Infinite Pemberley CH 1

Chapter 1

A storm could not dampen the enthusiasm in a country neighborhood for a ball. Beautiful gowns were lifted above the mud and dainty shoes valiantly risked ruination to carry their owners to an evening which promised good company and lively entertainment. The Meryton Assembly Hall had seen many flirtations achieve victory under its huge iron candelabra. However, few women had ever feared such another outcome as did Miss Mary Bennet this evening.

“So, Mary, who has cornered you into this ill lit crevice? Especially on a night when so many other young ladies risk catching their hair ablaze in the hope that the light will grant them better charm than they can reasonably claim?”

On hearing her name, Mary winced but otherwise gave no sign that she saw or heard the oldest son of Sir William Lucas.

“John! Would you please employ as much care as you can spare from chasing Margaret Phillips and refrain from saying my name so loudly!”

Mary peeked out from behind a pillar to be certain neither her mother nor her would be jailer heard the careless comment from her closest friend.

“Oh, the hunt must be rousing to have you this agitated! My own lack of success should invoke a little sympathy for the venerable Mr. Frank Stafford. Perhaps I could give him a little clue, pass me your handkerchief.”

She glowered at him and said, “I doubt it would mean as much to him coming from you.” With a softer glance at her cousin, Margaret, she quietly added, “She would accept, you know. You only need ask.”

His face drained of color.  “I’m sure I shall. I just came this way to better survey the obstacles guarding the lady.”

“Obstacles! Forty feet and an inviting smile are hardly problematic. The only thing lacking to make this picture less formidable is a bow placed neatly on her head by my uncle.”

“You play the prey too often to understand that I yet lack the means to make use of any gains.”

“I believe you may ask for one dance without arousing an expectation of any offer that could be deemed insufficient.”

“Very well, I shall.” And he marched across the room with a stiff back but nervous smile.

As the next set began, Mary took advantage of the general commotion. As couples positioned themselves on the floor she made her way around the perimeter of the room towards the piano forte and the orchestra. She had noticed the violinist’s struggles to tune his instrument were more to the fault of an ill-fitting tailpiece rather than its owner’s skill. The storm outside had reached its climax and the moisture in the air was wreaking havoc on the poor musician’s cat gut strings. He was struggling more and more as the instrument slipped out of tune as they played. The violin let out an awful squeak and Mary knew the time was at hand. She couldn’t miss this opportunity to further guard against being captured. Mary quickstepped the last few feet to the piano forte and scanned the sheet music to follow the orchestra’s current selection. The violin’s second string, having swollen inside its too tight constraints, could bear no more. The loud snap of it breaking jolted the entire assemblage out of their graceful maneuvers. Triumphantly, Mary picked up from the very same measure on the piano forte. After only a moment’s hesitation, the dancers continued with relieved smiles to not have their own plans for the evening interrupted. Some in attendance bore astonished looks or even mocking sneers. Mary sighed. She supposed her actions would be seen as conceit in her skills which lacked the musicality that others present surely possessed in abundance. Yet if it kept at bay other social constraints that put her in harm’s way, she could ignore a few squinty eyed looks cast her way over dainty handkerchiefs. The safety she felt being entrenched at the piano could only last so long. At length, all was set right with the orchestra and Mary’s next scheme was preempted by her excitable mother.

“There you are Mary. What can you be about? Mr. Stafford has been looking for you. I have just been talking to Mrs. Phillips and she is certain she heard him say that you were very agreeably beneficent in your visit to Miss Lucas.”

“Oh yes, now I am a bit warm I should get some air.”

“Ach, haven’t you heard me child? Mr. Stafford is looking for you and I daresay he means to have your hand for the next dance.”

“But Mama, I”

“And I have already promised him to see to it that you are quite ready to accept.”

“I believe I must see to other-”

“Which you are, of course. He is such a handsome fellow with the slow easy manners of a gentleman. I was just telling him that I am so pleased to have someone in company who can add the same peaceful influence that I am often obliged to provide. Come my dear and stand closer to the light. Your hair almost reflects Jane’s golden hues in the light. No, closer dear. Why do you look at me so? Ah, now here he comes. Don’t fidget and for heaven’s sake, smile!”

Mr. Frank Stafford was average height and of uncommonly large build for a member of the clergy. He carefully stepped around a set of giggling young ladies and waited as a woman, who was clearly the mother of the youngest, clucked at her daughter to follow. The buxom hen nearly trod on his foot hauling her daughter towards two gentlemen across the room but he smiled politely at the ladies. Making sure to give the closest candelabra a wide berth, he approached Mrs. and Miss Bennet with a nervous smile.

