Two Men at a Table, Luděk Marold / Public domain via Wikimedia Commons
I just had to share this picture because the gentleman with the pipe just looked like he could be a Lord Westonbury sort of fellow. 🙂 And it appears, from the expression on the other man’s face, that a bit of scheming might be taking place in whatever room they are in. (And a bit of scheming has taken place in our story. 😉 )
~*~*~
“Why are you here?” Darcy asked Lord Westonbury.
“To see to Alfred,” Richard answered.
“Does he need a guardian?”
“No,” Wes admitted with a grin. “However, you must know that Young Alfred is unaccustomed to being in trouble.”
“He is not in trouble,” Darcy assured Wes. “Mr. Langley will be well even if you are not here.”
“I am not leaving,” Wes replied. “I wish to see what I started to its conclusion.”
“What you started?” Richard laughed. “I think it is what Darcy started.”
[from Protecting Miss Darcy, Marrying Elizabeth book 6]
Unknown 1823 artist / Public domain via Wikimedia Commons
I decided to include a longer story excerpt today because I wanted the bit about the assembly (to go with this picture) and I also wanted you to see how this information is perhaps going to be used to push Alfred a little further. And that meant, I needed to get the part where Wes enters this part of the conversation. 🙂
~*~*~
“One does not pursue such a fellow just as one does not flirt with such a fellow unless one wishes to marry him,” Lydia said.
Alfred’s brow furrowed. Miss Lydia was perhaps the most difficult of the Bennets to understand. “Does that mean none of you pursued him because you did not wish to marry a handsome gentleman with a reasonable fortune and who is all that is proper?”
“No,” Mrs. Bingley answered. “I would have married Mr. Webb if he had stirred my heart in such a fashion, for I did consider it. However, my one advance of greeting him upon his entry to an assembly was met with his customary friendliness and exclamation of pleasure at having secured the first dance with me, which I told him I had saved for him, but that was it. He made no effort to encourage my pursuit.” She shrugged. “I supposed it was his way of saying he was not interested in me, and so, I let it be what it was.”
“Oh, yes!” Mrs. Darcy cried. “A fellow must not hold his cards too close to his chest if he wishes to encourage a proper young lady to reveal her desires. I know my friend Charlotte has always said that a lady should not be too circumspect with her feelings when hoping to secure a particular husband, but it is not just us females who should be so open. Would you not agree?”
“I would,” Wes answered readily. “Though I would caution that arguing and provoking the lady who interests you is not the best way to reveal your affections.” He chuckled and several chuckled along with him, including his wife. “How about you Young Alfred? What are your thoughts on the subject? Your answers are always interesting, and since you are the only chap here who has yet to find a wife, I think we should all like to know how you see such a thing from your point of view.”
[from Protecting Miss Darcy, Marrying Elizabeth book 6]
A Farmer in his Wagon, Constant Troyon / Public domain via Wikimedia Commons
Well, the gentleman driving this wagon is definitely not as young and handsome as the fellow driving his aunt’s donkey carriage in chapter 12 of Protecting Miss Darcy. 😉
~*~*~
They stepped to the side to allow a donkey carriage to enter Longbourn’s driveway ahead of them, but it did not. Instead, it came to a stop.
“Miss Lydia, Miss Kitty,” the handsome gentleman who drove the carriage said.
“Mr. Webb!” Lydia cried with delight. “We have not seen you in an age!”
“Indeed, it has been since last summer – very nearly a year.”
“And are you once again visiting your aunt?”
[from Protecting Miss Darcy, Marrying Elizabeth book 6]
Collage created on Canva.com. Images sourced from Depositphotos.com
I thought today, since Alfred and Wes are going riding, that I would create a collage of possible vistas that they might have seen.
~*~*~
“There is no one else,” Wes said. “I am afraid you are stuck with me.”
“Could you not entertain yourself?”
“I could,” Wes replied as they descended the stairs, “but what fun is there in that?” He stopped and turned to face Alfred who was a step behind him on the stairs. “You have been spending far too much time alone.”
“I enjoy spending time alone on occasion, and I have brought some books with me to study.” Not that he had put very much effort into studying them. He had opened all of them at least once and even read a paragraph or two from one of them.
“I thought we might ride toward Oakham Mount,” Wes said as he continued down the stairs.
“Where is that?”
“Do not fret. I have walked in that direction before.”
[from Protecting Miss Darcy, Marrying Elizabeth book 6]
