Re: Ashley & Mr Darcy
Darcy nodded in a sort of understanding at her explanation. "Ah, I see," he told her. He didn't add that he couldn't understand it really; he'd never found a ball to be relaxing, they tended to be something he needed to cut loose from after, rather.
Her answer was interesting to him. He was sure that every woman in the world was just nuts about balls. It was just about all he ever heard them babbling on about - if they weren't talking about the last ball, or planning the next one, it was because they were at the current one. "I have always had much admiration for a woman who takes to expanding her mind through extensive reading," he told her, which was certainly meant as a compliment. "Although of course - you were reading when we met..." he trailed off, remembering the book she had called a romance novel, and gave her a curious sort of a look for a moment.
"You have one brother, one sister?" he asked, just changing the subject away from the strange novel again.