Ashley & Mr Darcy
"Nearly 200 years, and people are still attending dances," he observed, with a slight amusement. Apparently he just couldn't get a break. Why couldn't they have all taken up reading novels together in silence or something. Her comment about it not being obligatory felt like a trap, though. In his own time, he'd often been told he could just go to bed before the dancing began, but he knew if he actually did that he'd be the talk of the room for being so incredibly rude to the host, and no one would let him live it down for months.
"Hmm. Your curls are a very pleasing compliment to your features, but this fits the occasion very well," he told her, without really thinking about anything but honesty.
"Yes," he told her, and then backtracked a little. "I mean, no, you're not being presumptuous. Yes to the drink. If I were any sort of gentleman I would have already provided you with one."