“Yes, that was Sergeant Cuff’s guess. I was disappointed not to have met you then but am happy we shall have an opportunity to become better acquainted now.”
They smiled at each other and Aurelia felt elated to think she’d finally get a chance to chat with one of her favorite literary characters.
“Does the shop look as it did before, Jane? Tell me.”
A man with curly black hair to his shoulders and sharp features had spoken, his words addressed to a younger woman at his side who was wearing a simple grey dress. His eyes wandered the room but didn’t seem to focus on anything.
“The shop looks just as it always has, Edward,” the woman said, her eyes soft as she gazed at him.
Aurelia instantly knew they were Jane and Rochester. And she understood that he was asking Jane to describe the shop because he’d been nearly blinded at the end ofJane Eyre.
“Mr. and Mrs. Rochester! Welcome—I’m so glad to meet you both.”
“We are very pleased to meet you,” Jane said with a smile and nod to Aurelia.
An older man, perhaps in his sixties, stepped forward. His face was shining with enthusiasm as he pulled along a woman of about the same age. She seemed to tuck herself into his shadow, nearly hiding her face behind him.
“Hello to you, Miss Lyndham!” the man bellowed out. “I’ve never been to your shop before, but my sister, Miss Matty, tells me she visited when it was owned by a Miss Lucy.”
Now she recognized them; it was Matty and her brother Peter, fromCranford. Matty, always shy, peeked out from behind her brother, who gently tugged her forward to face Aurelia.
“Lucy was my great aunt. I never got to meet her, but if you have any memories you could share, I’d love to hear about her while you’re visiting.”
“I have a store of memories about her, indeed, Miss Lyndham. I should be happy to call upon them to give you a sense of your relative.” Miss Matty spoke quietly but animatedly, as though eager to speak in spite of her shyness.
Biscuit had begun wandering amongst the characters, attempting to investigate their clothes, which temporarily morphed back into mist and printed words with each sniff. Matty drew back into her brother for a moment, before laughing in relief at Biscuit’s harmless wagging tail and lolling tongue.
“There is a dog here, Edward—much smaller than your Pilot, but very friendly,” Jane told Rochester.
“Can we reach out to pet him, Jane? Is he one of ours?”
“No, it seems he belongs to the shop, not a book,” Jane said.
“Yes, he’s my… my husband’s dog.”
Aurelia would truthfully be able to call Oliver her husband soon enough, but in the meantime she’d found it easier to tell characters that they were already married. The white lie avoided awkward conversations about nineteenth versus twenty-first-century views of cohabitation between unmarried couples.
“You hesitated, Miss Lyndham. May I conclude that you are newly married, and are not yet accustomed to the word ‘husband’?”
Lizzy had a sparkle in her eye as she spoke, giving Aurelia a momentary jolt to think she’d figured out the truth.
“I am, yes,” Aurelia said nervously. “It’s… very new.”
“Best wishes to you, then! I suppose we must call you Mrs. Lyndham.”
“Oh, no.” Aurelia blushed at the mistake. “You can just call me Aurelia.”
“Aurelia, then. And you must call me Lizzy, as Marigold did.”
“Let’s all agree, shall we?” Rochester called out. “That’s something I always liked about this shop—modern manners.”
Darcy looked taken aback by Rochester’s casualness, but when he turned and saw Lizzy’s smile, he seemed to try and match her good humor.
“My sister tells me the shop looked quite different when she last visited. Tell them, Matty.”
Matty’s eyes widened, but at a look of encouragement from Peter, she gathered her courage.
“In Lucy’s time, the curtains were a pale pink linen, though slightly faded with age, I must own. The carpet was a lovely aquamarine, like a tropical ocean underfoot. I once coveted a turban in that shade, but alas I never did acquire one.”
