Mendacity and Mourning by J. L. Ashton

Author:J. L. Ashton [Ashton, J. L.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781681310176
Publisher: Meryton Press
Published: 2017-06-07T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fourteen

Darcy House was large and impressive, handsome to the eye and furnished with sculpture, paintings, vases, and so many artful luxuries that Elizabeth felt overwhelmed. It was formal yet comfortable, exuding wealth, strength, and intelligence. It was very much Mr. Darcy.

The only fragile object Elizabeth noticed was Georgiana, who exerted herself flawlessly but ever so carefully. After warm greetings and a short tour of the public rooms, the group sat down to a sumptuous dinner that Elizabeth and her relations found easy to overpraise. Her cold might have dulled her senses, but even she could taste flavours cooked into the dishes created in the wondrous Darcy House kitchens. How Mr. Collins would swoon.

She saw Georgiana’s eyes often drift to her brother’s as though seeking approval or perhaps simply his notice. His attention seemed focused solely on Elizabeth, much to the amusement of the Darcys’ cousin. In a manner quite different from Mr. Darcy and all of his complications, the colonel puzzled her. There was something oversized about him, as if he could burst at any moment, though whether into laughter, a bawdy story, or anger, she could not say. Sadly, she was not as sharply honed this night, as such a dissection would require.

Elizabeth’s fog had lifted only slightly. She was a dull thing. Rarely ill, she cursed the timing of this cold. She had relied on the burst of energy she felt as they left the carriage, and it had carried her through conversation with Georgiana. The soup was helpful, but the steaming heat loosened her wits along with her breathing. If she looked as awful as she now felt, Mr. Darcy should be well pleased with her earlier dismissal of his romantic sentiments.

She noted he seemed uneasy, and she was pleased to recognise that it was not because he found himself hosting lesser society but because too much was unknown to him. She wished for a means to let him know that her aunt and uncle remained unaware of his previous confusion about her and her uncle’s marital status. But her throat was scratchy and her thinking a bit too thick for determining such an approach.

Fortunately for all parties, the Darcys’ cousin was loquacious, and Mr. Gardiner was an able conversationalist like his sisters. Unlike his sisters, he could speak on a broad range of topics beyond fashion, sauces, and weddings, and so it was that he and the colonel spent a good deal of time canvassing recent news from Parliament and the battlefields and on her uncle’s latest business ventures, while her aunt spoke quietly to Georgiana and Mr. Darcy about Derbyshire.

For a broad-chested, long-winded man, Elizabeth found Colonel Fitzwilliam to be delicately wry in his conversation. He teased his cousins about their trip to see the wild animals and pouted a bit when Mrs. Gardiner explained her children’s absence.

“A never-ending case of sneezing.”

“Sadly, I am left bedecked and beribboned with no moppet to marvel at my medals and exploits,” he opined, his hand to his uniformed heart.

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