The Darcys and the Sirens' Songs Read online

  “What a shame!”

  “Well, yes!” The two laughed. Kitty was cheering up.

  “Here are the Gardiners and the Phillips now,” Kitty said. As Elizabeth started down the hall to the staircase, where Lydia stood glaring. over the rail, she heard Kitty say ebulliently to their aunt, “ Aunt Maddie, I have a favor to ask.”

  Of course Madeline Gardiner graciously accepted the challenge and the exchange. “The timing is perfect. My parents, the Peterson Spensers, are coming from Derbyshire the twenty-eighth in time for the Sheffield ball and will stay until after the White’s ball New Year’s Eve. They will be residing in their own townhouse, but I want to be free during those days to spend precious time with them. We are so far apart most of the year.

  “Mary has invited the Phillips to stay at her house beginning the 28th, so you would be hosting them only two days. The Garvin Masons are moving to their own townhouse the day of the Sheffield ball. They too intend to stay for both balls. Then on January second the Masons and the Spensers, old, old friends, will ride back to Derbyshire in tandem.”

  “Are you and the Phillips going to both balls too, Aunt Maddie?”

  “Yes. Fitzwilliam worked his magic and got everyone of his Christmas Day party invited to the duke’s ball, quite a coup. My parents, the Spensers, and Henry’s, the Masons, know the duke, and especially the duchess, through the horse industry. They have a racing and a breeding stable. The Butlers have bought thoroughbreds from Father through the years.”

  “How interesting. Shall we apprise Lydia of our plans now or later?” Kitty asked.

  “I suggest we mention it casually,” her aunt answered. “I’ll just tell Lydia that you have invited the Phillips to spend a couple of days with you and that I wish to entertain her two days of her vacation from school, so the children can get to know her.”

  “Aunt Maddie, here are Lydia and Elizabeth now,” Kitty said purposely loud, as the two sisters walked down the stairs together, Elizabeth cheerily, Lydia grumpily.

  “Are the only stockings you have wet?” Lydia complained.

  “Yes,” Kitty answered succinctly.

  The evening went downhill from there.

  After the Bingleys, the Hursts, the Henry and Garvin Masons all arrived and were happily conversing over drinks in the parlor, Lydia stood up and almost screeched. “This isn’t fair,” she complained, obstreperously. “Everyone has a partner except me. You should have invited someone for me to meet, Richard.”

  “I’m here, Lydia,” Thomas Bennet said. “I don’t have a partner anymore. I’ll escort you to dinner.”

  “Harrumph!”

  At dinner, Darcy trying to help out his best friend, who also happened to be his father-in-law, invited Lydia to open the dancing with him. Bennet nodded and immediately turned to Elizabeth to request her hand for the first dance.

  “You’re married.”

  “Obviously. Does that mean we cannot dance?” Darcy asked, taken aback by her rude response. He actually had zero interest in dancing with Lydia, but he wished to take his turn at the chore.

  “Fine,” she accepted rudely. Darcy let the matter drop. He had no intention of causing a scene at his cousin Richard’s Christmas Eve party.

  Madeline Gardiner decided that this was the perfect opportunity to change the subject. “Lydia,” Mrs. Gardiner said, “Kitty and I are switching guests the morning of the twenty-sixth. You are coming to visit us for two days, and Aunt and Uncle Phillips will join the Fitzwilliams here at #34 Park Lane for the same two days. Then the Phillips will go to stay until after the New Year with Mary. We all want to have a special bonding time together right now.”

  “I have to move to Cheapside, ugh,” Lydia snidely commented.

  Affronted, Madeline Gardiner nonetheless calmly answered, “That is where we live. We wish for you and the children to become better acquainted. With your being away at school, they hardly know you. They often ask, ‘Who is cousin Lydia?’ Edward and I would very much like for you to get to know them.”

  “Oh, well, fine then. I obviously had no say in this decision anyway.”

  “Lydia Bennet, you will be polite to your Aunt Gardiner or there will be no need to discuss this further,” her father attested. “One more rude statement and you will be on your way to Downe Academy, December the twenty-sixth, not to the Gardiners.”

