Page 19 of The Cheapside Runners
“Do you see that stone that is redder than those surrounding it?”
He looked quizzically, then nodded in confusion.
“It is the appropriate height. When we leave, I suggest you beat your head against it for a quarter-hour and then go about your life. It will hurt about the same amount as speaking to the earl and have the same effect. Nothing short of breakfast for one will change the viscount’s habits.”
Darcy startled, but did not have the nerve to asked her to elaborate, or even to explained how a country miss knew a somewhat vulgar slang term for a duel. In practise, it did not matter if speaking to his uncle would achieve anything or not anyway. It was what had to be done, so he would do it.
“Since we have breached propriety a dozen times, may I ask you a question you may not like.”
“You may ask questions which I shall not choose to answer.”
“What made you take such a dislike to me in the beginning? We have been in company a month, but you studiously avoided me almost from the first moment of our acquaintance. Last night was the very first time you spoke directly to me. Where did I gowrong?”
She stared at him for some time. “You make an incorrect assumption, sir. You share a common failing with the rest of us. We all like to think the world revolves around us, when in fact, it does not.”
“Meaning?”
“Meaning, I have never disliked you and still do not.I have been indifferent to you.That is something else entirely.”
“How so?” he asked confusedly.
“They say love and hate are two sides of the same coin. I believe like and dislike are similar, just with a smaller denomination. I apologise if this offends you, but I have never found anything about you to excite any such feeling.”
“And yet, you did seem to avoid me.”
“I avoid many people. You are no more special than Miss Bingley.”
He grunted but found himself at an impasse. He was not certain he had ever had to deal with complete indifference, though for all he knew, a great many people might be indifferent to him, and he just never noticed.
“Well, for what it is worth,I quite like you,and hope to one day excite some sort of feeling, one way or the other.”
“Your cousin’s tooth is worth something I suppose, so perhaps you have something to recommend you.”
“Time will tell. For the moment, whether you see me with approbation, disdain, or indifference; simply know that I am in your debt.”
“No sir! I acted entirely on my own interestswithout reference to you, or to any person so wholly unconnected with me. If you benefited, it is just the luck of the draw.”
“The debt need not be acknowledged to be real, madam.”
She stared at him a moment and let it stretch.
“There is no debt! You owe me nothing. In fact!” she repliedemphatically, then dug around in her reticule and eventually handed him a coin, then continued, “Here is your shilling back.Now we are even!”
With that, she curtseyed then quickly gathered Jane to head to the carriage, leaving the man staring in open-mouthed confusion.
Naturally, that only gave them a brief reprieve, as the gentlemen insisted on handing the ladies in, and the ladies accepted with various levels of elation, relief, and reluctance.
Both men stood staring at the back of the retreating carriage until it moved out of sight, while Darcy was overwhelmed with one overriding thought.
Mr Gardiner was going to laugh his head off.
8.All the Comforts
Jane was difficult to drag out of bed at dawn at the best of times, and doubly so when she still had a frightful cold, but Elizabeth’s stubbornness prevailed. She could have easily waited until a more propitious time or even waited for misters Darcy or Bingley to act against the reprobate; but once she set her course, she liked to stick with it. One had to be prepared to adapt to conditions on the ground at a moment’s notice, but second-guessing every move when nothing had changed was the route to madness.
The ladies had actually only moved four doors down the corridor, but that was sufficient to ensure comfort and security. Jane had been mystified by both the abrupt move and the early departure, but Elizabeth decided to wait until her illness was over before she enlightened her. She loved Jane dearly, but her sisterwould willingly have gone through the world without believing that so much wickedness existed in the whole race of mankind, as was here collected in one individual.
Elizabeth had always thought the practise of keeping young ladies ignorant of the evils of the world to be counterproductive and exceedingly stupid; especially given what she learnt at her uncle’s house in London. When general societal foolishness was combined with parents, withMr Gardineras a relative, the Bennet parents’ lax attitude became thoroughly inexplicable.
