Mrs Darcy's Dilemma Quotes

“Jane stood by the side of Lord Frederick, the family connection, who was handsome and charming beyond what any family had a right to expect. With gallant punctiliousness, he had early claimed his right to the first two dances. “For you have kept me waiting longer than any other partner,” he told her. “I have been waiting for you to grow up.”
― Diana Birchall, Mrs Darcy's Dilemma: A sequel to Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice

“Look, how the holly grows so thickly on this path: wonderful shiny green leaves, and the reddest of berries. Shall we gather some, for decorations? My mother will be pleased. Here is my penknife”
― Diana Birchall, Mrs Darcy's Dilemma: A sequel to Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice

“The ladies were confined to the house by a storm of snow and sleet.”
― Diana Birchall, Mrs Darcy's Dilemma: A sequel to Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice

“It was fortunate that the room was empty, except for half a score or so of servants. These were busy enough laying out the six couple of roast fowl, the twenty pheasants, the baron of beef, the venison pies, gooseberry pies, and plum pudding, and they had no time or inclination to pay the least attention to their master's private conversation with his wife.”
― Diana Birchall, Mrs Darcy's Dilemma: A sequel to Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice

“..and they had been eternally happy together for rather more than a week”
― Diana Birchall, Mrs Darcy's Dilemma: A sequel to Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice

“The house party was collected in the ballroom already, and carraiges were arriving from all the great houses of the neighbourhood.

The Pemberley ballroom was fully equal to such gathering, and it looked its most beautiful, with hundreds of wax-candles sparkling in the great crystal chabdeliers, tge polished floor gleaming in readiness for the dance, and the holly decorations hanging in festoons from the walls, making a most festive Christmas appearance.”
― Diana Birchall, Mrs Darcy's Dilemma: A sequel to Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice

“In the first place, you must see that I had not much choice. You cannot go back again and be a chaste and virtuous lady once you have left off. You would have me come back amongst your people, who would then coldly cast me out again, or, since they call themselves charitable folks, they would see me shut up in a cottage somewhere for the rest of my life, with no society, no pleasures, no prospects. For diversion, I might be allowed to take in sewing or keep sheep. You may be sure I would be kept away from all decent gentlemen, lest I pollute their pure homes, and there would be no hope of my ever again enjoying the free and open companionship of any of the sex. But your family is merciful, and I have no doubt I should be given a small pension, to enable me to live in this poor and retired way—like a prisoner in a solitary cell, to think over my sins and rue them for the rest of my days. This, I suppose, is sort of thing you had in mind?

I think we will agree that what I have described is no life at all, to be scorned and reviled by all the good folk around me. But consider: in town, I possess a degree of acceptance. Not, perhaps, as much as a great lady would, but my position is not altogether disagreeable. People enjoy my society—people who like a good time and are not glum and Church-ridden—and I decidedly prefer a city life to that of an anchorite.”
― Diana Birchall, Mrs Darcy's Dilemma: A sequel to Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice