Grey Skies: A Pride And Prejudice Fanfic

Chapter 4

"Did you just tell me to smile more?" Mr. Darcy asked Charlotte Lucas, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

Charlotte replied, "Yes, I do recommend that you smile more. It would do you well."

With Charlotte's words Mr. Darcy's confusion quickly turned into anger. How dare she advise him on how to live his life? What did she mean by approaching him so, they were barely acquainted. He was about to interrogate her and ask her what in the world she thought she was doing, when he caught himself. He did not want to make a scene a second time that night. She had not attempted to flirt with him, unless this was a very poor attempt, and that eased him. She was trying to be friendly, and had temporarily distracted him from his despicable behavior earlier. Charlotte Lucas, he decided, had given him a pleasant surprise, and he should thank her for it. It however was not the time to do so, he was on a quest to apologize to Elizabeth Bennet.

Instead of rushing off without another word like Mr. Darcy wished he could, he managed to mumble a "Thank you," and ran off in search of Elizabeth Bennet.

Later on that night, Mr. Darcy would fear that he had deeply upset Charlotte Lucas with his abrupt departure, however as he disappeared into the crowd, Charlotte Lucas could not help but laugh. She could see his need to apologize to Elizabeth, and was not at all offended.

Mr. Darcy plunged into the crowd not knowing that Elizabeth Bennet had been standing a few feet next to Charlotte Lucas, and that he had ran in the opposite direction of her. Elizabeth had stumbled upon the two right before Mr. Darcy had ventured off in pursuit of her. She wanted to get as far away as possible from the gentleman, but was intrigued by the lady to whom he was speaking. Charlotte Lucas, she knew, had held some sort of significance to her childhood. The Lucases rarely visited, but when Elizabeth was little, she could swear that there was something important about her. So she concealed herself but remained, hoping to get the chance to speak to the lady. Her poor thoughts of Mr. Darcy were again reestablished when he suddenly left Miss. Lucas abruptly without a proper goodbye.

As Mr. Darcy went away, Elizabeth crept closer to the mysterious lady. "Pardon me, Miss. Lucas, I know this must seem awfully odd of me to ask, but were you much involved with my family in the past?"

To this question Charlotte's calm deposition suddenly morphed into a state of panic, as she lied "No, there was nothing much at all I'm afraid, contact between our families was limited. I was barely acquainted with any of you." Charlotte Lucas was clever and normally could lie, if needed, quite well, but the question brought back memories that were hard to bear for her.

Elizabeth could tell immediately that Charlotte was telling a falsehood, but did not wish to offend her, and so refrained from telling her so. Elizabeth was lively and often voiced her opinions, but she wasn't going to accuse someone who she barely knew a liar.

"Mr. Darcy was looking for you I believe." Charlotte Lucas believed that the sooner Mr. Darcy was able to apologize, the better. He looked sick with anxiety, and Elizabeth seemed to be doing poorly as well. She looked upset, which was because Elizabeth was extremely irritated with her mother, who had reprimanded her for inciting Mr. Darcy's fury.

"I do not wish for him to find me. He was extremely rude to me." Elizabeth was about to go on an angry tangent about the audacity of the man, when she stopped herself, not letting her anger get the best of her. "But come, let us talk of merrier things. My elder sister Jane and Mr. Bingley appear to be getting on quite well. He seems a charming fellow."

"Yes, indeed he does. It would be an advantageous marriage for them both I should think," said Charlotte. She startled herself by how quickly the subject of marriage entered her mind. She looked at Elizabeth to see if she had thought it was odd, but Elizabeth did not seem to notice how quickly Charlotte had escalated the relationship in the conversation. Elizabeth was in fact quite indifferent to the mentioning of marriage, her mother did it so frequently, and she did not even notice. Charlotte was not one to often think about marriage, but thoughts of Edward had brought the subject to the forefront of her mind. "How are things at Longbourn?" She queried.

"We are all terribly excited. Edward is coming back from school, and because of the war will not be going on a tour in Europe, but will be staying home with us for a while." Charlotte paled at Elizabeth's words, and suddenly found herself wanting to leave the presence of the lady. Elizabeth looked like her brother, had the same mannerisms as her brother, and so far all that Charlotte had experienced that night were things that reminded her of Edward. At first, with Mr. Darcy's reminding her of Edward, she welcomed the memories of her past. She was fond of Edward, even after certain events had occurred. Yet it was getting to be too much. With so many things reminding her of Edward, less pleasant memories entered her thoughts. She still cared for him she knew, but could only imagine that he would fall in love with some beautiful young lady, and she would be forced to watch. Also, there was no chance they could ever marry, Mrs. Bennet had ensured her that it would never happen.

Charlotte suddenly felt that she could no longer remain in the presence of Elizabeth, and bid her farewell. Elizabeth strode towards her younger sister Mary, who was talking to another gentleman she had never seen before, when she was suddenly tapped on the shoulder, by Mr. Darcy.

Her face reddened as she spat out "Hello sir. I'm afraid I cannot converse with you, I am preoccupied."

"Miss. Bennet," said he, "I'm afraid I must speak with you, if only for a moment. I would like to apologize for my behavior to you earlier, I am appalled that I would behave in such a way."

To Elizabeth, Mr. Darcy's apology was not sufficient for the hurt he had caused her. Now, her mother would never leave her alone. So, against her better judgement she replied, " I'm afraid I cannot accept your apology. Your outburst was completely uncalled for, and the pain of gossip I have had to endure is certainly more than your apology can fix. Also, I have found you to be extremely rude elsewhere." With this Mr. Darcy was about to object, surely she was taking it too far, but before he had the chance, Elizabeth continued. "How do you think Charlotte Lucas must feel, in the way you suddenly left her in the middle of a conversation. You must have thought yourself above her, and I cannot forgive you for your lack of good character." With this Elizabeth promptly walked away. She instantly realized she had gone too far, she had assumed the thoughts of Mr. Darcy without knowing a thing about him. Perhaps she should return and make an apology of her own, she thought to herself. She turned back around, but Mr. Darcy was nowhere to be found.

His thoughts were far from Elizabeth's. He heard her words and instantly regretted the way he had treated Charlotte Lucas. He set off in pursuit of her, but was unable to find her that night. In fact there was no way he could have found her, for Charlotte Lucas had convinced her father to go home, telling him that she felt ill, and the Lucases had been leaving while Mr. Darcy was beginning his search for her.

Later that evening, the Bennet sisters chatted lively about the ball in their carriage.

"What a splendid dance that was, oh how I wish it were in London instead of Meryton." Catherine complained.

"You should be happy you were allowed to go at all, considering you're recovering from a cold" Jane replied.

This comment inspired a heated debate between the sisters, in which Mary and Lydia joined on Catherine's behalf. Jane sought an ally in her sister
Elizabeth, but found her silent the whole ride to Longbourn.

Author's note: Thank you for all the comments, I appreciate anything and everything you say :)