Sanditon: A Sisterhood Forms

45

Mary had been seated for hours in the study at Bedford Place. The desktop was strewn with layers of old letters from Georgiana, and she continued assiduously combing through yet another box of correspondence, seeking a word, a clue - anything that might offer up more information on her whereabouts. She heard the distant rumblings of the footman's voice as he greeted someone at the front door, and she took stock of the veritable nest of paper she had created in the hours since Sidney left for Gretna Green, making a last-minute attempt to tidy the room as the voices came nearer.

"Susan," she started, pushing her chair back reflexively to stand, reacting to her sudden appearance in the study's doorway.

She paused before stepping into the room, taking a look at the mounds of paper upon the desk. "You've been busy, I see," she said quietly.

"Yes," Mary felt herself flush slightly as she took in her surroundings through another's eyes, "I suppose I'm merely doing my part. Waiting alone for news did not suit me, after all."

"Right... I can just about imagine how that must feel."

"I imagine you could."

"Mary..." Susan sat in a chair before the desk, lowering herself slowly as the fire crackled in the grate, and looked down at her hands. "I'm not sure," she said at last, "where or how to begin." She lifted her gaze to Mary's across the desk, "but I must ask for your forgiveness for what I am about to say."

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"Really, Mrs Higgins, that was the most delightful dining room. I could pass an entire evening there quite happily with such refreshments."

The head housekeeper at Hemlock Hall blushed, her eyelids fluttering as she gazed at the floor for a moment as if to collect herself. "You are too kind, Mr... what was it again?"

"Denham. Edward Denham," Arthur said in a jolly tone that made Georgiana suppress a laugh of her own.

"You will find my brother's moods to be irritatingly infectious," said Georgiana, finally finding an outlet for her amusement over Arthur's performance.

"Brother... ?" the housekeeper looked between them, confused, "oh dear, I do apologise. I thought you two were..."

"That we were...not brother and sister?" Arthur said, beginning to laugh, "Oh, nooo, no, no. My dear sister and I are related paternally. After mother died, our father found a new love in dear Clara's mother. It rather seems a lifetime ago, doesn't it, dear sister?"

Georgiana looked over at him, "like another lifetime, entirely."

"Oh... indeed," the housekeeper looked from Arthur to Georgiana and back again, wide-eyed at the story as silence fell around them.

"Right..." Georgiana continued, "tell me, Mrs Higgins, where might we be off to next?"

"Well," Mrs Higgins stepped lightly down the corridor, "the reception room is up ahead, and I have yet to show you the grandest part of the house: the fountain court." She spoke the words in an excited whisper as if it were the manor's best-kept secret.

"Does the house have a library?" asked Georgiana, "Or a study of sorts? We are in the planning stages of refurbishing the study at Denham Place, you see, and I was rather hoping to be inspired before our journey home."

"Yes, indeed," Mrs Higgins said, wringing her hands slightly, "but... I'm afraid that the late Mr Campion's former study is off-limits to guests."

"Oh," said Georgiana, looking away, "of course, I understand. It's only... I had heard from a friend that the... desk was quite a sight to behold."