An Unlikely Acquaintance

Part 4

Feeling suffocated by his mask, Fitzwilliam Darcy longed to remove it, but he feared that doing so would cause still more people to turn and look at him, or, worse, acknowledge him and force him into a conversation. There has already been an abundance of that! He adjusted the mask, thinking he ought to be grateful for its disguise. I might, if it worked better at concealment. His limited freedom was curtailed still further as Caroline Bingley appeared at his right side. He would have recognised her even without having already seen her that evening and remembered well her ostentatious mask that matched perfectly with a dress he could only assume was purchased for the occasion.

"Good evening, Miss Bingley," he said, as she drew level with him. "Are you not dancing?"

He cursed himself the moment the words were uttered, for they were tantamount to an invitation, and must surely be followed by one. He waited a moment before doing so, thinking that even this short hesitation might be considered a slight by certain young ladies. Caroline seemed distracted, though, and if she had noticed the reluctance behind Darcy's offer she did not acknowledge it.

"Perhaps you will do me the honour of dancing once with me before midnight."

"Of course. You have not seen my brother, I take it?"

Darcy's relief was palpable. Caroline was not looking for him at all but for Charles Bingley! In an eagerness to assist her, Darcy sprang into action, scanning the crowd of merry-makers in search of his friend. At last, his eyes identified Charles's tall figure, clear even amidst a crowd of strangers.

"Ah, there he is, Miss Bingley. I see him now, dancing with -" He froze, the breath catching in his throat. This, Caroline did not seem to notice either, to Darcy's relief, although she had already seen what caused his discomfort. Charles Bingley was dancing...with Elizabeth Bennet?

It cannot be her. He dismissed the notion almost immediately, certain his mind was tormenting him. He squinted, resisting the urge to move closer and so see better, and determined at last, from the slight jerkiness and hesitation to the young lady's movements that it was not Elizabeth Bennet at all, merely someone who looked a little like her. A wave of relief crashed over him and he was surprised to feel it give way to something else. Disappointment?

"Who - who is that he is dancing with, Miss Bingley? Do you know?" He took great pains to straighten his cravat and then his mask, praying that this would distract Caroline's attention from the fact that his voice shook as he asked this simplest of questions.

"You will not believe it," Caroline said, archly, and Darcy resisted the urge to shake her. Would she not just give him the answer he sought? Must she delay and cause him to wait in confusion until she deemed the news ready to be delivered? By some miracle, he managed to wait patiently enough until Caroline said, with a despondent, despairing shrug of her thin shoulders. "It is Mary Bennet!"

"Mary Bennet?" Darcy's head swivelled back, his eyes tracking the couple once again, and he saw at a glance this time that Caroline was right. It was not Elizabeth Bennet, as his mind was wont to torment him, but her sister. No wonder I was confused. He had never noticed their similarity before. And yet I was not looking for it. He could count on one hand the times he had noticed Mary Bennet at all, but her sister...

"...come from Hertfordshire!" Caroline hissed, and Darcy realised, with a start, that she had continued to address him while he had been lost in his thoughts. He focused his attention on her, praying silently that she would repeat herself or give him some clue to the words he had missed. She did neither, turning to him with her eyes blazing beneath her mask and posed the very question Darcy's heart had demanded he acknowledge.