“Miss Bennet you are looking remarkably… rested this evening.”

How Mary hated these required niceties. Rested? Yes, she had slept as had probably everyone else in this room. What was she to respond? Thank you, you are standing well? Well done, buttoning every last hole in your jacket this evening? The awkwardness was especially acute when conversing with Mr. Stafford for he was known to be a strict adherer to honesty. Mary was not a great beauty or even a common beauty. Her appearance was simply common. Her hair was the color of the damp road they had travelled here on. Her skin was not as fair as her elder sisters nor her face as pleasant. In society, her mother often contrived to throw her into these situations in which etiquette requires an obligatory compliment. She was most often given a vague commendation or outright falsehood. Neither of which gave her any satisfaction. Yet she was expected to be grateful and reciprocate with her own obligatory assessment of an appropriately pleasing characteristic. She was saved a response this time by her mother interrupting the exchange.

“Indeed, she is! Rested and prepared to exert her skills in a dance. I’m sure she has energy enough for three or four dances at least. And you sir, are you rested too?”

“Yes, I am rested but perhaps Miss Bennet would prefer to”

“Oh no there is nothing in the world she could prefer to a dance!”

Mrs. Bennet placed Mary’s hand in Mr. Stafford’s and urged them to hurry before the music began again.

Mr. Stafford held her hand as if cradling an injured bird in his palm and very gently led her to her position. As he took his place opposite her he kept his eyes on the floor in what appeared to be mental preparation for the task ahead. Feeling perturbed to have lost in her primary objective for the evening increased Mary’s natural inclination to withdraw from conversing in polite society. She resolved to spend her time on the floor to study the room from this new angle. Her next flight as a fugitive from the evening’s duties of a gentleman’s daughter would be more successful. The music began and she flowed through the familiar movements impatient already for them to cease. Two dances passed with silence between the pair and Mary began to hope that she could escape with little to report to her watchful mother. As they turned again she saw Mr. Stafford silently mouthing the count with the beat. Her eyes widened and she fell into a more careful recollection of all she knew of him. Most information was second hand as he had only recently come to visit the neighborhood. He and his cousin, Mr. Collins had come to stay at Lucas Lodge. At the dance tonight, Mr. Stafford had singled Mary out as his primary interest for the evening by seeking her out from the moment they arrived. Mary had immediately rejected his attentions supposing him to be just like his cousin; pompously humble and theatrically stupid. Yet his reticence in conversation coupled with his gentle but flattering advances could possibly emanate from an uncomplicated and caring disposition. Further examination may yield interesting fruits.

“Have you been out of the seminary long, Mr. Stafford?”

“About three months. Afterwards, I came to visit my cousin, Mr. Collins.”

“Has he tried to help you find a position?”

“I hoped he could assist me in just that. I don’t really understand some of his advice though.”

“He does have a singular style. Perhaps your own unique strengths would better recommend you.”

They concluded the minimum of three dances that Mrs. Bennet had demanded of them and Mr. Stafford led his partner back to her mother.

“Thank you, Miss Bennet, for the honor.”

Mary gave a correct curtsy and Mrs. Bennet beamed at him.

“How well you complement each other in the steps, Mr. Stafford. It is so delightful to see a pair so remarkably suited together.”

“Well Madam, I don’t get much practice so I am grateful to learn from such an accomplished young woman. I would be very happy to learn more from you, Miss Bennet.”

Alarm returned in full force as Mary reminded herself that final analysis lacked sufficient data. However, Mrs. Bennet was spurred on with this encouragement.

“Oh my! You are quite right. Mary has studied the steps and music thoroughly. Few can help but notice the precise correctness with which Mary moves.”

“Thank you both and as I see it will be appreciated, I shall give you another example of my steps.”

Mary strode away to find a source of more intelligent conversation. She passed her sister with a smile and solid nod but continued on. A band of giggling girls would not answer for her calculating mood.

Miss Catherine Bennet surveyed the Meryton Assembly Hall and giggled with enjoyment. Her cousin, Margaret Phillips, smiled encouragingly.

“What have you found to be gleeful about now Kitty?”

“I am considering whether there could possibly be a more enjoyable way to spend one’s time than where we find ourselves presently.”

“I can think of a contender. Mrs. _________ will have your new dress ready this Tuesday next.”

“You are right Maggie; I have been bursting from the anticipation for it! I shall also have fresh pocket money this week from Papa so that lovely bonnet in Mr. ________ shop will finally be mine.”

The ladies laughed happily and their friend Miss Bench was enthusiastic to join the game.

