Jane Austen Stole My Boyfriend Read Online Free PDF

own children, we
have to remember that your mother left your brother as your guardian, not us. Now your brother has declared that he will not countenance an engagement between you and Captain Williams and that
means that you must not correspond or meet with the captain – except as a friend of the family of course. Will you promise me that you will not do this while you are under my roof?’
    I thought for a moment and then I told him that I would obey his orders. He looked a little surprised at that, almost as if he were half sorry that he was not able to use all of his prepared
arguments.
    ‘And will you agree to your aunt opening this letter and judging whether it is a suitable letter for a young girl in your position to receive?’
    Without a word I handed it to my aunt, who looked annoyed at her husband’s scruples. Nevertheless, she was probably curious, because she broke the seal and opened it quite quickly,
spreading out the page.
    A tiny forget-me-not slid out and I picked it up quickly before anyone else could touch it. Mr Austen was looking out of the window in a slightly embarrassed way and did not see the flower, but
Mrs Austen gave a quick grin. She scanned the letter quickly and then handed it to me.
    ‘Perfectly correct in every way,’ she said. ‘Read it aloud to your uncle, Jenny.’
    So I read aloud in a colourless voice, the letter in one hand and the forget-me-not clutched in the other:

    I folded the letter and returned it meekly to my aunt, who briskly handed it back to me.
    ‘Well, well . . . well, that all seems satisfactory. My dear, perhaps I’ll leave you to speak with Jenny.’ Mr Austen shot off back to his breakfast.
    ‘Hmm,’ said Mrs Austen when he had gone. ‘That’s a clever young man of yours, my dear. He guessed that your uncle would have these scruples. That’s gentlemen for
you, Jenny. Your uncle is the best of men, but when he puts his foot down about something, well, we might as well give in as waste our time trying to change his mind. I suppose the message is in
the forget-me-not, is that it?’
    When I looked back Mrs Austen was pursing her lips in a satisfied manner.
    ‘He’s a nice young man,’ she said. She seemed to think for a minute and then said, avoiding my gaze, ‘Jane liked him, didn’t she, Jenny? I suppose there is nothing
wrong in Jane writing to him and giving him news of you?’
    I nodded. I was about to say that I had thought of that idea also, but then I decided that was enough. There was a gleam in my aunt’s eyes which warned me to say no more.
    She looked at me with satisfaction and pushed the curls away from my face, patting my cheek gently. ‘You’re so like your poor mother,’ she said with a burst of emotion.
‘She was such a pretty girl. I don’t know why she married Dr Cooper. Your brother is the image of him.’ And then she kissed me quickly and we went back to the breakfast parlour.
As I slid into my seat beside Jane her eyes scrutinized me and I smiled blandly and helped myself to breakfast.

Friday, 15 April 1791
    Today was such fun. At last the great day of the performance of the play had arrived. Mr Austen’s pupils will be going home for their Easter holiday tomorrow, so this is
the final opportunity to have all the cast together. Even James, who is so fussy, just can’t have any more rehearsals.
    But before I write about that I must write about the letter.
    After I had finished writing in my journal yesterday evening, I said to Jane that I wished that I could write a long letter to Thomas, but I had promised Mr Austen not to – and Thomas
could not really write to Jane or everyone would want to know where her letter came from. And then I suddenly got a good idea and thought of Harry Digweed, the boy who lives next door to the
Austens.
    The Digweeds lived in an ancient manor house next door to Steventon church. Harry was the second son, a quiet, friendly boy with a nice smile but not much to say for himself. He