Letter Rack, Edward Collier (circa 1698). Art Gallery of South Australia / Public domain via Wikimedia Commons.
I love all the items that are in this painting. It gives one much to look at, doesn’t it? In chapter 6 of Protecting Miss Darcy, Georgiana is adding to the letter she is writing to her aunt.
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You do remember Mr. C from my last page of writing, do you not? I can now say that I not only suppose you would not approve of him but, with confidence, I can declare you would not. I must also say that his handsomeness fades with his forward actions. Upon arriving, he seemed relieved to see that we had not yet departed and wasted no time in dismounting from his horse and coming to my side.
[from Protecting Miss Darcy, Marrying Elizabeth book 6]
PUBLISHED TO YOUTUBE BY PHILLIP PHILLIPS ON AUGUST 2, 2012.
This song is one I often listen to as an instrumental cover by The Piano Guys while writing, but I thought that today, I would share the vocal version, which is on my Whatever for Whenever Spotify playlist. (This song on Spotify can be found here.)
The lyrics are what has me pairing this song with Master of Longbourn today. The Mr. Collins in this book is searching for a home. He has demons that fill him with fear. However, he finds himself surrounded by those who are willing to help make Longbourn his home.
Using the candle he held in his hand, Collins lit a second one that was in the lamp on the table next to where Mr. Bennet had been sitting earlier that day. He looked around the room.
Mr. Bennet had told him he was to make this room his second refuge. His first was his bedchamber, of course. There he could lock himself away without there being much chance of being disturbed, but here, he was more accessible, and here is where Bingley had very firmly insisted he should read each evening.
Truth be told, Bingley had wished for him to sit with the others in the sitting room, but Darcy had pled his case and convinced Bingley that the study would be better for reviewing what needed to be learned.
Collins tipped his head and eyed the book on the desk. He wanted to go over it again. He was positive he could remember nearly everything Mr. Bennet had told him about the tenants listed in it. He glanced at the door. No one was with him; he could peek at it.
He crossed to the desk, placed his hand on the book, and just as he was about to lift the cover, shook his head and retreated to the chair near the lamp without the book. He did not want to have to tell Bingley or Darcy tomorrow afternoon that he had spent another evening studying, for both gentlemen had thought it best if he spent one evening consuming the novel he had promised Kitty he would read.
He sighed as he settled into his chair, and taking up his book, he placed it unopened in his lap while he pondered the lovely Miss Kitty Bennet and watched the shadows chase each other in the flickering dance of the candles’ flames. Perhaps in the new year when Bingley had his ball, he would dance two sets with her. Perhaps by then, she would even be accepting of his addresses, or at least, by then, he would have learned enough from Darcy and Bingley to be able to present them. By spring, he might even find himself in a position to make her his wife. That thought could not be made without a smile finding its way to his lips.
“May I enter?”
Evelina clattered to the floor as Collins started at the sweet voice that called to him from the door.
I hope you are staying safe and well. I and my family are safe and well, which, this week, means more than we have not contracted a virus because last weekend our province was the site of the worst mass shooting in Canada. To say it has been a challenging week is an understatement.
Be that as it may, I still went to work and did the things, and, below, you will find information about what I accomplished in my writing life this week, as well as publishing information and book sale news.
Writing News
Here’s an update on my writing I have with a short excerpt from two of them.
Her Convenient Forever: I wrote chapter three this week. So, I am on track to start posting that story on my blog on May 12 as I had hoped I would be. Here is an excerpt from chapter 3.
A cottager leaned whispering by her hives, Telling the bees some news, as they lit down, And entered one by one their waxen town. — Illustration from The monitions of the unseen, and poems of love and childhood; 1871; author, Jean Ingelow. Internet Archive Book Images / No restrictions via Wikimedia
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“For me?” Georgiana cried. “I should think it would be very bad manners for me to come looking for assistance from a gentleman who was injured fetching me a flower to sketch.”
“Do not apologize again.”
“But if you had not tried to shoo that bee away from me…”
“I knew the risk.”
[from Protecting Miss Darcy, Marrying Elizabeth book 6]
PUBLISHED TO YOUTUBE BY RYANN DARLING ON JANUARY 6, 2018.
This is a video I “stumbled” upon by accident on YouTube while looking for Music Monday video options. What a sweet discovery! I think that this song pairs well with the relationship between Lydia and Richard in my Marrying Elizabeth series — especially with the scene they share at the end of the chapter I am sharing below — and if you’ve read the wedding breakfast scene at the end of Loving Lydia and remember the song Lydia sings for Darcy and Elizabeth, as well as her colonel, I think you’ll agree that this is another song she might sing to him. 🙂
Mary huffed as she stood beside Elizabeth, waiting to be allowed entrance to Netherfield the next day. There had been a long and lengthy discussion between Mary and her father after Lydia had told him what Mary had said on their walk.
“You are to be polite,” Lydia said.
“I know,” Mary grumbled.
“And apologize.”
Again, Mary huffed. “I know. Stop speaking.”
“Good day, Mr. Harvey,” Jane said as the door opened. “We are here to see…” She looked at her sisters. “Well, everyone it seems.”
“Very good, ma’am. If you will follow me.”
“That lace Mama selected looked very nice on Elizabeth’s wedding dress, did it not?” Jane asked Lydia. She was attempting as always to direct the conversation so that the argument from a few moments ago would be lost.
“It was lovely,” Lydia agreed.
“Only two more weeks,” Kitty whispered, “and we shall have to call on you here, Jane.”
Jane smiled broadly. “It seems so far away and yet so close.”
When he had asked, their mother had assured Darcy yesterday that she thought all the necessary preparations for a wedding would be completed by the end of the week. There was nothing to be concerned about except whether Colonel Fitzwilliam would be able to attend and if standing for a full service would be too much for Mr. Bennet’s leg. Therefore, a date had finally been decided upon, and Elizabeth knew that Jane was eagerly anticipating becoming the mistress of Netherfield.
