Chrysalis, Pride and Prejudice Fanfiction
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Chrysalis ~ Section IBy Cindy C.
Section I,
Chapter 1Posted on Thursday, 26 December 2002
"Squire Mayfield," Hill announced, and escorted the man into the Bennet parlor at Longbourn.
"Oh, Squire Mayfield," Mrs. Bennet gushed. "How lovely of you to call. I have been sitting here all afternoon with only my nerves for company. Won't you have some tea? I vow, this autumn afternoon is wet and damp, and my..."
Mrs. Bennet droned on, ignoring the fact that the squire was not sitting, but was pacing rather indecorously in front of the fireplace.
"Hill," Mrs. Bennet shrilled when tea arrived, "please fetch Mary. I know you had a preference to Kitty when you last called, Squire Mayfield, and who could blame you, but alas, Mary is the only daughter I have left at home. Kitty is in Derbyshire with her sister, the wealthy Mrs. Darcy, and of course our darling Jane is at Netherfield, and my little Lydia is...Mary! Take off those glasses!" she hissed when her middle child entered the room. "The squire has come to call."
Mary inwardly groaned, and she left her spectacles squarely on her nose. Squire Mayfield was a big, burly, red-faced widower with five children all under the age of ten, none of which he had any control over, and it was common knowledge in Meryton that he was in search of a wife (read: new mother for his brats). It was also known, largely bandied about by the squire himself, that he expected to wed one of the two remaining Bennets. As Kitty had conveniently endeared herself to Miss Darcy, earning an invitation to Pemberley, that left Mary to do the honors.
When Hades froze over, she told herself, clutching her Bible.
Her mother, in the throes of imagining another wedding - she knew the gossip as well as, if not better, than everyone else, having encouraged it as much as possible - barked at Mary to sit down on the sofa.
Mary did as she was told, but to her chagrin, the squire immediately seated himself at her side. She poured out the tea, as bid by her mother, and tried to ignore the myriad smells coming from the man at her side. She identified horse, sweat and strawberry jam and tried not to expire on the spot when her mother, on some flimsy pretense, left the two of them alone.
"Miss Bennet, I -"
Mary wracked her brain for something - anything - to keep her mind off the eau de equine swirling about her head. On the other hand, if she disgraced herself in front of the squire, he would be put off his imminent proposal, would he not?
Unfortunately, not one to be able to cast up her accounts at the drop of a hat, that notion was immediately discarded. What would Lizzy do in a case like this? Quick-witted Lizzy would try to lead the conversation along another route, for one...
"And is your harvest all in, sir?" she asked. "I couldn't help but notice that you had not attended the last assembly, as everyone said you were helping bring in the wheat."
"I...Miss Bennet..."
Mary thanked her Maker that the squire was a slowtop - a startled shriek from her mother out in the hall (listening, no doubt, at the keyhole) brought her to her feet.
"I must attend my mother. Her nerves, you know..." Hastening out to the hall, Mary was in time to see her mother dancing about, waving an express that had just arrived.
"Mary, how wonderful! How absolutely wonderful! Oh, my nerves, my nerves. Quick, get rid of Squire Mayfield! Oh, this is wonderful! Mr. Bennet, Mr. Bennet!" she called, skipping off to the library as fast as her considerable bulk could carry her.
Get rid of the squire? Gladly, but how? Mary was not one to disassemble, considering it the greatest sin not to act oneself. However, it would take a bit of playacting to accomplish this task. What would Lizzy do? Or Lydia? She pondered what to say even as she saw her mother coming back out of the library and thundering up the stairs.
"I'm dreadfully sorry, sir," she apologized, breezing back into the parlor. "My mother has become overwrought, and I must attend her. Perhaps we could continue this discussion some other day?"
She quit the room before ascertaining whether the squire stayed or departed, and was headed upstairs to attend to her mother when Mr. Bennet put his head out the library door.
