“Likely she does delightedly well, and she has received more pastries than she ever does under the caring and watchful eye of her father.”
He looked over towards her and grinned in reply. The happier look on his face made him look younger, more approachable, and, surprisingly, more handsome. “I do notbelievethat Nell will feed Emily to an excess without my knowledge. And in any case my daughter is chiefly obsessed with fruit of every sort, and beyond that, anything sour, such as pickles, preserved cabbage, or herring stored in vinegar.”
“A preference for pickled herring to sweets?” That drew a laugh from Elizabeth.
“I know,” Mr. Darcy agreed cheerfully. “She is a wholly exceptional and unusual creature. A remarkable girl.”
“No false modesty from you about your child. Though you have already proven to have no false modesty about yourself either.”
He laughed aloud in reply.
At that moment Elizabeth decided that she liked Mr. Darcy.
“You shall never cease to tease me upon what I have said tonight, not though we remain acquainted for twenty years.”
Elizabeth grinned back.
He added, “‘Tis an odd thought to me. Other parents think and feel about their children in a similar manner to how I feel about my little Em-Em. It is not a universally accepted fact that she is the most remarkable small child ever. She is, in fact, likely quite average and ordinary in many ways. I speak from the point of view of an imagined and erroneous philosopher when I say that. For myself, I do have no doubts about her being wholly superior to every other child in the world.”
“No unbiased judge could ever disagree,” Elizabeth agreed, agreeably.
Mr. Darcy grinned at her once more. “I worry that she is not sleeping. Nell would have read her a book, and walked her around, but it cannot be the same, and this is an unfamiliar place.”
“Are you perhaps also worried that she fell asleep all too easily, without any disturbance due to your absence?”
To her surprise Mr. Darcy grinned once more. She did not wish to be an ordinary female easily impressed by a pretty smile, but Lord! It made him handsome. “You have caught me out! I am a little jealous of her affections, and I do like to be her favourite in all the world. However, I am confident that my place as first in her affections cannot be so easily disturbed as that. Even if she fell asleep easily without me, she will be thrilled to see me when she wakes on the ‘morrow.”
They smiled and a peaceful silence came over them again.
Darcy looked away from her and leaned his elbows again on the balustrade. “Your father died recently?”
“This is the first ball I have attended since I left mourning.” Elizabeth rubbed over her face. “I did not expect to think about him. But the memory snuck up on me… we always laughed at odd and ridiculous characters. And—”
Mr. Darcy laughed again.
When Elizabeth looked at him quizzically, he said, “I apologize. I apologize.” But he continued to chuckle. “And now I—” He pressed his lips tightly together. “You need to say no more. I can deduce easily enough how my words led you to think of him.”
Elizabeth laughed with him.
Laughter was a good look on Mr. Darcy.
“And to think, I have made it my study to avoid those weaknesses which often expose a strong understanding to ridicule. But I failed tonight.”
“Oh certainly,” Elizabeth agreed in a cheerful voice which made Darcy grin at her again. “But it is best to admit one’s failure when it arrives, rather than hide oneself from an unhappy truth, which remains true, no matter how hard you hide.”
“You are still amusing yourself at my expense,” Darcy replied to her.
“If I cannot dance, I must find another way to pass the time.”
“Do you mean to hint that you now would accept such a dance?”
“Only if you now find me tempting enough.”
“It is not that — I do not like to dance unless I am particularly acquainted with my partner beforehand.”
“I understand. It is impossible to become acquainted on a dance floor,” Elizabeth replied seriously.
“It is odd that I do not mind being made sport of by you so much as I would expect.”
