Re: Darcy's Hope ~ Beauty from Ashes, a WW1 Tale. Ch 8-10

Their first meeting! Or I should say "non-meeting", since Elizabeth simply saw him (describing him as breathtakingly handsome, no less!) and heard him bellow like an uncouth sailor. I liked his "entrance" very much and the fact that Elizabeth had a whole afternoon of all-female company to both think about his presence in the chateau and try to dismiss it from her mind.

Then, there's their actual first meeting and I admit I expected Darcy to be a bit more polite and gentlemanly (like he was at Pemberley in P&P, attempting to prove that her words had made an impact). Questioning her presence first and later her professionalism seemed hardly the way to be civil... Though, of course, he could have said what he did out of concern for her. Misunderstandings are everyday occurrances between these two!

I'm intrigued by the Letter (yes, it deserves both a capital L and the italic): so he did write (of course he would, disguise of every sort is his abhorrence!) and send a letter. I guess Elizabeth never got it amid all her family tragedies and it's still there, laying abandoned in the letter box at Longbourn. Or will it be forwarded to her? While difficult, it would make for an interesting plot twist... Idle speculations of mine, just ignore them

I am amazed at the wide range of emotions you can evoke. At the end of chapter 9, Elizabeth's thoghts were at the same time sorrowful and hopeful when pondering some strange effects of the uglyness of war:

Quote

But war had a way of changing things.
Sometimes beauty rose from ashes.

Next thing I know, she's angrily stating the true reason for her dismissal from VAD, which is not lack of skill but lack of birthdays! LOL I've never heard being under-age defined as a lack of birthdays Quite clever of you! It was also (at least for me) a very thoughtfully-put comic relief. Well done!

If you're surprised by the lack of proof-reading, don't be. This comment has become so lengthy that I've decided to let you know of any typos by e-mail

As always, thanks for a great update!