"Mary, a moment of your time," he requested, motioning for her to enter the room.
"Yes, Papa." Bewildered, she followed and sat down.
"We have had word from Lizzy in Derbyshire, my dear."
"Bad news?" She remembered that the letter had come by express. No, surely not bad news, with Mama in raptures upstairs.
"Good news, perhaps. It depends on one's point of view. Mr. Darcy is taking Lizzy to London for a month, and Miss Darcy and Kitty are to go, too. It wouldn't surprise me if Jane and Bingley were to be there. And perhaps our servants will fancy a trip to the capital, as well," he added, half under his breath. As if remembering where he was, he cleared his throat. "You also have been invited."
"I am to go?"
"If you wish, my dear."
"And Mama is to go, too?" Please say no, she silently begged.
"Er, no, I do believe your mother was not included in the invitation."
Thank you, Heavenly Father. "Go to London?"
"That is what I understand."
"Then why is Mama in alt?"
Mr. Bennet chuckled. "She hopes you and your sister will make advantageous matches through the acquaintances of the Darcys."
"But Squire Mayfield...Mama... It is all very well for Kitty to go. She is pretty and lively, and does not lack for companionship. I shall not know how to go on."
Mr. Bennet smiled gently down at his oft-forgotten middle child. Raising her chin up so she might see his sincerity, he looked her straight in the eye. "My dear, you will do very well. Let Lizzy and Jane be your guides and you will do very well, indeed. And above all, be yourself. I cannot abide silly chits who think they have to transform themselves into a completely different person in order to catch a husband, only to revert to their old self once a ring is on their finger."
"Yes, Papa. I suppose I shall go then. When do I depart?"
"The Darcys will arrive here in a fortnight, and leave two days after. I suggest, however, that you either ask Jane to accompany you shopping, or wait until you reach London to make purchases for your stay. Your mother will have many opinions, and she will most likely contradict herself at least a dozen times in the next two weeks..."
"I understand."
"I thought you might. You have more sense than we realize sometimes...Now, do you suppose the squire has left, or is so thick-headed he is still in the parlor, waiting to propose?" His tone was serious, but his blue eyes twinkled at his daughter.
"Papa!" Mary chuckled. "Knowing the squire, he is still in the parlor."
"Then ring for Hill to bring us some tea in here, my dear."
"Oh, yes, thank you!"
Mr. Bennet was correct. His wife had dozens of notions of how Mary was to go on in London, many of them in direct conflict with each other, and none of them worth a farthing. But despite her father's advice, Mary was loathe to ask Jane for assistance. The new Mrs. Bingley had enough time wasted in her busy life as it was, with Mama spending all her spare time at Netherfield. When Mary realized Mama was not bemoaning the loss of Jane at Netherfield, she did not dare mention the Bingleys repairing to London. Jane would be preoccupied, also, with packing for London without alerting her parent.
Hopefully, they were not leaving before the Darcy party. Mary did not relish having to listen to Mama wail on about having been abandoned. It should make her feel quite guilty, and she might end up having to stay home. And while part of her considered London to be a den of iniquity and a season in town a waste of alms for the poor, a small part of her longed for a ball as much as Lydia ever did.
When the time arrived, London was much as Mary expected. The air was thick and rank, the streets were filthy and there was a hustle and bustle she found uncomfortable. Still, the excitement exhibited by Miss Darcy and Kitty was infectious to a degree, and even the quiet Mrs. Annesley, who was to return to Pemberley on the morrow, having been needed only as a traveling companion, was more forthcoming than usual.
The four traveled comfortably in the Darcy's second-best carriage, leaving Lizzy and Mr. Darcy to themselves, all of them followed by another carriage piled high with luggage. The servants had already been sent ahead to Mr. Darcy's townhouse to make ready for their arrival. Lizzy, too, had hinted mysteriously at extra servants needed with young ladies in the household. Mary could not understand what that might entail and had dismissed it from her mind until they reached the Darcy residence.
