Posted on 2010-07-17

Once again we were attending an Assembly Ball in Meryton. This time it felt different, more exciting. I dared to think and hope that this night could be special, though I could not have said why. Certainly the atmosphere in the room had an inexplicable and unexpected feeling of tension and of anticipation.

My sister and I stood together with several young single gentlemen of the neighborhood who appeared happy to seek our company and entertain us with conversation. I found my share pleasing although anybody would have agreed that my sister was always the first to be noticed, for the gentlemen could not help seeing that she was about five times as pretty as I.

Still, it was flattering to know that we were the chosen focus of the most respectable and amiable of the gentlemen present. Though they were not unknown to us, their appearance and conversation and ideas long familiar, the ordinary and commonplace talk we exchanged about local events, mutual friends, and the newcomers at Netherfield seemed, for a time, imbued with sparkle and wit absent when the same topics were mentioned in other and more mundane places. I dearly love a laugh and tried to engender, and in turn receive, as much mirth and wit as was in my power.

Unbidden, a longing suddenly rushed through me. A longing for people of knowledge and sense and intelligence that would challenge me and inform me. I barely admitted the thought and as quickly as it arose it was suppressed and I returned to the routine teasing and usual banter of the current discussion, determined to enjoy myself.

A bustle and sounds near the entry to the main assembly room abruptly captured the full attention of our group and conversation ceased in mid-sentence. The gentlemen exchanged glances that seemed to say "At last!". At that moment my sister and I were called away.

"Girls! Come stand with me where you may be seen to best advantage!"

Our former companions in conversation took no note of our leaving them. Their gazes were fixed with heightened awareness on the five figures now framed in the doorway. They, and most of the other gentlemen in the room, reflexively straightened their shoulders, touched their cravats, and adjusted their sleeves upon seeing the latest arrivals. As Clarissa and I moved to stand unremarked and unnoticed with our Aunt Long, I realized that this Assembly would after all be no different from all the others for me now that the Bennet sisters had arrived.