Page 23 of The Midnight Book Club
“Yes, they’re inPride and Prejudice, her best-known novel.”
Once again, Aurelia noticed Marianne’s look of disappointment.
“I, uh… I’m overstating that, really,” Aurelia stammered.“I’d say bothPride and Prejudiceand your novel are her most popular books.”
Elinor and Marianne exchanged pleased glances and Aurelia let out a quick breath of relief to have saved the moment.She started thinking of questions she’d like to ask about Lizzy, but was distracted when she spotted Count Vronsky looking at a bookshelf filled with literary criticism along the back wall of the mezzanine.
Glancing toward him, Elinor observed, “Count Vronsky appears to be widely read on a great deal of subjects.”
“Does he?I met him last night but haven’t spoken to him much since then.”
“He was very complimentary of your shop.He said it had some fine examples of the fiction of his day.In fact, he was with us when we were discussing the merits of Dickens and Trollope.”
“Really?I don’t remember a scene in his novel where he read their books.”Aurelia turned to Marianne.“I know some of the poets you like because Austen wrote that you liked them, but are there other poets you’ve read, like… William Wordsworth?I don’t remember her mentioning him in your book.”
“Oh yes, Wordsworth’s poems are a dear favorite,” Marianne said in what Aurelia recognized as her typically passionate manner.“I often feel as though his poems travel straight into my soul and roost there.His work has been a source of comfort in difficult times and a source of joy in happier ones.”
“So, you have experiences and memories that aren’t on the pages of your book?”
Aurelia looked up as she asked her question.Out of the corner of her eye, she’d noticed Vronsky slowly making his way toward the window seat.He now stood in front of them and bowed deeply.
“Forgive my unaccountable rudeness, ladies, but I could not help overhearing a portion of your conversation.I myself was a great admirer of Dickens.My life’s vagaries may not have been captured on the page, but thus far I have lived a full life, though it has not come without its sorrows.”
At these last words, Vronsky’s charming smile faded.
“I, too, have lived a full life beyond the page, Count Vronsky,” Marianne agreed.“Not every pastime, happiness, or hurt was described in my novel, but by no means has that limited the scope of my pursuits.”She seemed to understand he’d been alluding to romantic difficulties and perhaps sensed a kindred spirit.
“Do you disagree with anything your authors wrote about you?Are there things you believe didn’t happen the way they described them, or feelings your authors didn’t capture?”
“I do not dispute Miss Austen’s description of events.It may be difficult at times to reflect back on painful moments, but they are true to my experience of them,” reported Elinor.
“I concur completely, Elinor,” Count Vronsky joined in.“At times knowing the patterns of your life have been depicted in stark black ink can be bruising, but on reflection I have not found cause to dispute an occurrence in which I was involved.”
“Sergeant Cuff mentioned that he only knows about things he saw or experienced, or things other people told him about events that he didn’t see for himself.”
“That is true.We cannot know what takes place when we are not present,” said Marianne.
“We know what we think, see, and are told by others, just as you do,” Elinor added.
“I own I do envy readers who know and see all,” said Marianne.
“Yes, but even so, readers only know and see what an author reveals,” countered Aurelia, warming up to their debate.“Writers leave lots of questions unanswered for us.”
“Quite so, Miss Lyndham,” Vronsky said enthusiastically.“Though I am undecided as to whether I like an author who leaves much to the imagination, or one who explicates every moment in such detail that the reader is in no doubt as to what is occurring.”
From just below them, Rachel called up to Elinor and Marianne, asking them to come down and tell Marmee ‘that amusing story’ about their younger sister.Marianne smiled and said they’d be happy to, and she and Elinor stood and curtsied their goodbyes to Aurelia and Count Vronsky.
They looked on as Marianne and Elinor made their way down the spiral staircase, and Aurelia suddenly felt self-conscious.She was finally alone with Vronsky, able to ask him anything, and yet she was tongue-tied and couldn’t think of a single thing to say.
15
VronskysatnexttoAurelia on the window seat and was first to break the silence.
“It might be easiest, Miss Lyndham, to comprehend us to be as real as you are: capable of thought, emotion, and action.I understand that a man named Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy wrote a novel in which he described aspects of my life, but I view him as one might view a parent.He created me, but I live a life distinct from him and from the confines of my book.”
Vronsky paused, his lip quirking into a smile.
“Do I bore you with my philosophizing?I am amenable to any subject of interest to you, apart from banalities about the weather.”
