have you done that begs forgiveness?”
Mr. Darcy took two decisive steps towards her but stopped before encroaching upon her personal space in an uncomfortable manner. “I have behaved poorly, unlike a gentleman in your regard. I confess my words are not always chosen so carefully when I am angered or feel strong emotions.”
Elizabeth smiled. “Then I must anger you on all occasions.”
“No, Miss Elizabeth, you do not anger me. Quite the opposite.”
Shocked he would once more reveal so much when their acquaintance was of such a short duration, Elizabeth felt her body flush at the excitement of another compliment. Her heart sang his praises while her mind tried to recall his insult at the assembly and many other times in this very house.
Mr. Darcy did not abide her silence well and felt compelled to do something to put the situation back in his favor. Clearing his throat, he walked away to retrieve two chairs from elsewhere in the library. Elizabeth stepped away from the table to watch the great man take on the employment of a footman for her amusement.
Once finished, Mr. Darcy bowed low in her direction. “Miss Elizabeth Bennet, would you give me the pleasure of playing a game of chess?”
Elizabeth bit her lower lip and glanced towards the library door which was decidedly closed and irrevocably placed her in danger of being considered compromised. Mr. Darcy followed her line of sight and nodded. Dutifully, he strolled over to the double doors and opened them wide, grunting as he moved the heavy potted ferns to keep them thus. Slightly perspiring, he returned to Elizabeth with a rare smile on his face.
“I should wish you comfortable in my company, and I promise to think twice before I speak.”
NEW RELEASE
For the Love of a Bennet
What if Elizabeth Bennet traveled with Lydia to Brighton?
A reimagining of Jane Austen’s most beloved tale, Pride & Prejudice, join author Elizabeth Ann West as she writes the romantic adventure story she always wanted! When Lizzy and Lydia arrive in Brighton, it’s very clear that the younger Bennet sister came with very serious plans towards Mr. Wickham. Thankfully, an old ally is also in town, with problems of his own to solve. After Mr. Darcy, himself, is summoned to Brighton to hopefully solve two dilemmas with one wealthy member of the gentry, the whole militia is thrown into an uproar by Wickham’s most dastardly deed, yet. Together, Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy have to save Lydia from her own undoing, or it will mean more than just mere reputations are ruined.
For the Love of a Bennet is a novel length story, currently being posted chapter by chapter on Elizabeth’s author site. This story was originally conceptualized in 2019 as a part of the All Go to Brighton challenge.
Chapter 3 (cont'd) - To Capture Mr. Darcy, a Pride and Prejudice Variation
To signal her answer, she walked over to her chair and waited expectantly before Mr. Darcy caught the gist. His long legs nearly tripped him up as he tried to move quicker than was reasonable, but he did manage to pull out her chair and push it back in once she sat down in White’s position.
“Thank you, Mr. Darcy, for the invitation. My sister is resting, and I find chess and games of the mind to be a favored activity.”
“Do you— do you often play with your father?” Darcy made another move to respond to her knight’s entrance.
Elizabeth nodded her head most vigorously. “Indeed,” she frowned before moving a pawn to allow her bishop free movement. “If I were at home, my father and I would be in his study when the weather is such as it is today.”
Darcy moved another pawn, daring her to take it with the piece she previously moved. “How old were you when you began to play?”
Elizabeth was not fooled. She moved another pawn only one space to take his pawn if he now took hers, the art of warfare relying on equal and opposite reactions. “I was eight.”
“Nine.” Darcy responded, answering his own question for himself, moving his black knight out from behind the front lines.
Elizabeth smiled at the cheeky familiar piece and moved her pawn up one space to the same level as his. “There is my old friend.”
She anticipated Mr. Darcy taking her pawn as it sat perfectly located in the L-shaped distance from his knight’s position. He swiftly took her piece, and she moved too quickly to take his knight with her own, brushing her hand against his as they tried to reach for the same space. The skin to skin contact sent a jolt of energy up her arm, paralyzing her movements and arresting his own. Their hands still touching, she looked up at him and sighed. Mr. Darcy offered her such sad eyes; she could not help but smile at him in hopes of sending good cheer.
“Mr. Darcy!” Caroline Bingley entered the library, and her chirpy voice ended the moment of intimacy. Elizabeth snatched his knight and moved it to the side of the board, placing her offending hands in her lap. “There you are! I had looked everywhere for you; I should have realized you were in the library.”
Mr. Darcy grimaced, staring at the chess board and refusing to acknowledge Miss Bingley’s inopportune arrival. His senses inflamed by the slightest touch of the woman in front of him, his baser nature chafed at behaving in a civilized manner when Elizabeth triggered every natural masculine instinct in his possession.
“You are teaching Miss Elizabeth to play?” she whined. “But it was I who requested your instruction first. Tut, tut, you have forgotten.”
“Mr. Darcy is not teaching me to play chess, Miss Bingley. I already know how.” Elizabeth flicked her eyes to Mr. Darcy as he moved his other knight from the reserves. She caught a wink from him and felt more steady. He was not cross she had breached propriety and allowed her hand to linger before. Decisively, she moved her queen to the far corner of the board.
“You cannot possibly know how, you’ve just moved that piece, there, diagonally, and Mr. Darcy moved his piece in a jumping motion.”
“Your queen may move in all directions, but may not jump over pieces like a knight,” Elizabeth explained.
Caroline looked at the pieces as Mr. Darcy moved in yet another way entirely, feeling very confused the different pieces apparently followed different rules. “And what is the point of this game?”
“Protect the king,” Mr. Darcy said.
“Oh, so there is a king, he must be able to move anywhere.”
Elizabeth laughed, taking another of Mr. Darcy’s pieces. “Again, you are mistaken, the king may only move one space in any direction.”
Mr. Darcy locked eyes with his Elizabeth as the two continued a flurry of movements to Caroline’s continued arguments about how silly the game must be to confer such freedom to a queen piece but not a king piece. Elizabeth broke away as she used her queen to take one of his bishops, and tried to explain to Miss Bingley that chess resembled a battlefield, with different units holding unique capabilities. She missed Mr. Darcy’s next move while explaining the game as she would to a child.
“Checkmate.”
The warm, viscous tone of Mr. Darcy’s voice washed over Elizabeth, making her wish to hear the man’s voice even more if she admitted it to herself. Offering him a half smile, she tapped her king piece, the tallest with a cross upon his head, and allowed him to fall over.
“Huzzah to Mr. Darcy. It would appear Miss Eliza is not so very good at chess after all.”
Mr. Darcy offered his hand across the board to the surprised Elizabeth just as he would a male opponent. After carefully considering her options, she extended her own and shook his hand, savoring another taste of the delicious feeling she enjoyed when they came into contact.
“You are mistaken, Miss Bingley,” Mr. Darcy said slowly to elongate the time his hand held Elizabeth’s, “she bested me the first time we played.” The handshake ended so as not to push the limits of Caroline’s observations too far and Elizabeth returned her hands to a wringing motion under the table. How could a man’s touch cause such a tingling sensation against her will?
Caroline huffed. “Well, I am quite accomplished at backgammon and wonder if you might like to play a game with me, Mr. Darcy. We can move to the drawing room where the lighting is much better, despite the wretched rain outside.”
Darcy looked to Elizabeth before answering, but she waved him off.
“I should return to my sister and see to her comfort. Perhaps we might play another game before Jane and I leave.”
Mr. Darcy rose from his chair as Elizabeth began returning the pieces to their proper starting positions. He bowed low over the table. “It was a pleasure and a privilege, Miss Elizabeth.”
Elizabeth giggled as she spied Darcy’s posture become rigid when Caroline looped her arm in his to leave the library. Breathing deeply through her nose, she cautioned herself no matter the thrilling emotions the man caused her to feel, in fact, she knew very little of him. The strictures of a proper upbringing warred with her romantic heart fantasizing about being held in his arms and dare she even wish it, receiving a kiss!
The storm outside did not rage so harshly as the previous day, but the rain fell in a steady staccato symphony, and Elizabeth laid her cheek against the cool window and closed her eyes. It was well and good to tease Jane for her sighs over Mr. Bingley, but to feel a similar state of charity towards a man was a new experience Elizabeth wished to keep utterly to herself. With any luck, Miss Bingley would continue to keep her and Mr. Darcy from enjoying too much time together, and that safeguard was one Lizzie Bennet appreciated.
Dinner on the fifth day found Elizabeth more at ease than any previous night. With Jane fully participating in the meal, most of the attention fell not on her, but instead upon Jane. Gone were the impertinent questions Elizabeth endured. Both Caroline Bingley and Louisa Hurst appeared to be happy to engage in conversation with the sweet Jane.
Unfortunately, the addition of her sister had moved Elizabeth down the table, so the two Bennet sisters flanked Mr. Hurst on Bingley’s right, and Mr. Darcy sat in between the two Bingley sisters on Mr. Bingley’s left. But not participating in the conversation suited Elizabeth just fine as she dedicated her attentions to the delicious dinner brought out in no less than five courses.
“Mr. Darcy, have you shared with Miss Eliza my triumph this afternoon in backgammon?” Caroline preened in her superior position at the table, closest to the head chair, with her knife and fork poised in her hand to cut another piece of meat pie.
“This afternoon I suffered a defeat at the hands of Miss Bingley.” Mr. Darcy addressed his confession in Elizabeth’s direction, the corners of his mouth twitching as he held back a smile.
“How utterly dreadful for you, sir. I do hope your joy from besting me in chess carried you through such a trial.” Elizabeth thoroughly enjoyed the double meaning to her conversation with Mr. Darcy. Miss Bingley was too stupid to realize the great man did not enjoy her company, far be it from Elizabeth to explain such social skills to her.
Caroline fumed. “Miss Bennet, are there any parlor games you enjoy?” Caroline batted her eyelashes at Jane Bennet sitting across from her, an attempt to stop any conversational tête-à-tête between Mr. Darcy and that upstart sister.
