Excentryke's Musings

Rose and Lavender Water

Part the Third

The night of the Assembly finally came and Bella was dressing for the evening.  She had decided on a pale green muslin with no lace—despite Mama’s urgings—with her hair in the usual severe bun at the base of her neck.  She had placed a pale green ribbon slightly set back from her hairline to accentuate the dark color and had dabbed rose water on her neck and wrists.

Mary took her bottle of lavender water and smoothed it on her wrists before smudging the scent along her neck.  Her blonde hair stood out against Bella’s own dark looks.  She was wearing a pink muslin, her hair coiffed elegantly.

“Mr. Darcy will certainly notice your beauty, Bells.”

“I hope he does not notice Jane.”

“How can he notice a pale rose like Jane when a dark beauty is before him?” Mary asked sincerely.  “You are beauty and simplicity.  Jane is all curls and serene smiles.” 

It was true, Jane curled her hair in the latest style.  At the age of one and twenty, she should have been married already and she needed to catch a husband.  Mama was talking about sending her to Town for Christmastide with Uncle and Aunt Gardiner in the hopes that a change of scene would bring about a change in matrimonial luck.

Elizabeth was also twenty so she should really be wed soon as well.  She, however, did not curl her hair.

Bella glanced at her reflection one last time before taking up her shawl and going toward the door.  “Ready, Mary?”

“Ready!” Mary called back, picking up her own shawl and hurrying after Bella, tripping on her own hem.

The sisters laughed and then proceeded down the stairs.

The night was cloudy despite the full moon and the coachman certainly needed the carriage lights to see the road.  Bella looked out the carriage window and could see nothing but darkness, not even the looming trees.

When the carriage arrived at the Assembly Hall, lights sparkling through the windows and the sound of violins carrying through the air, Bella allowed her parents and then Jane and Elizabeth to get out of the carriage.  She turned to Mary and held her breath. 

Mary grabbed her hand.  “All will be well.”

“Are you certain?”

“Of course, I am.”

They shared one last look before Bella popped her head out of the carriage and was met with the hand of Darcy.  Staring for a moment, Bella recovered herself and took his hand, allowing him to hand her out of the carriage.  She glanced over and saw that Jane and Elizabeth had already gone in, while Mama was waiting for her and Mary. 

Mama looked at her quite eagerly. 

She turned back to Darcy and smiled.  “Good evening, Mr. Darcy.”

“Good evening, Miss Bennet.”

As soon as he handed her out, she turned back toward the carriage and Darcy, kindness as it was, helped Mary descend from the carriage as well.  He stared at her for a long moment, then looked at Bella, before turning his gaze at Mary once more.

“Miss Mary Bennet, I presume.”

“Indeed.”  Mary was staring just as hard at Darcy as he was staring at her.  It was as if she had seen him someplace before.  She turned toward her sister for an introduction.  “Bells?”

“Mary, this is Mr. Darcy of Pemberley.”

Mary turned and curtseyed.

“Mama,” Bella called, and Mama came up.  “This is Mr. Darcy of Pemberley.” 

Mama had the same honey blonde hair as Jane, Elizabeth, and Mary, the same blue eyes, and she was just as pretty as Jane although a clear two decades older.

Darcy took her in and obviously compared her to both Mary and Bella.  He bowed.  “Mrs. Bennet.”

“Mr. Darcy,” Mama greeted.  “I understand you are to dance with our Isabella.”

“The second set,” he agreed, his tone formal and unvarying.  It was so unlike him, but then again, he was in unknown company and speaking to her mama, not his compatriots.

“Well said!”  Mama agreed.  “Mary, would you like to accompany me into the hall?”

Mary regarded Darcy one more time before quickly squeezing Bella’s hand, and then curtseyed once more to Darcy, and took Mama’s arm, allowing Bella a moment with Darcy.

Darcy offered his arm, and Bella readily took it.  “I hope you are well this evening, Miss Bennet,” Darcy asked solicitously.  “May I say you look quite lovely tonight?”

“Quite well,” Bella answered, glancing up at him as they entered the hall and he solicitously took her wrap and gave it to the attendant, Mama and Mary not far ahead.  “I hope tonight finds you in excellent spirits.”

“Indeed,” he agreed, “though I should not like to surrender you to Bingley,” he admitted cautiously, bending down near her ear.

“It is only for a set,” she promised.  “And indeed, should you not be dancing with Miss Bingley or Mrs. Hurst?”

“I daresay they shall forgive me if I seem distracted.”  He looked at her meaningfully.

If Bella were at all elegant, she would have an answer for Darcy, but all she could do was blush, which was unfortunate, for she blushed from her cheeks all the way down her neck down to her bosom, which while not on full display was certainly more apparent than in her usual attire.

Darcy did not say another word, seemingly content in Bella’s presence, and led her to where her mama and sisters were gathered, and where Bingley was making the necessary introductions.

Bingley, quite naturally, secured Jane for the second set, as was quite natural as she was the prettiest of the sisters.

Darcy did not secure any of them and reluctantly gave Bella’s hand to Bingley when the quintet struck up for the first set.  Bella noticed at the corner of her eye that Hurst stood up with his wife and Darcy, as she predicted, stood up with Miss Bingley.

At first, she and Bingley were silent until Bingley inquired as to her health.

This led to a general conversation about the local apothecary and the need for a local surgeon, and soon she was relinquished.

For the intermission, Bella went and sat with Mary and her sister whispered to her as they looked over at Bingley and Jane.  “I do not think they look well together,” Mary admitted.  “His hair is too—”

“Quite,” Bella agreed.  “It looks elegant on Miss Bingley and Mrs. Hurst, but Mr. Bingley reminds me of a ginger Joshua Lucas.”

“He is not present tonight,” Mary told her, “at least I have not seen him.”

“Truly?” Bella asked in confusion, looking over her shoulder at Charlotte Lucas who, at six and twenty, was an old maid.  “He always comes to the Assemblies.”

“Perhaps he heard of Mr. Darcy and decided—” but she trailed off and made to stand. 

Bella quickly took her cue from her sister and stood, seeing that Darcy had approached them.  Darcy bowed; they curtsied. 

“Miss Mary, Miss Isabella.”

Bella, as the younger twin, was always second to Mary.  It was also so ingrained in Meryton society that she quite expected it and did not think it at all peculiar coming from Darcy.

Bella and Darcy stared at one another for a long moment.  Mary was somewhat perplexed and glanced at her sister.  This seemed to remind Darcy that Mary was present.

“Miss Isabella, I have come to claim my dance.”

“Of course, Mr. Darcy,” she agreed, offering her hand. 

Mary waited until Bella was led away before resuming her seat, quite content to sit out the dancing.

As they took their places, Bella noticed Bingley and Jane further down the set and noted it with satisfaction.  She, however, quickly returned her attention to Darcy.  He looked at her questioningly.

“Elizabeth is not dancing,” she told him by way of explanation.  “I should like to see her in the dance.”

“Surely she will dance the next set,” he soothed.

“Yes, surely,” she agreed with a small smile.

The set began and they strode forward turning around each other, their faces turned toward one another in the dance before resuming their places.

“You do not worry for your sister Mary?” he inquired.

“Mary never dances,” she assured him.  “Henry Lucas will surely bring her lemonade in a dance or three.”

They reached out their hands, clasped them, and turned around one another, their eyes never leaving each other in the dance.

“You take great care of your sisters, I have noticed,” Darcy said, “especially Miss Mary.”

She could not deny it.  She worried for Jane and Elizabeth’s prospects, although Elizabeth vexed her, and she and Mary were undeniably close.  “They are my sisters,” was all she could say by way of explanation.  “What of Miss Darcy?” she inquired.  “I know nothing of her except she is in London and she favors you in looks.”

“Georgiana,” he told her before they parted in the dance, only to come back together, “is just sixteen and not yet out.”

“She must look up to you then,” Bella guessed as they twirled around each other, their hands once again clasped, their eyes caught, green to violet. 

“I am more a father than a brother,” he admitted carefully, his hand now hovering a few inches from her face as they moved around each other again.

“I am sorry,” she whispered as they moved away from each other again. 

His fingers skated down her ear provocatively as they came together again before their hands clasped.  Her eyes flashed to his and she pulled away from him, sinking into a curtsey at the end of the first dance.  She stood and turned to the quintet and clapped politely.

As the lines formed for the second dance in the set, Bella looked at Darcy and he tilted his head to the side.  Bella looked down the row and she noticed that Elizabeth had joined with Mr. Parker.  Not up to their usual standards, but good enough for a dance.  She smiled in triumph and turned back to Darcy and prepared for the next dance. 

Sinking into a curtsey, the strings rang out and the dance began.  She turned and switched places with the lady beside her, Sophia Long, and turned to dance a figure eight with Darcy. 

She caught Mary’s eye when she was turning to trade places with Eliza Saverne and Mary lifted her chin in acknowledgement, Bella smiling back.

When the final strings rang out, Darcy took Bella’s hand and led her back to her sister.  He set her down and placed his hands behind his back.  “Would you ladies care for a lemonade?”

Bella and Mary shared a glance, violet eyes to sky blue.

“That would be most agreeable,” Bella answered for the both of them. 

They waited until Darcy disappeared in the crowd before Mary turned toward Bella.  “Well, he seems a most elegant dancer.”

“Yes,” Bella agreed, “and I fortunately did not stumble.”

Mary tsked.  “You have not stumbled in a dance since we were fifteen years of age.  It is I who stumbles.”

“You should not stumble if you had more confidence in your abilities,” Bella assured her, as she often did.

“I tripped on our way out of our bedchamber this evening, need I remind you,” Mary teased. 

“But a trifle!”

“For you perhaps as you caught me, but not for me.”  She took Bella’s hand and squeezed it.  “Oh, Mr. Darcy is approaching.  Scoot closer to me so he may sit if he desires to be closer to you.”

Bella obligingly scooted over but thought there was not enough room on the bench; however, Henry Lucas appeared and asked her for a dance.

Unable to refuse, for to refuse one dance was to refuse all subsequent dances, Bella looked over to where Darcy was approaching with two lemonades and locked eyes with him apologetically before answering in the affirmative. 

Henry Lucas led her to the dance and Darcy was left giving Mary one lemonade and having to keep one for himself.

After the set, Henry Lucas smiled at her winningly and returned her to Mary, jovially engaging the sisters in conversation.  Darcy had disappeared, Bella had noticed, sometime during the first dance, leaving Mary on her bench.

It was not long, however, before Bella was claimed for a fourth set, this time by Oliver Hatfield, who owned the orchard that abutted Netherfield Park.  Jane was dancing with the widower Mr. Somner.  Elizabeth was—somewhere.

Sometime after the fifth set, Bella was placed near Mrs. Hurst who immediately came up to her.  “My dear Miss Bennet!  What a delight!”

“Mrs. Hurst,” she answered, curtseying to the other lady.  “I hope you are enjoying the evening.”

“Quite,” Mrs. Hurst agreed.  She was quite elegantly turned out in amber silks and feathers in her deep ginger hair.  “Mr. Darcy has been trying to find you, but you seem to be as popular as the eldest Miss Bennet.”

Bella blushed slightly.  “I daresay I have danced every dance.”

“Indeed,” Mrs. Hurst agreed.  “I notice Miss Mary has not moved from her bench, though she has talked to several young ladies.”

“Mary does not dance.”

“What?” Mrs. Hurst asked in surprise.  “Not at all?”

“Indeed not.” 

“How peculiar.”

It was then that their attention was drawn across the room.  Darcy was standing and watching the dance, his eyes searching, when Bingley came up to him and the two friends began to talk.  Elizabeth, Bella noticed, was also sitting out the dance, and was in hearing range.

Bingley directed Darcy’s attention to Elizabeth, but it seemed Darcy dismissed her, turning his gaze back toward the dance floor.

It seemed Bingley, it now appeared, was directing his attention toward Bella and Mrs. Hurst and as soon as Darcy looked over, he made his way across the dancers and presented himself to Bella and Mrs. Hurst.

“Mrs. Hurst, Miss Bennet.  I did not realize you were not dancing.”

“No, we are not,” Mrs. Hurst answered.  “It is quite astonishing that one of Miss Bennet’s admirers has not discovered her in this corner, tucked away and speaking to me.”

“Oh, they are not—”

“Hush,” Mrs. Hurst insisted, placing a gloved hand on Bella’s arm.  “You should hold yourself in higher esteem, Miss Bennet.”  She turned to Darcy.  “You have found us.”

Bella turned a shy gaze on Darcy who was regarding her quite openly.  “Miss Bennet,” he asked after a moment of their staring into each other’s eyes.  “May I have the pleasure of the next set?”

She blushed.  “Of course, Mr. Darcy.”

“There,” Mrs. Hurst declared.  “It is all set right.”  She smiled at them.  Turning to Bella, Mrs. Hurst said, “You must call me ‘Louisa,’ dear.  I have a feeling we shall be seeing more of each other.”

Bella immediately turned to her and curtseyed.  “Please call me ‘Isabella,’ Louisa.”

