The night went on as planned. The guests and their hosts sat down to a delicious pot roasted meal that was accompanied by great wine and plenty of conversation. The families were quite fond of each other and wasted the night playing cards and drinking wine.

Alex, who had been quite stunned by Charlotte Kinsley's statement had been trying her best to avoid Edwards prying eyes all night. The one time she did sneak a peek at the gentleman, he had been in the middle of an intense gaze at the bookshelf just to the left of her ear. Alex quickly turned her attention to the card table and the conversation.

"Now I am biased toward Derbyshire but if I am not mistaken, the only grounds to compete against such beauty are the fields of Waverly toward the north." Mrs. Kinsley had observed.

"Oh yes, I have been told that as well. I haven't had the fortune to see the grounds myself but I am sure they are quite ravishing. Derbyshire is my home and therefore nothing could compete with its comfort but I'm sure in beauty it is quite profound. Have you ever been?" Lizzy asked graciously.

"No I haven't. I was planning on taking a journey that way sometime this summer and I would be pleasured to take Miss Alexandria with me. I can see that her and my Charlotte are getting along." Alex smiled in response.

"I can assure you Mrs. Kinsley, the pleasure would be all mine." Alex accepted the invitation at her mother's urging eyes.

The night ended closer to dawn than dusk and the hosts walked their guests to the door.

"Miss Alexandria, if I could have a word?" Edward implored hopefully.

Alex, not wanting to seem unladylike, followed him to the front stoop.

"Please allow me to apologize for my behavior earlier this afternoon. It was ungentlemanly for me to even suggest that your beauty is lacking, which, I can assure you, it is not."

"Sir, I can accept no apology unless I offer one in return. My behavior was anything but ladylike this afternoon and I am sincerely shamed. I hope I have not scared you away from living in this beautiful place. May we be acquaintances from this day on." Edward nodded and bowed to leave her. Acquaintances? That was not something he was used to with young ladies of her stature, but apparently, it would have to suffice.

The next few weeks passed rather quickly, with Alex sneaking away to practice archery or boxing with her brother. If her father had caught her exercising so, she would have been in copious amounts of trouble. It wasn't until the second fortnight that she had been home that she had recieved a letter back from her numerous comrades from school.

One letter, the one that Alex was most looking forward to, was the one from Maria, in which she had informed Alex that she would be spending the summer in New Delhi with her father's sister who was apparently well off and connected. She said that her brother, who had been recently married, requested her mother's aide in delivering his wife's baby. Overall her summer was off to a great start but she missed Alex and had told her that no matter what happens with the Kinsley fellow, that she was to be updated immediately.

Alex chuckled in regards to Maria's countenance, and immediately began a letter back:

Maria,

It is so good to hear from you. I sincerely miss our conversations and while I am entertained by the fact that you are in New Delhi, it makes the summer days go by much slower knowing I won't have the pleasure of your company this season. I wish that I could speak to you personally about Mr. Kinsley because I always feel as if someone is looking over my shoulder when I write to you here. I have nothing more to report to you on the matter except for an insistent suspicion. Mr. Kinsley hadn't thought anything of me when he thought me in poverty, however, now that he knows my value, he was not shy about calling me a great beauty. I can't help but think that he does not like anything about me except for my father's money. I have decided that I shall not allow him to become anything closer to me than a friend. I understand that, that may sound ludicrous because we are both of marrying age, but I feel that I can never know for sure.

My Regards to Your Family,

Alexandria Darcy of Pemberly