Then, to her surprise, she was introduced to Babette, a Frenchwoman who was to be her maid. A fellow Frenchwoman, Marie, had been hired to tend to Miss Darcy and Kitty, but Mary was to have a servant to herself.
"As befits the eldest Miss Bennet," Lizzy had replied when Mary insisted there must be a mistake.
"No mistake, Miss Bennet," Mr. Darcy assured her, when she looked at him in mute appeal. "If Elizabeth says you are to have a maid, then you are to have a maid." Even Miss Darcy and Kitty were in agreement, and outnumbered, she followed Babette upstairs to find another surprise.
Her bedchamber was beautiful! In blue and white, with gilt-edged furniture, she thought perhaps they had placed her in a room for important guests by mistake.
"Surely this is too fine a room for me?" she couldn't help but ask. Babette only smiled and assured her this was the room assigned to Miss Bennet, and would she care for a rest before it was time to return downstairs?
"Follow the adventure of travel with a nap, no?"
Too exhausted to argue, Mary allowed Babette to undress her, unaware the adventure of being the eldest Miss Bennet was only just beginning.
Chapter 2"I cannot begin to understand Mary," Elizabeth told her Aunt Gardiner a week later, as the two had tea and a private chat one afternoon. "Georgiana and Kitty are perfectly amiable when it comes to shopping and fittings, but Mary will barely allow us near her. She treats her new maid as if she were invisible, and she spends all her time in Mr. Darcy's library. I am worried, if only for the impression she will make at next week's ball." The Darcys were giving a ball very soon upon their arrival not only because they would be in town only a few weeks, but to introduce the three young ladies in their charge.
"Perhaps she needs a reason to submit to such a boring task," her aunt suggested.
"A reason? Such as what?"
"I don't know. Perhaps if she had a beau or two..."
Elizabeth could not help it. The thought of Mary having a beau was too amusing, and she laughed aloud. "Really, aunt...a beau? Mary?"
"Come now, Elizabeth, your sister is in tolerable looks, even if she tends to sermonize too much."
"That's part of the problem, as well."
"Too many sermons?"
"Not enough. She has been extremely close-mouthed since our arrival. What was the use of bringing her, if she doesn't want to be with the family?"
Mrs. Gardiner shrewdly eyed her niece. "Perhaps that is the problem. Now that you are married, isn't it nice, sometimes, to be alone? To find a place in that large house of yours and just be by yourself?"
"Yes..."
"And are you not relieved to not have to listen to your mother..."
"Yes..."
"Then there you have it. Mary just needs a little time alone. Let her have her books and her solitude in the library. Don't push the girl too hard, Elizabeth. When she is ready for company, she will seek it. And speaking of company, when do the Bingleys arrive in town," she added, changing the subject.
"I am expecting them any day. Knowing Jane and Mr. Bingley, they will slip out of their own house at dawn one morning rather than hurt Mama's feelings."
Mrs. Gardiner laughed and the two moved on to other matters.
"Won't you come in and look at bonnets, Miss Bennet?" Miss Darcy pleaded. "Kitty and I have found the loveliest hats in this shop..."
"I wish to go to Hatchard's, please."
"We should have guessed," Kitty said, her voice tinged with resignation. Even Jane, when she had arrived the day before, had already begun to conspire with the two younger ladies to get Mary out of the house and into some fashionable clothing.
"I would not like to see her looking less in mode than you and Miss Darcy," she had said kindly.
"She dresses like she is the maid and Babette is a young lady of the house," Kitty had retorted. Now Maid Mary eschewed bonnets for a bookseller. Typical.
"Please do not be over an hour, Mary," she now begged her sister. "Georgiana and I will poke around here until then. But you must take Babette. It would not do for a young lady to be out alone, even in Hatchard's."
"Yes, Kitty. One hour. With Babette."
