Mr. Darcy's Daughters Read Online Free PDF

without its subject overhearing her. “Has your friend Mr. Wytton been to India?” she asked Mr. Layard. “Mrs. Gardiner tells me he has travelled a good deal.”
    “Not to India. He loves best to scramble around the dusty landscapes of Greece and Turkey, and since the end of the war he has been twice to Egypt.”
    Her face lit up. “Egypt, how I envy him! But tell me, is he always so terse? Does he not enjoy company?”
    “Oh, do not judge him by affairs such as this. It is hard on a man to be engaged, you know; becoming part of a new family, being constantly petted and made much of, is enough to try any fellow’s patience.”
    “I hope it is only the engagement that makes him so cross. I would wish Sophie a good-tempered husband.”
    “He is never cross with her; why should he be? She does not contradict him or argue with him and has hardly a thought in her pretty head.”
    She could not help laughing. “And that is what he likes? Perhaps he may get a shock or two once he is married.”
    “Never tell me he’s marrying a termagant!”
    “I’m sure Sophie is as good-natured as anyone else, but we women, you know, do not usually let our husbands have it all their own way.”
    Mr. Wytton, his attention drawn from his other companion by the laughter and liveliness of Camilla and Layard’s conversation, turned to look at them. It must be the effect of visiting Egypt, she thought irreverently, that made his expression so greatly resemble the severe gaze of the Great Sphinx.
     
    Camilla was not unpleased to find herself standing next to Sir Sidney later in the evening as they stood waiting for the tea to be poured. She made some remarks about the company, and he replied with a civil smile and a bow, then made an apology and moved away. A little while later she saw him seated on a sofa, talking to Letty. He must have used some adroitness to be there; Letty’s beauty was attracting a good deal of attention.
    Perhaps Letty was right; perhaps she should mind her tongue and mend her ways. She was used to the dull and callow men of her acquaintance sliding away from her with murmured excuses and a look of panic on their faces, but it wasn’t so easy to overlook the fact that a man such as Sir Sidney obviously preferred Letty’s company to hers.
    However, she wasn’t self-centred or given to worrying about the impression she made for more than a minute or two, and here was Mr. Portal, full of amiability, perfectly willing to stay by her side and make amusing conversation.
    “Come and sit beside me, Miss Camilla, and tell me how you do. Are you liking London?”
    “Indeed I am.” Which was the truth, for she was revelling in the sense of freedom that coming to London had given her. She loved her parents, but, oh, it was a joy to be in bustling London, to be meeting so many new people, ordering new and fashionable clothes, hearing Fanny talk of parties and balls, and not to be under Mr. and Mrs. Darcy’s scrutiny.
    “Mr. Gardiner is your mother’s uncle, is that not right?”
    “It is, and Mrs. Gardiner, who is much of an age with my mother, was always her great friend. She has always been very kind to us, and indeed, we would have stayed here with them if Mrs. Gardiner had not been a trifle indisposed last year. My parents felt it would not be quite convenient for her to have us to stay just at present, what with the activity and confusion attendant upon Sophie’s approaching nuptials.”
    Camilla could have added that she had been sorry for this, for she liked the Gardiners, and knew that they liked her. She had more in common with Mr. Gardiner than she had with Mr. Fitzwilliam, to whom it never occurred that a young woman might have views and concerns beyond clothes, beaux and making a good marriage.
    And she was aware that, although the Fitzwilliams were on excellent terms with the Gardiners, and Lady Fanny had a warm affection for Mr. Gardiner, Mr. Fitzwilliam was very conscious of the fact that Mr.