Pride in Meryton: Three Pride and Prejudice Novelettes by Cassandra B. Leigh

Author:Cassandra B. Leigh
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Tags: Romance
Published: 2015-08-20T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 4: Tuesday

In the morning, Darcy decided to have breakfast in his room, rather than endure Caroline’s wrath. He hadn’t meant to ignore her the night before but was in such a quandary that he hardly knew how to react. He relished the peaceful silence and enjoyed his meal until he opened the local newspaper that had been included on the breakfast tray, which was dated Tuesday, October 15. Initially he panicked, and then realized that today’s newspaper had, of course, been delivered to Charles, as the master of the house. He rang for a servant and requested that today’s newspaper be delivered to him when Mr. Bingley was finished reading it.

“Yes Sir, Mr. Bingley has already sent today’s newspaper with your breakfast tray,” the servant informed him.

“I require the newspaper for October 16th” he stated, slightly agitated.

“Today is the 15th, Sir,” the servant responded nervously.

Darcy stared at the servant, then at the date on the newspaper and back again at the servant. Realizing that his circumstances had indeed not changed after all, he formulated an excuse: “Yes, of course. It seems that I have lost all sense of time here in the country.” He thanked the servant and was left alone.

He contemplated his current predicament: “What is causing this most remarkable repetition of this most excruciating day?” He thought back over the days of his life and recalled several that would be better candidates for repetition than this one: “Fishing with Father; getting my first horse; my first trip to the continent; graduating from Cambridge – all excellent days! Any one of those days would be a far better choice for repetition than this one!” However, in reflection, he noticed that all of those days were well in his past; some ten years or more! Since the death of his parents, he could not recall a time in his life that he truly cherished. Even the birth of his dear sister was marred by the passing of his beloved mother. This reflection, however, provided no insight into the cause of his current predicament.

Resolving to make the best of a bad situation, he left his chamber, went to the breakfast parlour and greeted his hosts. “What a beautiful day in the country!” he exclaimed. “Do you not agree, Mrs. Hurst?” he asked, noting that he had never really tried to engage her or her husband in conversation. They spent the next hour discussing the beauties of the countryside, country fashions and their anticipation of the country ball they were to attend that evening.

When they arrived at the assembly that evening, Darcy smiled broadly and walked briskly into the room, eager to dance. Sir William approached him and offered to introduce him to Miss Elizabeth Bennet, who he described as “the jewel of the county”. He gazed at her more carefully while they were being introduced and noticed the brightness of her eyes and her spirit. She seemed to be quite lively; he asked her to dance and she graciously accepted.

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.