Page 6

“Come. Let us go and speak to them while we have the opportunity to do so. I am eager to learn more of them and propriety has kept us apart long enough.” Bingley grabbed Darcy’s arm and headed off to the other end of the chamber. Within seconds, they were standing in front of Jane and Elizabeth.

“Good evening.” Bingley bowed to them, and Darcy followed suit, murmuring his own greeting.

“Good evening.” Jane and Elizabeth spoke – and curtseyed – in unison.

Darcy found their performance charming. When the younger of the two met his eyes, he felt his heart begin to pound.

“Darcy and I were just admiring how well you handled your younger sisters.”

The ladies glanced at each other and blushed. “They are rather high-spirited and often require reminders of what is expected from them.” Elizabeth glanced to her side, where Lydia was chattering away with Maria Lucas. “They do not always listen to us, sadly.”

Jane smiled. “They mean no harm with their liveliness, I am sure. They are full young and have yet to learn to temper themselves. I am certain that our instruction will one day come to their minds in such a situation and then they will follow it.”

Darcy noticed Elizabeth’s eyes begin to roll and bit down on his lower lip to keep from laughing out loud. He cleared his throat. “Would you like to take a turn about the room, Miss Elizabeth?”

Though she blushed prettily, Elizabeth instantly agreed.

She tucked her hand under Darcy’s elbow and they began to wend their way through the crowd and the furniture, slowly promenading up and down the length of the chamber.

He searched his mind for something to say.

His mouth had gone dry the moment she had touched him. He swallowed and took a deep breath.

“What say you of books?” He cringed at the inane topic his mind had chosen.

“I say books are wonderful. I love to read and will devour every tome I can get my hands on.” She peeked up at him. Her smile made his lips curl up, as well.

“I would have to agree with you. Do you have a favorite topic to read about? Do you prefer histories to crop rotation?”

Elizabeth laughed, and Darcy felt the warm sound fill his insides.

“I confess that of those two, I much prefer histories. The books on crop rotation held my interest but not enough that I would wish to peruse them twice.”

“Ah.” Darcy smirked. “I had feared that was so. I find nothing more invigorating than a good treatise on farming.” He winked and then, when Elizabeth laughed again, grinned at her.

“Well, then. Perhaps we should narrow our discussion to fiction versus those works that are not.”

Darcy chuckled. “I think you are correct. Therefore, I will ask my question again, altering it appropriately. Do you prefer dramatized stories such as Shakespeare’s works, or does your taste run to true histories?

Do you enjoy fiction, as in poetry and novels?

Which do you prefer, histories or fiction? ”

“There you go.” Elizabeth squeezed his arm.

“A well-worded inquiry.” She laughed. “I love history, though not the dry facts. Instead, I like to read about the more personal aspects of the things that have happened in our past. For example, what did the citizenry have to go through during the Hundred Years’ War?

What was life like in that time period? Was Henry the Eighth as bad as everyone says he was?

What was it like to be a soldier two centuries ago?

What was it like to be a gentleman’s daughter, or a washerwoman?

” She shrugged. “I am curious about things that are not the focus of most histories, but I enjoy reading what is available.”

“I had not given much thought to those topics, but now that you mention it, I would find such study interesting, as well. I shall have to search for books on those topics to add to my libraries.” Darcy guided Elizabeth around a large group as he thought of what else he might ask her.

He decided that books were a good topic to stick to. “Do you have a favorite author?”

“I have several. I enjoy Cowper’s poetry and Shakespeare’s comedies, and I prefer Fanny Burney’s works to those of Ann Radcliffe. There are others, of course, but I could go on and on for hours and that would be rude.” She laughed, bringing her hand up over her mouth.

Darcy laughed with her. “Shakespeare is a favorite of mine, as well, though I prefer his histories, and I avoid novels whenever I can .”

“You cannot always eschew them?” Elizabeth tilted her head and looked up at him with a raised brow.

“Not always, no.” He shook his head. “I insist upon approving all of my sister’s reading material, which means that I often must read this novel or that one because she has requested it.”

“I think it is wise of you to do so.” She glanced in the direction of her youngest sisters, who had stopped running about the room but were now flirting outrageously with a group of red-coated gentlemen in the corner. “Would that every parent or guardian did the same.”

Further conversation was interrupted at that point when one of her sisters pulled Elizabeth away and the family left the gathering, surprisingly being the first to leave.