Teaser Tuesday

Teaser Tuesday!

From A WOMAN OF CONSEQUENCE by Anna Dean:

Chapter One

Badleigh Vicarage, Wednesday, 8th October 1806

My dear Eliza,

I promised yesterday that just as soon as I had leisure for writing I should send you a full and satisfactory account of Penelope Lambe's accident at Madderstone Abbey; and so I shall begin upon it. Though I fear I may have to leave off at any moment, for there is a great deal of needlework to be done for the little boys at school and Margaret has already opened her workbox and begun to look at me with displeasure.

In yesterday's note I was kind enough to hint at some very peculiar cirumstances surrounding Penelope's fall and I do not doubt that since receiving it you have enjoyed all the apprehensions and heightened imaginings which such hints can supply. And I trust my account will not disappoint you, for it was a very strange business indeed -- one which I cannot, yet, understand at all.

The first thing you must know is that it all came about because of the ghost -- I mean, of course, the Grey Nun of Madderstone.

And, by the way, it occurs to me ...

"Well, Dido," said Mrs. Margaret Kent heavily, "I daresay that when I was unmarried I had leisure for writing long letters." She regarded her sister-in-law with the tragic aspect of a saint bound for the pagan arena in Rome. "I declare it is more than a fortnight since I touched my writing desk."

"Yes," said the unrepentent Dido without ceasing to move her pen. "It is quite one of the evils of matrimony, is it not?"

...it occurs to me, Eliza, that the Grey Nun is a remarkably important lady. The possession of a family ghost confers such dignity! I believe that every family which has any claim at all to grandeur should have a ghost. I consider it a kind of necessary which should be attended to as soon as the fortune is made and the country estate purchased.

Everyone's consequence is increased by the presence of a ghost.

For here are the two Crockford sisters, who are not more than some kind of third cousins to the Harman-Footes of Madderstone, but they must walk their visitor, Penelope, two miles across the fields to see the Grey Nun. Well, not perhaps quite her, for she cannot of course be relied upon to be always at home to morning callers -- but at least the ruins in which she is reputed to appear.

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I hear the voice of the actress who played Jane in the miniseries of Pride and Prejudice in this character. I haven't really gotten beyond the second page in my reading so I'm looking forward to getting down to business soon.

Tonight, we have Rehab: Party at the Hard Rock to watch. I've decided to work the next four Wedesdays; the overtime will help with expenses for San Francisco. Oy, I'm glad I'm going but why did I ever decide to do this? The cost is so crazy. But I think I'm supposed to go.

It was busy at work so I'm looking forward to some down time before heading back in the morning. We're supposed to have a high chance of storms tonight so we'll see if we get a show. I've got to go fix dinner...

Much love,

PK the Bookeemonster