  Lydia reddened, but wisely said nothing.

  After dinner, Kitty said to Elizabeth, “I know where I made my mistake. I should have had Father visit me while Lydia was here. He is the only person who can control her outrageous behavior.”

  “And why should our grieving father be the only one to harness our wayward sister?” Elizabeth countered.

  “Once again Lydia s destroying our family enjoyment at Christmas,” Kitty said.

  “Maybe next year we should put our funds together and send Lydia to the Greek Isles,” Elizabeth suggested.

  “Isn’t that where the sirens sing?” They both laughed spontaneously and suddenly felt ready to face the rest of the evening.

  After dinner, the men separated to the library for their cognac and cigars, while the ladies poured tea and sherry and claret in the parlor.

  Once again Lydia wandered the parlor, selecting particularly valuable and often times delicate pieces to pick up and muse about. Kitty frowned. Mary took over, saying with a wink at Kitty, “Look, Father and Mother Mason, Lydia likes the Derby porcelain horse. Just like the ones in your fields, n’est pas?”

  “Derby and horse certainly go together, if one is lucky,” Sarah Mason teased.

  They all grinned. Lydia set the figure back down. Kitty moved the horse further back from the edge of the table, where Lydia had perilously placed it. That horse was Nell’s future heirloom, an exceedingly valuable decoration.

  The gentlemen knocked on the door. Kitty opened it. “Shall we dance?” Richard invited. “The quartet is warming up.”

  The rest of the evening was reasonably acceptable. There was an equal number of ladies and gentlemen. The dances ranged from reels to waltzes, so everyone had at least one favorite. Kitty and Richard had pre-arranged the dance cards. Every lady danced with every gentleman, ending the night with a husband or wife or in Bennet’s case his youngest daughter.

  Richard had alerted Darcy in advance, so cleverly when Darcy requested the first dance with Lydia, he already knew it was preordained. “I thought you’d like to get it over with, Cousin,” Richard explained, as they stood drinking wine.

  “I am grateful.”

  “I gave myself Lydia second. See what a fine friend and great cousin I am.” They hooted.

  “Blood before self or some such nonsense.”

  “Exactly, Cousin.”

  “There’s always tomorrow.”

  “Oh, hell. How many more days until she goes back to school?” Richard queried.

  “I’d say eight. You know what I want to know?”

  “What?”

  “How does Mrs. Downe survive? Lydia cannot be the only defiant brat sent to her academy.”

  CHAPTER THREE

  The Wickhams spent the entire breakfast the next morning expounding on how wonderful their dinner party had turned out. They extolled about the care with which Mr. and Mrs. Chambers had handled the entire affair. The couple explained how the guests had marveled at the beauty of their surroundings and the generosity of the Fitzwilliam Darcys to extend such a special welcome to their friends, the Wickhams, and especially to the friends of their friends.

  “And , thank you, Eliza and Fitzwilliam, from the bottom of my heart,” Caroline said, apparently genuinely grateful. The words were so sincere that Elizabeth suddenly apprehended something that took her quite by surprise. “Eliza is her personal nickname for me. Caroline has no way of knowing that I despise that diminutive. I have never complained about it. She is not trying to insult me, when she uses it,” Elizabeth finally realized. “Life with Caroline around just got a slight bit easier,” Elizabeth thought to herself, be
fore turning her attention back to the tales now being told of dancing the night away.

  “Wonderful” Darcy said at the end of the recounting. “I hope your next two are equally successful, Caroline and George. Now as for today,” Darcy continued, changing the direction of the conversation, “our guests arrive for a late lunch. We we’ll spend the afternoon in various amusements, dine at seven-thirty and dance from nine until midnight.”

  “And presents?”

  “As we specified on our invitation, we, as a family, are forgoing our traditional gift exchanges this year due to the recent death of Mother,” Elizabeth explained. “However, we thought a little gift wrapping and unwrapping would be a nice diversion, so we suggested each guest bring one gift for a gentleman and one for a lady. They are to cost no more than two pounds and are to have a sort of flair and amusement about them.”

  “If you did not have time to select such a present, do not worry,” Darcy said. “Elizabeth foresaw such a likelihood and got a dozen extra. Choose two each and wrap them at your leisure. We won’t distribute them, which is by lottery by the way, until about four.”

  “Elizabeth, I am afraid that Caroline and I will have to again take advantage of your generosity. We totally missed that detail in all our planning for the three events and in all the fun we’ve had being with the two of you. I do now remember seeing the note about it,” George Wickham admitted.

  “Speak for yourself, George. I have my two presents. They are wrapped and ready,” Caroline said, with a giant grin.

  “Oh? Darcy?”

  “Come, George, the gifts and the gift wrap is in my office.”

  The four pushed back from the table. “I think we’d better retire and bathe and don comfortable attire. We’ll be wearing it all day until midnight,” Elizabeth suggested, as they left the breakfast room.

  *****

  Upstairs at Kitty’s, Lydia began her almost non-stop series of complaints. This time it centered on her very limited wardrobe. “I don’t have anything suitable to wear to a dinner party,” Lydia said.

  Kitty realized that this time Lydia did actually express a legitimate complaint. The clothes she had been wearing since she arrived, plain school attire, had little appeal and no style. Kitty, however, being taller and slimmer that her sister, had little to offer as a solution, especially at such a late moment. They were due to leave for the Darcys in a little over an hour. So she reminded Lydia, “The party today is only family. We are all going casual, because it is such and long day and the activities planned are so varied.”

  “Can you lend me something?”

  Kitty suddenly remembered the maternity dresses she had stored away. All they might need would be the hem taken up. She answered, “As a matter of fact, I just remembered a couple of choices you may borrow. I believe they will fit you at least moderately well. All we will have to do is to get Rosa in to hem them.” Kitty knew that if they were too blatantly loose on Lydia, a panel or two could be easily removed. The dresses had been designed for just such a contingency.

  “Come, let’s check the closet. We are running short of time. If you like them, we will get Rosa immediately. The alterations will be quick and easy.”

  Actually both dresses were beautiful, designed especially for Kitty by Madame de Pres. Lydia was pleased. Rosa had the two pinned for Lydia a matter of minutes. “I’ll just take these along to my workroom, Mrs. Fitzwilliam. I shall have one done in a half hour. Which would you like first?”

  Kitty said to Lydia, “You can wear one today and perhaps the other to the White’s ball. We will find something much more elegant for the Sheffield ball.”

  Lydia hesitated. Kitty said to Rosa, “Adjust the blue for today. The velvet one is more formal and suitable to the ball.”

  “Yes, Madame Fitzwilliam.”

  Kitty was confident on further consideration that she had at least one formal gown which would be appropriate for the Sheffield ball. She mentioned this possibility to Lydia, while adding, “Jane has some lovely dresses. We will present this dilemma to her today. Perhaps she has gowns, which are suitable for both balls. But if not, White’s is taken care of. We will worry about the duke’s ball in the morning before you leave. I have something in mind. If Jane has something more lovely, then wear mine to White’s.”

  “And if she hasn’t, you have the velvet and another?”

  “Yes. The other is exquisite. I assure you, Lydia, you will like it.”

  Lydia left the room excited. She liked nothing better than trying on elegant attire . . . well, maybe except perhaps dazzling some gentleman while wearing that attire.

  “Two balls,” Lydia said, as she stepped in her bath. “Things are definitely looking up.”

  *****

  Tonight’s guest list numbered eighteen, not including children of course, who would not be around for long. By opening the French doors to the breakfast room at one end of the dining room and including the extensions in the dining table, ten guests could sit on each side of the table with a host and hostess at each end. This had been necessary last night for the Wickham party of twenty guests and a host and hostess. Tonight, however, with nine on each side, Elizabeth and Fitzwilliam could just fit at each end without opening the French doors. One extension was omitted.

  Lunch went reasonably well. Elizabeth seated Lydia by herself at one end and Caroline nine seats down on the same side of the table. The two not only could not talk to each other with all the intervening bodies in between, they could not even see each other.

  Elizabeth was at least temporarily relieved. Yesterday Lydia had been inexcusably unpleasant. Today, dressed in a pretty remake of Kitty’s Madame de Pres design, Lydia seemed in high spirits.

