An Unlikely Acquaintance

Part 2

The Meryton Assembly Room was alive and bustling with crowds of merry-makers. To Lizzy's surprise, everyone was jolly and excited, as if this were the first assembly in months and not the last in a long line of local celebrations, marking the end of the festive season.

"Oh, look at Maria!" Jane murmured, pointing out their neighbour, Maria Lucas, whose mask was an exquisite piece of workmanship she proudly showed off. Lizzy smiled but felt a strange pang of regret that Maria's sister, her friend Charlotte Lucas, was not here to enjoy the celebration.

She is not Charlotte Lucas any more, Lizzy reminded herself, with a sad little shake. She still could not quite believe that Charlotte Lucas had become Charlotte Collins, for the unlikely match had been so swift and sudden - and so unlike any that Lizzy might have chosen for herself - that she was still getting used to the change. I suppose it will take some time longer for me to grow used to Charlotte's absence in Meryton, she thought with a sigh. She stepped even closer to Jane, grateful, at that moment, that her sister had not been carried off to be somebody's wife. Yet. Had Lizzy not been the chief champion of Jane marrying Mr Bingley? Even before Jane had confided as much was her hope, Lizzy had been dreaming up charming scenarios where the handsome, good-natured Mr Bingley confessed his undying affection for the elder Miss Bennet and treated her to a life of luxury as his wife.

I only ever imagined that to take place in Netherfield, she reminded herself, her smile fading into a frown. Had I known Mr Bingley would flee to London and threaten never to return I certainly would not have embraced such a notion.

Bingley himself had not threatened never to return, and Lizzy nursed a private belief that the whole plan to leave had not been his at all, but something put into motion by his smart, scheming sister. For all that Lizzy had approved of a potential match between Jane and Mr Bingley, Mr Bingley's sister Caroline had been opposed to it from the start, and whisking him away to spend Christmas in London was only the latest in a long line of petty sabotages that Lizzy was only too eager to lay at her feet.

"There is Miss Parker!" Jane remarked, waving at another of the Bennets' friends and neighbours. "I must go and say hello."

Jane departed before Lizzy could stop her, melting into the crowd of milling neighbours, and Lizzy was rather grateful for the absence of her sister, for it afforded her the chance to ponder unnoticed. She could not always remain in control of her features when she thought of Caroline Bingley - she was too prone to annoyance - and the very last thing she wished to do was to betray the contents of her mind to her sister. It would be cruel to remind Jane again of all that she had lost, particularly when Lizzy's chief concern at present was to perpetually reassure Jane that Mr Bingley's trip to London would surely not be a long one.

She had felt fairly confident saying this at the beginning of Christmas, for it was hardly unheard of for people to travel for the holiday. Had their aunt and uncle not come out of London to spend Christmas with them? But they had returned home now, taking Mary with them - Mary! - for Jane, when they had asked her, had demurred and made excuses and sent Mary in her stead. Gone, then, were Lizzy's dreams of a reunion on a night like tonight, where in some grand London Assembly Room Mr Bingley's eyes might meet a familiar blue pair, the identity of their owner obscured by a pretty mask adorned with rosebuds....

Lizzy sighed. It was pointless to construct scenarios like this, for not a single one of them had ever come to pass, no matter how hard she wished them to.

"Excuse me!"

The crowd shuffled all around her and a gentleman knocked gently into her, retreating just as quickly and bowing in swift apology as he made his way across the room.

Lizzy was startled, not by the shove, but by the bearing of the stranger as he walked. His features were obscured by his mask, but there was something about his upright posture, the proud gait of his steps that reminded her of someone so completely that she almost cried out.

It could not be!

And yet, surely that was none other than Mr Fitzwilliam Darcy?

He might have stopped and greeted her, at least, for however little he cared to associate with the Bennets as a whole, and Elizabeth as an individual, politeness dictated that when one saw one's acquaintances one at least said good evening! Lizzy scowled, rubbing at the spot on her arm where they had collided and imagining some physical manifestation of the slight.

One thought cantered after another, though, and she soon forgot Mr Darcy in seeking out his friend, her scowl dissolving into a smile. Of course Mr Bingley would choose this way! It was too charming, too romantic, too like something out of a novel!

Mr Bingley was nowhere to be seen, despite the plethora of masks that surrounded her, and in the end Lizzy returned to Mr Darcy thinking to follow him would be to discover his companion, for Mr Darcy would certainly not choose to be separated long from the only person he considered a friend.

It took her a moment to relocate the figure, but relocate him she did, making her way carefully closer to him so that she might be able to speak a word or two. She felt emboldened by her mask, and eager to give Mr Darcy a piece of her mind for all the pain and suffering his last-minute flight to London had caused her sister.

And caused me! she realised with a surprising flare of irritation. She could not help but feel a little hurt and betrayed by his sudden disappearance. She had thought, although she had been mistaken, that she and Mr Darcy had begun to overcome the rocky start to their acquaintance and even become friends.

I was wrong, she thought, silently seething as she came upon Mr Darcy's straight back. She paused, frowning. Had he always possessed such broad shoulders?

The gentleman turned, then, and Lizzy saw a pair of brown eyes scan the crowd before resting momentarily on her. He swept in a bow again, and as he rose, he spoke, but the voice that emerged from behind the mask was not the proud, standoffish monotone that belonged to Mr Darcy but an altogether cheerier invitation.

"Good evening."

"Lizzy!"

It was Lydia who hailed her, and Lizzy was so struck by the man who both was and was not Mr Darcy that it took her a moment to recognise the slim, beribboned figure of her sister darting towards her with longsuffering Mr Denny in tow, his mask clasped in his hand but not yet worn. His smile faded as he recognised the figure standing beside Elizabeth and he stiffened, fumbling to replace his mask and bow all at the same time.

"Isn't it wonderful?" Lydia gushed. "I have been asked to dance twice already, although of course, I have agreed to dance the first with Denny here." She sounded as if she almost regretted that decision, although Denny didn't seem to realise. His attention, once entirely for Lydia, had been captured by the gentleman beside Lizzy. She was surprised, but her surprise turned to understanding when Denny faltered a greeting.

"Good - good evening, sir."

"Denny."

The voice that was not Mr Darcy's voice rang with good humour and Lizzy turned to look at him once more, confusion reigning until Denny, at last, made introductions.

"Colonel Fitzwilliam, you must allow me to introduce Miss Lydia Bennet and her sister, Miss Elizabeth."

"Miss Elizabeth Bennet." The stranger - for now Lizzy had decided that was who he was - bowed.

She blushed, grateful for the cover of her mask, and realised that he was not so very like Mr Darcy at all, and her mind must simply have been playing a trick on her to deceive her so. She dropped in a curtsey.

"Colonel...Fitzwilliam?" Her voice lifted at the end in a brief question.

"Newly arrived in Hertfordshire," he said, as she straightened and glanced over to the orchestra, who had just begun to play the first few bars of music that would encourage the dancers to take their positions and begin the evening's celebrations. "And very much eager to dance. I do not suppose I might ask you to join me?"

Nodding, and fuelled by curiosity as much as she was by her enjoyment of dancing, Lizzy agreed, allowing the colonel to steer them both into place and almost entirely oblivious to the amused glances Mr Denny exchanged with Lydia, as they speculated with much giggling over the outcome of this introduction.