The hour went quickly, and Mary, assured before her departure by Mr. Darcy that he would receive the bill for whatever books she deemed necessary to her well-being, had piled not only Babette's arms, but those of a footman's, with her purchases. That still left four books to be carried by herself out to the carriage, and she was headed out the door, lost in that blissful thought that only comes from anticipating a good read, Babette in tow, when she ran into an old woman.
"Watch what you're about, gel!" the crow, covered from head to toe in rusty black, bellowed. A tall man behind her held the leads to three fat little pugs. Mary paused, pushing her way out of the mists to discover a broad and bulky lady in black shouting at the top of her lungs. Still somewhat dazed, she did not realize the shouting was aimed at herself, and she dropped down to pet the dogs.
"What adorable little pugs," she exclaimed, oblivious to the lady and her companion, until the man laughed. She looked up to see a handsome gentleman in the first stare of fashion, or what she assumed was the first stare of fashion, looking down at her with a smile. Dark wavy hair fell over on his forehead and she felt a sudden urge to brush it out of his way.
"You could not have said better, miss," he told her, his gray eyes twinkling. "Grandmother dotes on the little beasts!"
"Hush, boy! The gel is admiring my pups. Smart gel, recognizing pugs. Unappreciated breed," she added, giving her grandson a steely glance. Unabashed, he knelt down beside Mary.
"That fat charmer is Duchess, the one with the darker tail is Sir Walter, as in Drake, and this snarling little one is Butcher, the bane of footmen everywhere. He likes ladies, however. See how he shows his affection?"
Mary found herself giggling as a pink little tongue bathed her hand. She laughed even harder when the other two dogs, not to be excluded, crowded in for their share of kisses.
"Oh no, you don't!" the man cried when Butcher, sensing his proximity, turned and snarled at his keeper. "Down boy, down!"
Mary crowed with delight as the man attempted to retrieve her fallen books and avoid the bared teeth of the aggressive little pug, all that the same time. The old lady chuckled, too, and even Babette, doing her best to keep a straight face, as befitted her station, gave a mirthful snort.
"Thank you, sir." Mary was gracious when the gentleman handed over her books. "Good day to you both." She swept out of Hatchard's, a ridiculous grin on her face, and when she and Babette had reached the privacy of the carriage, they burst into laughter.
They were still laughing when they reached the millinery shop, but neither Kitty nor Miss Darcy could persuade them to share their amusement. They believed that the joke, whatever it had been, gave Mary an animation she had been lacking, and that liveliness was still apparent when they reached the Darcy townhouse and swept into the drawing room together.
"Look who has arrived!" Elizabeth indicated a smiling gentleman in military regimentals who had risen at their entry, and Miss Darcy, squealing with delight, dropped her dignity and inherent shyness and launched herself at the visitor.
"Richard! We did not expect you! When did you arrive? Are you staying at Matlock House? Will you come to our ball?"
"Georgiana Darcy!" her brother exclaimed. "Where are your manners?"
Properly chastised, Miss Darcy backed away from her cousin, but she did not stop smiling. "Let me make you known again, Cousin Richard, to Elizabeth's sisters. Miss Bennet," and Mary curtsied gracefully, her blue eyes still swimming with amusement from her earlier adventure, "and Miss Kitty Bennet."
"Miss Bennet, Miss Kitty," he acknowledged with a bow. "Tell me, Miss Bennet," he asked as he escorted Mary to the sofa and seated himself at her side, "how you are enjoying your visit to London? Is this the first time you have been in the capital?" He bluntly ignored everyone around him, apparently intent only on his companion's reply.
Mary, oblivious to the surprised stares from everyone else in the room, from Mr. Darcy down to Kitty, answered the colonel's questions readily enough, emboldened somewhat by the attention paid her by the handsome stranger in the bookstore. Was it possible she was slightly more attractive to the opposite sex than either she or her family realized? The answer was in the admiring gleam in Colonel Fitzwilliam's eyes, and it was heady stuff indeed. She continued the conversation with seeming interest until it was time for their visitor to depart. However, a part of her brain was a seething mass of questions. And she knew just the person with all the answers.
