Alone with Mr. Darcy: A Pride & Prejudice Variation by Abigail Reynolds

Author:Abigail Reynolds [Reynolds, Abigail]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: White Soup Press
Published: 2015-04-15T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 13

Dinners at Rosings were hardly an event to anticipate with pleasure, but Darcy made certain to be downstairs early on Monday evening. Lady Catherine had mentioned in passing at breakfast that Mr. and Mrs. Collins would be dining with them. “I try to invite them every Monday since Dr. Graves dines with us after he sees Anne. That way he has someone of his own station in life to converse with. I am extremely attentive to these matters.”

Darcy did not care about the reason as long as it brought Mrs. Collins within his reach again, but Richard must have been puzzled, for he said, “Anne’s doctor stays for dinner? Did you not say he lives in London?”

“Of course he does. I would never allow an ignorant country doctor to care for my daughter! But his treatments for my gout take several hours, and he prefers to see how Anne improves after a day of the plasters he gives her, so he stays the night. He has his own room here.”

Richard’s sidelong glance at Darcy spoke volumes of his opinion of a doctor who created such a lucrative opportunity for himself. No doubt Lady Catherine must pay him extremely well to spend so much time at Rosings, money which could be better spent repairing the horribly rutted roads on the estate. But naturally Lady Catherine would never agree to fix them until they were impassible.

When Darcy entered the blindingly gaudy sitting room, he was surprised to discover Anne was already there, dressed in an attractive pink gown and the full-length gloves she always wore even in the warmest weather. She was accompanied by a woman about her own age as well as Dr. Graves, whose handsome appearance no doubt explained Lady Catherine’s interest in his protracted treatments. Anne usually did not join them until just before dinner was served, no doubt to conserve her strength. Perhaps she felt bolder with Dr. Graves present to attend to her.

Anne introduced her companion as Miss Holmes. “Her brother is rector of one of the neighboring parishes, and Miss Holmes is kind enough to stay with me when Mrs. Jenkinson visits her son in Maidstone.” It was more than Anne usually said to him in the course of an entire evening.

Perhaps it was the influence of Miss Holmes, who appeared to have a livelier temperament than Mrs. Jenkinson. She was bold enough to look him in the face and say, “So, you are the famous Mr. Darcy of whom I have heard so much.”

He bowed silently, in no mood to encourage flirting.

“And I see you are as taciturn as I have been told! Well, I shall leave you to yourself, then.” She turned pointedly to Dr. Graves and asked him a question about London.

Where was Mrs. Collins? He ground his teeth with frustration when a new arrival proved to be Mr. and Mrs. King from a neighboring estate. Odd; very few of the neighbors chose to accept invitations from Lady Catherine. But he had not met this couple before, so perhaps they were new to the area.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.