is simply no accounting for it , she thought. Although I might like to believe that he has put his pride aside, it is obvious from his attitude on his arrival that this is not the case. He is clearly more than a little whimsical in his feelings about me. she looked over to see the sheen of joy in Jane’s eyes, and with a sudden rush of gratitude, favoured Darcy with a bright smile.
she almost immediately regretted the impulse; looking up into his dark eyes brought back memories of his kiss which she was trying to suppress, and an ache deep within her. If anyone here knew what had passed between us, there would be no answering for the consequences! she thought, glancing at her uncle, whose views on the need for absolute propriety she knew well, and she bit her lip as a slight blush rose in her cheeks.
The ladies withdrew shortly thereafter, to the relief of Darcy, who had been experiencing desires of a most improper—and no doubt unwelcome—nature since receiving elizabeth’s dazzling smile. He did not know what had prompted it, nor what made her so obviously regret it only a moment later, but it was so much the stuff of his dreams that it was impossible not to carry them further in his mind, to imagine taking her into his arms and feeling her softness against him, to see her face lit with that smile when her hair and clothing were dishevelled from his lovemaking.
It was a welcome distraction therefore when the discussion among the gentlemen turned to a rather heated debate on politics. It seemed to catch Bingley, who had missed much of the earlier conversations, by surprise, and he became stumblingly defensive when Brewer, apparently still in ig-65
Abigail Reynolds
norance of the financial worth of Darcy and Bingley, began to espouse extremist positions on the unnatural distinctions of hereditary wealth and privilege. Darcy could sit back and take a more amused position, being both less perturbable and having grown accustomed to this sort of thing during his cambridge days. When Mr. Gardiner, in his capacity as host, began to attempt to stem the flow of the discourse, Darcy said, “Mr. Brewer, you state that wealth breeds idleness, causing its possessors to neglect the duties incumbent on them, but to this I say that this is as faulty a generali-zation as that of females being ineducable. Were I to suggest that you, by no further criteria than your class, were an envious sycophant seeking only to earn those same riches, you would by rights call this unfair, yet you are unprepared to admit that there may be those among the more prosperous who do attend to their responsibilities and act in a way driven by virtue.
Are there not benevolent legislators and landowners? And by what right do you paint them with the same brush as the indolent and self-indulgent among them?”
“By that same right, Mr. Darcy, that those classes view those beneath them as unworthy and undeserving, and deny the possibility of value and virtue independent of wealth!”
“you think all the upper classes as close-minded as that?” asked Darcy, an eyebrow raised.
“yes, otherwise why do we find such rigid distinctions between the classes? Why are the merchants of London not invited to the events of the ton ?
recalling with discomfort his words to elizabeth about the objectionable position of her family and the degradation of his making such a connection, he was forced to admit he had indeed scorned the gentry of Hertfordshire as not being worthy of him for no further reason than their lack of social status, and he could not recall the last time he had been among such mixed company as this— most likely not since Cambridge, when I would have been ashamed of being able to make such a statement! he thought. It was painful recognition, especially when he had just experienced a more stimulating evening of discourse among people against whom his pride would have revolted than he had known in years among the ton . “I do not claim such
she almost immediately regretted the impulse; looking up into his dark eyes brought back memories of his kiss which she was trying to suppress, and an ache deep within her. If anyone here knew what had passed between us, there would be no answering for the consequences! she thought, glancing at her uncle, whose views on the need for absolute propriety she knew well, and she bit her lip as a slight blush rose in her cheeks.
The ladies withdrew shortly thereafter, to the relief of Darcy, who had been experiencing desires of a most improper—and no doubt unwelcome—nature since receiving elizabeth’s dazzling smile. He did not know what had prompted it, nor what made her so obviously regret it only a moment later, but it was so much the stuff of his dreams that it was impossible not to carry them further in his mind, to imagine taking her into his arms and feeling her softness against him, to see her face lit with that smile when her hair and clothing were dishevelled from his lovemaking.
It was a welcome distraction therefore when the discussion among the gentlemen turned to a rather heated debate on politics. It seemed to catch Bingley, who had missed much of the earlier conversations, by surprise, and he became stumblingly defensive when Brewer, apparently still in ig-65
Abigail Reynolds
norance of the financial worth of Darcy and Bingley, began to espouse extremist positions on the unnatural distinctions of hereditary wealth and privilege. Darcy could sit back and take a more amused position, being both less perturbable and having grown accustomed to this sort of thing during his cambridge days. When Mr. Gardiner, in his capacity as host, began to attempt to stem the flow of the discourse, Darcy said, “Mr. Brewer, you state that wealth breeds idleness, causing its possessors to neglect the duties incumbent on them, but to this I say that this is as faulty a generali-zation as that of females being ineducable. Were I to suggest that you, by no further criteria than your class, were an envious sycophant seeking only to earn those same riches, you would by rights call this unfair, yet you are unprepared to admit that there may be those among the more prosperous who do attend to their responsibilities and act in a way driven by virtue.
Are there not benevolent legislators and landowners? And by what right do you paint them with the same brush as the indolent and self-indulgent among them?”
“By that same right, Mr. Darcy, that those classes view those beneath them as unworthy and undeserving, and deny the possibility of value and virtue independent of wealth!”
“you think all the upper classes as close-minded as that?” asked Darcy, an eyebrow raised.
“yes, otherwise why do we find such rigid distinctions between the classes? Why are the merchants of London not invited to the events of the ton ?
recalling with discomfort his words to elizabeth about the objectionable position of her family and the degradation of his making such a connection, he was forced to admit he had indeed scorned the gentry of Hertfordshire as not being worthy of him for no further reason than their lack of social status, and he could not recall the last time he had been among such mixed company as this— most likely not since Cambridge, when I would have been ashamed of being able to make such a statement! he thought. It was painful recognition, especially when he had just experienced a more stimulating evening of discourse among people against whom his pride would have revolted than he had known in years among the ton . “I do not claim such
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