Chapter 8 If Mr. Darcy Dared

Sounds of her family arriving woke Elizabeth from her light slumber. Lying in the bed she shared with Jane, she grasped the covers more tightly and cringed. The muffled voices below were unintelligible as to content but she could still make out her mother’s shrill voice above them all. Remaining abed, Elizabeth did not leave to greet them all. She had nothing to say to defend her behavior. In the time she had waited for her father to return she had imagined almost every torment waiting in her future as a result of the ball.

Even if Mr. Bennet had not planned to return to the ball to collect his family, he would have had no choice. The imbecile footman had not called the Bennet carriage but the Byng carriage, belonging to Monica and Chandler Byng, a family of long-standing in the community. Mr. Bennet and Elizabeth had both been so upset from the last interview with Mr. Darcy that neither one of them recognized the carriage was not their own until they were halfway to reaching Longbourn. What might have been a folly shared between father and daughter was not one, as Mr. Bennet had not scolded and Elizabeth had not confessed anything more. So other than remarking on the wrong carriage for the wrong family, their ride back to Longhorn was silent.

After a half hour of his daughter’s silence, Mr. Bennet held no wish to further endure such a parenting chore and left right away to return the carriage.

“I would be a poor neighbor, indeed, to linger if Mr. and Mrs. Byng wish to leave the ball early,” Mr. Bennet remarked.

Elizabeth nodded and bade her father well as she stood in the doorway. She reflected on the young children of the Byngs, Rachel, Phoebe, and little Joseph. Before Mrs. Ross, Mrs. Byng’s sister, had come to stay with them, Elizabeth and Jane had often called on their friend Monica to provide her with company. Monica Ross had married young, but she was not even a year older than Jane.

Just as the thought of suggesting such a visit to her sister appeared in her mind it became squashed by the realization that after the ball, everything would be changed. Mr. Darcy had kissed her in front of everyone! There was a good chance not a single respectable door would be open to her in all of Hertfordshire.

“Miss Lizzy, you are back. Have you turned your ankle again?” Mrs. Hill, Longbourn’s housekeeper, immediately flocked to Elizabeth’s side as she stood in the foyer.

“No, I’m afraid it’s all too horrid to retell. Forgive me,” she said, shrugging off the care of Hill and taking the stairs above to the room she shared with Jane. Feeling ill to her stomach, Elizabeth struggled out of her ball gown. Mrs. Hill had followed the young lady up even though her assistance had been declined. Without a word, she helped Elizabeth out of her garment and hung the lovely frock up so it would not wrinkle too badly for the laundry maid.

Elizabeth crawled into bed. She allowed herself to cry again, and after Hill left her, she fell asleep.