All Hallow's Eve by Wendi Sotis

that had been left empty was the one in front, and so Bingley had led his party to it. Even he had thought this a little odd, but he had quickly become pleasantly occupied in catching the eye of a certain young lady to allow his mind to ponder the subject too deeply. Actually, he would have preferred not to have the Bennet family—especially the eldest daughter—in the row on the opposite side of the aisle where he could not glance at her without the entire audience noticing his action.
    This being the first gathering that Caroline would have the pleasure of attending with a viscount and the younger son of an earl , her honour ed guests , she made absolutely certain that they would arrive much earlier than usual so that everyone in the neighbour hood knew exactly who her new guests were . Alth ough she would have much preferred to be showing off to London society, she had to make do with what she had.
    Upon their arrival, Bingley had noticed that many of the spectators were gathered out of doors in conversation. Upon enter ing the assembly hall, he had jumped at this opportunity , and he led the Netherfield party to the second row on the left, directly behind the Bennets.
    S uddenly realizing that his friend did not understand the social order that was present even at a gathering such as this , William had made an attempt to catch his friend’s attention and explain the situation to him . B ut since his seat was only slightly to the left behind Elizabeth— and she was directly in his line of sight when he looked at the piano —he decided to allow his friend to learn from his own errors without interference from him.
    Mortified, Caroline silently fumed at her brother ’s choice in seating , which went completely unnoticed by the gentleman , as usual .
    Lord Reginald and Richard understood exactly what was going on, and after seeing both Bingley’s and their cousin’s expressions, exchanged a smile, neither feeling slighted in the least. Perhaps Richard was not the only one of the group who thought it was not a bad idea, tactically, for her guard to be situated close to Elizabeth, even if Richard was the only one who was armed with a sabre since he was in full uniform.
    Elizabeth first notice d there was some difficulty when she turned in her seat to reply to a query about her health from William.
    “ Is there something the matter, Miss Elizabeth? ” William asked in response to the appearance of shock across her visage, which then abruptly changed to amusement .
    “ Do not turn to look , Mr. Darcy, but the entire population of Meryton is confused by your party’s change in the usual seating arrangem ent. They have no idea what to do ! ”
    “ Do you mean that none of them ha s taken a seat as of yet? ”
    “ No, sir, they have not. T hey are all standing at the rear of the room deep in conversation, and, I believe , attempt ing to work it out. We are the only two parties seated. ”
    Elizabeth had to turn around to face front when she saw William press his lips together, feeling as if she might laugh out loud.
    William glanced to the right and saw that Mr. Bennet had also noticed. His eyes were shining with tears born from repressing his mirth. The three refused to look at each other again, lest they make a scene.
    The innkeeper’s wife entered the room through the door near the piano to place a beautifully arranged vase of flowers on the instrument , and at seeing most of the seats empty , she stopped so sharply that her husband walked into her, almost knocking her down. At her gesture, he looked at all the vacant seats , and the two exchanged a worried look. The innkeeper continued on ahead of his wife, and called out, “ Please, come in and have a seat! The concert is about to begin. ”
    As the muttering of the crowd only became louder, Lady Lucas took control of the situation, quite noisily directing her husband to take the front row on the right. Upon arriving at said bench, Sir William attempted to