Mr. Darcy's Diary, Amanda Grange [elon musk reading list TXT] 📗

slight a pretext.

We returned home later that afternoon and at half past

six we all sat down to dinner. Miss Elizabeth Bennet was

one of our party. She looked tired. The colour had gone

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from her cheeks and her eyes were dim. But as soon as

Bingley asked about her sister she became more animated.

‘How is your sister?’ Bingley asked.

‘I’m afraid she is no better.’

‘Shocking!’ said Caroline.

‘I am grieved to hear it,’ said Louisa.

Mr Hurst grunted.

‘I dislike being ill excessively,’ said Louisa.

‘So do I.There is nothing worse,’ said Caroline.

‘Is there anything I can do for her?’ asked Bingley.

‘No, thank you,’ she replied.

‘There is nothing she needs?’

‘No, she has everything.’

‘Very well, but you must let me know if there is anything I can give her which will ease her suffering.’

‘Thank you, I will,’ she said, touched.

‘You look tired.You have been sitting with her all day.

You must let me help you to a bowl of soup. I do not

want you to grow ill with nursing your sister.’

She smiled at his kindness, and I blessed him. He has

an ease of manner which I do not possess, and I was glad

to see him use it to help her to the best of the dishes on

the table.

‘I must return to Jane,’ she said, as soon as dinner was

over.

I would rather she had stayed.As soon as she left, Caroline and Louisa began abusing her.

‘I shall never forget her appearance this morning. She

really looked almost wild,’ said Louisa.

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‘She did indeed, Louisa,’ returned Caroline.

‘I hope you saw her petticoat, six inches deep in mud,’

said Louisa.

At this Bingley exploded.

‘Her dirty petticoat quite escaped my notice,’ he said.

‘You observed it, I am sure, Mr Darcy,’ said Caroline.

‘I am afraid that this adventure has rather affected your

admiration of her fine eyes.’

‘Not at all,’ I retorted. ‘They were brightened by the

exercise.’

Caroline was silenced. I will not have her abusing Miss

Elizabeth Bennet to me, though I am sure she will abuse

her the moment my back is turned.

‘I have an excessive regard for Jane Bennet, she is

really a very sweet girl, and I wish with all my heart she

were well settled. But with such a father and mother, and

such low connections, I am afraid there is no chance of

it,’ said Louisa.

‘I think I have heard you say, that their uncle is an

attorney in Meryton,’ remarked Caroline.

‘Yes; and they have another, who lives somewhere

near Cheapside,’ said Louisa.

‘If they had uncles enough to fill all Cheapside, it would

not make them one jot less agreeable,’ cried Bingley.

‘But it must very materially lessen their chance of

marrying men of any consideration in the world,’ I

remarked.

It does no harm to remind Bingley of reality. He was

almost carried away last year, and nearly proposed to a

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young lady whose father was a baker. There is nothing

wrong with bakers, but they do not belong in the family, and neither do attorneys or people who live in

Cheapside.

‘How well you put it, Mr Darcy,’ said Caroline.

‘Couldn’t have put it better myself,’ chimed in Mr

Hurst, rousing himself momentarily from his stupor.

‘Cheapside!’ said Louisa.

Bingley said nothing, but sank into gloom.

His sisters presently visited the sick room, and when

they came down, Miss Elizabeth Bennet was with them.

‘Join us for cards?’ asked Mr Hurst.

‘No, thank you,’ she said, seeing the stakes.

To begin with, she took up a book, but by and by she

walked over to the card-table and attended to the game.

Her figure was displayed to advantage as she stood

behind Caroline’s chair.

‘Is Miss Darcy much grown since spring?’ asked Caroline. ‘Will she be as tall as I am?’

‘I think she will. She is now about Miss Elizabeth

Bennet’s height, or rather taller.’

‘How I long to see her again! Such a countenance,

such manners! And so extremely accomplished for her

age!’

‘It is amazing to me how young ladies can have

patience to be so very accomplished, as they all are,’ said

Bingley.

‘All young ladies accomplished! My dear Charles,

what do you mean?’ asked Caroline.

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‘Yes, all of them, I think. They all paint tables, cover

screens and net purses.’

‘Your list of the common extent of accomplishments

has too much truth,’ I said, amused. I have been told that

dozens of young ladies are accomplished, only to find

that they can do no more than paint prettily. ‘I cannot

boast of knowing more than half a dozen.’

‘Nor I, I am sure,’ said Caroline.

‘Then you must comprehend a great deal in your idea

of an accomplished woman,’ said Miss Bennet.

Did I imagine it, or was she laughing at me? Perhaps,

but perhaps not. I was stung to retort:‘Yes; I do comprehend a great deal in it.’

‘Oh! certainly,’ said Caroline.

Miss Bennet was not abashed, as I had intended her to

be. Indeed, as Caroline listed the accomplishments of a

truly accomplished woman, I distinctly saw a smile

spreading across Miss Bennet’s face. It started at her eyes,

when Caroline began by saying: ‘A woman must have a

thorough knowledge of music, singing, drawing, dancing

and the modern languages…’ and had spread to her

mouth by the time Caroline ended: ‘She must possess a

certain something in her air and manner of walking, the

tone of her voice, her address and expressions.’

Miss Bennet’s amusement annoyed me, and I added

severely: ‘To all this she must yet add something more

substantial, in the improvement of her mind by extensive

reading.’

‘I am no longer surprised at your knowing only six

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accomplished women. I rather wonder at your knowing

any,’ said Miss Bennet with a laugh.

I should have been angered by her sauciness, but

somehow I felt an answering smile spring into my eyes.

It seemed absurd, all of a sudden, that I should expect so

much from the opposite