"Babette?"
"Mademoiselle Bennet?" If she was surprised that her young lady had addressed her after a week of ignoring her presence, she gave no indication.
"I wish to conduct a scientific experiment and I shall require your assistance."
"Oui, mademoiselle."
Mary sat down at the gilded escritoire and picked up a pen. "First, a list, I think. Yes, a list. Babette, do you think I am pretty?"
"Mademoiselle?"
"Never mind. Let us state, for a fact, that compared to my sisters, I am rather plain. And I wear glasses. I need my glasses, but they make me look like a bluestocking." She laughed. "I am a bluestocking, but there is no need to announce it to the world. But today... Babette, do you think that gentleman in the bookstore noticed me today?"
Babette's smile was tender. "Pour certain, mademoiselle."
"Truly? It was most odd. And when we returned home, Mr. Darcy's cousin, Colonel Fitzwilliam, monopolized my conversation in a most vexing manner. I wonder if he will continue to do so at dinner tonight. Babette - and this is all in the sake of science, mind you - would you assist me in dressing for dinner? Let us wonder if slightly altering my appearance will induce the colonel, who is to join us, to further converse with me. If so, we will be required to make even more changes in order to continue the experiment at next week's ball."
Babette, her eyes shining, went into action.
"William, did you notice something odd about Mary this evening?" Elizabeth wondered later, lying in her husband's arms in his bed. His bedchamber, no matter where they were, had become hers, while her own was used as a large dressing room and nothing more.
"Mary who? You know I notice no one else when you are in the room, my love."
"William, I am serious!" she insisted.
"So am I. But now that you mention it, her hair was different, less severe. Richard made quite the cake of himself over her tonight. I had thought him a confirmed bachelor, not to mention a connoisseur of beautiful ladies, and he attached himself to Miss Bennet the entire evening. Rather singular of him, I must say."
"Rather singular of Mary, as well. She usually avoids men like the ten plagues of Egypt, and I believe she was actually encouraging the colonel! She even agreed to accompany the colonel and the girls on a drive in the park tomorrow afternoon. I did not hear anything the least bit edifying or religious come out of her mouth, either. At least she is out of the library." She snuggled down further into her husband's arms and promptly forgot about her sister.
Chapter 3Posted on Monday, 30 December 2002
"Where is Mary?" Kitty complained for the tenth time that next afternoon. "The colonel has promised us all a drive in the park, and he will be here any minute!" She paced up and down the drawing room, unlike Georgiana, who was seated sedately next to her sister-in-law.
"Patience, Kitty," Elizabeth counseled, although a small smile played along her lips. "If last night is any indication, Mary is taking a few extra pains with her appearance today. It is something I would encourage."
"I, too, encourage it - wholeheartedly!" Kitty exclaimed. "But could she have not started sooner? I hear the colonel down in the front hall now!"
Colonel Fitzwilliam, splendid in his regimentals, was announced in the drawing room a few minutes later, and found Kitty sitting in a chair by the fire, her foot tapping impatiently, Georgiana in her usual quiet repose and Elizabeth reading next to her on the sofa. They all stood, however, and curtsied their greetings.
"Good afternoon, ladies," he acknowledged with a bow. "Ready for a drive, Georgiana? Miss Kitty? Pray tell, where is Miss Bennet?"
"Here I am, sir," Mary said from the doorway.
Lizzie and Kitty gaped at their sister. Mary looked very pretty in an apricot gown and rusty velvet pelisse, rust-colored gloves and bonnet completing the ensemble. The colors brought out a peaches and cream complexion no one had ever noticed before, and increasing confidence in herself made her glow. Soft curls framed her face from underneath the bonnet, and even her spectacles were more of an accent than a hindrance to her appearance.
