Yuletide by unknow

Author:unknow
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780998654096
Publisher: The QuillInk, LLC
Published: 2018-11-25T05:00:00+00:00

On Christmas morning, Elizabeth stood by one of the large, handsome windows overlooking the great lawn, holding baby Catherine in her arms. Outside, Darcy and William were building a snowman and marring the perfect expanse of sparkling white snow with their footprints. She suspected Lady Catherine would have something to say about that.

Elizabeth hoped the roads would be passable after Christmas. After almost a month away from Pemberley, she was longing for home again.

She became aware of Anne standing beside her, watching the scene.

“How I have enjoyed this Christmas season, Cousin Elizabeth. It has inspired me.”

“Inspired you?” Elizabeth wondered at her choice of words, and Anne blushed.

“Seeing your children and watching them play. You see, I have a past-time—will you come with me for a moment to my bedchamber?”

Consumed with curiosity but delighting in this evidence of growing intimacy, Elizabeth carried the baby and followed Anne up the grand staircase to her apartment.

Anne’s bedchamber was a surprise. Her walls were adorned with a few needlepoint samplers from her childhood. Nothing else. There was a narrow bed, no doubt the same bed she had used since she was a little girl. Elizabeth supposed that Lady Catherine—who still dictated when her daughter might leave the house or where she might go—was unwilling to admit that Anne was no longer a child.

A small dresser covered with bottles of tonics and medicines spoke of a lifetime of poor health and zealous doctoring. Elizabeth suspected that the latter had contributed to the former. There was a modest bookcase and a large old-fashioned wardrobe. A little table and two straight-backed chairs by the window commanded a fine view of the woods and, beyond that, the church spire in Hunsford.

Anne gestured out the window. “When I was a child, I longed to travel, to escape Rosings,” said Anne. “True, it is very beautiful here. But I was lonely.”

“You poor dear! Having four sisters, I really cannot imagine having so much solitude. How oppressive! But you saw your cousins now and again, did you not?”

Anne nodded. “Yes, and, of course, as soon I was old enough to comprehend, my mother began hinting to me that Fitzwilliam was to be my future husband. Perhaps if she had held her tongue, perhaps if she had not insisted upon it…who knows? I might have developed some kind of romantic feelings for him. As it was, though”—she shrugged—“I have imagined what a husband might be, and my imagination never painted anyone like my cousin.” She added quickly, “Pray, do not think I am disparaging Fitzwilliam! He is in every respect a fine man and, when he was a boy, he was always kind to me.

Elizabeth nodded, pleased to have this glimpse of her husband as a boy and especially happy to hear from Anne’s own lips that only Lady Catherine regretted the alliance that never came to be.

“So, with no one to talk with much of the time, I resorted to making up my own imaginary companions and writing little stories to amuse myself.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.