Page 107 of The Engagement at Longbourn

“No.”

“You are holding my hand too tightly.”

He loosened his grip at once. “Sorry.”

“Why?”

Darcy’s eyes moved toward the table. “My family and yours have different habits.”

“So?”

“I would prefer the evening to go well.”

Elizabeth smiled. “That is almost sweet.”

“Almost?”

“I must preserve standards.”

The first ten minutes went well. Then Lydia asked the Earl whether he had ever shot a man.

Mrs. Bennet dropped her spoon. “Lydia!”

The Earl looked delighted. “Yes.”

Lydia leaned forward. “Truly?”

“Twice.”

“Were they French?”

“One was.”

“What was the other?”

“A very poor shot.”

Richard choked on his wine.

Mrs. Bennet looked horrified.

The Earl winked at Lydia.

Conversation thereafter became impossible to regulate. Kitty asked Lady Matlock whether court presentations were frightening. Mary discovered Richard’s elder brother had read the same treatise on moral philosophy she had. Mr. Bennet and the Earl began discussing estate entails. Mrs. Bennet, once reassured that no one was measuring her forks, became animated on the subject of tenant cottages.

“We replaced the roof at the Parkers’ last summer,” she told Lady Matlock. “Mr. Bennet said it might last another year, but rain does not ask permission before entering a nursery.”

Mr. Bennet said, “I remember the discussion differently.”

“You remember everything differently when it costs money.”

Lady Matlock laughed.

Darcy sat very still. Elizabeth leaned toward him. “You are doing it again.”

“What?”

“Thinking loudly.”