Welcome back to Austen Promises!

Here’s a link to the last post, in case you missed it. 🙂

Today’s purple post is brought to you by the following excerpt from The Essence of Love.

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Darcy smiled as he, too, turned his attention to the ladies. He greeted his hostess and his sister’s friend, then noticed a new person standing beside Miss Bennet. He was struck by her sparkling, laughing eyes and the half-smile that graced her face. Not removing his gaze from her, he asked his host for an introduction.

“Certainly! This is another of my nieces, Mary’s older sister, Miss Elizabeth Bennet. Elizabeth, this is Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy.”

Darcy reached out to grasp Elizabeth’s hand. Bowing over it, he resisted the urge to kiss it, instead forcing himself to stand up but retaining the delicate hand in his grasp. “I am pleased to meet you, Miss Bennet.”

Elizabeth startled at the sound of his deep voice. She blushed, curtseying and returning his greeting. Her attention had been riveted by the tall, handsome man when he entered the room, and his warm touch made her heart race. For that reason, she made no move to pull her hand away, though she knew very well that she should.

Mary and Georgiana exchanged glances, relaying to each other their happiness with the events of the evening so far. Of course, this was just a first meeting; there was still work to do to be assured an attachment would form, but so far, it seemed as though the couple in question was going to make it very easily done.

Lord and Lady Watts also exchanged amused glances. In the way that long-married couples often had, they communicated their delight at the apparent fascination Elizabeth had with Mr. Darcy, and he with her. They silently agreed to discuss it later, but both knew that it was an eligible match.

The spell that held Darcy and Elizabeth in thrall was broken by Mr. Clarke, who once again entered the room, this time to announce that dinner was served. They jumped apart, blushing deeply, and Darcy quickly introduced his sister to the newcomer. That nicety completed, the group paired up, with Lord Watts quickly taking his wife’s arm and Darcy, while surprised that the elder couple had chosen not to follow propriety’s rules for precedence, gladly offering his to Elizabeth. Mary and Georgiana followed at the rear, trying to contain their giggles.

Darcy received a further surprise when, instead of entering the formal dining room, Lord Watts led them into a parlor that had been set up as an intimate dining space. The small table just fit the six of them without feeling cramped. Darcy was seated at the right hand of his host, with Elizabeth to his right. Georgiana was seated to the right of Lady Watts, and Mary was across from Darcy.

The evening progressed as most dinner parties do, but the further along it went, the harder pressed Darcy was to give his attention to anyone but the woman beside him. He was intrigued by her conversation and witty banter.

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I’m quite certain the plates used by Lord and Lady Watts were elegant and white, the very best that could be purchased at that point in time. White place settings are still the most common, I think, but I have a fondness for purple ones. <3

While I did use a Google search during the course of my research for this post, the very first place I went was to the home of The Best purple place settings to be found in the entire world: the former Homer Laughlin China Company. I used to live near the plant and to my eternal dismay, never got a chance to tour the place. I don’t know if tours will ever open back up, so I may have totally missed out on a cool experience.

Anyway, Homer Laughlin recently underwent a name change and a change in purpose, so to speak. Instead of producing regular china for hotels and other places as well as Fiesta Ware, they now only produce Fiesta. Squee!! <3 <3 <3 Their new name is Fiesta Tableware Company. They make tableware in dozens of colors, including purple! 😀 They call it mulberry, of course, but it’s purple. LOL

I actually own a little bit of Fiesta ware. I have two dinner plates, two bowls, and two serving dishes, all gifts from a friend. I fully intend to buy more. <3 Click here to see the dozens of items they offer in this wonderful color.

Now that I’m done fangirling on my favorite, I’ll share what else I discovered. 😉

Amazon has a wide selection of purple dinnerware sets, including Fiesta in Plum, which is another purple shade, one that they discontinued. 🙁 <– This is me pouting. LOL

Here’s the Amazon link for you to check out, if you wish to. (affiliate link) They have some very pretty shades of purple and some sets that have purple that’s a small part of the design. There were lots of pretty sets, and I limited myself to the first page, so there may have been more. Most came in sets of at least four pieces, with some containing up to 45.

Because … Fiesta … This Plum four-piece setting is my favorite. (affiliate link) In the name of fairness, I’ll also choose this Rachel Ray set. (affiliate link)

Other links that showed up in my Google search didn’t really have what I was looking for. Overstock.com had three sets of plates with patterns, only two of which had purple and neither was very attractive. Bed, Bath, and Beyond’s sites showed me utensil sets, one of which did, indeed, have purple handles, but that’s not what I was looking for. And Etsy showed me a set of hand-thrown plates, but they were more blue than purple.

I guess I didn’t really give you much variety here, but this search was more difficult than I had planned on it being. Do you have a favorite of the ones I shared? If so, which was it?

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