“Company for such an outing can only improve your enjoyment. I would be happy to meet you there and we can proceed to the haberdasher for some ribbons. I would value your opinion on which would finish the aspect of my yellow muslin dress.”

“I would be only too happy to comply Nora. Maggie can you join us?”

“Of course, but I can’t say that I have much to add for opinions or purpose that would exceed what you have already proposed.”

“Of course, you can. We will be the merriest and most opinionated group within fifty miles on Tuesday next.”

“I am sure I won’t find ribbons that could match your dress this evening Kitty.”

“Likely not, it was a gift from Jane when we last went into town. When I marry even better than my sisters I will be sure to repay her kindness. I shall take her to the shops in London and treat her to jewels instead of dresses. Everything was so beautiful in town; her friends’ clothes, their houses and furnishings. I felt quite overwhelmed at first.”

“Yet I see you have been a quick study in all the latest fashions.”

“Well, now I can only conclude that a lively country ball, having a full month’s purse of pocket money in a fashionable shop, and being flattered unrestrained by good friends must be the three most enjoyable circumstances one could ever hope to be in.”

A handsome young man soon asked Kitty for a dance and Kitty smirked and blushed as he led her out.  Mary wove her way through the tangled crowd until she found John and Mariah Lucas.

“Mariah, I am relieved to see you looking so well.”

“Thank you, Mary. I believe those droughts did me a great deal of good. However, did you procure them so quickly? The doctor was not available and Mama was getting quite uneasy.”

“I made them myself when I noticed your heightened complexion after our last charitable visit. The fever became quite serious. You really must keep your emotions in check if you are to accompany me again. Embracing a sick child may seem to be the right thing if considered with your heart but it won’t cure him and it may lead to your taking his place. I do not intend the service I offer to come at the price of your life.”

“Mary, you sound as if you thought your diagnosis of my sister to be of more value than Doctor __________. You may well be the most accomplished young woman in the neighborhood but can your studies really compare to the Doctor’s at university.”

“He does as well as can be expected. Though, a four-month education with little asked of his mind and much asked of his wallet hardly inspires awe when compared to the research, study, and experience I have had tending the ill in my twenty years.”

Mariah, feeling called on for her skill in turning a conversation from arguing to harmony interjected, “I am sure you are both right. Anyway, I don’t think it signifies who gets credit for my recovery now that I am recovered. I am grateful to have been thought of and watched over.”

The same gentleman to dance with Kitty then interrupted the friends and asked if Miss Lucas would join him for the next. Coloring but obviously pleased she acquiesced and left with one backward pleading glance at her brother for civility. Mary saw a chance to elicit John’s assistance where there was little hope in any other quarter.

“Master Lucas, would it be possible to borrow your copy of the London Gazette Extraordinary?”

“Master Lucas, is it? Despite the formality of your request, you know I cannot oblige.  You can only be thinking of reading the official dispatch of General Wellington. Both our fathers would consider violence nearer to home if they found out it was I who lent it to you.”

“You have not been too fearful in the past and it has always escaped their notice anyway. Do you esteem my powers of discretion so little?”

“I have read it Mary, and it is above anything for the gruesome horrors of war. I would be happy to relate a general account of the battle of Waterloo to you but the details would be too much for any proper young lady, even one with your estimable research, study, and experience.”

Mary’s expression became indiscernible and her voice lifeless.

“John, you almost flatter me.”

“Oh, don’t turn to stone yet. I am about to be quite chivalrous and take your hand for the next dance.”

“Later perhaps.”

“Well, here comes your mother with Mr. Stafford and I doubt you can decline his offer with so little effort.”

Without looking, Mary took John’s hand and let herself appear to be escorted in readiness for some enjoyment.

Mary spent the rest of the evening in more successful ventures to avoid Mrs. Bennet and Mr. Stafford. Kitty dazzled young and old with her idyllic aspect, cream silk and lace trimmed dress, and charming manners. Kitty’s looks and attitude had taken a great turn for the better since her eldest sisters had married improbably well into wealthy families from the north.  Her prospects had improved from these alliances astonishingly and she had taken every opportunity to improve her presentation accordingly. Mary Bennet was quite another matter. Precious few knew her true nature to be compassionate and astoundingly intelligent. Her lack of social graces earned her pity and sometimes annoyance from the majority of society. The local gossips gleefully concluded that Mary Bennett had remained just as awkward in her manner and appearance and all the accomplishments and wealthy relations she could claim would never redeem her from being wholly forgettable. It was true that Mary had no intention of transforming herself into a more appealing display of marriageable merchandise. However, more than the neighborhood of Hertfordshire would soon find it hard to forget this Miss Bennet.