Rose and Lavender Water 04

Rose and Lavender Water

Part the Fourth

The house settled into itself the day after the Assembly.  Elizabeth was cross because Darcy would not dance with her when she was obliged to sit down without a partner.  Mama would hear nothing of it because he had been attentive toward Bella. 

The ladies, as was their custom, took the carriage to Lucas Lodge to discuss the previous night’s entertainments.  Bella took a dish of tea and stood by the pianoforte, playing a couple of keys and wishing she could perform as she did not enjoy the continual chatter of women.

“Who slipped up your window and left you bluebells?” Joshua asked from beside her, and she smiled, turning toward him.

“I know it was not you,” she answered.

Joshua Lucas was a tall boy, with youthful good looks and broad shoulders.

“I should have liked to attend last night and dance with you, but Mama said I was still too young.”

“That has never stopped you before.”

“No, but she argued with Papa over it,” he explained, the two setting off to take a turn about the room.  “They think I should wait a year or two, but by then you will be married.”

“Pray tell,” she inquired, “to whom?”

“To the man who left you bluebells.”

“I thought perhaps he watched you leave me an apple and got the idea from you.”

“Nay, not from me,” Joshua insisted, “I have not left you an apple in three days.”

She smiled to herself, at the thought of Darcy lurking about the house and studying it.  “You know you should not steal from Oliver Hatfield.”

“He does not mind.—Mama said you danced two times with Mr. Darcy of Pemberley.”

Bella looked up sharply at the hint of jealousy in his tone.  She did not like it.  “And what if I did, Joshua Lucas?  I must dance with whomever should ask me.”

“Mary does not dance.”

“Mary does not dance at all,” she reminded him.  “She is too sweet natured.  She only performs on the pianoforte.”

Joshua looked at her perceptively with his ruddy eyes.  He was not as handsome as his elder brother, Henry.  There was an eldest brother, William, named for their father, who was four and twenty, two years younger than Charlotte, but he ran the family shop in Town and lived there with his wife and young son.  Bella understood that it made a credible living.  It certainly made enough of a living for Sir William to buy Lucas Lodge and retire to Meryton after a lifetime of running the same shop.

She wondered uncharitably if Henry and Joshua would be forced to go into trade or if one of them would inherit Lucas Lodge from their father.

That would be rather unfair to William the younger she realized.

“I wish you would not dance with anyone but me, not even Henry,” Joshua complained from beside her, and Bella looked up at him sharply.

“Do not be so irrational,” she begged him, “you are full young to have a preference.”

“You know my preference is you.”

She sighed.  She knew that Henry’s preference was Mary.  She did not believe that Mary had a preference back.  She still dreamed about her officer in the rain.  Bella certainly did not have a preference for Joshua.

“Charlotte danced with Mr. Bingley,” she said decidedly, changing the subject.

Joshua allowed the redirection of their conversation.  “Only once.  He danced with Miss Bennet twice and, if I understand it correctly, spoke to her all evening, although you had his first set.”

“That is only because he was acquainted with me before the Assembly,” Bella informed him, surprising Joshua, who looked over at her sharply.  “You did not know?  I met him on horseback when he was viewing Netherfield Park.  It was only a kindness that he asked me to dance first.”

“Well, as I said, Mr. Darcy seems to have asked you twice.”

They had come back around to it again.

“If you cannot be pleasant—”

“I would have asked you twice, three times, although propriety would hardly allow it,” he determined in his jealousy.  “Mr. Darcy would have not been permitted to dance with you more than once.”

Bella pursed her lips and set her cup on its dish.  “If you cannot be pleasant—”

“I am being perfectly pleasant,” he argued.  “Perfectly devoted at any rate.”

She looked at him archly with her violet eyes, arguing the point with her gaze if not with her words.  “Ah, look,” she noted, catching sight of Charlotte who was speaking with Elizabeth, certainly someone she did not wish to speak to, “I see your sister wishes for me.”

“She does not—” Joshua protested, but Bella was already moving away.

“Goodmorrow, Bella,” Charlotte greeted, exchanging a kiss on the cheek with Bella.  “Eliza was just telling me how disagreeable Mr. Darcy was last night, although I was there when he cut her.”

“He did not cut me,” Bella argued, picking up the handle of her dish of tea again, although there was barely a sip left.  “He danced with me twice.”

“Yes,” Charlotte agreed, turning to Elizabeth.  “I think we all know where Mr. Darcy’s preference lay, and it was not with you, Eliza.  You cannot fault him for finding Bella a more agreeable dance partner.”

Elizabeth rolled her eyes.  “He did not have to be so cutting in his words.”

Bella had heard it all before.  “You know I cannot influence him,” she began tentatively, “but if you should like it—”

“No, no,” Elizabeth waved off.  “He is all disagreeableness.”

Bella hardly found him that.  She believed him quite the reverse although he did seem to have cut Elizabeth dead, accidentally in her hearing.  Bella even believed she had witnessed the conversation with Bingley the night before.  It was unfortunate.  Darcy was not in the custom, it appeared, to give notice to women who were slighted by other men, even if she were Bella’s own sisters.  She hoped that this did not extend to Mary.  Bella would ask him to take care of her if she were ever led away again in a dance.  She would hope this would not prove too much of a hardship.

Charlotte, it appeared, now took up the mantle of conversation.  “We are to have an evening at Lucas Lodge,” she now said, “in a week’s time.  We do hope you can all come.”

Elizabeth’s blue eyes lit up.  “Sounds wonderful.  Mr. Darcy can cut me again.”

Bella glared at her.

Elizabeth shrugged, the sunlight through the window shining off of her honey blonde hair.  “You know he will if given the chance.”

Bella was slightly afraid of that.  Darcy had shown a slight arrogance at Netherfield Park.

When the visit was done, the ladies got back into the carriage and returned to Longbourn.  Bella returned to embroidering her cushion.  Mary sat down at the pianoforte.  Mama had Elizabeth read to her.  Jane went out to the garden to her roses.

Two mornings later, Bella awoke to both an apple and a bouquet of bluebells at her window, the day fresh.

The day of the Lucas party arrived and Bella was careful with her toilette. 

“You should wear the yellow,” Mary suggested, “a gold ribbon in your hair.  It goes so well with your complexion.”

“You do not think the dark blue?” Bella asked.  Normally, she would not take especial care with her clothing when going to Lucas Lodge.  After all, only Joshua was there, but she believed Darcy would be in attendance, so she had to plan carefully.

“No, the yellow,” Mary insisted, taking it out of the closet and draping it over the bed.  “I have the gold ribbon somewhere.”

Bella’s hair was already tied back in a bun at the back of her neck.  She favored this particular hairstyle and never ornamented it except with a ribbon in the evenings.  Mary’s hairstyles were nearly as simple except slightly more elegant.  They took Bella at least half an hour, but she was proud of her work, pulling the hair back and tucking it into the center of a slightly higher chignon, no ribbon needed for embellishment.

Elizabeth likewise wore her hair like Mary’s and Jane wore hers in curls.

Bella ran her hand over the dress and went and fetched her evening gloves to place with it.  “It does look well together.”

“As I was saying,” Mary agreed.

Bella smiled to herself and started to get ready, the final touches of rose water on her person.

Mary was wearing the blue Bella was originally considering and they looked like the sun and the moon, Mary with her sunny hair and dark blue dress and gloves, Bella with her yellow dress and dark hair, faces shaped like mirrors of one another, dark eyes to a light gaze.

“Mr. Darcy will not know what to do with us!” Mary teased as the sisters regarded each other in the looking glass.

“No,” Bella agreed.  “Do you think we should switch?”

“Certainly not!” Mary cried.  “We are shadow to light.  If we can convince Jane to speak to Mr. Bingley about giving a ball—”

“Then we must wear white,” Bella inputted quite rationally.

Mary deflated.  “You are quite correct.  Still.”  She reached out and straightened her bottle of lavender water that was next to Bella’s bottle of rose water.  “It is strange how we don’t share the same scent.”

“Jane and Elizabeth like sweet orange.”  Bella’s nose scrunched up.  “They always smell like citrus.”

“True,” Mary agreed.  “Not the best of scents.”

“No indeed,” Bella agreed.  “I would hide it but then Elizabeth would confiscate one of ours and we would have to share!”

“She would,” Mary decided as they walked toward the door.  “It would be just like Lizzy.”

Papa wanted to stay in his study, as was his wont, so the ladies once again got in the carriage.  Elizabeth always liked room, so she and Mama sat on one side of the carriage and Mary, Bella, and Jane on the opposite bench.  Elizabeth always got her way, Bella thought to herself a little uncharitably.

