The Jane Austen Society by Natalie Jenner Page 0,71
back down as she braced herself to finally speak to one of the biggest movie stars in the world.
“I had a teacher—Adeline Lewis—Miss Frances knows her. She knows Jane Austen inside and out, can quote entire passages by heart, and she lent me her copy of Pride and Prejudice when I was still in school, and that was it. I was a goner.”
“But you’re not in school any longer? May I ask how old you are?”
“Sixteen.”
“When did you leave school then?”
“Fourteen.”
“That’s so young. Do you miss it?”
“Terribly,” Evie replied quickly, then turned to Miss Knight. “But I could not have found a better employer. And Miss Frances gives us full access to the library here, all of the servants, and you won’t see a better collection of books this side of London.”
“My father had an impressive library, too, although nothing like the Knights’, I am sure. He was the one who introduced me to Austen. He would read her to me at night. I found him once, in his study, sitting by the fire, laughing out loud—I was pretty little, around eight or nine—and I asked him what was so funny, and he read me the scene where Elizabeth parries so successfully with Lady Catherine de Bourgh, who is warning her against any engagement to her nephew Mr. Darcy.”
“‘These are heavy misfortunes indeed—but the wife of Mr. Darcy must have such extraordinary sources of happiness, that she could have no cause to repine,’” quoted Evie.
“‘Obstinate, headstrong girl!’” Mimi quoted back with a laugh. “Exactly! And I crawled onto his lap and he kept reading to me. And pretty soon he decided to start reading the book all over again, this time out loud, to me, and he did this for many nights and years after, with all the books. Except Mansfield Park. He didn’t get Fanny Price. Thought her far too passive for all the connivers around her.”
“He must be very excited, then, about your plans to make a film of Sense and Sensibility,” Frances said.
“I don’t know.” Mimi added another sugar cube to her cup of tea, then added simply, “He killed himself. When I was twelve.”
Evie and Frances looked at each other.
“Mimi,” Frances started, “I am so sorry. How awful, for all of you.”
“It was awful. It still is. The hardest part is wondering whether I could have done something, to help him—to stop him. The never knowing is what hurts the most. I try so hard to just remember our relationship, how we were together, and not think about his secret pain, because I can’t do anything about that, and that’s what haunts me.” Mimi looked at Frances carefully. “Don’t let any of this haunt you, Frances—your father’s last days, and the new will. It has nothing to do with you. It was his life—his choices.”
“She knows that,” Evie piped up. “Oh, I’m sorry, Miss Knight, I don’t mean to speak for you.”
“It’s alright, Evie, I know we were talking about this very thing in the grove just now.” Frances stood up and flattened her long black velvet skirt, then said to Evie, “Should we show Miss Harrison the lower library before she goes?”
They headed downstairs and through the Great Hall until they entered the book-lined room next door.
“What will happen to all of this?” Mimi walked around the room and gently touched the spines of various leatherbound books. “It’s remarkable, really. Yardley has been watching the market for me, and I bet there are some real treasures in here.” She turned back to Evie. “Yardley Sinclair works at Sotheby’s in London—he is another great lover of Jane Austen, and he keeps me up-to-date on things. In fact, he’s the one who introduced us to Miss Knight.”
“He is a most persistent man as well,” said Frances.
“Yes, I seem to be surrounded by those, both here and in Hollywood.”
Evie’s eyes widened, as she thought about all the famous people that Mimi must know.
“Yardley wants to visit you, terribly,” Mimi was saying to Frances.
Frances absentmindedly touched the back of one of the books nearest her. “I’ve done a good job at putting that off. I always do. But I suppose we are going to need a valuation soon, especially under the circumstances.”
“Yardley can be trusted, I promise. He would keep any valuation confidential until you knew what you wanted to do. He considers himself another caretaker of Miss Austen. I know he very much wants to keep as much of her physical legacy here in England as possible, so