A Constant Love: A Pride & Prejudice Continuation, page 12
“How pleasant to make your acquaintance, Miss Grantley, is it?” Lady Catherine said.
“Yes, Lady Catherine. I am very pleased to make your acquaintance.”
They were saved from any further awkwardness when Mr. Jenkins, whom Georgiana had promised the first dance to, came to escort her to the floor. Mr. Jenkins proved to be a pleasant enough partner – he was young, he was attractive, and he was an excellent dancer. He talked of the weather, and the dance, and gave her some idea of what to expect during the rest of her evening at the club, but it seemed all frivolity to her.
As the evening continued on, Georgiana came to see the usefulness of Almack’s for the other young ladies dancing around her, and even admitted that if she had not met Lord Alfred so soon after coming out, it might have been important to her – here, every partner she danced with was quite agreeable. At present, however, her head was full of only one man, and he was not on the premises. Lady Catherine did not dance at all, but lingered at the edges of the ballroom with the other ladies who had accompanied single ladies to the ball, watching all of the dancers and drinking claret cup.
Georgiana felt the eyes of others on her – even in such a crowd, her dowry was substantial – but chose to ignore them. She turned herself over to enjoyment of each dance, and when she began to tire and could not take any more pleasantries from new acquaintances, she informed her aunt that she was not feeling well and was ready to return home. Lady Catherine, who was used to a very ill daughter, saw such maladies as natural and did not question them in the least; she was actually quite sympathetic to her niece as she called for the carriage, and she and Georgiana made their way back to Curzon Street.
Chapter 15
The time before Lady Tonbridge’s ball passed quickly, and Georgiana went knowing that Lord Alfred would not be there, although not for lack of trying on the viscountess’s part. Knowing him to be well-acquainted with Georgiana, Lady Tonbridge had sought an introduction at Georgiana’s ball, so that she might invite him. He had an engagement that evening with some old friends of his family, though, that he could not escape, and did not think he would even be able to attend after supper.
They arrived, they were greeted enthusiastically by the hostess, and even moreso than at the musical club, Elizabeth could see what Darcy had meant by the viscountess’s liberal company. She was a woman who wanted those who were interesting and good company around her, and it did not matter much if they were of noble blood or only recently elevated through trade. Almost everyone in the room was good-looking and fashionable, but one could hardly tell by looking at a guest if he was a duke, or owned a very successful business. The viscountess ensured that introductions were made, however, so that they had no fear of lacking partners, and the ladies soon found that everyone they danced with danced well and had good conversation.
For Kitty, however, there was one man she particularly wished to dance with. There were some gentlemen from the regulars here, she had learned from dancing with a Lieutenant Worthing, but they were all of them in civilian clothes, as they had been at Georgiana’s ball, for they had all grown quite weary of wearing their uniforms. There was one gentleman, however, in a naval uniform, with pleasing dark features and a jovial countenance. Kitty noticed this only after she noticed the golden epaulettes on his shoulders, the gold braid on his coat, and the tall bicorn on his head. Kitty had never had occasion to encounter anyone from the navy in Hertfordshire, so the uniform was still novel to her. She was smitten immediately, and she stared at him with such an expression of longing on her face that the viscountess, upon noticing her, brought him over and made the introduction.
He was Captain Andrew Ramsey, of the Royal Navy, lately of HMS Hyperion and only recently in town. He found Kitty very becoming, and immediately asked if he might have her hand for the next set she had available. As it happened, her next available set was the supper set, and so Kitty was able to learn that he was an excellent dancer and loved to dance, that he also loved the theatre but very rarely was able to go, that his ship had possessed thirty-two guns and he had ended the war on blockade duty, but prior to that had commanded a sloop-of-war in the Mediterranean. He told her tales of balmy breezes, of ruins in Greece, of groves filled with the scent of orange blossoms. If she was smitten simply at the sight of his uniform, she was utterly captivated now, and when he returned her to her family following supper, she knew she should be absolutely devastated if he did not ask her to dance again.
Captain Ramsey was eight-and-twenty, and with the peace was quite interested in finding a wife; he inquired delicately with the viscountess about Miss Catherine Bennet’s expectations, found her fortune to be quite compatible with his own, and soon enough did ask her to dance again. Elizabeth watched them happily; Kitty had seemed to be enjoying all of the balls and society of London, but even with her increase in fortune, luck in love did not seem to come her way. She and Darcy agreed that although Captain Ramsey seemed a very light-hearted sort of person – which would suit Kitty very well – he surely must also have a high level of sense, to be able to take responsibility for a ship full of men.
There was no doubt in anyone’s mind that the waltz would be danced at the viscountess’s ball, and before they had even finished their second set together, Captain Ramsey said:
“I wonder, Miss Bennet, if I would ask too much to be honoured with your hand in the waltz later tonight? With your family’s consent, of course.”
Kitty enjoyed dancing the waltz very much, but she had never been asked by someone she truly wanted to dance it with. Her spirits were momentarily overcome, but soon enough she was able to answer him: “It would not be too much at all. I should like that greatly.”