The colonel, delighted in the gentle metamorphosis of Miss Bennet, bowed over her extended hand and lightly brushed the top of her glove with his lips.
"Come along ladies," he called over his shoulder as he tucked Mary's arm up under his. "We shall be caught in a crush in the park if we do not hurry."
"Well!" Kitty threw back at Lizzy as she flounced out of the room. "As if we were the ones making him late!"
"Lavender and lemon," the colonel murmured, seated next to Miss Bennet in the open carriage and getting a whiff of her hair. They had already circled the park once, stopping occasionally so that the colonel might introduce the ladies to his friends and acquaintances.
"I beg your pardon?"
"Nothing to signify, Miss Bennet. What a glorious day!"
Kitty and Georgiana giggled. "But Colonel Fitzwilliam," Mary said in her direct manner, "the sky is gray and there is a chill in the wind. Oh!" She caught sight of the man at the book shop and stared, forgetting completely that she had been addressing her companion. The mystery man was mounted on a white horse, a brown, many-caped riding coat open to reveal a dark blue coat and tan pants tucked into gleaming black Hessians. He certainly was handsome, whomever he might be.
"Trowbridge!" the colonel called. The man acknowledged the colonel with a wave and rode toward the carriage. Mary wanted to sink down into the seat, but she was between the colonel and the other man, and would perforce be right in the center of their imminent conversation. What if he recognized her? What if he didn't recognize her? She had never had such a reaction to a gentleman before, and it scared her to death.
"Fitzwilliam! I had imagined you in the wilderness somewhere, not escorting the three handsomest ladies in London about Hyde Park." He dared a glance at Mary, who was staring at him as if she wished he would vanish, and winked. Startled, she dropped her gaze to her lap.
"Trowbridge, you old fox, I should have known I would meet you sooner or later. Let me make you known to my companions. Miss Darcy is my cousin, and Miss Kitty Bennet is Darcy's sister-in-law."
"Miss Darcy, Miss Bennet. But Fitz, you are saving the best for last! Or were you not going to introduce me to the lovely creature by your side?" Mary, who had been studying the embroidery on her new reticule, raised her head sharply and looked around. Surely, the man could not be speaking of her?
"Miss Bennet, ladies, this is the Earl of Trowbridge. Trowbridge, Miss Bennet is Miss Kitty Bennet's sister."
"Your servant, Miss Bennet." He smiled gently and then turned his attention to the colonel. "And do I find you at Matlock House, Fitz, or are you infringing on Darcy's good nature?"
"Neither. I have my own rooms at the Albany. Do you have plans for dinner this evening? There are several old friends dining at White's and you are most welcome to join us."
The earl laughed. "I have committed myself to escorting Grandmother to a dinner party, else I would attend. I understand, ladies, that Mrs. Darcy is giving a ball next week, to which we have been invited. If I do not see you beforehand, I shall most certainly see all of you there." His emphasis on the word all was directed at Mary, who blushed and lowered her head once more. She didn't see the swift wave of jealousy wash over the colonel, but Georgiana, who had been watching the entire scene with much interest, did, and looked thoughtful. Miss Bennet's sudden popularity did much to warm her kind heart.
"Mary?" Lizzy knocked gently at her sister's door, to be admitted by a hairbrush-wielding Babette. Mary was seated at the dressing table, her long brown hair curling down past her shoulders.
"Yes, Lizzy?"
"I know you had not planned to dine with us this evening at Claymore House, but Georgiana is not feeling well and has asked to be excused. Because I do not wish to throw off Lady Claymore's numbers..."
"You wish me to attend in Miss Darcy's place?"
"Yes."
Babette had stood silent throughout this quick exchange, but now she traded looks in the mirror with Miss Bennet. The two exchanged nods, and then Mary turned to her sister.
"I will round out the party, then," she replied. "But it will be at least an hour before I am prepared. Is that time enough?"
Lizzy stifled a laugh. To think Mary needed time to get dressed...