  “I am, going to Aunt Maddie’s tomorrow for two days,” Lydia said to Elizabeth.

  “That will be fun.”

  “Yes, I understand that Sarah is going to boarding school as is Ned. I intend to give them some pointers.” Elizabeth almost spit out her soup she was so surprised.

  “I would not do that. And that is NOT in capital letters.”

  “Why?”

  “They are considerably younger than you. Their entire concentration is going to be on academics. That area of expertise has never been your strength.”

  “Harrumph!”

  “Their concentration will be on mathematics, science, history and British literature, combined with foreign languages, especially French. What have you to offer on any of those subjects that a teacher would not present with more skill?”

  “I . . . “

  “And I forgot Greek. Yes, Greek mythology, with some introduction to the original epic poetry. How much do you know about the Homer epics?”

  “Homer who?”

  “Then how about Latin epics of Virgil?”

  “You are trying to make me look uneducated.”

  “No, not really. Shakespeare then? He’s taught in every British school. Can you explain King Lear? How about Much Ado About Nothing? And how about our magnificent Chaucer? Can you recite the first fourteen lines of The Canterbury Tales in Middle English?”

  Lydia cleared her throat and looked askance to see who was listening to this conversation. Jane was definitely paying close attention.

  “No?” Elizabeth asked.

  “That’s right, NO!” Lydia shouted.

  “Ned and Sarah already know most of the above. How do I know? I taught them. They have read the Iliad, the Odyssey and the Aeneid, granted they were in translation. They also have a substantial French reading vocabulary. I could not speak French myself, so could not teach the sounds. But what fun we had performing scenes from the plays of Moliere, such as the Misanthrope and Tartuffe. We pretended to be actors of the stage.”

  Jane leaned down the table from two seats away, having caught most of the dialogue, which was, considering the subject matter, mostly a soliloquy. “Lydia,” Jane said, “will you sing for us tonight?”

  “I’d like that, Jane. I may not be an academic, but I do practice
with my voice coach.”

  “Excellent! I noticed from your attitude last night at Kitty’s that you have definitely mastered the sirens’ songs,” Jane said cryptically.

  “Sirens’ songs?”

  “The sirens from the Odyssey, Lydia, the ones who enchanted Odysseus and his crew and tried to tempt them into a ship wreck.”

  “How would I sing their songs? I have never heard them. You are mistaken, Jane. I usually just sing English ballads.”

  “I was referencing the shipwreck, Lydia. Think on it.”

  “I didn’t do anything wrong.”

  “Only entered with a shriek because Kitty hadn’t invited a date for you, and then later insulted Aunt Maddie to the point that Father threatened to send you back to school, if it happened again. Don’t cause a ship wreck of Elizabeth’s party tonight, Lydia. We love you. We want you to grow and learn and, well, mature. And we want you with us.”

  “What literature do you study at Downe Academy?” her Uncle Phillips asked from across the table. “I understand it is a fine institution for learning.”

  “Certainly Shakespeare, and modern poets like – uh –“

  “Perhaps, some William Blake,” her Uncle Phillips answered kindly, hoping to spur Lydia’s memory. “Have you read ‘The Tiger’ or ‘The Lamb’?”

  “I am sure you must have read Wordsworth, a poet laureate of the future I am sure,” Bingley said, entering the conversation.

  “And his good friend, Coleridge. I know you must have studied ‘The Rime of the Ancient Mariner’,” Gilbert Hurst inserted. “Or my new favorite, probably his masterpiece, ‘Kubla Khan’?”

  “I was thinking especially of Byron,” Lydia answered, proudly.

  “Oh, yes, our very own Lord Byron, a very fine poet. ‘She Walks in Beauty like the Night’,” Bingley inserted pleasantly.

  “What?” Lydia asked.

  “Pulchritude and magnificence, Lord Byron style, Lydia,” Elizabeth said, before changing the topic, by speaking to her uncle Phillips on her left. “Uncle, I bet you enjoy having another solicitor in the family.”

  “Yes, I do. Henry and I have certainly engaged in some lively arguments – of a legal nature, of course.”