Page 92 of May I Have the Pleasure
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Sweetwater—February 1815
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“Charlotte, are you determined you will not go with me?”
“Yes, I find myself quite fixed here in Sweetwater. If you wanted me to leave this place, you should have invited me to stay a fortnight ago. I have been here a full year, and I am as fixed as those trees. Go Lizzy! Have your holiday. Enjoy yourself. I will see that your estate is well cared for.”
“Very well. I will leave as soon as the spring planting is done.”
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“Charlotte?”
“Do not even say it, Elizabeth. This isyourtrip. Go and enjoy it. That is your dream, not mine. I already have mine.”
“Are you so set against courting?”
“Quit worrying about me—you are turning into your mother, or worse yet, mine. You have given me everything I ever wanted. If an amiable man happens to fall out of the sky on my head, and I happen to like him, then that might be different. I am quite happy with my current situation, and I am in no more hurry to marry than you are.”
“But—”
“No! I will not be moved. Go and enjoy your holiday.”
“Very well. I shall return in the summer and write every week.”
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London—April 1815
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“Fitzwilliam, how nice to see you!I did not realise you were in town, or I would have called on you to see if you set the dogs on me.”
“If that is the best you can do, Elizabeth, you need to go back to my aunt for more instruction in impertinence.”
“I concede the field, good sir. I see you still like your books. I am here to see if any books actually exist on estate management that you did not already give me.”
“I wish you luck. I am to understand Sweetwater is taking to your mastery quite well, and everyone loves Miss Lucas as well.”
“I thank you. I confess, I owe it all to you.”
“Do not ever say that again!I taught you a few things in two months my father taught me in twenty years. The rest is on your own merits.”
“Thank you!It means a lot coming from you.”
“Are you off for holidays?”
“I am going on that tour of the continent we talked about. I want to be back before the end of summer, so it will be a short one.”
“I hope you enjoy it.”
“I shall try. How are you occupying your time.”
“This is Georgiana’s premier season, so I mostly stand around ballrooms with a cricket bat fending off suitors.”
“I can well imagine that, but can you tell me one thing? How does one detect the subtle difference between Fitzwilliam Darcy scowling at a ball with a cricket bat, and Fitzwilliam Darcy scowling at a ball in his usual manner?”