“I’m afraid I am not much for games though I do enjoy playing cards.”
“Cards are my favorite as well. After dinner, we shall play a game of loo.” Charles Bingley promised, furthering conversation with Jane to ask her what her favorite card games were.
The conversation continued with Caroline interjecting far too frequently into what might as well be a private conversation between Mr. Bingley and Jane. Elizabeth had settled once more in her reduced role at the table when Mr. Darcy took a momentary silence to strike up another conversation with her.
“Miss Elizabeth, are you a fan of cards?”
Elizabeth wrinkled up her nose and frowned. “I am afraid my taste for cards does not lie with the popular games of the day. I rather abhor gambling of any sort and I find that precludes my participation at most card tables when my Aunt Phillips hosts such events in Meryton.”
Darcy nodded firmly in understanding. “I have had the misfortune of watching too many men gamble away their entire livelihood at the gaming tables in London. I find your preferences to be both refreshing and a great deal safer than the ways in which many ladies live in town.”
“But how could you say such things? Why you have gone out with Charles on many occasions to Brooks and Boodles to play your luck as Charles puts it? I was under the impression you enjoyed games of skill and chance.” Caroline glanced from her brother to Mr. Darcy in confusion. Both men paled at such rude subject matter introduced at the dinner table. Mr. Darcy uncomfortably cleared his throat, and neither man appeared willing to address the issue.
Elizabeth took pity on Mr. Darcy’s discomfort and attracted Caroline’s barbs towards herself. “It is my understanding many a location of less than desirable repute is also the place of great business and negotiation. Or so my father says as it’s one of the few consequences he laments of not going to town unless he must.” Elizabeth felt the burn of embarrassment at having to once again educate her hostess in the realities of the world. Miss Bingley might have accomplished many skills at the school she lauded numerous times in Elizabeth’s short visit at Netherfield Park, but the woman lacked any life experience a family of generations of being a lady provided.
“I am confident my voice might prove to be worse than a cat’s howl, but perhaps after dinner we might enjoy music?” Jane asked a question loudly to redirect the conversation, but it was most applied to Mr. Bingley. For Jane’s benefit, Mr. Bingley was in no mind to deny Miss Bennet any of her whims or desires while under his roof.
“A fine idea! I believe Caroline has been working on a very intricate piece for the pianoforte, have you not sister?” Mr. Bingley emphasized the last word of his question.
Caroline Bingley blanched and scowled at her brother. If she had embarrassed him earlier, Charles, as the youngest of the Bingley clan, was not above revenge of the cruelest kind.
“It is not ready, Charles. You know I have only worked on the sheet music since we arrived.”
“If Miss Bennet is willing to sing so shortly after a sore throat, surely your nimble fingers can play the best that they may offer. Our guests have requested music.”
Elizabeth Bennet choked on her wine to observe Caroline Bingley finally being put into her place. With Jane downstairs, Elizabeth was no longer outnumbered and did not feel a need to rise to every provocation the Bingley sisters hurled. She did note Mr. Bingley was indeed of a fickle constitution in his decisions, having just wished to play cards and now fully in favor of music.
“Do not worry,” Louisa leaned forward to talk around Mr. Darcy. “We shall play a duet.”
“Lud! Do I hear a challenge coming on? Miss Elizabeth, do you play the pianoforte as well? Will you be accompanying Miss Bennet?” Charles Bingley, ever a man of competition, goaded the younger Bennet sister in attendance.
Elizabeth looked at Mr. Darcy’s face and gone was the sadness in his eyes from the afternoon. She wanted to play with Jane and show off what little accomplishment she had managed at her own instruction at Longbourn. Sitting ever so slightly higher in her chair, Elizabeth leaned forward to display her gumption for Mr. Bingley to see.
“It would be my pleasure, Mr. Bingley, to join my sister in song.”
Mr. Hurst grumbled something about eating slowly for the sake of one’s constitution, but with the gauntlet thrown in a duel of the duets, the rest of the table sparsely spent more time than necessary on each remaining course. The men briefly separated before joining the women in the music room after dinner.
You’ve been reading To Capture Mr. Darcy
Nature’s a fickle thing. When four days of rain occur earlier in Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice to trap Jane and Elizabeth Bennet at Netherfield Park, new romances, misunderstandings, and alignments are made. Volatile tempers never did well cooped up together. Not even when there’s a chessboard to help pass the time.
Fall in love with the romance of Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet all over again in this new variation by author Elizabeth Ann West. A stand-alone novel of over 300 pages in paperback, this story is sure to make you sigh and swoon many times over!
To Capture Mr. Darcy a Pride and Prejudice novel variation series
Release Date: April 28, 2016
334 pages in print.
+ 23 additional Pride & Prejudice variations are available at these fine retailers . . .
A Jane-of-all-trades, mistress to none! Elizabeth Ann West is the author of 8 novels and 11 novellas, 18 of which are story variations of Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice.