A Pemberley Medley (A Pride & Prejudice Variation)

This is my first short story and still one of my favorites. It was also my first time as a writer struggling with the dilemma of whether to allow a deliberate historical discrepancy to sneak in. For plot purposes, the wedding breakfast had to be a sit-down meal instead of the customary stand-up affair. Fortunately for me, a knowledgeable reader pointed out that Bingley was from Northern England where sit-down wedding breakfasts were the norm, so you’ll just have to assume that he decided to bring the custom with him for his own wedding.

Elizabeth gazed at her reflection in the mirror, wondering if the changes of the last year showed in her face as much as she felt them in her heart. Today was a day full of memories. The last time she had prepared for a ball at Netherfield, she had taken more than usual care with her appearance in hopes of winning Wickham’s heart. Now she was thankful he had never made an appearance, preventing her from making an even greater fool of herself than she had managed without his presence.

This ball would be quite different, and her preparations had not been elaborate. All eyes would be on Jane at the ball, and Elizabeth had no one to impress with her beauty. There would be no Mr. Wickham and no Mr. Darcy tonight. How blind she had been, to believe the one and scorn the other, and not to recognize the attentions Mr. Darcy had been paying her for what they were!

A familiar feeling of guilt settled over her at the thought of Darcy. Her shame over her infamous treatment of him at Hunsford had only increased during the intervening months. It began after Mr. Bingley’s sudden reappearance at Netherfield in May. Anxious over the prospect of encountering Mr. Darcy again after their embarrassing parting in Kent, Elizabeth had asked Bingley on his first visit to Longbourn whether his friend intended to join them.

The look of concern which had crossed that gentleman’s face had been unmistakable.
No, unfortunately, he will not, although I invited him; he is not of a sociable bent these days,
he had said.
He is in a very black humour; no one knows why, but he has closeted himself away and does not even receive callers. I have only seen him once myself, when he called on me to tell me....to give me some intelligence that he thought I might find useful.
Bingley had glanced at Elizabeth with an embarrassed smile then, allowing her some hint as to what that information might have been, and how it might have related to his abrupt return to Hertfordshire.
I have never seen him look so ill - I hope his spirits recover soon; he is the best of men, and I hate to see him in such distress.

She had known that he must have been disappointed by her refusal, but she had not thought that, given the level of reservations he had expressed in his proposal, he would find much difficulty in overcoming his affections. The discovery that she had the power to cause him such suffering was a sobering one, the more so as she spent more time in Bingley’s company, as Jane’s chaperone, and heard his stories which often enough included Darcy, always in a most favourable light. It was clear that he thought Darcy to be the soul of generosity, thoughtfulness, and cleverness, a view which quite contradicted that which Elizabeth had held.

When, in due course, Bingley and Jane became engaged, Bingley made a trip to London to arrange matters with his attorney and to settle some business. On his return, he was in as much of a temper as Elizabeth had ever seen him. As usual, she had been in the background when he talked to Jane, his voice raised in anger perhaps louder than he realized.
I told him of our engagement, and he congratulated me and seemed to speak with sincere pleasure at the news; but then when I asked him to stand up with me at our wedding, he refused! He said that business would not permit him to leave London, as if I would believe such an excuse. It is only half a morning’s travel, and two months away - how could he possibly be too busy? I was hurt, but I remained civil, and expressed my hope that he would at least be able to attend our wedding, and he said that he thought even that unlikely to be possible. I grew angry, then, and accused him of disapproving of my choice, which he adamantly denied, saying that once he might have taken ....other considerations in mind, but now he thought differently, and was nothing but delighted that I was taking this step. And when I pressed him again to come, he turned away and said, ‘Bingley, you do not know what you are asking,’ and then he went so far as to ask me to leave! I would never have thought it of him; I have misjudged him badly in thinking him a good friend.
Jane, with a glance at Elizabeth, had placed her hand on his arm to stop him at that point, but the damage had been done.

It had been difficult for her to forgive herself after that, to know that her cruelty towards him had been such that he would risk ending a long and valued friendship solely to avoid having to see her again. She had vowed to herself that never again would she allow herself to give in to her anger and to treat anyone so harshly.

Since there was nothing she could do to make amends, she resolved to try to put it from her mind. Her northern tour with her aunt and uncle had provided a distraction, at least until Mrs. Gardiner had taken it into her head to visit Pemberley. Hearing such a different and complimentary view of Mr. Darcy from his housekeeper and seeing the care with which the estate was run could not help but leave her with a warmer feeling about the man himself, and an odd feeling of loss that she had never had the occasion to know that part of him.

She sighed as her mind came back to the present. There was nothing to be done for it now. The opportunity would not return again, and she could not undo the past. Resolving, as she had so many times already, to think no more of it, she went to Jane’s room to see if she needed any assistance with her preparations.

The drawing-room at Netherfield was crowded with people, all older and more assured than she, it seemed; ordinarily it was a scene that would have raised a great deal of anxiety in Georgiana, but she had come to Hertfordshire with a goal in mind, and this ball offered her best opportunity to achieve it. She had needed to beg for permission to attend, which was granted only on the condition that she would dance with no one except Mr. Bingley and any men whom he specifically introduced to her with that intent, a compromise that Bingley hoped would be satisfactory to Darcy. Dancing was not on her mind, however. She was engaged in a dually unpleasant task: meeting as many people as possible in as short a time as possible, a job highly unsuited to one as shy as she, and employing the person best able to help her in that effort, no matter how distasteful her company might be. Miss Bingley knew more of the company than anyone else present, and was willing to devote her time to pleasing Miss Darcy.

The one person Georgiana had been happy to meet so far was Mr. Bingley’s betrothed. Miss Bennet was everything that was lovely and gentle, and could not have looked happier. Unfortunately, Georgiana had so far had a notable lack of success in reaching her true goal. She was determined to discover the woman her brother was breaking his heart over, to find her and to acquaint herself with her, and then to use her knowledge to help her brother move past his infatuation. She had very little information to help her in identifying the mysterious woman - from her brother’s reaction to the idea of attending this wedding, Georgiana was certain it was someone who would be in attendance at the ceremony, and likely at the ball as well. She would naturally have to be young and attractive, and presumably married, for why else would Fitzwilliam not simply ask her to marry him? No woman in her right mind would refuse him. She had a suspicion as to her first name, from overhearing her brother say despairingly, “Elizabeth” when he had thought he was alone and had touched the brandy decanter a little too heavily.

She was beginning to feel as if far too many people lived in Hertfordshire, but determinedly continued to ask Miss Bingley to introduce her to as many as possible.

Elizabeth was not formed for ill-humour, and it did not take her long to recover her spirits once she arrived at the ball and was no longer subject to Lydia’s complaints of how many more balls she would have been able to attend if only she had been allowed to go to Brighton. There were a number of people present who were strangers to her, friends and family of Mr. Bingley who had come to attend the wedding. Bingley introduced her to Mr. Ansfield, who would be groomsman at the wedding, and the gentleman asked the honour of her hand for the next two dances. He proved to be a very entertaining partner who regaled her with outrageous and amusing ideas of how he might disgrace himself during the wedding service, which problems he had given serious consideration to since he was to be married himself in some months. She was sorry to relinquish his company, but had also been asked to dance by several gentlemen of her acquaintance. Although she found this a pleasurable pastime, by the end of the third set she was ready to seek some refreshment. She was feeling more than a little lonely; she was accustomed to spending time at such occasions talking to Jane, or formerly to Charlotte, but tonight her sister was the center of attention and Charlotte was long gone.

Deciding that she might as well pay her respects to the official hostess of the occasion, she approached Miss Bingley with a compliment on the entertainment. “Miss Bingley, it is a pleasure to see you once more,” she said politely.

“It is a very happy occasion,” Miss Bingley replied smoothly. “Miss Bennet, may I introduce you to Miss Darcy? Miss Darcy, this is Miss Elizabeth Bennet; it is her sister who is marrying my brother.”

Elizabeth was quite taken by surprise to discover Miss Darcy’s presence; and with a moment of panic, thinking the sister unlikely to travel without her brother, she scanned the room for a tall, dark figure. Realizing that Miss Darcy was looking at her with a penetrating gaze, she drew her attention back and expressed her pleasure in making the acquaintance. She could not help but feel flustered, and was certain that her cheeks were betraying her embarrassment on the occasion, although she knew that neither of the others were likely to be acquainted with the details of her history with Mr. Darcy. “I have heard a great deal about you from Miss Bingley, as well as from your brother, Miss Darcy,” she said. “I understand that you are a fine musician.”

“They have no doubt been far too kind to me,” said Georgiana gravely, wondering if this young woman could possibly be the one she was seeking. The name was correct, and she was apparently acquainted with him, but she was unmarried, which made it seem unlikely. Still, it was worth pursuing; if nothing else, Miss Bennet might provide leads as to who else her brother was acquainted with in Hertfordshire. “You are acquainted with my brother, then?”

“Yes, I met him when he visited Netherfield last autumn,” said Elizabeth. “Is he here this evening?” She could not help but ask the question directly.

“No, unfortunately, business requires him to remain in London,” said Georgiana.

Miss Bingley, feeling that this was quite enough of an acquaintance for her taste between Miss Darcy and Eliza Bennet of the fine eyes, said, “There was a slight acquaintance, it is true, from when you visited here when your sister was ill.”

Elizabeth, feeling the implication, could not resist making a response. “Yes, it was but slight, though I had the pleasure of meeting him again some months later when I visited Kent. I was frequently in company there with him and his cousin, Colonel Fitzwilliam, while they were visiting Lady Catherine de Bourgh. So you see, I have quite a list of people who have told me of your prowess at the pianoforte, Miss Darcy; it was a common topic of conversation at Rosings.”

This intelligence of Miss Bennet’s apparent intimacy with Mr. Darcy’s family clearly came as an unpleasant surprise to Miss Bingley, who chose to insert herself at that moment with a paean of praise for Miss Darcy’s abilities. Georgiana, who as a rule disliked the attention such compliments brought, for once was grateful, as it gave her the opportunity to collect her thoughts. She realized with excitement that she had indeed found her quarry - it was directly after his visit to Rosings that her brother had sunk into his gloom, not to mention that as sister of the bride, she would be quite unavoidable at Mr. Bingley’s wedding. This
must
be her; why, then, was there a difficulty? Perhaps she was promised to someone else?

Miss Darcy somehow forced herself to continue an active conversation to maintain Miss Bennet’s interest.
Fitzwilliam would be proud of me if he were to see how outgoing I am being!
she thought with a touch of irony, since it was only for his sake she was overcoming her native shyness. Luck seemed to favor her tonight, and a gentleman came to claim Miss Bingley’s hand for the next dance, leaving her alone with Elizabeth.