Throughout the years my mind has been filled with the modern image of London- a place of opportunity and bright futures. It may not be a place of grandeur or the home of the rich, but it everyone says that it has its own charm. A bustling city filled with workers and their families, I expected nothing more than excitement and enjoyment. Oh how I was wrong.
We went throughout a part of the city and it seemed to be filled to the brim with dirt and disease. Once we had gotten through that it seemed very modern and approachable, but I can not forget the image of the poor. I pity their situation, and I wish I hadn't seen so many of them on the brink of desperation and death.
We arrived at the Pennyworth household at the eleventh hour, of the fourth night of travel, and I was so tired from the journey that I half expected to fall to my knees and allow myself to fall into the land of dreams, but I pushed on and greeted the Pennyworth's with a bright smile.
The master of the house, Jeremy, kissed my hand and inquired after my father, to which I told him of my father's arrival within town next week. The mistress of the house, the graceful yet snobbish Matilda, merely cast me a smile when I curtsied. Instead of me, she turned towards me aunt and greeted her with much enthusiasm. My aunt is, of course, the more important one.
William and his wife, Helen, both greeted me. Helen was heavily pregnant, and I suspect that she shall soon be confined to her chambers. William was exactly as I had remembered him- much alike his father within looks but more so his mother with attitude. Helen, on the other hand, was very nice, although she did seem pale and tired.
Adelaide was not with the party, as she has married into the Seymour family. The younger brother, Richard, was polite at first but, from my experience within the past with him, he is a vile natured boy and was obviously putting up an act. And then, finally, my lost friend, Elizabeth, greeted me with a polite curtsy and smile.
I am now within my new chambers and, although it may be smaller than what I am used to, the whole atmosphere of the house seems to welcome me with grace and open arms. Perhaps it's too nice.
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I have just realized something, dear diary, I have been sent to this house, this city, for the courting season!
Oh how could I be so idiotic to not have discovered this within the long hours I had spent travelling here. I should have spent my time better. I should be spending my life better. Am I the only one that feels this way? I feel so lost. So confused. Alone.
I must have courage, and be kind. Things should be better after courting season. Shouldn't they? Maybe I'll find a nice, eligible bachelor that'll be satisfied with my fortune and connections enough to propose marriage. Things will work themselves out, and I'll become normal. Normal is good. At least, that's what I've always been told.
YOU ARE READING
The Secret Diary of Jane Elliot
RomanceJane Elliot was the young daughter of a wealthy gentleman in Victorian era England. In 1851 she began to write a secret diary. A diary that has survived to this very day. She was married to a man she did not love, she got sent to an asylum, fe...