“Isabella,” Louisa Hurst agreed.  She glanced at Darcy.  “I think the next set is about to begin.”

Darcy glanced toward the quintet and the dancers who were just now bowing to each other and coming off the dancefloor.  “It seems you are correct, Mrs. Hurst.”

“I am always correct, Mr. Darcy,” she assured her, shooing them away.  “Go, go.  I shall hold back Isabella’s suitors if it is in my power to do so.”

Bella would have laughed if she were not in company and allowed Darcy to lead her to the floor.  Her small gloved hand was in his much larger one and they moved across from each other, waiting for the music to begin.

“I did not realize,” Darcy opened with, “that the Bennets are indeed the foremost family in the entire area, Miss Bennet.  You had led me to believe it was the Lucases.”

Bella was astonished by his opening gambit.  She danced her left foot in a pirouette, her right foot following, and turned.  “I do not see how you can say so, Mr. Darcy, it is clear the Lucases—”

“The Lucases have a son barely able to attend balls and Assemblies,” he countered, “and a daughter who is an old maid.  Their presence at a ball is desirable but not necessary for the success for such an event.  No, it is the attendance of the Bennet family that guarantees the success of a social event.”

Bella blinked up in confusion.  She danced again to the left and she and the gentleman to Darcy’s left took each other’s arms and turned, replacing one another in each other’s positions.  Darcy and the woman to Bella’s left danced toward each other, took one another’s arms and turned before once again resuming the line.

“You have in fact so many suitors—”

“They are not suitors—”

“That I indeed was quite despairing.”  His green eyes flashed amusement.

Was he teasing her?

Bella’s eyes narrowed toward him as she turned her back to him and turned up the line, the couple to their left replacing them and the line resuming. 

“As you can see, my papa is not at tonight’s Assembly.”

“No, he is not.”

“You can see his presence is not required for the success of the evening.”

“But his four daughters are required for the party to be a rounding success.”

She bit her lip in worry.  The man to Darcy’s left was dancing toward her and they were about to twirl before she was relinquished to her place.  Could he possibly mean it?

“Perhaps it is the case for you, Mr. Darcy—”

“I say it is the case for me, Miss Bennet,” he insisted as he took hold of her in the dance again, “and I daresay every other man in the room.”

“If we are so necessary, then I wonder at my elder sisters not being married,” she murmured.  “It is quite the conundrum.”

She stared up at his verdant gaze, so unbearably dark green. 

“How do you know they have not turned away suitors?”

Well, there had been Jane’s one suitor three years ago, an officer of no standing and no independent income.  That was the day Mary had taken off into the rain and met an officer of her own, but that had all come to nothing as well—

Shaking herself from her thoughts, Bella responded as she ought: “Because Mama would have taken to her bed and been in need of her smelling salts,” she told him quite seriously.

Darcy smiled to himself as he looked down at her.  “Indeed.  Is Mrs. Bennet so predictable?”

“I am afraid I am the daughter who fetches her smelling salts.”  They turned slowly around each other one last time before Darcy relinquished her in the dance, and she lowered herself in the curtsey as the strings signaled the end of the dance. 

Bella clapped politely before she awaited the start of the second in the set.

With the trip of the strings, she glided down the set, weaving in and out of the women, seeing Darcy do the same on his side of the line.

This was not a dance designed for conversation, only for long looks, and the quick taking of hands before they were again relinquished. 

Long looks were exchanged that were evident to anyone who was looking in the room and when the dance was finished, Darcy took Bella’s hand and fetched her a lemonade and her shawl. 

The Assembly was winding down and the assemblage was milling about, saying their goodbyes.  Bingley was very prettily speaking to Jane.  Elizabeth was whispering to Charlotte Lucas and regarding Darcy.  Darcy held Bella on his arm as they spoke to Miss Bingley.

“You must come to tea,” Miss Bingley was now saying.  “No, I insist.  Louisa and I would be so happy to receive you.  I shall send my card in a week or so.”  She leaned forward and kissed Bella on her cheeks.  “Darcy, will you see me out to the carriage?”

Darcy, with Bella on one arm and Caroline on the other, exited the hall and showed Caroline to the first carriage, handing her in.  “I’ll be but a moment, Caroline,” he promised. 

Louisa Hurst was coming up behind them, trailing her husband, Bingley trotting up with a smile on her face.

“Now, where is the Bennet carriage?”