“Now,” Mama said as they were within a mile of their destination.  “Jane.  You must be sure to engage Mr. Bingley in conversation.  You look most lovely tonight.  You shall have no difficulty.  Lizzy, you will speak with Charlotte Lucas.”  Elizabeth rolled her eyes.  “Mary, I am certain that Henry Lucas will pay you some attention, but if you could distract Joshua Lucas, at least until Mr. Darcy can make his claim on Isabella.”

“Of course, Mama,” Mary agreed as she squeezed Bella’s hand.  “I will be certain to do my best.”

A bouquet of bluebells had appeared between breakfast and the sisters getting ready for the evening, and Bella had placed them in a small vase of water next to the bed.  She would have brought them as a nosegay, but then Mama would have asked her where she had gathered them, and she would either have to admit she had disturbed Bingley at Netherfield Park (which she had been certain not to do) or tell her Mama that not only Joshua Lucas but Darcy of Pemberley was leaving her gifts at her window.

“Mr. Darcy is well up to the task of claiming my conversation,” Bella assured Mama.  “Joshua Lucas is a fine young man, but Darcy is—”  She searched for a word.

“A man of property,” Mama agreed.  “Yes, I quite see your point.”  Mama looked out the window.  “We approach.”

Within a couple of minutes, they had indeed arrived, and the coachmen jumped down and helped the ladies out of the carriage, Mama first, then Elizabeth, then Jane, then Mary, with Bella to go last, but when she prepared to descend, the hand that presented itself was not the coachmen, but instead the familiar gentleman’s glove of one Mr. Darcy of Pemberley.

Bella smiled at him as she descended the carriage.  “How did you know I was last?”

“I spied Mrs. Bennet and Miss Jane Bennet through the window,” Darcy responded.

“Ah,” she agreed, “then I presume you espied Elizabeth and Mary next.”

“Twas just so.”  He leaned down toward her and whispered, “Tis not difficult as you are Diana to their Helios.”

She blushed at this.  “Mary and I had rather thought we would trade places tonight.  I would be the sun and she would be the moon.”

Darcy was now leading her inside after her sisters, and he looked ahead to where Mary was resigning her shawl and stepping into the warmth of Lucas Lodge.

“I quite take your point.  However, that is merely your costume.”

Bella walked into the front room and Darcy took her shawl.  They greeted Lady Lucas.  Bella suspected Darcy had already done so when he had first arrived.  They, however, were now entering together and if they had not raised expectations at the Assembly, they were certainly going to raise them tonight.

Bingley had already secured Jane as a conversationalist, clearly quite happy with his choice in conversation partner, and Elizabeth was sitting with Charlotte Lucas, just as Mama had predicted.

Mary, for the moment, was standing with Mama, but Bella hoped that would change soon within the course of an evening.

Miss Bingley approached and curtseyed to them.  She was wearing pink silks that fortunately did not clash with her complexion with white and green feathers in her hair, which was done in ringlets.  It fortunately looked much more elegant than the curls Jane placed her blonde hair in. 

“Miss Bennet, how wonderful to see you again.  I see that Mr. Darcy has already claimed you.  And Louisa had the pleasure of your company at the Assembly.”

“I hope you enjoyed yourself there.”

“Immensely,” she agreed.  “I was sure to dance with Mr. Hatfield, once with the Lucas boy, I avoided the apothecary,” she said, leaning in now.  “His nose was a bit red.”

Bella laughed behind her hand.

“I see that you agree with me.  He must have a perpetual cold.  He really must partake in his own remedies.”

“Miss Bingley, you are wicked.”  Bella’s violet eyes lightened to lavender.

“I may be wicked,” she agreed, “but that does not mean that I am not correct.”

They shared a look.

“Now, tell me, for only you can know this as a resident of the neighborhood.  Miss Lucas, is she an old maid?  Charles did dance with her, and I see she is with one of your sisters.  I am afraid I cannot remember her name—”

Bella glanced at Darcy and reached over to take Miss Bingley’s arm and moved a slight distance away with her.  “Elizabeth, my second sister.”

“Ah, yes, Miss Eliza.  However, Miss Lucas—”

“Miss Charlotte Lucas,” Bella told her in strictest confidence, “is the eldest of the Lucas siblings.  There are three younger sons.”

“I see only two.”

“William the younger is in Town, running Sir William’s shop.”  She shared a look with Miss Bingley.

“I see.  I thought the Lucases left trade behind.”

“The business was so successful that it was never sold, merely inherited.  Sir William owns Lucas Lodge outright but there is no land.”

Miss Bingley put her hand over Bella’s.  “I quite see your point.  Elevated to a knighthood but in trade.  Quite the conundrum.  But Miss Lucas.”

Bella leaned forward.  “Six and twenty.”

Miss Bingley nodded.  “I should invite her and your eldest sister to dinner when the gentlemen are next out, but I do not wish to invite either.  I still must invite you to tea.”

“I think,” Bella told her, “you do not need to invite either as you already have an acquaintance with me.  At least, the Lucases are actively engaged in trade, so if you feel you must invite Jane, then you can invite Jane and only Jane.”

Miss Bingley looked over to Jane who was speaking to Bingley animatedly.  “She is indeed very pretty, and my brother does appear to enjoy her company.”

Bella laughed.  “She is believed to be the great beauty of Meryton.”

“Darcy believes she smiles too much.”

“Does he?” Bella wondered out loud.  “I have never heard that criticism.”

“Miss Bennet is twenty?” Miss Bingley asked as she led Bella back to Darcy who had taken a position up against a mantle, clearly bored. 

“One and twenty.”

“Goodness, she is Louisa’s age.  Darcy,” Miss Bingley greeted, “Jane Bennet is Louisa’s age.  Whatever would I have to say to a woman of that age?”

“I would not know,” he told her.  “I find it quite easy to converse with Mrs. Hurst.”

“You are a man.  I can only converse with Louisa because she is my sister.  I believe I am much more of an age with Miss Bennet.”

Bella looked at her in confusion.

“That is you, Miss Isabella Bennet,” she clarified.  “But this is really absurd.  I know you and Louisa have exchanged names.  If you will allow me to call you ‘Isabella,’ then surely I must be ‘Caroline.’”

Bella bowed her head.

“It is settled,” Caroline decided.  “I remember you had just come out in society.  You must be eighteen years of age.  That is my age exactly.  We are certainly compatriots.”

Bella smiled at her.  “New to society but not new to life?” she asked.

“Exactly.”  Caroline smiled at Darcy.  “I shall release Isabella to you—for now.”  She curtseyed to the two of them and turned, disappearing among the guests.

“I take it, then, that Caroline has found a reason not to invite Miss Lucas to Netherfield Park?” Darcy asked.

“I gave her one or two,” Bella admitted.  She noticed, out of the corner of her eye, Joshua Lucas brooding across the room.  “I must thank you for the bluebells.  However did you know that was my bedchamber?”

He smiled a little to himself, which softened his face.  “Should I betray all my secrets?”

“Perhaps not,” she told him, looking up into his green eyes, “but I cannot imagine how you shimmied up that tree without someone noticing what you were doing.”

He regarded her.  “I shall only repeat myself: should I betray all my secrets?”  He was now certainly smiling to himself.  “Perhaps I should have left you roses, however.”

“Roses?”

“You seem to always smell of roses.”

He was close enough to smell her scent then.  “I always wear rose water,” she admitted.  “I do not believe that anyone distills bluebells.”

“Well, they certainly should,” he decided.  “Still, I approve of the scent of roses.  It reminds me of Pemberley.”

Her eyes widened.  Her scent reminded him of Pemberley?

Green eyes dipped to her lips, and she look up at him in confusion. “Mr. Darcy?”

His gaze snapped back to hers.  “Forgive me, Miss Bennet.—Would you,” he seemed to be looking for something to say.  “Would you care for—a glass of punch?” he asked, grasping for a subject.

She turned and looked toward the refreshment table.  “I think I should prefer coffee,” she admitted.  “That is,” she said hesitantly, “if you should not mind that.”

“I should not mind that,” he told her comfortingly, giving her that small smile and left her to go toward the refreshment table.

Her gaze followed him and she watched as Elizabeth deliberately got up from where she was sitting beside Charlotte Lucas and approached him.  She watched in horror as Elizabeth went up next to him and picked up a cup of coffee and said something to him.  Darcy glanced at her before responding shortly.  Elizabeth looked at him sharply, but before Bella could approach and intervene, Joshua Lucas appeared at her elbow and said, “Bella.”

She turned to him and tried to smile.  “Joshua.  Mr. Darcy is fetching me a coffee.”

“Is he your lapdog then?” he asked uncharitably.

Her eyebrows scrunched at him.  “That is unkind of you, Joshua.”

“It was meant to be unkind.”

“As you have fetched me a coffee before, I should remind you to remember your own previous actions.”

“I am not a lapdog.”

Bella was getting annoyed at the conversation.  “What are you then?”

“Your devoted servant.”  He turned to her and looked at her with a clear gaze.  She looked up at him sharply. 

“Shall I ask Papa to speak to Sir William?” she threatened.

“What will you tell him?  That I wish to dance with you?”

Darcy was leaving Elizabeth, who was looking as annoyed as Bella felt, holding two cups of coffee.  He would be bringing it black.  Bella preferred it with milk.  Unfortunately, Joshua Lucas knew that although Darcy never had occasion to learn her preference.  Bella hoped Joshua would not notice and would be gentleman enough not to say anything.

She ignored Joshua and turned to Darcy with a smile.

“Thank you,” she told him as she accepted her cup.

Joshua looked down at it and certainly noticed it was black, though Darcy had placed two cubes of sugar on the rim, which was thoughtful of him.

“I did not ask you how you take it,” Darcy apologized.

“She prefers—” Joshua butted in, but Bella interrupted him.

“This is more than adequate,” Bella thanked him.  “You are most thoughtful.”

“He brought you sugar—” Joshua informed her.

Bella turned to him, eyes flashing.  “Are you telling me you are currently deprived of sugar, Joshua Lucas?”  She paused.  “No?  Then I do not know why you brought up the subject.”

He looked at her in complete disbelief.

“Your sister wants you.”

He hesitated.

Bella gazed at him sternly.

She saw hesitation in his dark gaze.  A moment later, she thought she had won the silent argument, although she was clearly mistaken, as just a moment later, he took the coffee out of her hand and approached the coffee table, clearly going to fetch it the way she liked it.

Turning to Darcy, an apology on her lips, he held up his hand.

“Joshua Lucas, I presume?  I know there have been apples on your windowsill.”

“Henry sometimes leaves apples for Mary.  The green ones are for her.”

Joshua was preparing the coffee with milk that Lady Lucas always provided expressly for Bella, ignoring the cream, and Darcy glanced over at him.

“Why have you never informed your father?”

“It has not been a problem before tonight,” she admitted.  “He had no one of whom to be jealous.—If I tell Papa of the apples now, Mary will no longer receive her apples, and you could no longer leave the bluebells.”

“I have my ways,” he disagreed, taking a sip of his coffee, also black.

Joshua Lucas reappeared with Bella’s coffee, offered it to her silently, looked at Darcy accusingly, and then left.

Their exchange about the coffee, and Joshua Lucas’s subsequent actions, certainly caused a stir.  Everyone at the party turned to look to see Joshua take her coffee from her and fetch her another, and everyone watched as she stood dumbfounded as he returned with a cup exactly the way she liked it.  Whispers broke out and Louisa Hurst quickly went over to speak to her brother before coming up to Bella and Darcy.

“Oh, my dear,” she greeted, kissing Bella on the cheek, “are you quite well?”

“Oh indeed,” she agreed, pretending not to notice that she was the center of attention.  “Joshua was just being—childish.  His father determined he was too young to attend the Assembly and now he is upset.”

“With such behavior, I can see the wisdom of Sir William’s decision,” Darcy determined, taking a sip of his coffee.  “He should have been left in his room for tonight’s gathering.”

“Perhaps Mama will have a quiet word with Lady Lucas,” Bella wondered aloud, looking over to where the two women in question were speaking quietly with Mrs. Long. 

“Perhaps she will,” Louisa agreed, following Bella’s gaze.

Sir William, sensing the tension, called for music, asking Mary to perform, and Mary obliged by going to the pianoforte, Henry Lucas following her to turn the pages.  The first piece was written for piano by Bach, but the second called for Bella’s vocals. 

By then she had surrendered her empty cup, and she smiled at Darcy and approached the pianoforte, conferring with Mary and choosing a piece by Handel originally written for Tenor, but which could be easily transposed for Alto.

Taking her place in front of the instrument, she focused her attention on a point over everyone’s heads, waiting for the introduction, and then sang.  Bella knew she had the finest voice in the neighborhood, but she did not know if her voice withstood the talent of young ladies in Town.  Still, she had to push away all thoughts of other talents Darcy had heard and focus on her own performance.  When the final note rang out, she held it the appropriate length, and then broke it off, allowing the applause to overwhelm her.

She turned and looked at Mary, who smiled back at her.

Next, she looked for Mama in the crowd, and Mama nodded at her approvingly.

Only then did she look for Darcy—and was surprised by the awe written plainly upon his face.

She placed her hand across her chest and curtseyed, the applause still echoing around the room, the call for “encore! encore!”  The night was a triumph.