Read Memory: Volume 1, Lasting Impressions, A Tale of Pride and Prejudice (Memory: A Tale of Pride and Prejudice) for Free Online

be?”  Lydia bit into an apple and leaned over the table where Kitty was sketching. 
    “A cat!”  She looked up and glared at her.  “It is perfectly obvious.”
    “It looks like an orange pillow.”  She took another bite and wiped the juice running down her chin with the back of her hand.  “Why do you want to waste your time playing with crayons?”
    “I enjoy it.”  She said defensively. 
    Mrs. Bennet entered the room and looked over the drawing.  “Do not mark up the table, Kitty.”
    “I was not going to, Mama, I am careful.” 
    “Well, see to it that you are.”  She tilted her head.  “Are you drawing a cushion?”
    “That is what I thought it was!”  Lydia declared.
    “What a clever girl you are, my dear Lydia!  And so pretty!”  Mrs. Bennet touched her hair and patted her face.
    “It is a cat.”  Kitty said quietly.
    “Mama, will you show me how to retrim my bonnet?  I think it should be in autumn colours now.”
    “Oh yes, my dear, it is very important to know how to dress properly!”  The two left the room laughing and discussing ribbons. 
    Kitty looked down at her drawing and back to the empty doorway, then putting her crayons in the box; she balled up her drawing and threw it in the grate.  “Wait for me!”  She called and ran after them.
    Mary looked up from her chair in the corner where she had remained unnoticed, and turned the page of the book she had just found in her father’s library that morning, containing Doctor Fordyce’s sermons.  Quietly she stood and walked to the table, closing the art book that lay open there.  Elizabeth had given it to Kitty the day before, encouraging her to read it and study the techniques for drawing that it described.  She had laughingly admitted her utter incompetence in the exercise but assured Kitty that with practice she would do well, just as she hoped to do someday with her piano playing.  Kitty glowed with the attention of her elder sister and sat right down to work.  Mary had watched her from the corner, and every time Lydia ran through the room Kitty would look up with a wistful expression.  Now Mary could hear her mother and her sisters laughing in another part of the house, and uninvited, she returned to her sermons.
    In the drawing room, Elizabeth bent over her journal.
     
    4 September 1807
    I have tried again to interest Kitty in some occupation beyond ribbons and given her an art book to study.  How such an instructional tome found its way into Papa’s bookroom is a mystery.  I suspect that it was part of the collection he bought when the Porter family was forced to sell their belongings to pay off their creditors.  She seemed genuinely pleased to receive some praise.  I worry over her; she is so influenced by Lydia.  I think that she is as I was at that age, hoping for some attention from Mama and imitating Lydia because she always gets it.  Jane always had Mama’s eye then, especially when she had just turned fifteen.  I wonder if Jane has ever heard a cross word from Mama, no wonder she is so serene!  Now that Mama’s only words to me seem to be criticism or invocations to marry, I believe that I will spend more time walking than seeking her out.
     
    Elizabeth heard the gaiety and rolled her eyes at Jane.  “I give up.”
    “You can never do that, Lizzy.  There is hope for all of us.”  She smiled and went back to her needlework.  “Now play me that new tune you have been practicing.”
    “You are too good, Jane.  Have you ever had a vindictive thought for anyone?”
    “mmm, no.”  Jane laughed and Elizabeth shook her head. “Come on now; impress me with your skill.  Pretend that I am Mr. Darcy.”  She giggled to see the warm smile that appeared on her sister’s face.  “Ah, so that is the secret, just mention your sweetheart and all is right with the world.” 
    “He is hardly my sweetheart do not tease me, Jane!  I will never see him again and if Mama heard any of this