Mr. Darcy next enquired, “Are the veils permanently affixed to the bonnets? Or are they able to be safely removed?” Georgiana and Elizabeth quickly produced the veils from their bonnets, and Mr. Darcy proceeded to tuck the cloth around the window-frame. In a few minutes, the insects already inside the chaise had disappeared, and the family were as comfortable as if they had never left Derbyshire. Georgiana’s “invention,” as they called the window-veil, also had the advantage of disallowing some noticeable proportion of the dust.

“I suppose we must extend some sympathy to our veils,” said Elizabeth, “but, as we have a choice of cleaning the window-veil or all of our cloathing, as well as the interior of the chaise, I think this vastly preferable. And, if I am not greatly mistaken, we will be able to find a more suitable article of cloth in Lyon, and may repossess our veils with no decrease in comfort.”

Mr. Darcy continued to wonder as to why the window-veil had not been thought-of before, when at last his wife opined, “Mr. Darcy, if you had included ladies in your deliberations with the coach-maker, we may well have been spared all such inconvenience, assuming—of course—that dear, clever Georgiana were one of your counsellors!” Mr. Darcy was so perfectly satisfied by Elizabeth’s explanation that he left off the subject entirely.

The children of Bordeaux were pretty, with plump, apricot-coloured cheeks on their round little faces, and ringlets hanging down about their shoulders, looking altogether healthy, well-tended, and happy. The women wore a very odd head-dress, consisting of a broad, dark beaver hat that looked to be about the size and shape of a soup-plate, under which was a white cap with a starched, tatted brim, and atop which were three long, black plaited ribbands, two framing the face, and one hanging behind. Elizabeth and Georgiana decided that the over-all visage was much more attractive than any description could render it, and Georgiana set to sketching the ensemble. The men wore enormous black hats, low and wide, adorned with a string of red and white baubles; dark blue jackets with waistcoats of various colours; linens shirt open very wide at the throat; and sabots, as had the other French peasants. The men and women of the fields were amongst the cleanest and most attractive the Darcys had yet seen; they appeared very content and industrious, and were markedly more civil toward the English than had been the lower citizens of Paris.