She was all impatience through the next few sets, but soon enough, it was time. Permission was asked for, permission was granted, and then there she was, in the Marche, with her hand just beside the golden epaulette on his shoulder. They were both of them very good at this dance, transitioning perfectly to the Pirouette, with her stomach fluttering as she looked into his eyes. The viscountess, watching them, could not help but chuckle. “My best introduction on the night, I do believe,” she said, to no one in particular.
It was snowing when they left the ball, but not so much that they had any difficulties making the short drive back to Curzon Street. Georgiana did have her revenge, during the carriage ride home, noting that Kitty had danced three times with Captain Ramsey.
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The snow continued all night and into the morning, so that it was clear by the time the family took to the drawing room that they would not be going out today, and should expect no callers. They were shocked, therefore, when Mr. Miller announced Captain Ramsey, of the navy.
He came into the sitting room having had his boots wiped dry by Mr. Miller, but still with little drops of melted snow on his hat, and they were all amazement. How had he come to get there? He had walked. How far was it from his inn? Only a mile or so, and nice to stretch his legs after being on blockade duty for so long. Was it not quite cold outside? Nothing a man who had been around Cape Horn three times much minded.
Catherine felt all the compliment to herself; she had been disappointed that morning in thinking that he could not possibly call, even if he had wanted to, yet now here he was, having determined to visit despite the snow. He looked well; his cheeks were flushed from the cold, and he wanted only his naval uniform to send Kitty’s heart into a complete flutter.
Elizabeth immediately called for refreshments, and asked if he would like something hot to drink. Coffee was his request, if it was not too much trouble, coffee and tea were made, and they all entered into an easy conversation, made easier by his cheerful demeanour, and that he had travelled to so many places unknown to all of them.
Catherine asked where his ship, HMS Hyperion, was now, which pleased him greatly, for there are few things more beloved to a naval captain than his ship, whether she is a swift, elegant frigate or what others would consider a great ugly tub.
“Ah, Miss Bennet, you remembered her name!” he exclaimed, then sobered. “She is to be laid up in ordinary, like so many of our ships.”
“Pray, what does laid up in ordinary mean?” asked Catherine, who was generally ignorant about anything related to the navy, but now had the deepest desire to learn.
“She will be docked, and all of her stores, masts, and spars removed,” Captain Ramsey said, then, remembering his audience and making motions with his hands to explain himself: “Masts are like great trunks of a tree, supporting all of the sail structure. Spars are the pieces of wood we hang the sails from. If you were to go to Portsmouth now, and look up and down the Solent, you would see more ships than you ever could imagine, all tied up there in this state, and still more are coming in.”
He rose to take his leave after half-an-hour, but they all begged him to stay; they enjoyed his company, and they were certainly not to have any other diversions on the day. He therefore stayed another half-hour, and then did finally leave, but not before Elizabeth had given him an open invitation to dine with them, once the snow had cleared.
The party in the drawing room broke up not long after he left, and Elizabeth, after listening to Mary struggle with a new song on the pianoforte for a little while, gave her sister some encouraging words and then made her way to Darcy’s study. He was inside, reading what looked to be the same paper he had been studying during breakfast.
“Did you not read that already?” she asked. “Or have you taken up a new hobby-horse, to memorise the newspapers?”
“I have not,” he said, not even so much as smiling at her teasing. “The Chronicle had a very good article this morning about the Corn Bill. I wished to read it again when I might focus better on its contents.”
“And now I have come in and interrupted your focus,” Elizabeth said, although her interruption was not quite so substantial as the happy chatter Kitty and Georgiana had kept up through the entirety of breakfast, as they recalled all that had happened at the ball. “Let me select a book and then I believe I shall go to the conservatory and read.”
“I did not mean to make you leave,” he said, making an attempt to smile. “Your presence might be a distraction, but it does not follow that it is ever an unwelcome one.”
Elizabeth thought back to what he had said the newspaper article was about, for clearly something was worrying him, and she suspected that to be it. The Corn Bill, he had said. She knew from growing up on the Longbourn estate that “Corn” referred to all grains, including wheat, barley, and oats, and recalled that it had something to do with the price of those grains. She had only skimmed the headlines about it, however, and now wished she had read more.
“You seem worried,” she said, taking her seat. “Is it the Corn Bill?”
“It is,” he said. “I do not wish to alarm you, but it is of the utmost importance to Pemberley’s future. All of the inflation we experienced during the war required me to raise rents on the estate, which was fine so long as the war continued, for it is not as though we were importing grain from France. Now that the peace is here, we will be flooded with cheap grains from abroad, and we will not be able to compete unless Parliament fixes the prices at which all grains are sold.”
He had not wished to alarm her, but he certainly had done so. Pemberley had always seemed to her to be an indomitable estate, always assured of success, and that Darcy was worried about what the Corn Bill would to do it meant she should likely be doubly worried for Longbourn.
“Why would they not set the prices?” she asked. “It is not as though the owners of the estates asked for war. It was you who kept the country fed when America and the continent were closed to us.”
“Raising the cost of grains will raise the cost of bread, and these new industrialists argue against that. They wish to pay cheap wages for their manufactory workers and they cannot do that without cheap bread. Fortunately, they are not so well-represented in Parliament as those who own land, but still, they make a great deal of noise.”
“What will happen if it does not pass?”
“My tenants will have to sell their grains at market cost, and I will have to lower rents so that they can continue to make a living. Our income would be reduced. Some of that will be alleviated by what I have put aside – some of my investments profited from the inflation, and even moreso the peace, as you know.”
“Our income could be halved and we would still live very well,” she said.
“I am glad you say that, Elizabeth – it is quite a relief to me. I must admit there is a deep feeling of inadequacy, for a man to not be able to provide that which he promised his wife when they were married.”
“Darcy, you know that if I had married you for your income, I would have accepted your first proposal, instead of acting like a spiteful creature. Now, the other things you promised – to love and to cherish, for example – those you must continue to provide, and you are not allowed any reduction in that quarter.”
He smiled, more genuinely this time, and got up from his chair so that he could come over and kiss her thoroughly. “I do not think you are at any risk of a reduction in this quarter,” he said, and was about to kiss her again when there came a knock at the door.
“Come in,” he said, taking a few steps away from Elizabeth and looking at her with some reluctance.
It was Kitty who entered, which was quite a surprise, for Elizabeth did not think she had been in the study above once, when Darcy and Charles had informed her and Mary of their portions.
“Pardon the interruption,” Kitty said. “I wondered if I might borrow a book.”
“Of course, you must always feel welcome to borrow a book. I do not have such a selection here as can be found in Pemberley’s library, but there is some variety,” Darcy said, making his way over to one of the shelves. “Would I be right in assuming you would like something on naval history?”
“Yes,” Kitty said softly, her cheeks a very prominent shade of pink.
“Here it is,” Darcy said. “A very good volume on the Trafalgar action. I have more, back at Pemberley. I will have Mr. Miller send for them, when the weather clears.”
Kitty took the book from him and made her exit, still looking quite embarrassed, although also pleased.
“I am glad to see Kitty have some potential for romance, although I must admit I find fault with her timing,” Darcy said. “Now, where were we?”
“You should return to your article, which I did thoroughly distract you from,” she said, giving him a wily look. “I will find a book for myself, and then I think we may pick up where we were tonight.”
Chapter 16
It was three days before the snow melted enough to leave the house, and with great relief did they all walk to Hyde Park to take the promenade. It was cold, but the fresh air was quite welcome, and it was clear by the number of people in the park that at least on this day, many of the fashionable set did not mind the sacrifice of walking through a bit of slush and mud, so long as it meant they could get out of doors for a little while.
Catherine noticed Captain Ramsey first; he was walking along with another naval officer, and she called out a greeting to him, before remembering it was not very ladylike. He did not seem to mind, though, and approached the group with his fellow officer a step behind him, asking if they were all well, but looking particularly at Kitty.
They assured him they were, and Darcy asked if he might introduce them to his friend. The friend stepped forward and bowed; he was Captain Matthew Stanton, he and Captain Ramsey had served as lieutenants together on the Foudroyant, and he had only just come into town that morning after having to stay several nights at a coaching inn due to the snow, and even with the wait, his last miles into town had been a near-run thing. These facts were not so intriguing to the ladies in the group, however, as the observation that he was quite handsome, several inches taller than his brother-officer, and perhaps seven- or eight-and-twenty years of age. They were both of them quite tan, although it was more noticeable on Captain Stanton’s fairer features, and he seemed to possess a far more serious countenance. Too serious for Kitty, who appreciated his appearance and uniform, but then returned her attentions to Captain Ramsey. Georgiana, however, was overwhelmed; he soon added good, if reserved, manners to his looks, and she retreated into extreme shyness such as she had not shown in several months.
The group walked on together, Elizabeth on Darcy’s arm – Kitty on Captain Ramsey’s, to her great delight – and Georgiana, Mary, and Mrs. Annesley behind them, with Georgiana feeling exceedingly confused by her reaction to Captain Stanton. She had little time for reflection, however, because she found herself being addressed by Captain Stanton himself, who had been walking up at the front of the group, but fell back so that he was beside them.
“Miss Darcy, Miss Bennet, I am told I should apply to you as the enthusiasts of music in the family,” he said. “Pray tell me what I may look forward to in the course of the season – it has been these five years since I have been in London, and I cannot tell you how I long to hear any worthy performance.”
“We are planning to hear Haydn’s Farewell Symphony at Hanover Square in about a fortnight,” Marry said. “And Dibdin not long after that.”
“Ah, Haydn – he is not so much a favourite of mine as Beethoven or Bach, but I would certainly like to hear him performed again,” he said. “May I ask whom your favourite composers are, ladies?”
“I prefer Mozart above all others,” Mary said. “However I try to incorporate much variety in my practise.”
“Excellent, yes, we must none of us become too set in our ways,” he said. “And you, Miss Darcy?”
“I enjoy playing Clementi and Field,” Georgiana said. “And Scarlatti is a particular favourite of mine.”
“Scarlatti? He sounds vaguely familiar, but I cannot say I have ever heard his work. You must excuse me, Miss Darcy – I fear I have been so long at sea, I am utterly lost as to what music is most fashionable in town.”
