Page 49 of A Question of Character

“Certainly, Aunt.”

Mrs. Gardiner disappeared with suspicious efficiency.

The room seemed unexpectedly silent after the door closed.

Neither hurried to fill the silence.

Outside, the cries of the street drifted through the open window, mingling with the distant clatter of carriage wheels.

Elizabeth folded her hands in her lap.

“Our faults make a melancholy catalogue.”

“They could be worse.”

“Oh?”

“You might have confessed to enjoying poor poetry.”

“I do enjoy poor poetry.”

He stared.

“I beg your pardon?”

“Occasionally. It makes good poetry seem all the better afterward.”

“That is a dangerous philosophy.”

“So you have said.”

He smiled despite himself.

The grandfather clock in the hall struck the quarter hour.

Elizabeth rose reluctantly.

“I believe I ought to leave you before Aunt discovers another errand requiring her absence.”

Darcy stood immediately.

“I cannot object to the wisdom of the decision.”

She gathered her gloves from the table and drew them on one finger at a time.

“The next fortnight will pass very quickly.”

“It will.”

“You must not neglect Georgiana after I am gone.”

“I shall endeavor not to.”

“She is counting the days until Ramsgate.”

“She reminds me of it daily.”

“I hope she has an excellent summer.”