Richard reached across the tiny table and lightly touched the white wrapping on Elizabeth’s head. “You’re sure you’re all right?”
“Quite absolutely sure. At least, nothing one of those scrumptious-looking lemon tarts wouldn’t fix.”
Richard signaled the waitress, then turned back to her. “When I saw you lying on the floor . . .” He took a deep drink of tea to hide his emotion. “When did you regain consciousness?”
“Oh, I was never unconscious. But I didn’t want Gerri to hit me again—or try anything with that knife. I think it’s called playing possum.” She grinned. “I wanted to signal you, but I was afraid I’d give the game away.”
“As it turned out, you played it just right.”
“Do you think Gerri would really have harmed Nilay?” Elizabeth’s voice was tight.
“I don’t know, but we couldn’t have taken the risk of finding out.” Richard smiled at the memory of their parting from their new friends. Their enthusiastic hugs—and startling suggestion—were the only things in the whole stressful event that had made Elizabeth cry. And he couldn’t say he had been entirely dry-eyed.
“Richard . . .”
“Hmm?”
“Stav and Nilay’s idea—well, all the boys, really—that you apply to be their housemaster—it’s not entirely off the wall, is it? And you could carry on with your writing and . . .”
“Certainly worth considering. It would probably only be interim until they could fill it with someone more suitable. If we could get visas and all that . . . I’m not sure what would be involved.”
Elizabeth’s smile was radiant.
Arthur and Claire approached from the other side of the square, holding hands, accompanied by Paul and Beth. Beth had her notebook out, apparently conducting an interview. “All right,” Arthur said, “it’s sure to come out anyway. Sir Cyril Langton is my father. I took the job as Muriel’s assistant to get her help tracking down the lost manuscript. She loved the idea and was a great help. I just didn’t realize she was planning to use it all for her own advancement. And I certainly never suspected she would do anything so underhanded as to devise a fake letter.”
“I still find it hard to believe we were part of such a convoluted plot.” Elizabeth shook her head. “We certainly played into her hands. I feel so gullible.”
“I’ll have to say I’m glad you did. Without your part, that manuscript might never have been discovered.”
“And recovering the manuscript will make a sensational final chapter for Muriel’s book. We just need someone to write it.” Paul looked at Richard.
Before Richard could answer, though, Claire cut in. “You’ll be coming back to Bath, won’t you? To the Regency Ball this Saturday? We—” She gazed at Arthur with a soft smile. “We have something to announce and we’d love to have you there.”
Elizabeth jumped up and embraced them both. “Oh, congratulations! Of course we wouldn’t miss it.” She paused. “That is, if you can find me a Regency gown. I rather fancied the one with the pink Spencer in the Centre.”
“It’s yours. For the night, that is,” Claire promised.
The others moved on and Richard sat musing. “It’s strange, but somehow by getting to know Jane better, I feel as if I know myself better.”
Elizabeth nodded. “Yes, I know what you mean.”
“We started all this with so many questions. Not just about some lost manuscript, but about the direction of our lives. Now things seem to be making sense.” He was quiet for a moment.
“So. . .?”
“So I’m thinking about how two brilliant American professors made an important literary discovery and solved a murder. I’m thinking that writing a murder mystery would be a lot more fun than writing a scholarly paper.”
And so it was.
AUTHOR’S NOTES
MY READERS OFTEN ASK, “How much is true?”
That’s always a valid question in novels like this one that are works of fiction, yet full of references to real people and real places. The visits Elizabeth and Richard make to Jane Austen’s homes are based as closely on my experiences as possible—minus the skullduggery, of course.
All quotations and references from Jane’s letters and works are as accurate as I could make them. It is true that the original manuscript of The Watsons was divided as recounted—and one section “went missing.”
My goal is always to give my readers a “you are there experience” through the eyes of my characters. I hope this has served as such for you—until you can make your own pilgrimage.
Donna Fletcher Crow
Boise, Idaho, 2013
REFERENCES
— “Jane at Prayer”, adapted from “Prayer I,” Three Prayers and a Poem by Jane Austen, Friends of Godmersham Church, Kent.
Austen, Jane, Emma, from Jane Austen, The Complete Works, 2011, Doma Publishing House.
Austen, Jane, Northanger Abbey, from Jane Austen, The Complete Works, 2011, Doma Publishing House.
Austen, Jane, Persuasion, 1959 ed., Dell Publishing Co., New York.
Austen, Jane and John Coates, The Watsons, 1958, Signet, New York.
Austen-Leigh, James Edward, Memoir of Jane Austen, 1871, Richard Bentley & Son, London.
Austen-Leigh, Richard Arthur and William Francis, Jane Austen, Her Life and Letters, 1913, Smith, Elder & Co., London.
Chapman, R. W., Jane Austen, Facts and Problems, 1948, Clarendon Press, Oxford.
Collins, Irene, Jane Austen and the Clergy, 2002, The Hambledon Press, London.
Fullerton, Susannah, Jane Austen & Crime, 2004, Jones Books, Madison, WI.
Lascelles, Mary, Jane Austen and Her Art, 1939, Clarendon Press.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
DONNA FLETCHER CROW is a former English teacher, a lifelong Anglophile and Janeite, and a member of the Jane Austen Society of North America. She is the author of forty-three books, mostly novels of British history. The award-winning Glastonbury, A Novel of Christian England, is her best-known work. She is also the author of three mystery series. Her newest titles are: An Unholy Communion, The Monastery Murders; A Tincture of Murder, The Lord Danvers Victorian true-crime novels; and A Jane Austen Encounter in The Elizabeth & Richard Literary Mysteries. Donna and her husband live in Boise, Idaho. They have four adult children and twelve grandchildren. She is an enthusiastic gardener.
To read more about all of Donna’s books and see pictures from her garden and research trips go to: http://www.donnafletchercrow.com/
You can follow her on Facebook at: http://ning.it/OHi0MY
Donna Fletcher Crow © copyright 2013
All rights reserved as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.
StoneHouse Ink 2013
Boise ID 83713
http://www.stonehouseink.net
First eBook Edition: 2013
Cover design by Fuji Aamabreorn
The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to a real person, living or dead is coincidental and not intended by the author.
Published in the United States of America
Table of Contents
Praise for Donna Fletcher Crow
Title Page
Also by Donna Fletcher Crow
Dedication
Ackowledgments
Jane Austen's Family Tree
Jane at Prayer
Characters
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Author's Notes
References
About the Author
Copyright Information
A Jane Austen Encounter Page 21
