Mr and Mrs Darcy 02 Suspense & Sensibility by Carrie Bebris Page A

between mouthfuls
demonstrated a simplicity of both manner and mind.
    After dinner, the ladies withdrew to continue the torment.
    "I suppose it would be improper for me to remain here with the
gentlemen?" Elizabeth whispered to Darcy on her way out.
    "You wish to smoke and drink port?"
    "I wish to engage in conversation more stimulating than what Lucy
and Regina Ferrars are likely to provide."
    A flash of something metallic catching the candlelight drew their attention.
Robert Ferrars was gazing at himself in the lid of his toothpick case.
    "I do not think you will find it here," Darcy told her.
    The women settled into the drawing room. Elinor, suffering from a lingering
chill following her damp ride, sat down near the fire. Lucy took the seat
opposite and immediately commenced an ode to the perfection of the fire screen.
It was exquisite. Had Fanny embroidered it? She had such talent. Had she
embroidered the one in Lucy's room, as well? How could one possibly choose
which to admire more?
    Lucy's attentions to her other sister-in-law were less inspired and even
more transparent. "Elinor, I understand your sister Margaret was safely
delivered of a boy this month," she said.
    "A girl," Elinor corrected.
    "Her first, yes?"
    "Her third."
    "How
redundant," Fanny declared. "One daughter is a gift to her mother."
She cast her gaze toward Regina, who, now that the meal was ended, appeared to
be chewing her cud. "A second is a comfort - she might care for her mother
in old age. But more than that merely taxes a family's ability to provide for
them all, especially if they become spinsters."
    "It is
fortunate, then, that you weren't so burdened," said Elinor.
    "No,
but I also was not blessed," said Fanny. "I look forward, therefore,
to gaining a daughter when Harry weds. A genteel, accomplished young lady will
make a wonderful addition to our family. Perhaps someone like Miss Everett. Do
you know of her, Elinor? She and her brother are among the guests arriving
tomorrow."
    Elinor
confessed a lack of familiarity with either Miss Everett or her superior
accomplishments.
    Lucy,
however, trumpeted her knowledge. "Miss Everett? Surely you don't mean
Miss Maria Everett?"
    "Why,
yes." Fanny said.
    "Gracious,
Fanny! Have you not heard? But no - you mustn't have. I'm so sorry to be the
one to tell you this, but I believe she is engaged to Mr. Montrose. Or nearly
so. Almost officially. Anyway, she could not possibly accept Harry's addresses."
    Or his
mother's.
    "Well!"
Fanny's disappointment was evident, but fleeting. "That is no matter. I
invited several other accomplished young ladies. Lady Harriet Stenbridge, for
instance."
    Lucy shook
her head sadly.
    "What?"
asked Fanny. "What do you know of her?"
    Lucy leaned
forward. "It's only a rumor, mind you - " She spoke in a
conspiratorial tone. "So I oughtn't repeat it at all. But I understand she
was found in a compromising situation with a certain heir to a dukedom who's
managed to hush it up."
    "If he hushed it up," Elizabeth said, "how do you know of
it?"
    She shrugged her shoulders. "People just tell me things, I suppose."
    Elizabeth resolved not to be among them.
    Kitty attempted to initiate a discussion with Regina about favorite
shops in London. They discovered a common partiality for Layton and Shears
before Regina became nearly paralyzed with indecision over whether she
preferred the ices or cakes at Gunter's. She ended the crisis by resolving to
visit Number 7 Berkeley Square directly she returned to London so as to test
each again. She did not invite Kitty to join her in this excursion, nor,
Elizabeth mused, could the shop likely produce enough sweets to serve another
customer in addition to Regina.
    Tea arrived, and soon after it, the gentlemen. Harry headed toward Kitty
but was ambushed by Fanny and Lucy en route, and so wound up sitting beside
Regina instead. Or rather, he perched on the small bit of sofa that remained
beside Regina. Edward Ferrars seemed to be trying to continue a