Page 7 of Sweet on Mr Darcy

“Oh! I beg your pardon, were you about to take Sense and Sensibility?”

“I was, but I can wait and return for it next week if you came out especially for it.” Elizabeth heard a second young lady reply.

“Oh, I could not possibly! You reached for it first!” Kitty exclaimed.

“But you came looking for it with obvious intent, whereas I have been deliberating here, unable to decide for some minutes. Surely you have the greater claim. I have only just this moment made up my mind to borrow it.”

“Lizzy!” Kitty called to Elizabeth as she followed their voices and approached them on the other side of the shelf. “Come and help us settle who is to borrow this novel.”

Elizabeth smiled in a friendly manner at an exceedingly elegant young lady and a woman who appeared to be her companion or governess. She turned and caught the attention of the passing librarian.

“Mr Alton?” Elizabeth addressed the man, who was carrying a stack of books to a nearby shelf. “Would you do us the honour?”

The Bennets had been in Ramsgate for over a week, and Mr Alton had performed more introductions than anyone else in town. He was a kind man, and acquainted with nearly every visitor, for everyone wandered into the library to fulfil one need or another upon arriving in the seaside resort.

“Of course!” Mr Alton settled the stack he carried onto a table and hurried over to them, deferring to Miss Darcy as the obviously higher-ranked party. “With your permission, miss?”

“Yes, please.” The younger lady inclined her head.

“Miss Darcy, perhaps you should wait for your father.” The young lady’s companion spoke before she was corrected by her charge.

“This is why my father brought us here.” The younger lady turned back to Mr Alton with a pleasant smile.

“Miss Darcy of Pemberley in Derbyshire, may I introduce Miss Elizabeth Bennet of Longbourn in Hertfordshire, and one of her sisters, Miss Kitty Bennet.” Mr Alton did the honours. Elizabeth marvelled over how easily he remembered every visitor, every name, even the names of their homes.

“Thank you, Mr Alton. And this is my companion, Mrs Younge,” Miss Darcy said as the young ladies all curtsied properly to one another and Mr Alton withdrew.

“Miss Darcy has lately come to Ramsgate for some society, and for her father’s health,” Mrs Younge informed the young ladies.

“We are here while our stepmother recovers from her recent confinement," Kitty told Georgiana.

“Your father is very brave to supply you with a stepmother,” Georgiana ventured. “I always wondered what it might be like to have a new mother and younger siblings.”

“Miss Darcy is still discovering all of the merits of Ramsgate.” Mrs Younge’s smile did not reach her eyes. “She has yet to form a circle of proper acquaintances.”

“Then she has made an excellent beginning,” Elizabeth returned. “The circulating library is the best introduction to any new place.”

“And certainly the most instructive,” Georgiana said pleasantly. “Miss Kitty, perhaps you would like to read this novel by A Lady together. There are any number of charming places we could meet a few times a week, even here at the library, to read and discuss our observations. We can even begin today and meet again on Friday.”

“I would like that above anything!” Kitty enthused. “Lizzy, say you will accompany me on Friday. You know Papa and Charlotte will never let me out alone.”

“Of course not, and quite right too,” Elizabeth replied. “I have an appointment to go and read to Lady Barry on Friday, but I am certain that Jane or Mary will accompany you.”

Kitty frowned in displeasure. “But Mary will lecture us upon the evils of novels the entire time.”

“I will not be moved from my plan.” Elizabeth was firm, but she smiled at Miss Darcy and explained. “There is a fine estate that shares a border with ours in Hertfordshire, but the owner closed it up some years ago and moved to Ramsgate. Her health prevents her from going out very often, but I am so pleased to be in her vicinity again that I made plans to visit her often as soon as we arrived. I will speak to Mary, Sister. She helps you with your studies at Charlotte’s request, but she is not your governess and ought not scold you for what you read for pleasure. Even Papa does not do that. It would do Mary good to read a novel or two by the seaside.”

“How many siblings are you?” Miss Darcy asked curiously.

“We are five sisters. The eldest is Jane at twenty-three, and the youngest is Lydia at sixteen. I am eighteen. Our brother Lucas is but seven months of age,” Kitty answered.

“Five daughters unwed and out at once?” Mrs Younge sounded shocked.

“Perhaps a few of us might have married sometime in the last few years, but we spent a year mourning for our mother, and then so much changed at home since our father married and Lucas was born that there has been little opportunity to visit new places and meet new people.” Elizabeth was unruffled by Mrs Younge’s disbelief. “Kitty and Lydia are out in our village, but they are not out properly here in Ramsgate. Like Miss Darcy, they are here to make new friends their own age.”

“Please accept my condolences on the loss of your dear mother.” Georgiana was sober. “I lost mine when I was quite young.”

“Thank you, Miss Darcy, and we return our sympathies in full measure. I am certain that it must be equally difficult when the sad occasion happens early in one’s youth,” Elizabeth said gratefully.