Attempting Elizabeth by Jessica Grey Read Free Book Online

about.
    Likely I was a total nut case and had already been committed to a mental institution by concerned friends and family. My choice of hallucination seemed to be the pages of Pride and Prejudice , though why my poor, addled brain would pick Georgiana, I honestly had no idea.
    I walked over to the window and looked out. We were on the first floor, and the sitting room window overlooked a cobblestone street, lined on either side with stately looking homes.
    “We are in Ramsgate,” I said out loud. I was mentally orienting myself in the novel’s storyline. The seaside town of Ramsgate is where Georgiana Darcy had been seduced by Mr. Wickham into agreeing to elope with him. We were discussing Wickham, but Mrs. Younge hadn’t acted as if he had already proposed to Georgiana—to me —I corrected myself.
    “Yes, of course. Do you think you might need to retire? Mayhap if you lay down for a few moments. Mr. Wickham did promise to call today. We do not want him to see you in such a confused state.”
    “Don’t we? I mean, do we not?” I tried to imitate Mrs. Younge’s speaking pattern as I turned my head to look back at her. “And my brother, Mr. Darcy, we do not expect him?”
    Mrs. Younge actually started at that and I smiled to myself. Snake, I thought. It’d ruin all your plans if Darcy showed up right now. Although he manages to ruin them for you soon enough. I wondered how long it would be until he did show up, wrecking Wickham’s and Mrs. Younge’s nefarious plans and swooping me off to London. Would it be possible to stay crazy that long? Being crazy might be worth it if I got to see Mr. Darcy in the flesh. Although, I’d be his sister, which was kind of awkward and lame, but at least I’d get to see him.
    I must be an incredibly sick cookie to be hoping to remain in a complete state of mental breakdown in order to see a hot fictional guy. I’m obviously not in a healthy place. Could it be that seeing Ashley with her paws all over Mark upset me more than I’d realized?
    Mrs. Younge was now watching me with narrowed eyes. If she could have heard my thoughts, she would likely have run screaming from the room, but I could tell by her calculating look she was trying to figure out how to best question me about my contact with Darcy. She must want to know if all her best laid plans were about to be dashed.
    “Your brother?” she asked in a sickly sweet voice. “Why no, I do not expect Mr. Darcy to visit. Unless you have heard from him that he is coming? I haven’t noticed that you have received any letters from him in the last few days.”
    “Oh no, I have not heard from him. I thought, perhaps, that you had.”
    Mrs. Younge visibly relaxed. “Why no, my dear. I have not heard from him. As far as I know, he remains in London.”
    I almost snorted. Luckily for Georgiana, Darcy didn’t feel the need to communicate his every move to Mrs. Younge. He would manage to take them all by surprise by showing up unannounced any day now.
    “Do we expect Mr. Wickham soon?” I asked. I am not quite sure how I felt about meeting Wickham. I wondered if there was some way I could fast forward my hallucination and get to the Darcy part while conveniently skipping the agreeing to elope with Wickham part. I’d frankly had quite enough of skeezy weasel men. I didn’t need to deal with literature’s skeeziest of all weasels on top of dealing with my real life issues.
    “Do sit down, Georgiana, you look quite pale. Mr. Wickham has been faithfully visiting us around two o’clock in the afternoon. I expect we shall see him then.”
    “Hmm.” I resisted the urge to look at my wrist for the watch that I knew wasn’t there and instead glanced at the clock in the corner of the room. It was 1:30 now, which meant I had a half hour to kill with this woman before Wickham made his appearance.
    I walked back over to the settee, sat down, and picked up my sampler once again. Mrs. Younge continued to look at me suspiciously, as if