The Bennets were all waiting for Bella, all three sisters and Mama having already boarded.  Darcy kissed the back of Bella’s hand before handing her in, promising to see her at the next assemblage before the horses took off into the darkened sky.

“Well,” Mama cried.  “What a success!  Mr. Darcy danced with Isabella twice and saw her to the carriage, and Mr. Bingley!  What a gentleman!  Dancing with Jane twice and fetching her a punch after his dance with Elizabeth.  I say very well that we have performed admirably, my dears.  Even dear Henry Lucas was attentive to you, Mary.  Do not think I did not notice him sitting on that bench with you.”

Elizabeth rolled her eyes and looked out the window into the darkness.

“No need to look at me like that, Missy,” Mama chided.  “No one asked you for a second dance.”

“Mama,” Elizabeth complained. 

“You are disagreeableness itself,” Mama proclaimed, “never smiling.  I told you to speak on subjects other than books and the booksellers.  Gentlemen do not care for it.”

“I spoke of more than books and booksellers.”

Mama waited, but Elizabeth did not elaborate.

“Well?” she prompted.

Elizabeth opened her mouth like a codfish, but then contented herself with looking out the window again. 

“Just as I thought,” Mama determined.  “You need to try a little harder, Elizabeth.”

“I do try,” she complained.

Mama gave out an exasperated sigh.  “Daughters!  To be blessed with four!”

Bella reached forward and squeezed her mama’s hands, and the lady looked up and smiled at her. 

“You are a good girl, Isabella,” she complimented.  “Already so grown up and only eighteen!”  Mama turned to Mary.  “You both look so lovely tonight.”

A small smile formed on Bella’s face.

“He looked like the officer in the rain,” Mary admitted that night as they got ready for bed.  There was a haunted look on her face.  “Your Mr. Darcy.  I asked him if he had younger brothers, thinking one of them might have chosen the military as a profession, but he said he had but a sister.”

Bella came up behind her and hugged her dearest sister, resting her cheek against the back of Mary’s shoulder.  “I know it has been years—” Bella soothed.

“I know he is not coming back,” Mary reminded her.  “He said he would call the next day.  It has been near a thousand days since.”  She walked out of Bella’s embrace.  “It is just so unusual that your Mr. Darcy should bear so striking resemblance to him.”

There was a small ledge outside of Bella and Mary’s room that only the Lucas boys knew about, and they often took advantage by sneaking up the tree to that ledge and placing apples there.

However, two days after the ball, a bouquet of bluebells appeared at the window.

“Bells!” Mary called as she opened the window and picked up the bluebells as well as the note that was with them.  “It is addressed to you!”

Bella was lounging on the bed reading poetry and she looked up.  “Joshua cannot be leaving me flowers now,” she exclaimed, coming up and taking the flowers and taking the card.  On one side it read, “For Isabella,” and on the reverse side, “F. Darcy.”

“What?” Mary asked, looking out the window to the tree.  “Did he climb all the way up here?”

“How did he know which window was ours?” Bella wondered as she stared at the flowers and lifted them to her nose to smell them.  She could not see Darcy climbing a tree.  It was too undignified.  She had only ever mentioned Joshua Lucas leaving apples.  She could not recall if she had mentioned a ledge, or a tree.  Had he seen Joshua slither up the tree and figure it out?”

She smiled to herself.

“Oh,” Mary commented.  “We do not mind then that Mr. Darcy is climbing up to our window and possibly looking in.”

“The window has a curtain and we never leave a candle in it!  There is nothing to see!”

There was no candle there to dissuade Joshua Lucas from leaving apples.

Yes, but it did not seem to work.  Short of telling Mr. Bennet, there seemed to be no way of stopping either of the Lucas boys.  It seemed they would keep on shimmying up trees, and now it seemed Darcy was shimmying up the same tree.

“He must do it at night,” Mary mused.

“Then why did we find the bluebells after supper?” Bella wondered.

Mary paused and sank into a chair.  “It is a mystery to be sure.”  She looked out the window and closed the blinds shut quickly.  “Bluebells will no longer be in season in a month or two.”

No, they would not be.  The frost would be rolling in.  All the more reason to enjoy her bluebells while she still had them fresh in her bouquet.

She placed her nose in the bouquet and inhaled, breathing in the scent of the flowers and wondered what Darcy’s initial intention had been in picking them and riding with them all the way to Longbourn… or had he always meant to climb up the tree and leave them at her window?  The thought brought a smile on her face.