Read Online Suspense and Sensibility Or, First Impressions Revisited: A Mr. & Mrs. Darcy Mystery by Carrie Bebris - Free Book Online
Authors: Carrie Bebris
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think I’ve been inside above half a dozen times."
"Six times in your whole life?" Darcy could scarcely comprehend such a thing. His own thirst for knowledge, the lessons of his private tutor, and hours spent at his father’s elbow learning to administer their estate had seen him practically raised in Pemberley’s library. Economics, business, law, literature, philosophy – only Cambridge had offered more wisdom than that room contained.
Mr. Dashwood shrugged. "When I was a child, my lessons were in the nursery, of course. Then it was off to Eton and Oxford. I was seldom home, and when I was, the library was the last place that held any interest for me."
"Your father conducted all his instruction in the field then? My own father did a good deal of that, too."
Darcy’s father had been a strong advocate of direct experience, encouraging his son to talk with tenants and occasionally get his hands dirty as he prepared to one day assume the responsibilities of a landlord. He’d believed a man who has never seen a calf born or rubbed soil between his fingers cannot ever truly understand the principles of agriculture. One’s status as a gentleman might free him from toiling to survive, but the best landlords were at least passingly familiar with the land and people in their care.
"Instruction? I don’t understand you, sir."
"Training you to take over for him eventually."
Mr. Dashwood replaced the book on the shelf. "We seldom talked about Norland. Or much else."
"You were not close?"
"Not especially." He moved toward the fire. "As soon as I could read, my parents sent me off to obtain a gentleman’s education. Each month, I received a parcel containing an allowance and a letter from my mother expressing her hope that I was cultivating the right sort of acquaintances and conducting myself in a manner that promoted our family’s reputation. So long as I met their expectations, they left me to myself. I suppose my father would have explained a few matters about estate management to me had I ever asked – it seemed at times that money was all he ever talked about – but I never asked. I was content to simply enjoy the privileges of wealth without any responsibilities."
"And now?"
Mr. Dashwood studied Darcy, seeming to weigh how much more he cared to reveal about himself to the sponsor of a woman he hoped to court. "Now I find myself in possession of an estate I know little about," he said finally.
"You certainly are not the first gentleman to discover himself ill prepared to govern his affairs." Darcy could think of many estates that had fallen into mismanagement by heirs who lacked the interest or aptitude to properly administer them. It reflected well on Mr. Dashwood that he had recognized this failing in himself, particularly at such a young age. As Harry had owned Norland for only a few months, Darcy hoped his indifference had been of a duration too short to cause damage. "The question is, how do you intend to correct that deficiency?"
"I hadn’t planned to do anything about it. None of my friends seem to pay the least attention to such matters – if they own land at all, they just leave everything in the hands of their solicitors and stewards. And I don’t know that I really have the temperament to supervise so many little details."
He took a chair, perching on the edge of the seat and leaning toward Darcy. "But this past week, I roamed all over Norland, from its attics to its parkland. I thought about what it would be like to show it to Miss Bennet, to see it through the eyes of someone beholding it for the first time. I wanted it to be a place that would impress her. And then I realized that in wanting her approval of Norland, what I really sought was her approval of me. That when I inherited Norland, it became as much a part of me as any other possession, a representation to the world of who I am. And just as I would never neglect my appearance or my manners, neither can I afford to neglect my
"Six times in your whole life?" Darcy could scarcely comprehend such a thing. His own thirst for knowledge, the lessons of his private tutor, and hours spent at his father’s elbow learning to administer their estate had seen him practically raised in Pemberley’s library. Economics, business, law, literature, philosophy – only Cambridge had offered more wisdom than that room contained.
Mr. Dashwood shrugged. "When I was a child, my lessons were in the nursery, of course. Then it was off to Eton and Oxford. I was seldom home, and when I was, the library was the last place that held any interest for me."
"Your father conducted all his instruction in the field then? My own father did a good deal of that, too."
Darcy’s father had been a strong advocate of direct experience, encouraging his son to talk with tenants and occasionally get his hands dirty as he prepared to one day assume the responsibilities of a landlord. He’d believed a man who has never seen a calf born or rubbed soil between his fingers cannot ever truly understand the principles of agriculture. One’s status as a gentleman might free him from toiling to survive, but the best landlords were at least passingly familiar with the land and people in their care.
"Instruction? I don’t understand you, sir."
"Training you to take over for him eventually."
Mr. Dashwood replaced the book on the shelf. "We seldom talked about Norland. Or much else."
"You were not close?"
"Not especially." He moved toward the fire. "As soon as I could read, my parents sent me off to obtain a gentleman’s education. Each month, I received a parcel containing an allowance and a letter from my mother expressing her hope that I was cultivating the right sort of acquaintances and conducting myself in a manner that promoted our family’s reputation. So long as I met their expectations, they left me to myself. I suppose my father would have explained a few matters about estate management to me had I ever asked – it seemed at times that money was all he ever talked about – but I never asked. I was content to simply enjoy the privileges of wealth without any responsibilities."
"And now?"
Mr. Dashwood studied Darcy, seeming to weigh how much more he cared to reveal about himself to the sponsor of a woman he hoped to court. "Now I find myself in possession of an estate I know little about," he said finally.
"You certainly are not the first gentleman to discover himself ill prepared to govern his affairs." Darcy could think of many estates that had fallen into mismanagement by heirs who lacked the interest or aptitude to properly administer them. It reflected well on Mr. Dashwood that he had recognized this failing in himself, particularly at such a young age. As Harry had owned Norland for only a few months, Darcy hoped his indifference had been of a duration too short to cause damage. "The question is, how do you intend to correct that deficiency?"
"I hadn’t planned to do anything about it. None of my friends seem to pay the least attention to such matters – if they own land at all, they just leave everything in the hands of their solicitors and stewards. And I don’t know that I really have the temperament to supervise so many little details."
He took a chair, perching on the edge of the seat and leaning toward Darcy. "But this past week, I roamed all over Norland, from its attics to its parkland. I thought about what it would be like to show it to Miss Bennet, to see it through the eyes of someone beholding it for the first time. I wanted it to be a place that would impress her. And then I realized that in wanting her approval of Norland, what I really sought was her approval of me. That when I inherited Norland, it became as much a part of me as any other possession, a representation to the world of who I am. And just as I would never neglect my appearance or my manners, neither can I afford to neglect my
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