A Hopeless Business: A Pride and Prejudice Variation by Jan Ashton

Author:Jan Ashton [Ashton, Jan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Quills & Quartos Publishing
Published: 2024-08-26T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Two days later, Mr and Mrs Collins, Miss Lucas, and Elizabeth joined the party in Lady Catherine’s largest, and in Darcy’s mind, most garishly ugly, drawing room. His aunt received them civilly, but it was clear to him that their company was acceptable only because she scorned her closest neighbours and disliked those whose fortunes or taste might rival her own. In sum, nobody else was available for or would accept her invitation.

The hideous room could hold a hundred people, yet it felt suddenly small when the party from Hunsford entered. Elizabeth was clad in a pretty blue gown, a mirthful expression playing on her lips; her eyes briefly caught his own, and for several minutes afterwards, he found his breath was short. After their encounter in the woods—the most agreeable half an hour he had spent in months—Darcy had not had a moment to wander the paths between Rosings and the parsonage and seek her out. Instead, when he was supposed to be squaring Rosings’s dwindling accounts, he had been preoccupied thinking of their conversation and how deeply gratified he felt hearing her thoughts and reassurances. His distraction was made worse by the memory of her smile and the feeling of her hand pressing on his arm. Innocently done—the briefest of contacts—but had a woman’s touch ever ignited such feeling?

Conscious not to show true pleasure in Elizabeth’s company when his aunt and Mr Collins were present, he watched as Richard moved quickly towards her and Miss Lucas. His cousin was clearly eager. Since he did not read and had no estate business with which to occupy himself, anything was a welcome relief to him at Rosings. It was unsurprising, then, that he seated himself by Elizabeth, and engaged her immediately in a lively discussion. Darcy, entrapped as he was by his aunt on one side and Anne on the other, covertly observed their conversation. He overheard bits relating to travel and music. Elizabeth appeared immensely entertained, and much to his annoyance, their conversation flowed with an alarming spirit.

It took little time for him to realise that she had captured his cousin’s fancy. Richard was a serious man when it came to soldiering, but when with family, he preferred levity, and when at Rosings, he had a bent for the absurd. ‘It is the only method of survival under Lady Catherine’s roof,’ he claimed.

Was he now determined to have a flirtation with Elizabeth, who took similar enjoyment in examining the absurd and laughing at it? Darcy cursed inwardly. I had felt responsibility to watch Collins, but now my cousin as well?

Beyond recounting the overview of their acquaintance in Meryton, encompassing the days spent confined at Netherfield and the hours in the boat-house, Darcy had been careful in speaking of Elizabeth to his cousin. Richard enjoyed teasing him too much, particularly when it concerned a lady. Close as they were, it was not Richard to whom he would speak of any real interest in a woman. In fact, he would

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