Darcy took a long easy stride to the table where his daughter sat. He took her hands in his own. “If you rip at it, I shall take the book away.”
The father and the daughter stared at each other, and something in the girl’s expression made Darcy say, “I see, darling.”
He pulled the book away from her without giving her the chance to put his proclamation to the test, and he closed the volume with a firm clap.
Emily immediately began to cry, and Mr. Darcy picked her up and bounced her a few times, murmuring, “There, there, sweet. There, there.”
The girl quieted and nibbled once more on her bread.
As he held her Darcy said to Mr. Morris, “These shall be ample for today.” He picked up the book in Greek and gestured at the rest of the pile. “Have them packaged, and hand them to my footman. Thank you.”
“Of course! Of course!” Mr. Morris said, eagerly nodded. “And a good day to you.”
“And Miss Elizabeth,” Darcy said cheerfully to her. “What did you plan to acquire today?”
Elizabeth flushed and looked at Mr. Morris. He smiled at her and pulled from a shelf the book. “The final volume has returned.”
She half eagerly, half embarrassedly grabbed the book.
Darcy of course saw the title. He asked with raised eyebrow, “The Monk?”
“I have already confessed to liking novels.”
“I imagined something by Frances Burney, orBelinda. Perhaps evenRobinson Crusoe.”
Elizabeth laughed. “Will it shock you yet further if I confess that this is not the first time I have read it?”
“Not at all, the shock was already complete. And now I wonder,” Darcy said, “What books do you imagineIread?”
“Agricultural manuals, books upon the proper management of an estate, and, ah,Robinson Crusoe.”
Darcy laughed. “A little too accurate.”
“I cannot forget!” She gestured at the book Darcy held in the hand that was not holding his daughter, “Diodorus’s histories.”
“You can read Greek as well?” Darcy asked in surprise, but Elizabeth did not think it was a disapproving tone. Unfortunately, if he hoped to be delighted by the discovery of a gentlewoman who could read Plato in the original, she was required to disappoint him.
“Justa littleLatin. No, I, ah, recognize the book itself.” She flushed and looked down. “It was in my father’s library. Mr. Collins sold all the ancient histories as they have many tales of improper behaviours in them.”
“Ah.” Darcy’s tone was clipped. Then he said after an additional moment, “I am sorry that your loss is to be my gain.”
“Eliza,” Charlotte interrupted their conversation. “I see that you will be engrossed in discussion of books for the next half hour, so I shall go and buy my ribbons from across the street and return in a while so we can share the walk home.”
Elizabeth smiled and nodded to her friend. To Darcy she said, “You have fairly purchased what was fairly sold.” Elizabeth laughed. “Papa did tell me some of the tales in Diodorus, in what I believe was a somewhat Bowdlerized form. But they were shocking enough. Naked emperors, harems, the most shocking murders, and all other manner of delightful foulness.”
Elizabeth felt an odd flutter at the way that Darcy smiled at her. “AndThe Monk? I cannot imagine that a cousin who disapproves of a book written in Greek, no matter how scandalous it is — I have not yet read Diodorus’s histories, so I only know the text by reputation — would approve of that famed novel.”
Elizabeth lowered her voice and glanced back and forth before saying in a quiet voice, “I only read it while sitting in the library.”
“I see.” Darcy put Emily down in a chair again and opened the book that he’d removed from her again.
The little girl immediately pointed at a lion and unleashed a small roar.
“How frightful!” Elizabeth exclaimed and sat next to Emily. “I was briefly in terror for my life! And do you know what sound a snake makes?”
“Sssss,” was the reply from the girl, who then turned the page to admire a sheet filled with several varieties of horse. She nibbled at the bread she held in her other hand.
“What shocks me is that Mr. Morris did not complain about Miss Emily’s bread. He usually is most insistent that no one shall eat or drink inhislibrary.”
