'Tis the Season: Variations on a Jane Austen Christmas by unknow

Author:unknow
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Quills & Quartos Publishing
Published: 2023-07-23T22:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 4

One man’s style must not be the rule of another’s.

MR KNIGHTLEY, EMMA

“Do you approve of your rooms, Miss Bennet?”

Elizabeth offered Miss Darcy a diplomatic smile. “Lady Catherine has certainly gone to great lengths to ensure her guests are surrounded by every imaginable comfort. I daresay I shall sleep quite soundly tonight in such a stately bed.” It was the best she could manage. In truth, the rooms she had been given were too much like the rest of the house—pretentious and ornate to the point of being vulgar.

Miss Darcy gingerly touched a figurine on the bedside table with her fingertip, an enormous porcelain peacock accented with an excess of gold leaf. Two facetted emeralds were inlaid for its eyes and less precious gems complemented its bright plumage. “My brother,” she said, regarding the peacock with a frown, “once told me he found Rosings, and this room particularly, ostentatious and uselessly fine.” She raised her eyes to Elizabeth’s and blushed.

Instantly, Elizabeth thought of Pemberley, with its refined décor and simple but elegant furnishings. Everything in Rosings Park spoke of the perceived importance of its owner, and nothing of refinement and taste. Pemberley was a beloved ancestral home, not a nouveau riche showpiece. Of course, Lady Catherine’s preferences would not be in accord with Darcy’s. She repressed a smile. “Did he?”

Miss Darcy bit her lip. “He did. I hope my saying so has not offended you or caused you to think poorly of me, or my brother.”

“Indeed, it has not,” Elizabeth assured her. “Rest assured you are both safe.”

“I am relieved to hear it,” said the girl as the corners of her lips turned upward. “Forgive me, Miss Bennet. I am not usually so impertinent, but my cousin Richard reminded me you are my brother’s dear friend and his, and that I have nothing to fear from you. Nor have I forgotten how very kind you were when we had the pleasure of meeting last summer in Derbyshire.”

Elizabeth’s heart skipped a beat upon hearing herself described as Darcy’s ‘dear friend’. She had been dear to him once, but her circumstances then were very different from what they were now. If Elizabeth were dear to him still, Darcy would have renewed his addresses long ago. If he still held her in a tender regard, he would have fetched her from the parsonage in Colonel Fitzwilliam’s stead or greeted her upon her arrival at Rosings. He had done none of those things, and the reality of his disregard pained her.

Attempting to sound more cheerful than she presently felt, Elizabeth said, “You were gracious and kind yourself, and I am delighted to have an opportunity to renew our acquaintance. Perhaps, once I return to the parsonage, you would be so good as to consent to take tea with me one afternoon? Assuming your brother approves, of course.” Even as she spoke the words, Elizabeth could not imagine Darcy would ever approve of his sister, who had once suffered Mr Wickham’s lies and duplicity herself, calling on her at the parsonage, or anywhere else for that matter.

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