Happy Tuesday, everyone! Can you remember or guess which JA novel these quotes are each from? Some are obvious, a few are not. Answer key will be in the comments. Enjoy the silliness!
#1
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#10
And a bonus:
#11
I’m about to start homeschooling again, so this one speaks to me! And hey, if you need some summer reading, come check out my latest Jane Austen spinoff with Mansfield Park meeting Pride and Prejudice. Excerpt below!
Chapter 2, Page 23
The worst of it, Darcy decided three days later, when the Elliots were settled in Netherfield, was not Sir Walter’s vanity, though it was immense, or Miss Elliot’s interest in him, though it was obvious, but that they made Caroline worse.
Darcy did not have an extremely close relationship with Bingley’s sister, but he considered her to be a friend. He didn’t plan to marry Caroline, but he could do worse. The Bingleys were not an old family, and their fortune came from trade a generation back, but that did not weigh with him. He was not obsessed with titles like Sir Walter, and he did not care about a woman’s family connections as long as they were well-bred, distant, or dead.
Caroline was intelligent, and he could have an interesting conversation with her about art, music, architecture, or even politics. But with the Elliots, she seemed to devolve to their level. Sir Walter thought of little beside his own appearance and that of others; Caroline flattered him. Miss Elliot thought of little besides herself, her importance, and her father; Caroline encouraged her. Miss Mary Elliot thought of little besides her own aches and (imagined) pains; Caroline sympathized.
Darcy wanted to throw them out of the house, but Bingley resisted. “They’re not so bad as all that!”
“I admit Miss Anne seems sensible, and Caroline has enjoyed playing duets with her, but she barely speaks otherwise. The others—” Darcy shuddered.
“They’re a little proud, to be sure, but not nearly so bad as your Aunt Cather—” Bingley broke off and coughed something. “Never mind. They don’t intimidate me, and Caroline likes ’em.”
Darcy sighed. “That is fair, and it is your own house. I suppose if I do not like the company, I ought to take myself off.”
“No, don’t do that! I still haven’t decided whether I ought to buy this place. The house is fine, but I know I’ll need to bring the tenancies up to par, and some of the tenants look mean.”
“Don’t be childish, Charles. If you need to get rid of a lay-about tenant, you simply evict them when their lease is up.”
“That is easy for you to say! You are so tall, you have only to stand near someone and glare, and they will clear out. People argue with me.”
“Don’t let them.”
Bingley threw up his hands. “You simply do not understand. And then there are the hovels some of them live in. If I own the estate, I’m responsible to improve them, am I not? I need to calculate if I’ll have enough to bring this place into good repair.”
This was one of the reasons Darcy liked Bingley. Bingley’s fortune might be new, but he had a better heart for dependents than many a landed aristocrat like Sir Walter. Bingley, when he bought an estate, would take good care of his land and workers and tenants.
“All right, I’ll stay and help you calculate the needed investment,” Darcy said.
“I knew you would.” Bingley smiled a little self-consciously. “Care to accompany me on a morning call?”
Darcy took a deep breath through his nose. “Your diligence to duty is remarkable.”
“Come, Darcy! All work and no play, you know, it’s not healthy.”
“You’re very far from such a problem.”
“Yet you bear with me somehow.”
“Is it to be the Lucases or the Longs?”
Bingley huffed. “You know very well I meant the Bennets; you needn’t tease me.”
***
Thanks for reading!
Corrie Garrett
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