Page 58 of Much Ado About Margaret
IN TWO VOLUMES.
BY A LADY.
VOL. I.
LONDON:
PRINTED FOR B. DARROW,
MILITARY LIBRARY, WHITEHALL.
1817.
A note slipped out from between the next pages. Maggie’s hands shook as she cradled the precious book to her stomach with her left, and with her right, carefully unfolded the letter.
For the author,
It is with pride that I present to you a first edition of the first volume ofThe Killbrideby A Lady, bound in goatskin, the whole of which is to be published in two duodecimo volumes. You will find it in cloth binding at the circulating libraries of London, where it is already proving quite popular. Our small press will do what it can to meet the demand. As for the profits generated by this novel, they are entirely yours. Miss Regina Applethwaite generously put up the sum required to print the run, and has forfeited all expectable income fromThe Killbride,instructing that it should instead go to the author.
This does not violate the terms of your arrangement with Mrs. Burton, as there is no indication that you, dear one, are the author. This has been done with no expectation of acknowledgment or thanks; if it would endanger your family, do not respond to this gesture, merely take it with the spirit in which it is meant: my sincere respect and love.
You once wrote that there is no Margaret Arden without her writing. We both know I have never hesitated to offer critique where needed, and in this, I feel strongly, you are wrong. For I fell in love with a woman, not a book, and if you could never produce another word again, it would not diminish you in my eyes.
With unflinching admiration,
Mr. Bridger Darrow
“I can’t breathe,” Maggie whispered, reading the note again and again. “I really don’t think I can breathe.”
“You’re speaking well enough,” said Ann.
“Hold her up, Ann! Hold her up! Don’t let her damage the book!” Violet crowded them, hands flung out wide.
Ann laughingly took Maggie by the shoulders, standing behind her, prepared to catch the lady if she indeed fell. Tiny spasms of shock rolled through Maggie’s body. It felt like her tongue had touched lightning. She flipped through the book, confirming that yes, those were her words printed in a real book. It was unbearably beautiful.
Hewas unbearably beautiful. He had done it for her. After her cold, stony silence, he had still done it for her.
“Is it real?” she asked, gazing up at them in a daze.
“Absolutely real,” said Ann.
“Can you believe Miss Applethwaite helped?” Violet shook her head in disbelief. “I thought she had all the depth of a boiled leek, but I am happy to be wrong.”
“After your last letter,” Ann added, “I instructed Lane to share with Mr. Darrow that we would be in town in October, and that if he had any…important errands for us to run, we would be at his disposal. It just so happens, he had a very specific task in mind.”
“But then, you’ve seen him,” Maggie murmured, drifting afew steps toward the door. She hadn’t removed her coat or bonnet.
“We have,” Violet told her, grinning ear to ear.
“And how did he look?”
Violet held her hands to her lips. “Still in love with you.”
It was then that Aunt Eliza chose to appear. Mr. Burton was nowhere to be seen, which was usually the case, and given his grumpy demeanor, nobody ever complained about it. Feathered and frocked in jewellike purple, Eliza opened her arms to greet her guests. “But what is the matter, girls?” Her eyes fell keenly and swiftly on the book and letter in Maggie’s grasp. “What is that?” she asked, sharp. Lord, but she had a devilishly keen nose for Maggie’s misbehavior.
But Maggie scarcely heard her. She certainly didn’t heed her. “I have to go to him.”
Frantic, Violet’s head snapped back and forth between her sister and her aunt. “Run, sister, I will hold the line!”
