Expectations by Samantha Adkins

Author:Samantha Adkins [Adkins, Samantha]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781641191722
Publisher: City Lights Press
Published: 2018-04-03T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 9

Two evenings later, Mr. James Lawson arrived at Gracechurch-street a half-hour before he was expected. He was rewarded for his early arrival by finding Georgiana at the pianoforte. She had finished her toilette well before Julia and was passing the time in practice. Upon noticing James in the room, she quit her playing to greet him.

“Please go on, Miss Darcy. I would very much like to hear you play.” Georgiana at first declined, but was prevailed upon to finish her piece and then play one other. At this point, Mr. Phillip Lawson entered without Miss Brill or the notice of Miss Darcy, who had become deeply involved in the piece. The brothers acknowledged one another and the elder Mr. Lawson saw something familiar in the way his brother regarded Miss Darcy. At the end of the melody, Miss Lawson entered the room with applause.

“Is she not the finest player you ever heard?” she declared. Miss Darcy looked up and was surprised at her audience. She blushed to wonder how long Mr. Phillip Lawson had been in the room, but was spared his notice by the entrance of Miss Brill.

“I have missed something, have I not?” she asked. “Please hold all future concerts until I arrive, Miss Darcy.”

“I apologize, Miss Brill. I was only passing the time.”

“And it is certainly time enough now,” said Julia. “Shall we go to the theatre?”

The youthful party bid their goodbyes to the Gardiner’s and took up their transportation – Miss Brill and Mr. Lawson in an open carriage and Mr. James Lawson, Julia and Georgiana in the Gardiner’s chaise and four.

“Who is Miss Brill?” asked James as soon as they were off.

“Oh, did I not introduce you? But we were in such a hurry. He is our brother’s fiancée and our cousin.”

“Engaged? Cousin? Have I been missing for so long I do not know our own cousin or that my brother is to be wed?”

“She is a cousin from mother’s side, apparently. She never speaks of her relations and I am sure we have never met them, but it seems Phillip asked for her hand before he left Sunnings in June. He has been these months visiting Miss Brill in Ireland and has recently proposed.”

“Extraordinary! I did not realize our family held such secrets. Do mother and father know?” James smiled in delight.

“They knew of his intentions, to be sure, but at last meeting, Phillip only promised he would write as soon as possible. It is very unlike him, do you not think?” Julia was more suspicious.

“I fear I have been too often gone from home. I cannot say what our brother is likely to do lately. Do you like her?”

“She is very pretty, you could see yourself. Her manners are rather different from what we are used to, but of course she hails from a different country entirely.”

“What say you, Miss Darcy?” he asked, hoping to entice her to intimacy.

“She seems very amiable and good, but I have only known her such a short while.

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