Page 64 of The Secret Diary of Anne de Bourgh

She put down her sewing and went to fetch her writing things.

I am glad she has so much to look forward to. She misses him, of course, but she knows that he wishes to come back to her.

It must be a very comfortable thing to know.

23 August

Mr Byerly came this morning, and I have returned Mr Thurston’s books.

I had put the three volumes together before he arrived, with a slip of paper marking the illustration I liked best. After a great deal of consideration, I had returned to the picture of Malvolio appearing before Olivia.

Mr Byerly seemed pleased. “I had hoped you would choose that one!”

“Because you showed it to me?” I asked.

“Because you laughed when you saw it.”

I did not quite know what to say to this.

“It is very amusing,” I answered finally, looking down at the page. We examined it again, and I pointed out a small detail in the background which neither of us had noticed before. He said that I had made better use of the loan than he had, and asked whether I would like to keep the volumes a little longer.

I thanked him, but said that I ought not to deprive Mr Thurston of them indefinitely. “I have had a great deal of pleasure from them. Please thank him for permitting you to bring them.”

Mr Byerly promised that he would.

Richard joined us for a few moments then. He asked which picture I had chosen and listened to our explanation, but soon found a reason to leave us together, intercepting Kitty even as she was making her way towards us and taking her away with him.

I watched this without saying anything.

After Mr Byerly had departed, however, I went to find Richard. He was in the library, alone. He looked up at once when I entered, and closed the book he had been reading.

“Have you come to reproach me for hiding from the company? I wanted a little solitude, I am sorry.”

“No, that is not why I am here,” I told him.

He must have heard something in my voice, for his expression grew serious. “What is the matter, Annie?”

I had thought myself quite ready to speak. Now that he was looking at me, I found it difficult to begin. The question which popped out of my mouth was not the one I had prepared to start with, but I suppose it did as well as any to broach the topic.

“Why did you take Kitty away on Thursday?”

“Kitty?” Richard repeated, looking puzzled.

“When we were looking at the pictures,” I explained. “You said that Georgiana wished to speak to her, but she was enjoying the book too.”

“Ah.” He seemed to hesitate, and then shrugged. “I did not suppose she would object to giving Byerly a little opportunity to speak to you.”

“He was speaking to me!” I protested.

“Without quite so much assistance from the rest of us.” Richard smiled, as though he expected me to be amused.

I was not. “You took her away again today, too, as she was approaching us. Do you wish me to encourage him?”

“Yes,” he said. “Of course.”

He said it with no hesitation whatever. There was not a hint of reservation in his expression.

I looked down at the arm of the chair beside me. There was a small place where the fabric had worn smooth beneath somebody’s hand, and I found myself passing my finger over it.