Page 28 of Elizabeth’s Refuge (Mr. Underwood’s Elizabeth & Darcy Stories #16)
“No, no, there is enormous irregularity in the cathedral, and that is the source of the beauty. I believe the solution to my mystery is different. This was produced in the so called dark ages, before the rule in France was regular and orderly, under those weak kings that we bashed about at Agincourt, and Crecy and Poitiers. But then came the age of their absolute monarchs and it was they who designed the Louvre and the Tuileries, and the ugly regularity and order of the whole. This building reflects a weaker, happier, more human time. And the Tuileries reflects the tyranny — ah but I ought not say that here. It reflects the nature of modern king, and whatever virtues such a king may provide, with it is a loss of real beauty; real and human beauty.”
“And that is why England shall always be superior to France, in fundamentals,” Darcy said laughing.
“That is your interpretation, not mine!”
They were somewhat tired of being continuously on foot by this point, and they had heard many good reports of the restaurateurs and the cafes in the Palais Royal, which in any case was close by their apartments.
Darcy hailed a fiacre which took them back across the Seine, and then they trundled through the crowded streets of Paris up to the entrance to that remarkable structure.
The one part of the Palais Royal was a colonnaded building surrounding a large garden with fountains and trees arranged again in far too much order for Elizabeth’s taste. Along three of the sides there were shops and cafes set along the galleries covered by the colonnades.
The remarkable part of the building was on the fourth side.
There was a double line of columns set as far apart as a road of moderate width, with a wood structure covering the whole, and a massive number of shops filled with books, dresses, fine jewelry and all other manner of goods on either side.
There were large numbers of restaurants fine enough to even appease Darcy’s taste.
Though the wind could blow into the open aired structure it was comparably comfortable inside, much warmer than the air outside, and the entire hall was packed with finely dressed Parisians promenading or shopping.
Elizabeth and Darcy found the fanciest appearing cafe along the first floor and took the private room upstairs in it where they could look down on the crowds pleasantly walking below.
They ate an excellent repast, liberally seasoned with the tart and creamy sorrel sauce which the French tended to cook everything with.
Later Elizabeth went into several shops at Darcy’s encouragement. She was measured by a dressmaker who had been recommended as being at the height of fashion.
Silk ribbons, swathes of cloth, varieties of patterns, compliments from the madame who managed the shop, gloves and bonnets and hats, and shoes and boots, and clothes for every conceivable occasion, and one or two which Elizabeth was not quite prepared to conceive of.
All a heady, delightful mix.
After a while, Elizabeth began to believe she might be perhaps ordering too many dresses. However, at almost that moment Darcy came to the shop to ask after her, and his encouragement ensured she did order too many dresses.
They then found another cafe in the Palais Royal where some very fine chess players had met to compete against each other, and they spent a tense hour watching two extraordinary games play out.
That evening when they returned to their apartments, while they waited for supper, Darcy had his valet retrieve a travelling chess set from his bags for them to make an attempt to replicate the mighty contest they had witnessed in the cafe.
The chess set was made of the finest marble, with exquisitely carved pieces, and as Darcy set out the pieces she admired it.
“Unexpectedly heavy,” Elizabeth said smiling as she nearly dropped one of the smooth marble knights.
“Such perfect carvings. And those tiny rubies in the eyes.” She eagerly turned the knight over and over, admiring the tiny lines, and little details, the way that you could feel the locks of the horse’s mane, the way that the grain of the marble was perfectly polished away.
She carefully rubbed her finger over the horse’s nose before putting the almost ebony black piece back on the board Darcy had neatly arranged.
“How many dozens of pounds did this set cost?”
“I have no knowledge of that, as this set is… not quite an heirloom, but it was purchased by my father, and—”
“I am very glad then,” Elizabeth interrupted with a laugh, “I did not drop the piece.”
Darcy laughed in reply, and he tapped a pawn on Elizabeth’s side of the table. She liked how his hand waved just a few inches in front of her chest as he did so.
“This one was replaced after Georgiana dropped it a few years ago, you can see how the color is not quite the same. And this piece,” he tapped another with his fingers brushing her fingers, “this bishop once fell, but only the head came off, and very neatly, so a craftsman glued the pieces together again in a cunning way, but,” he picked up the bishop and handed it to Elizabeth, “you can see the line if you hold up the piece right to the light. But he polished away the rough edge so that it is almost impossible to feel where the hole came.”
She did so, and saw as he said. But what caught her eyes more was the giant bible held by the Bishop, looking as much like some witch’s grimoire as a holy book. There was a line of tiny words on the open pages. But the letters were too small for Elizabeth to read.
“It’s from the gospel of Matthew. My father’s favorite passage. He gave the order to be carved so.”
“How did the artist make such tiny scratches, and on a black surface?”
“With difficulty, I would imagine.” Darcy shrugged. “I once studied the pieces under the lens of my microscope, and—”
“Under the lens of your microscope, I imagine every boy has one.”
“Your father did not? He always struck me as the sort of man who might have scientific interests and leanings. It is not so expensive to get a decent one. Papa believed it was most important I gain a thorough understanding of the modern scientists, and my tutor had written several notable papers and he was a member of the royal society.”
“And your tutor was a member of the royal society?” Elizabeth grinned, looking at Darcy. So casually wealthy that like the wealthy always did, he hired the service of the most interesting and best persons. Of course she now was so wealthy herself.
A microscope, Papa certainly could have afforded a microscope if the desire had crossed his mind, but a tutor who was a member of the royal society?
Whatever the cost, such men had the opportunity to find more prominent patrons than Papa. “I think my father had a preference for the less modern. He put his money into antiquarian books in the main — and stars. We had a fine telescope.”
“Ah. We also extensively purchased books. In such days as these I cannot countenance the neglect of a family library.” Darcy grinned boyishly as he picked up one of the delicately carved white pawns and settled it two blocks forward on the heavy marble board.
“I sound quite conceited with that tone.”
“Only a little ,” Elizabeth replied. “But an advantage that accrues to the very wealthy is that they can both pursue antiquarian books and microscopes and scientific learning.”
Elizabeth moved her own pawn, and Darcy made his move.
“I do not think,” he said, “that I am so very rich. Do not get the idea that I am one of the greatest fortunes in the land. A great fortune, yes, but there are at least a hundred estates of greater extent than mine. I cannot compare to a duke for example. Or to a Rothschild.”
“Merely to an earl?”
“Merely to an earl.” Darcy quirked his lips, and his eyes twinkled.
He picked up his bishop to move and then hesitated, frowning. He asked in a half embarrassed voice, “You have not played chess frequently of late, have you?”
“What?” Elizabeth looked down at the board again, and at Darcy’s bishop, and at her king, who had already been checkmated through the passage she’d opened up by moving her pawn. She laughed and groaned. “Just like Papa used to do to me. I forgot that trick.”
She laughed and pushed Darcy’s pawns back into their original spaces, enjoying how now it was her turn to brush her fingers against his. “That was merely a, ah—”
“A practice round?”
“Exactly! This was a round to warm the fingers up, so that we could safely move the heavy chess pieces. It does not count.”
“Certainly not. Certainly not. One must exert great caution in lifting such heavy objects lest one injure oneself.”
Darcy grinned at her and Elizabeth grinned back.
They played several more games, all of which Elizabeth lost, but she got much better over the course of the games. That night, as she lay in bed with Darcy, Elizabeth said to him, “Though it is not England, I think this can be home for us, at least for the time.”
“Yes,” Darcy whispered back, “I like Paris very much.”
“Do you think… we should stay here for now, for a while?”
“Yes,” Darcy kissed her and pulled her body against his. “We shall.”