Pomp and Circumstance: A Pride and Prejudice Continuation

Chapter 19: The Sin of Tepidness

To Lizzy's great credit, the Pemberley ball, in both orchestration and execution, was a wonderful triumph, and as guest, one could not help but to comment on the fineness of the decorations, or the elegance of the dishes, at least once or twice throughout the evening. All was arranged with great and exacting detail, which agreed well with the shrewdness of their executor; and if Mrs. Darcy was to look for any plain confirmation of this success, she need only see the great displeasure which settled upon the face of Lady Catherine as she first surveyed all the arrangements, insofar as it duly betrayed her Ladyship's hope that the ball's organization should have been insufficient, and would have merited ample criticism.

Among her small party, Lady Catherine had brought her frail and insubstantial daughter, Miss Anne de Bourgh, who surveyed all about her with the faintest possible interest, and with hardly any sign of recognition. She was re-introduced to Georgiana, whom she had known when they were young children, and introduced for the first time to Mary; and seemed to have no difference in reaction to either – no particular affection for her cousin, and no particular disdain for her usurper's sister; and Mary could only wonder if there were anything which would have the power to stir her, or if she was chronically apathetic to all which she encountered.

Also accompanying were Mr. and Mrs. Collins, and Elizabeth was indeed gladdened to see her old friend, and embraced her soundly, and bade her to come sit with her once all the guests had been accounted for and the first set begun.

The Bensons made for a pretty sight upon their arrival, adorned in frippery and baubles enough to satisfy a royal court; it was their first meeting since Georgiana had firmly revoked her friendship, but both sides were properly civil to each other, if not at all warm; and Georgiana was even moved to whisper softly to Mary, just after their exchange, that she was quite relieved at such an outcome, for she had feared there would be some remaining unpleasantness. Their brother, either by his own volition or following the example of his sisters, was impersonally polite, and would not be made to meet Georgiana's gaze; but his presence was in part redeemed by the young gentlemen who accompanied him, come direct to visit him from London, and who seemed of a somewhat different breed than Edmund Benson; more solemn, and, perhaps, more tepid, to borrow the earlier barbed words of Emma Benson.

But, aside from the addition of the host himself, Darcy, and the somber Lord Langton, this was the summation of all the gentlemen known to Mary who were in attendance; and as all proceeded to the ballroom, Mary repeated to herself sternly that she was not disappointed, she had not expected him to be present, of course she had not, she was only slightly anxious; but the unpleasant coldness which was slowly filling her chest belied these assertions.

That she should truly spend the evening with Georgiana at her side, as had been promised, had seemed to Mary increasingly unlikely; for Georgiana looked that evening the most radiant Mary had ever seen her; and indeed, she was reserved for the first set by Sir Arthur Baynes, with whom an introduction was made, albeit reluctantly, by Edmund Benson.

Thus, as the first set began, and Georgiana apologetically left her seat, Mary found it unexpectedly replaced with Miss Anne de Bourgh, with whose companionship she now seemed to be charged for the next hour; along with, of course, her overseer, Lady Catherine, and the ever-loyal Mr. Collins, who endeavoured to hover near his patron as much as reasonably possible.

"I shall be more than honored to take your daughter for the first set, your Ladyship, that she might be suitably demonstrated in her fine skills."

"Anne is far too weak for such exertion, I fear," Lady Catherine replied firmly. "She is only recovered recently from a bad bout of cold, and it should wreak havoc upon her delicate system if she were to engage in such active occupation at the moment." Miss de Bourgh had no particular reaction to this pronouncement, neither disappointment, nor relief; but as if on cue, she sniffled, and blotted her nose with a handkerchief.