The Mistress's Black Veil by Mary K. Baxley

Author:Mary K. Baxley
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Mary K. Baxley

~*~

While the carriage rolled along the uneven streets of London heading for Mayfair, Sofia leaned back against the soft cushions to rest from her wearying day. She glanced at her maid. The poor girl had worked feverishly to relieve the suffering of Mrs. Bennet, giving her teas and applying warm compresses to her chest. Sofia knew if she lived to be a hundred, she would never know another like Ling-Ling. The little maid was now resting, her eyes closed in sleep. Sofia took a deep breath and smiled.

Closing her eyes, she let her mind wander until it finally drifted to the last thing she and Ophelia had discussed. Mr. Collins. That disgraceful man! How could he! How could he find pleasure in the arms of another woman, particularly one from the House of Pleasure, and he a man of the Church? It was one thing if a man was single; quite another if he was married—especially if that man was a parson. Poor Charlotte! How her life must be melancholy to be left to such affliction—to be leg-shackled to such a loathsome man! The stupidest man in all of England! But, as Sofia contemplated it further she had to acknowledge that Charlotte had chosen it with her eyes wide open, and even though she did not seem to ask for compassion, Sofia knew how her life must be.

Reflecting back on their many conversations whilst at Kent, she recalled how Charlotte had expressed the means in which a whole day would pass where she and Mr. Collins would spend less than a few minutes in one another’s company. Back then she bore her solitude cheerfully—quite content in her situation. Charlotte was never romantic, only asking for a comfortable home. But was she truly happy? No, Sofia surmised. She could not possibly be. Surely by now, her home and her housekeeping, her children and her poultry, and all their dependent concerns, must have indubitably lost their charms for things to have become as they appeared to be.

Sofia sighed and nodded in gentle recognition of another truth. The unfortunate choices made when one was young and naive of the ways of the world had a way of haunting a person for the rest of their lives. As she considered that thought, her mind shifted to Mr. Darcy. She could no longer deny that she loved him dearly and would give anything if she could go back in time to when they had first become acquainted. Oh, how had she been such a wretched fool as to have let her pride and prejudices cloud her judgment! That she could have been so blind to believe lies and reject the truth, thus allowing a delusion to control her thoughts and actions! If she could but go back…back to Netherfield, back to Kent, she would observe more clearly and choose more wisely. True, his declaration of love had been executed in the worst possible manner, but it had been sincere, and his portrayal of her family accurate.

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