Elinor was wringing her hands.
“Tonight is my first visit,” she croaked and couldn’t stop blinking.
“And my second,” Elizabeth chimed in, feeling like she needed to support her friend somehow.
Sir William frowned. “How is that possible? I’m sick of it by now. My parents used to drag me here every week when I was a child.”
Neither woman said anything.
“And how do you find them?” Powell asked Elinor.
“They are magical,” she lifted her eyes and looked at his face for the first time since he sat down.
“You must stay for the fireworks then,” Powell said, seeming bewitched, and Elinor looked to Elizabeth, who nodded.
Since it was getting crowded, when they got up from dinner, they paired up so that every lady would be escorted by a gentleman. Powell, unsurprisingly, offered his hand to Elinor, while Talbot reached out to Lizzie, leaving Sir William with Aunt Isolde, which pleased Elizabeth greatly.
I hope they direct many insensitive remarks at each other,she thought petulantly before reprimanding herself.
“How doyoufind the Gardens, Miss Hawkins?” the duke asked as they walked.
“I think they’re lovely. What about you?”
“It’s something to do,” he shrugged nonchalantly. “I’ve seen it all too many times.”
“That seems to be a common problem,” Elizabeth replied as she looked around. “Most of these people are looking at each other’s bonnets and not really seeing anything else.”
“You still see everything with fresh eyes. In a few years, you shall also be looking at bonnets.”
“I hope not,” Elizabeth said stubbornly. “Aren’t there things you can see a thousand times and still be impressed? Like sunsets or the ocean?”
“The ocean?” Talbot asked in an amused tone, and Elizabeth felt a wave of shyness.
“My friend’s brother is a sailor. She reads us his letters in the evenings. He writes about the cities his ship docks in, the endless days at sea, lone lighthouses, watching the rising sun, and he seems awed by all of it, even years later. I rather like that attitude. I’ve always dreamed of undertaking a voyage to America,” she admitted conspiratorially.
“America?” He spat the word. “Where riff-raff feel entitled to rub shoulders with the descendants of kings? No, thank you. I'd rather stay over here, in the civilised part of the world.”
“No one is forcingyouto go,” Elizabeth said pointedly, and he caught hold of himself.
Talbot then seemed to think about her words carefully.
“Perhaps it is only looking at man-made things that loses its lustre after a while,” he said in a conciliatory tone, as if giving her a small gift by acknowledging her opinion.
Elizabeth’s whole face was overtaken by her grin.
“That’s probably true.”
“Do you usually enjoy reading accounts of sea voyages? Or is it just this particular sailor’s stories that captivate you?” Talbot asked, back to his teasing attitude.
“I haven’t read any others, so I cannot say for certain. What about you?”
“I very much enjoy reading books about distant lands. Currently, I am reading de Chateaubriand’s account of his travels in Greece, Palestine, Egypt, and Barbary.”
“But you restrict yourself to reading instead of travelling?” It was Elizabeth’s turn to needle him.
“What can I say? I love Norwich and England too much,” he replied good-naturedly, not appearing to be threatened by her provocations regarding his adventurousness.
They walked the rest of the way in silence, and then they watched the fireworks explode and paint the sky in a myriad of colours. Even Aunt Isolde’s face showed childlike wonder. In her exhilaration, Elizabeth never noticed that one of her companions was watching her instead of the sky.
