The Jane Austen Society by Natalie Jenner Page 0,92
was competent and complete.
Dr. Gray fell back in his chair and wordlessly held the copy up for Adeline to take next. She carried it over to the light near the piano and read it standing next to Adam.
Everyone in the room was speechless.
Finally Adeline said, “Do we have any idea on the value, at all?”
“Not really,” replied Mimi. “Yardley checked everywhere—so few have ever come up for auction. One letter sold in 1930 at Sotheby’s, but only for a thousand pounds.”
“It’s not the value, though,” spoke up Dr. Gray.
“It’s what we learn,” added Adam, and everyone in the room turned to look at him.
“Yes,” Evie stated proudly. “There is no price on that.”
“But it’s still in its rightful place, correct?” questioned Dr. Gray. “We can’t afford to be accused of hiding or stealing anything.”
“No worries at all. I only moved the books about as I dusted,” Evie replied. “If Mr. Knatchbull-what’s-his-face wants to take stock of what’s in there, he is welcome to it.”
“Well, then, what do we think?” Dr. Gray asked the room.
“Forty thousand pounds,” said Mimi without hesitation. “I have been tracking Jane Austen sales through Sotheby’s and Christie’s for several years now, and with the war, things stayed pretty flat until recently. If we average out each book at twenty pounds, that will look completely reasonable to anyone inclined to sell quickly.”
“But where on earth will we get that much money?” Adeline asked.
Mimi looked about the room. “From me.” She stood up. “I know you all have been hesitant to take any money from me, but as I understand it from Andrew, public funds are only slowly trickling in from the notice we posted in The Times. Look, it’s fine, it’s a movie or two—without sounding arrogant, I mean. I have more than enough anyway. And God knows my fiancé does, too. Then once the books unrelated to Jane Austen are sold off at the appropriate time and place, the trust will have tens of thousands of pounds to purchase the cottage and as many Austen artifacts as it chooses, as well as to generate enough interest on the capital for future endeavours.”
Adeline and Dr. Gray looked at each other, then back at Mimi.
“You will allow us to pay you back, though, once the trust realizes such profits from the sale?”
“If you insist.” Mimi smiled. “I have the utmost faith in both Yardley and Evie here that the library’s sale will enrich the trust by that amount many times over.”
“Well, then,” announced Dr. Gray, “let’s put this to a vote.”
* * *
By the time the meeting was over, it was too late for Mimi to get to Alton and catch the London train back to her hotel. Adeline offered her one of her two spare bedrooms, to save the mile walk back to the Great House, and Mimi acquiesced, so exhausted by the exciting events of the night that she was willing to forego another night’s sleep in a place steeped in Austen history.
As they approached Adeline’s front garden in the moonlight, Mimi looked back down the quaint village lane behind them. “Dr. Gray seemed in a better mood tonight than at the last meeting.”
“I guess earth-shattering historical discoveries will do that to a man,” Adeline replied.
“The two of you seemed to be getting along better, too. That last meeting, I swear I thought you were going to tear a strip off him. If you don’t mind me asking, I always wondered, what was going on there?”
“Just a misunderstanding, I think.” Adeline held the gate open to let Mimi pass, still a little intimidated by the famous actress through no fault of her own. Adeline was increasingly impressed by the glamorous actress’s education and acute understanding of Austen, as well as her very real and down-to-earth manner. Adeline didn’t think it was just an act, either—Mimi seemed to be completely lacking in competitive edge and wholly focused on her own tasks before her. Adeline was the same way—it was, she felt sure, what made her such an easy target for women such as Liberty Pascal, who spread their tentacles far and wide in a constant overswoop, intent on a range of victims.
“Really—a misunderstanding? Dr. Gray doesn’t strike me as the kind of man who gets things wrong.”
“I think he thought there was something going on between Adam and me. Which is obviously completely ridiculous.”
“Obviously.”
The two women looked at each other for a second, eyebrows raised suggestively, each waiting for the other to speak.