Pride and Prejudice Variation – Page 6

La Maison De Musique (Pierre Carrier-Belleuse)

La Maison de Musique (The Music House) by Pierre Carrier-Belleuse, c. 1901. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

The young lady above could be Miss Mary in my book Christmas in Gracechurch Street.

(Even if, as I look at this image while typing this, the dress reminds me a bit of one that Wes did not approve of Mary wearing in Persuading Miss Mary, but I digress. LOL)

You see, the Mary in Christmas in Gracechurch Street changes when she gets to town with Elizabeth. She becomes more fashionable, and well, as you can see from this excerpt, much more proficient with music. She’s been hiding a quite a few things actually, and discovering this new Mary was fun when I was writing.

Well… it was fun for me. It might have been a little less fun and more shocking and occasionally disconcerting for her sister. But then, I suppose that made it more fun for me. 🙂 Ah, my poor characters. Forced to entertain me before they entertain you.

In this excerpt, which is set in a music room at Matlock House, we are at the darker part of the romance for Elizabeth, which is why the first line is what it is. To find out what has happened to make Elizabeth wish to cry, you’ll have to read the book. 😉

The Trouble of a Curricle (and the gentlemen who drive them)

Morburre, CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

If you’ve read Waking to Mr. Darcy, then you know that at the end of that book we discover Mary Bennet has as secret crush. Nicholas Hammond is that crush. He’s also the Bennet’s neighbour, the eldest son of a spendthrift of a father, the older brother to a rather reckless brother, quite practical (perhaps to a fault?), and not uninterested in Mary.

Below is when we first get to meet Nicholas’s brother, Fred, and his friend, Whit. This excerpt tells of just one incident where the two of them cause trouble with a curricle and the first of four times they cause issues through racing.

Despite all that, they are two of my favourite troublemakers. 😉

Golden Summer (Kate Greenway)

A young woman waiting in a garden by the gate. Photographic print after Kate Greenaway. See page for author, CC BY 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

I thought the picture above of a young woman in a garden would go well with the excerpt of Elizabeth in a garden below from The Tenant’s Guest.

Elizabeth stood just beyond a low border, watching Cecily play with her children in the garden. The ball rolled toward the large tree that shadowed the far corner, and Lucas Abbot, the elder brother at nearly four years of age, ran after it while Aiden Abbott, the younger brother and just three months past his first birthday, swayed slightly and then took one wobbly step followed by another equally unstable step before falling with a plop to the ground. The action of dropping so ungracefully to the ground did not please the young child. His scowl before he took to crawling after his brother made Elizabeth smile. He was a determined young man. A little fall was not going to stop him from pursuing his goal, which at this moment was the ball with which his brother was taunting him.

Cecily waved to Elizabeth. “Come, join us.”

Elizabeth, having just returned from what had proven to be a rather disturbing call at the parsonage and wishing for some time to think about all Lucy had shared with her, would have made her excuses and gone into the house. However, the motion of his mother had turned Aiden toward Elizabeth, and the ball was seemingly forgotten in favour of the new arrival.

“Izabef!” Lucas, ball in hand, reached her before his brother could. “Will you play ball with me, Izabef?”

Elizabeth tousled the boy’s hair. “Of course. Do you wish to run before I throw it?”

The young man’s head shook furiously from side to side. “I want to race it.”

“Very well.” Elizabeth took the ball from his hands and squatted down. “Ready,” she warned. “Go.”

The ball rolled along the grass, passing just beside Aiden, who stopped and sat, looking first at Elizabeth and then the ball — clearly unsure which should get his attention.

*The Tenant’s Guest* is on sale until the end of this month, and *And Then Love*, the book before this book is free until the end of next month. If you don’t have these two books, now’s the time to get them.

Henry Angelo, fencer

Tonight (Tuesday), as I was looking up something of interest to share on social media, I thought “I should share these things on my blog as well.” So, I am. I can’t guarantee it will be a weekly thing, but sporadically, at least, I think I’ll share things like this on here as well as on my social media accounts. I hope you don’t mind. 🙂

The January 2022 Saturday Broadsheet

The Saturday Broadsheet, with all my writing life updates, is now available at the link at the bottom of this short post.

In this issue of the Broadsheet you will find:

Info about what, if anything, is posting on my blog.
Info about my writing and publishing news, including a link for subscribers to a free download, links for where to find my newest releases, and a first glimpse at a NEW Teatime Tales story.
Info about any book promotions: I have one book on sale for the next week and have two included in a multi-author promotion.
And an entertaining and informative video about shortbreads.

CLICK HERE TO READ THE January 2022 SATURDAY BROADSHEET

Have a great weekend!

I hope you have time to read a book.