The Jane Austen Society(61)

“Oh, yeah, I forgot,” Yardley said facetiously, “you’re a movie star. . . .”

Mimi ignored his playful dig. “He helped me find the graves, remember, of Cassandra and their mother? He’d never read a word of Jane Austen himself, though. It’s sad—he looks so, I don’t know, lonely somehow. The way he’s walking. He looked lonely then, too.”

“Where are we heading, by the way?”

“The first house on the corner of Wolf’s Lane, with the rosebushes out front and the green door. A Dr. Gray’s house.”

They watched up ahead as the man in the cap walked a few more yards and then turned to cross the street at the intersection of Wolf’s Lane and Winchester Road. He moved the books to his left arm, then knocked on the green front door of the rose-covered house with his right.

“Well, what do you know?” said Yardley. “One of the romantics.”

They looked at each other and smiled.





CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

Chawton, Hampshire

February 2, 1946

The Second Meeting of the Jane Austen Society

The first order of business was to welcome Frances Knight, Evie Stone, Mimi Harrison, and Yardley Sinclair to the Jane Austen Society and to approve both Frances Knight and Yardley Sinclair as the fourth and fifth trustees of the Jane Austen Memorial Trust. It had already been decided that Mimi should not take on the role and responsibilities of trusteeship, given her permanent residence in the States. And, as with Adam, Evie Stone would also be spared any of the possible legal, financial, and administrative burdens of involvement with the trust.

In light of his other role as executor of the Knight estate, Andrew was quick to point out Miss Knight’s potential interest in the cottage and the possibility of conflicts arising as a result. Accordingly, Miss Knight agreed to abstain from any vote on the use of trust funds to purchase the cottage or any other property to which she might still end up heir.

“So,” Dr. Gray said to the room from his seat near the front window, “we have five trustees in place, and a mission statement in the minutes that reflects our goal of acquiring the cottage as a future museum site in honour of Jane Austen. As chairman, I move that, in addition to our December motion to post a notice in the papers seeking public subscriptions, we now pursue with haste the possibility of any necessary bank loans.”

“Do we need to act so fast?” asked Evie.

“Yes, I’m afraid,” replied Andrew. “Although we have no reason yet to worry, a potential heir could launch a claim at any point within the next twelvemonth. If they manage to get a court order in their favour, they could then dispose of the property or any portion of it in whatever manner they choose. We want to be ready to make a quick offer should that happen, in the hopes of staving off any other competitive bids.

“Of course, if the estate resolves itself as it should”—Andrew looked pointedly in Frances’s direction—“Miss Knight could then do whatever she wanted with the cottage, so long as it is sold at market value or less. A trustee must not profit—or be perceived as profiting—unduly from a sale of their own asset back to the trust. Even at fair market, we’d still need a court order to approve any such sale by a trustee, although I don’t see any real issue with that, given the charitable purposes of all of this.”

“Exactly how much money do you need?” Mimi asked from her seat on the sofa facing him.

Dr. Gray glanced quickly at Andrew and gave a little cough. “Five thousand pounds, give or take.”

“I’d like to help out then, if I may.” Mimi looked about the room at the faces staring openly in astonishment at the movie star in their midst. “I’d like to pledge five thousand pounds to get this all started.”

Adeline watched with amusement from her chair next to Dr. Gray as both he and Andrew started to chivalrously shake their heads at the offer.

“Miss Harrison, really, that is too generous of you,” Dr. Gray spoke up. “We simply cannot take such a sum from you. I’m afraid we must insist.”

“May I at least provide something of value as collateral then, should you borrow any monies?”

Adeline continued to watch as Dr. Gray practically blushed under Mimi’s persistence.

“In fact, I brought something here today that I could lend to the society.” She took a small velvet box from her purse on the floor next to her and held it open.

Inside sat the two topaz crosses.

“They were acquired for me recently at auction, ironically for exactly five thousand pounds.”

Andrew got up and came over, well aware of the two necklaces from the Sotheby’s catalogue. “May I?” He held the box up to the front window until the afternoon winter light caught the amber in its dwindling rays.

“They belonged to both Jane and her sister—gifts from their sailor brother,” Mimi was telling them all. “They are the only known pieces of jewellery belonging to Austen, in addition to a bracelet and this ring. My engagement ring actually.”

A little self-consciously she now took the ring off and held it out before her, then watched as Adam, the farmer she had met years ago, came forward shyly. He held the ring in his hand and showed it to Adeline, who had joined him by his side.

“All these objects are only going to increase in value,” Yardley said, speaking up for the first time from his seat next to Mimi on the sofa. “The more money we can raise—and fast—the better.”