Today at Pemberley, The 10th of December:
In addition to her daily love letter from her husband, Mrs. Elizabeth Darcy was delivered a book of poetry by Walter Scott. She examined it with great care, noticing that a page was marked with a sprig of mistletoe.
At her askance look, the housemaid explained, “Mr. Darcy said to deliver the book at the same time as the letter.”
Mrs. Elizabeth Darcy read the short letter, on which was written,
I recall with some trepidation your once voiced opinion on poetry’s unique ability to extinguish love. Although, I believe even at the time you conceded an exception for how every act of love nourishes what is already strong. As poetry is traditional, I eventually decided it was necessary. Having spent many hours tracking down a verse I thought even you would think tolerable, I hope you will find the underlined verse nourishing.
The sprig of mistletoe marked a page with the following verse underlined:
The damsel donn’d her kirtle sheen;
The hall was dress’d with holly green;
Forth to the wood did merry-men go,
To gather in the mistletoe.
“Perhaps, sending poetry is not so awful,” she said to her lady’s maid who only smiled at the remark.
Previous days at Pemberley here
