A Midsummer Christmas

Part 20

"Celebrating Christmas in July! How fun!"

Georgiana smiled at Louisa Arnold, who giggled and turned to include her sister in their conversation.

"We were just saying, weren't we, Harriet, that we think we should do this every year! A winter Christmas and a summer one. Such fun!"

"Yes, and one never can have too many excuses for a ball!" Harriet declared, smoothing the long line of the new periwinkle blue dress she was very pleased to show off. "I must say we are pleased to be back at Pemberley again. It almost makes up for Papa saying we shan't go to Bath this year." She sniffed and the two sisters exchanged a look.

"I have never been to Bath," Georgiana said, glancing around the room to see if there were any other guests left unattended. As amiable as the two Arnold sisters were, there was only so much Georgiana could take of them before needing an escape. "I hear it is lovely. But then, Derbyshire is just as pleasant when one is amongst friends. Excuse me!"

Georgiana had caught sight of her brother suffering through a conversation with Mr Ingraham and made a beeline for them. She knew from experience that the young curate had a particular talent for sermonizing and did not seem to notice or care when his audience was less than receptive.

"Mr Ingraham! I am glad you were able to join us this evening. Did you manage to accomplish all your errands yesterday?"

Fitzwilliam frowned and Georgiana was quick to explain her question.

"Richard and I met Mr Ingraham while picking flowers for our tenant visits yesterday morning. He assured me he was very busy but that he was looking forward to attending our ball this evening." She smiled. "I am glad to see you are not averse to socialising with your neighbours, as well as visiting your more needy parishioners."

"Ah, yes. Well, Miss Darcy, one can never refuse the command of a lady."

Georgiana's smile stretched thin. Her suggestion could hardly have been called a command and referring to it so made it sound as if she had been particularly eager that he should attend the ball. Even Fitzwilliam seemed to notice the implication and glanced his sister's way in surprise.

"I do so prefer it when everyone can attend a ball," Georgiana said hurriedly. "Or else what is the point in inviting them? Have you greeted Mr Arnold yet this evening?" She pointed towards the father of her two friends. "They are an additional bonus, for they often spend the summer in Bath."

"In Bath!" The curate clapped his hands, delighted with the presentation of this topic and the chance to discuss a city he favoured with neighbours who were familiar with it. "Oh, how I do miss Bath! Which is not to say, Mr Darcy, Miss Darcy, that I am not fond of Derbyshire. No, indeed!" He chuckled and took a breath as if to begin another sermon on the differing delights of the two areas right then and there and Georgiana tried to turn him towards the Arnolds to allow her brother the opportunity to escape. It was not entirely successful, for in turning away from one guest, Fitzwilliam found himself captured by another, but Georgiana could not police him all evening. She bit her lip to keep from laughing at the look of horror that descended on her brother's features at being sandwiched between two plump older ladies who immediately began quizzing him on life as a married man, and missed Mr Ingraham's words, such that she was forced to ask him to repeat them.

"I merely asked if you were fond of dancing, Miss Darcy. I should think so, for I have never yet met a young lady who did not care for dancing above any other occupation!" He chuckled, knowingly. "Perhaps you will do me the honour of dancing the first with me, for I do not need to tell you..." He dropped his voice to a whisper. "You are quite the most agreeable young lady here this evening!"

Georgiana felt her cheeks redden and she looked away, spotting Richard's tall frame nearby and gladly using him as a shield.

"Oh, you are too kind, Mr Ingraham! But I suppose I really ought to dance the very first dance with my cousin. He is a guest here, you see, and with my brother and his wife opening the dancing together it is only right that he and I..."

"You must not stand on ceremony on my account, Georgie!" Richard's voice was warm with merriment as he came to join the burgeoning circle. He bowed to the two Arnold sisters, who both giggled and gripped one another's hands in delight. A little perturbed by this eager reaction, Richard turned back to Georgiana and smiled. "No, if you wish to dance with Mr Ingraham then do go ahead! I shall be quite content to open the dancing with..." He gestured towards the two sisters and after a moment of internal squabbling, Harriet leapt forward, smoothing her skirts and smiling up at the handsome colonel from beneath lowered lashes.

"Miss Harriet Arnold."

"There, then it is settled." Richard bowed and offered her his arm, leaving Georgiana with no alternative but to limply accept Mr Ingraham's offer as the other dancers began to take their places in the elegant Pemberley ballroom.

A cloud of disappointment settled over Georgiana as she watched Richard bend his head a little closer to Harriet's, to better hear her eager chatter, and she looked down at her own dress, envying her friend for looking so well in a dress that was both new and fashionable. Harriet said something that made Richard laugh and Georgiana felt a stab of jealousy, such that she again bade Mr Ingraham to repeat his comment a second time within her hearing.

"I wonder, Miss Darcy, if you aren't suffering a little from seasonal allergies. They always make me sneeze but I had a friend once who became a little deaf every summer, without fail! I do hope you are not similarly afflicted..."

"Oh, no," Georgiana said, through clenched teeth. Pointedly turning away from Richard, she forced herself to smile at the curate, thinking that if her cousin could so enjoy dancing with ridiculous Harriet Arnold and her showy new frock then she, Georgiana, could enjoy her time with Robert Ingraham just as much. "I am quite well, only too easily distracted by so many people milling around. Look, here we shall take our places and be ready for the first dance to begin!"