More Letters From Pemberley

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Book: More Letters From Pemberley Read Free
Author: Jane Dawkins
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little in the way of fashion or style to recommend it,” yet since my offer to purchase for her a prettily trimmed spring bonnet at Weaver’s—by good fortune the exact colour of her new travelling dress—Lambton has gained a little in her favour. The village is, no doubt, grateful for the compliment.
    I fear that our quiet life at Pemberley has disappointed our youngest Sister. Anna and Fanny Norland have been kind enough to wait upon us twice, for which I am indebted to them. They have little in common with Lydia, who made no effort to hide her boredom once she discovered they had little knowledge of, or interest in the latest fashion in hair ornaments and shoe trimmings. Sir Richard Mansfield who, as you know, needs little excuse for a party, generously gave a small one in Lydia’s honour, but an absence of sufficient young men to dance and flirt with at Hurstbourne Park prevented the occasion being at all amusing, she informed me upon her return.
    Mr. Darcy’s business keeps him in town another fortnight. His hope that the matters which brought him there might be more speedily concluded was, sadly, a false one. I long for his return, and feel his absence keenly. His letters indicate that he is as anxious to be home again as I am to have him by my side. “As I look about me in fashionable company in London,” he writes, “I see none I like half so much as my own dear Wife. Indeed, to enjoy the repose of my own fireside listening to my Wife, in her chair opposite, read a poem aloud, is my dearest wish.” Is that not a sweet sentiment?
    Notwithstanding my efforts to entertain our Sister, I spend my days in quiet and ease, exactly as you required of me. Profitably, too, for the basket at my side is nicely filled with nursery items, as is the poor-basket. How fortunate that I had few expectations of our Sister’s needle making any contribution, else I should be sorely disappointed. While I stitch, Mrs. Wickham leafs through copies of La Belle Assemblée and Ackerman’s Repository, bemoaning all the while the unfairness of not being able to have all the gowns and bonnets to which she takes a fancy, and to which she feels entitled. I have chosen to ignore her hint that Mr. Wickham really ought to have a fancy toothpick case and that since Mr. Darcy is in town, might he not be persuaded to purchase one from Gray’s?
    How pleased I am to know that you and my Nephew continue in good health! And how dearly I wish I were able to travel with Lydia on the 24th to see you! However, since by way of compensation my dear Husband returns from town the following day, and with Georgiana rejoining us but three days later, pray do not feel too sorry for your devoted Sister,
    Elizabeth

Pemberley
Thursday, 19 th May, 1814
    My dear Charlotte,
    How quickly a year passes! It seems hardly possible that young Robert celebrates his first birthday next week. I rejoice that he is in excellent health and brings you such happiness, and can well imagine how proud Mr. Collins must be of such a fine son.
    Immediately upon her return from Rosings, I uncharitably questioned Georgiana minutely and at great length about you and your family, when all the while poor Georgiana was longing for me to commiserate with her on her uncomfortable stay there. (By the bye, I am obliged to you for receiving G. so often and in such Sisterly fashion. She tells me that your kindness made the difficult audiences at Rosings much easier to bear, the more so because of your tact in not plying her with questions she may have found awkward to answer.)
    You know, perhaps, that Lady Catherine was on the point of taking over the wedding arrangements herself, thus obliging Georgiana and the Colonel to inform their Aunt of their own wish for a simple, quiet ceremony; that while they were both loath to disappoint their Aunt, in this instance, however, &c., &c.
    Lady Catherine, not a woman to be gainsaid, did not receive this well-intentioned speech well. It is a tribute to the

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