Old friends and new fancies

by Sybil G. Brinton

Georgiana, blushing and smiling, began to protest, and Mrs. Wentworth, to spare her, also treated it as a joke, but Mrs. Knightley, when she had comprehended Captain Wentworth's meaning, gave her a look of no great goodwill, and said: "Surely Miss Darcy does not take seriously what is merely a vulgar tradition. 'Men were deceivers ever' was not written with special reference to sailors, I imagine, but to men in general."

"Of course not," said Captain Wentworth, with mock gravity; "but Miss Darcy does not base her suspicions on those lines only, but on far more serious premises."

"Frederick, I will not have you tease Miss Darcy so unmercifully," said Mrs. Wentworth. "It is really too bad. I am sure you have placed words in her mouth which she never uttered, has he not, Miss Darcy?"

Georgiana, struggling with embarrassment, amusement and not a little real vexation, as she was conscious of Mr. Price's eyes being turned silently upon her, could not protest as intelligibly as she would have wished. "Yes, Mrs. Wentworth, it is quite untrue—I never said anything of the kind. Captain Wentworth, you are unfair—not that it really matters—but I said I had no opinion on the subject—I only thought I could quite understand their being changeable, if they were."

Whether her hearers could extract any meaning from these words, she did not know, but it was certain that her confusion stood her in good stead, for Captain Wentworth immediately apologized with just as much seriousness as was needful. "I am very sorry, Miss Darcy; pray excuse my stupidity. I was so distressed to feel that we, as a class, should merit your disapproval in even one particular, that I wanted to clear our characters—and, after all, you are so kind as to imply that they needed no clearing."

"I do not think Miss Darcy implied that," said Mrs. Knightley, "and I confess myself curious to learn why she thinks naval men are likely to be changeable; it would be interesting to compare notes, for my experience of them has led me to the opposite conclusion."

Georgiana felt the double edge in Mrs. Knightley's words, and it was painful to her to be so completely misunderstood, even in such a trifling matter; but she had hardly recovered her composure enough to defend herself when Captain Wentworth took the matter out of her hands.

"Miss Darcy's experience of inconstancy in sailors has been a sad one, Mrs. Knightley," he said solemnly. "It is drawn entirely from books and plays, and we know how persistently they look on the dark side of human nature. She only needs to become acquainted better with real life, as personified in myself, Mr. Price" (with a bow to William) "and many other admirable specimens of naval men, to form the soundest of opinions of us. Pardon me, Miss Darcy, for assuming the role of spokesman, but I fancied the fear of offending my modesty might have prevented you from expressing such sentiments as you would wish."

"I hope you will always interpret me as correctly as you have done, Captain Wentworth," returned Georgiana, smiling; and seeing that Mrs. Knightley was beginning to speak in a low tone to Mr. Price, and not wishing to hear any of her comments, she turned to Mrs. Wentworth and proposed that they should move to chairs nearer the pianoforte. They therefore turned in that direction, but Mr. Price could hardly have any time to reply to Mrs. Knightley, for an instant later he was at Georgiana's side, asking if he might find her a seat; and Mrs. Wentworth being just then drawn away by Miss Bingley, she not unwillingly allowed him to lead her to a sofa on the opposite side of the room, to procure her another cup of coffee, her own having been removed, and to sit beside her, talking quietly and agreeably in a manner that soothed her nerves, irritated as they were by Captain Wentworth's ill-timed raillery. She listened absently, without saying much, grateful to him for not renewing the subject which had just been dropped and hoping he had not attached any importance to it; but her attention was all alert when after a pause he inquired: "Have you good accounts of Miss Bennet since she left town?"

She tried to collect her scattered ideas, to remember what Kitty expected of her. Yes, she had had good accounts; she thought her friend was very well and, she believed, enjoying the country, though it probably seemed very quiet to her after such a long visit to London.