Chances Come, Ney Mitch [snow like ashes series TXT] 📗

that true?” Kitty asked Jane. I was shocked at Jane’s revelation myself, for she had never informed me about this either.

“Yes, very true,” Jane confessed. “I am not afraid of the confession now.”

“For no one has ever informed us women when it is the right or wrong time to begin speaking or cease speaking,” I said. “Yes, it is a scary thing, indeed, to know when one is outstaying their welcome when it comes to conversation. Well, all I can advise is that the world will sometimes say that one talks too much, or too little, and then I learned that the world was not to fear… its bark is always worse than its bite. Its power is like a spell: it can only have power over you if you let it.”

“You are braver than I,” Georgiana said.

“No, not brave,” I countered, amused, “just more reckless. The world tries to break me down and then build me up from one day to the next. And I am rash enough to be amused at which one it will do every day.”

Georgiana laughed at us.

“I have heard that there are two more of you Bennet sisters,” she mused. “Are the other two like you three as well?”

“Our other sisters are named Mary and Lydia,” Jane answered. “Mary is the third of us five, and Lydia is the youngest.”

“Lydia and I have some similarities to our natures,” Kitty said, “in regards to being spirited. Like me she loves dances and balls.”

“And you are going with us to the Christmas ball tomorrow evening,” Georgiana pointed out. “Then you are excited?”

“Very much so,” I did not deny. “For dancing is one of the chief ways in which I believe that one can enjoy the refinements of every manner of society.” Here I gave Mr. Darcy a glance. “Be that society polished or unpolished. After all, be you a great lady or a savage, we all can dance.”

“Truly, do you remember every word that I say?” he asked, vexed, but not seriously.

I gave him a mock sympathetic smile. “Yes, sadly, I do.”

“Are we missing some vital information to what you both refer to?” Kitty asked.

“You are, and it is not vital. Rather, it is all just amusing. Miss Darcy, we have a neighbor back in Hertfordshire, named Sir William Lucas. He is a very pleasant man, and when your brother and his company came to Hertfordshire, they were invited to his home.”

“Oh!” Kitty interjected. “Is this when Sir William tried to get you and Mr. Darcy to dance with each other?”

“Yes, it was that precise incident. Miss Darcy, the first time that we met your brother was at a ball, where he walked here and there, and refused to dance with any other woman but the women in his company.”

“I did not feel comfortable in dancing with any woman who I had no acquaintance with yet!” Darcy snapped, although playfully.

“Yes, and no one can be introduced in a ballroom?” I retorted, teasing him. “Well, the second time that the subject of a dance had come upon us was at Sir William’s home. Kitty and Lydia had gotten some people together to dance in the parlor, and as I walked by, Sir William appealed to me. He took my hand and offered me as a partner to your brother. That was Sir William’s notion of trying to endear your brother to dancing a set. For, when Sir William had announced to your brother that dancing was one of the refinements of every polished society, your brother pointed out that any savage can dance, for it was an activity that was in vogue amongst unpolished societies as well.”

“Fitz, you said that?” Georgiana asked.

“I thought I was being clever,” Darcy responded.

“Ah,” I teased, “you were trying to achieve wit.”

“You know our predicament, Miss Elizabeth. For you and I are of a disposition that we are unwilling to speak unless we say something that will amaze the whole room.”

“Yes, the pressures of performance again,” I remarked, giving Georgiana a familiar look. “Neither your brother nor I perform to strangers.”

Georgiana was not overwhelmed by our company, and we did our best to not be apprehensive around her. Overall, we found her bashfulness charming, and she found our liveliness as a harmless complement to her nature. Hopefully, we would grow to feel definitive warmth to each other. As much as it is enchanting to say that one immediately feels a warm and sisterly connection to your beloved’s sibling, such ‘happily ever afters’ cannot always be conjured so. She had just met us, and therefore, we only knew that we liked each other, but there still was time for a bond to be sparked between us all.

We had shown her the dresses and gowns that her brother had bought us, and that strengthened the acquaintance. After all, clothing preferences shall always be a great equivocator amongst both men and women.

As we joined Mr. Darcy again, Kitty asked to be excused, for she said that she had to write a letter. Darcy allowed this, and I was surprised that she never came back down again for an hour’s time.

Overall, the day had passed quite well, and I liked Georgiana’s disposition. Yet, what made it all so very satisfying was that Mr. Darcy found happiness in witnessing us getting along with her. He even smiled twice in observing us.

That was no small accomplishment, I can assure all.

Chapter 13 How Amusing!

The next evening had arrived, and the house was all astir the entire day. Darcy had given each of us sisters a maid to be our particular assistant, and she saw to our bath, our perfumes, our hair and our gowns. When all four of them had finished, we all felt the elation and excitement that comes from looking forward to an evening of pleasure.

Georgiana had a yellow gown. Mine was pink, Jane’s was white, and Kitty’s was a light green. Each gown had been designed in a way