Georgiana was quick to answer. “Oh, yes, Fitzwilliam. I thought to take Miss Elizabeth to Mrs. Duval’s in Bond Street.” Then, turning to Elizabeth, she said, “Mrs. Duval has always been very accommodating whenever I have had the need for a special gown to be made in very little time. I am sure she will be delighted to design your trousseau, Miss Elizabeth. Her work is truly excellent and she currently has the most beautiful pale yellow silk in the window. I do believe the color would look lovely on you.”
Elizabeth gave her future sister a warm, appreciative smile. “Thank you, Miss Darcy. I am looking forward to seeing it. Indeed, I am quite certain Mrs. Duval will have many beautiful things in her shoppe.”
“Lizzy, have you not always said you longed to own a yellow ball gown?” chimed Kitty. “I daresay now that you are to become Mrs. Darcy, you shall most likely have twenty!”
“Kitty, I would hardly need twenty ball gowns,” Elizabeth said. “Indeed, I have very little need even for one.”
But her mother agreed with Kitty, proclaiming that Elizabeth would surely have twenty if she wanted them, for Mr. Darcy, as rich as he was, could certainly afford to buy her as many as forty such gowns and very likely more. Elizabeth felt her mortification increase.
All the ladies departed for Bond Street shortly after breakfast, the number of gowns Mrs. Bennet insisted they must purchase multiplying with the passing of every ten minutes. Jane and Elizabeth did all in their power to discourage their mother’s thinking—and speaking—quietly stressing the impropriety of spending so much of their father’s money on so many gowns, but to little avail. Georgiana, equally as uncomfortable with such talk, attended them in relative silence.
Before they had departed, Darcy had taken Georgiana aside. Knowing Elizabeth would certainly not be of the same mind as her mother, who had appeared more than eager to overspend her father’s limited funds, he had given his sister strict instructions to make certain she paid very close attention to each additional item Elizabeth favored and to secretly charge them all to her own account. This included the designs of certain gowns Elizabeth would not have the resources to purchase while she retained her maiden name. He was adamant that, as his wife, she would want for nothing, but, most especially, the pale yellow ball gown her sister had spoken of at breakfast. In fact, after learning that Elizabeth had always desired to own just such a gown, Darcy had become quite determined to see to it that her father would not absorb the cost of that particular item. He wanted to see her eyes light up with pleasure when he presented it to her after their marriage, just as her beauty and vivacity caused his heart to swell each and every time he so much as thought of her.
As soon as the ladies set foot in the modiste shoppe, their party was met by a young assistant who made her way to Georgiana.
“Good morning, Miss Darcy,” she said. “How can I be of service to you today?”
Georgiana smiled. “Though there are several items I may wish to acquire, Miss Granby, we are here today to shop for a trousseau for my future sister.” She linked her arm with Elizabeth’s.
Miss Granby quickly—and rather openly—surveyed the Bennets, who were by no means dressed so fashionably nor so expensively as Miss Darcy, before offering Elizabeth a somewhat restrained smile. “Of course,” she said. “Allow me to offer my congratulations, Miss…”
Elizabeth raised her brow. “Bennet. Thank you,” she returned with equal coolness.
Miss Granby gave her another haughty look and said, “Well, Miss Bennet, please follow me, and we shall get you started.”
Though Georgiana thought she had made it clear to Miss Granby they were there primarily to shop for Elizabeth’s trousseau, she could not but notice with some distress it was she who received the solicitous attention of Mrs. Duval’s staff, and not her future sister. The lengths to which the staff went to be of service to her while almost pointedly ignoring Elizabeth bordered on shocking to the privileged girl, who was quite accustomed to receiving the very best of service. Indeed, she could not comprehend how Miss Granby and the other assistants attending them could behave in such a cool, condescending manner to the Bennets and, especially, to the future Mrs. Darcy. She turned to Elizabeth several times with an expression of real concern and no small degree of embarrassment, only to see her respond to Miss Granby’s rudeness by raising a brow and addressing the woman in an arch manner that appeared to express her total lack of intimidation. If Elizabeth was truly bothered by the staff’s indifferent attitude toward her and their lack of basic courtesy, Georgiana was forced to concede she did a convincing job of hiding it.
Indeed, Elizabeth hid her distress very well. Though she could not admit to being surprised by Miss Granby’s initial haughty attitude toward her, she was both startled and pained to see the contrasting deference so pointedly paid to Georgiana in her presence. No doubt her future sister was used to receiving preferential treatment wherever she went, but given the circumstances, Elizabeth had expected at least some form of conciliatory acceptance and civility toward herself, if not toward the members of her family.
Whether it was the elegance of the establishment or the elegance of the wealthy patrons in it who cast many not-so-surreptitious glances in the direction of their party, Elizabeth found her mother uncharacteristically reserved for such an occasion. Not even the vast array of lace, of which Mrs. Bennet had long held very decided opinions, could rouse her to her usual overzealous effusions. As a matter of fact, considering her two youngest sisters were also surrounded by the finest muslin and silk money could buy, they, too, seemed surprisingly subdued, exhibiting far better behavior than Elizabeth had ever imagined possible.
After sitting for so many hours in one attitude, examining patterns and selecting fabric and trim while being ignored by the staff, Elizabeth was in desperate need of a change of venue. Making her excuses, she rose and made her way to the other side of the shoppe. She was in the midst of admiring a beautifully embroidered pair of silk gloves when she happened to overhear two assistants engrossed in a rather animated conversation. Though they spoke in hushed tones, their voices carried easily to Elizabeth.
“But you must admit she gives every appearance of being a gentleman’s daughter, even if the gown she wears is not of the finest muslin.”
“She is the daughter of a gentleman, I hear, but he owns a rather meager estate—nothing to Mr. Darcy’s—and she is rumored to have several relations in trade.”
“In trade? My word! Are you certain?”
“Yes, and I cannot imagine why Fitzwilliam Darcy would lower himself to offer for a woman who is apparently so unconnected and penniless. She has a dowry of only fifty pounds per annum, I hear!”
“Fifty pounds! When, for years, he has had his pick of far more refined women with fifty thousand?”
“Precisely. It makes one wonder.”
“Can there be any real affection on his part, do you think? You never know. Perhaps he lost his heart to this little country beauty.”
The other assistant snorted. “His heart? You mean his head, more like! I overheard Caroline Bingley, whose brother is Mr. Darcy’s oldest and dearest friend, tell her own very great friend, Cecelia Hayward, that Mr. Darcy was drawn in while he was a guest in her brother’s house. It was all so shameful to watch, she said. And shocking! Why, whenever the two of them were in company together, he could not tear his eyes from Miss Bennet’s well-featured charms, so to speak. Perhaps they were caught in a compromising position, and he is being forced to marry her. In any case, he certainly cannot go through with this marriage to such an unconnected woman.”