The Intervention

The Intervention

"You are dancing with the only handsome girl in the room," said Mr. Darcy, looking at the eldest Miss Bennet.

"Oh! She is the most beautiful creature I ever beheld! But there is one of her sisters sitting down just behind you, who is very pretty, and I dare say very agreeable. Do let me ask my partner to introduce you."

"Which do you mean?" and turning round he looked for a moment at Elizabeth, till catching her eye, he withdrew his own and coldly said: "She is tolerable, but not handsome enough to tempt me; I am in no humour at present to give consequence to young ladies who are slighted by other men. You had better return to your partner and enjoy her smiles, for you are wasting your time with me."

P to be above his company, and above being pleased. Based on his behaviour, no other opinion made sense. To be honest, he thought they were not precisely wrong, as he did think himself above the company. However, the lady (he assumed it was a lady, but there were no guarantees) had taken pity on him, while asking nothing in return and seeking no advantage—not even thanks. That thought made him ashamed of his attitude.

Who exactly was showing true superiority? Certainly not me!

That was where it all became interesting! She had given him not the slightest clue as to her identity, going so far as to prevent his turning around to acknowledge her, then disappearing like a ghost after her intervention.

Well, I have news for you, my lady. Two can play at that game!

While he had not seen her, he had heard her , and he had excellent hearing (almost too good), nearly perfect pitch, and while he rarely sang outside church, he had been trained in the art and trained well. He was certain he would recognize her voice if he could simply hear a dozen words, and how hard could that be at such a small assembly?

All he had to do was reverse course and make himself available for introductions. He need not even be introduced to the lady herself. In fact, if she kept to her previous path, she might even make herself scarce. He could, however, easily be introduced to other ladies and work his way through the crowd. He had complete faith that he would either be introduced to her or hear her speaking with someone else.

She called him ‘sir,’ which most likely meant they had not been introduced, as she would have used his name if they had. He was also certain he had not heard the voice before, giving further credence to the idea that she was a lady he had not been introduced to. Since he had not been introduced to even a quarter of the attendees, that did not require any feats of great cognition.

His course decided, he put his mind to solving the problem and felt the faint stirrings of excitement for playing the hound rather than the fox for once. How hard could it be?

Without delay, he got to work.

“Sir William, I wonder if you might do me a kindness.”