"It will take me that long, at least. We will meet you in the drawing room in an hour. Thank you." With a nod of her own for Babette, Lizzy retired to her room, leaving Mary in the capable hands of her maid.
"Well, Babette, what do you think? The white silk or the white silk?" Not prepared to spend too much time at fittings for her new wardrobe, despite her experiment, Mary had allowed her maid to take her measurements. Between Babette and Lizzy's modiste, who had several gowns already made, they had managed to turn out some articles of clothing in one day's time, leaving Mary free to pursue her other interests. The ensemble she had worn earlier to the park, and the white silk evening dress, were the first two completed. A gown for Lizzy's ball was in the works, as were two day dresses.
"The white silk, mademoiselle."
Mary laughed. Her experiment had been a success so far, if one could count the attentions of not one, but two, gentlemen. Mary, of course, could take neither gentleman seriously. The colonel was a well-known ladies' man, and had attached himself to her as the eldest unmarried young lady. Georgiana was his cousin, after all, and Kitty... well, Kitty was Kitty. That left only Mary to which to devote his attentions.
Lord Trowbridge, on the other hand, was merely being kind. He had come to her rescue, like a knight in shining armor, at the bookstore, and that was how he had remained in her mind, especially after learning of his exalted place in society. A knight was good in a tight spot, but unattainable by such a one as she.
She sighed, however, with contentment as Babette returned to her hair. Despite their supposed intentions, it felt wonderful to be the recipient of such male attentions.
Mary tried not to gasp an hour and a half later as they approached Claymore House. It was large and imposing, especially with lights blazing in all the front windows. Surely there were not so many guests as to need all those rooms? It was a waste of candles, if there were not. She pondered the wisdom of agreeing to accompany her sisters and brother-in-law.
Lizzy, too, wondered at something, but it concerned Mary only indirectly. She was curious as to why Georgiana, so full of energy that morning, had complained of feeling ill only after they had returned from the park. What had happened? Had it to do with someone she had met? William's sister was smugly happy about something, despite her protestations that she was feeling unwell and that Mary should be persuaded to take her place. Lizzy glanced at her sister, looking very fine that evening in white silk, a burgundy velvet evening cape and white silk apple blossoms in her dark hair. Perhaps Mary had met someone in the park? Curiosity consumed her as they exited the carriage and entered Claymore House.
There must be fifty people here! Mary thought wildly, looking for a quiet corner and a familiar face or two. She had been introduced by her hostess, relieved at a replacement - any replacement - for Miss Darcy, to any number of people, but she could not remember their names and felt out of place, despite her fashionable attire. Only Kitty and Lizzy seemed comfortable amongst such a crowd.
"Elizabeth will be the life of the party wherever we go," Mr. Darcy whispered in her ear. "I, however, prefer a smaller group. Will you allow me to escort you to a less-hectic part of the room, Mary?"
She did not know which startled her more. Mr. Darcy admitting to the same feelings of anxiety in such a large crowd, or his calling her by her Christian name, a first for him. "I...I thank you, sir. I should prefer that above anything." They smiled at each other in complete charity, and headed toward an empty sofa, but were brought up short by the Countess of Trowbridge, blazing with diamonds and wearing black again, although this time showing way too much flesh.
"Darcy!" she boomed. "How nice to see you! And it's the pup-loving gel! Darcy, introduce us!" she commanded.
"Lady Trowbridge, may I introduce Miss Bennet." If he noticed the countess's comment hinting at a previous encounter, he did not mention it aloud. "Mary, this is the Countess of Trowbridge."
Mary curtsied, and almost before she could rise, the countess had seized her by the arm and was hauling her off to the other side of the room. Mr. Darcy was left behind, a bemused expression on his face.
"Had to leave the pugs home this evening, more's the pity! Glad to see you again, my gel. You must come to tea one day and see the latest litter! Not by Duchess, of course, but Butcher was the sire! Champion lot! Champion! Com...
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