Honour and Intimacy - A Sequel to Jane Austen's 'Pride and Prejudice'

Chapter 8

Elizabeth was the forewoman of the night. She had planned how the dinner table should look, what dishes were to be made for dinner and how everything should be served.

Mr Darcy was proud of her wife and he felt no hesitation in complimenting her housekeeping. Soon the guests arrived, which were the Bennets, the Bingleys, and Mr Everett. Mrs Bennet was delighted to see that Elizabeth had invited Mr Everett. She had started asking her the details about the gentleman in soft whispers, which were inaudible to everyone except Elizabeth. She told her whatever she knew about him and Mrs Bennet was satisfied. Elizabeth had noticed how Kitty was dressed with utmost care and how Mary showed, as usual, no interest.

They were all seated on the dining table, and Mrs Bennet made sure that Kitty and Mr Everett had sat next to each other. They surely did, and it was not long before his friendly nature gave way and they started talking to each other.

Mr Darcy brought Georgiana down with him, who was too embarrassed to show her face to anyone. Her rashes were still apparent, and thus she had worn a hat to cover her face. Upon entering the hall, she started searching for Mr Everett and she was greatly shocked to see him talking to Catherine in such a free and friendly manner. He glanced at her, smiled at her with civility and returned to conversing with Kitty.

Georgiana felt slightly betrayed. Catherine was one-and-twenty, which meant that she was two years older than Georgiana. However, Kitty's youth and beauty were more visible than Georgiana's, and it was obvious that she would capture any men's attention, without even trying. Moreover, her character had been developed and influenced by Jane and Elizabeth in the past three years.

Georgiana felt a burning sensation inside her bosom, and her eyebrows frowned as she took place beside Jane Bingley.

"Why are Mr Everett and Catherine so intimated with each other? Have they known each other before this meeting?" Georgiana turned to Jane.

She looked at her with her eyebrows slightly elevated before answering; "no, they have just met now. But is this not a wonderful thing? It is so nice to see two young people intimated so quickly as this."

Georgiana, feeling a little down, looked away from Jane and bit her lower lip in frustration. She had never encountered such feeling as this, and now that she had, she wanted to scream and run away. Her gaze met her brother's and he looked so adamant on keeping his eye on her.

The rest of the night passed horridly for Georgiana. She was ignored by many, but she did have one good thing to talk about, and that was that she had eaten some wonderful dishes of the night. She did not feel hungry after having the dinner and she left all the others a little earlier than expected. However, Elizabeth and Mrs Bennet felt that the night was successful. They had achieved their aim of intimating Mr Everett and Kitty. When the Bennets were leaving, Mr Everett took Kitty's hand, kissed the back of it and expressed his desire of seeing her soon.

For the ladies, this was the only subject that they could talk about for days, and Catherine was already feeling a great admiration for Mr Everett. They had dined quite many times for weeks and the ladies believed that there was a strong bond created between the two.