Contents ( 57)
- Prologue
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- Twenty-One
- Twenty-Two
- Twenty-Three
- Twenty-Four
- Twenty-Five
- Twenty-Six
- Twenty-Seven
- Twenty-Eight
- Twenty-Nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-One
- Thirty-Two
- Thirty-Three
- Thirty-Four
- Thirty-Five
- Thirty-Six
- Thirty-Seven
- Thirty-Eight
- Thirty-Nine
- Forty
- Forty-One
- Forty-Two
- Forty-Three
- Forty-Four
- Forty-Five
- Forty-Six
- Forty-Seven
- Forty-Eight
- Forty-Nine
- Fifty
- Fifty-One
- Fifty-Two
- Fifty-Three
- Acknowledgements
- About the Author
- Also by Sharon Gosling
Rachel took a moment, collecting her thoughts. ‘I don’t know about you, but even if I wasn’t completely convinced that Edward McCreedy was our man, I’ve always thought that this mysterious builder and owner of the initials must be a man.’
Toby paused with his own glass halfway to his lips. ‘Yes. That has definitely been my assumption too.’
Rachel tapped her glass with a fingernail, a slight frown on her face. ‘You know what I realized earlier today? I’ve heard the story about James MacDonald’s mad wife a million times. A few details change, but it essentially always stays the same: James MacDonald died when his mad wife set fire to the house and burned it to the ground with him inside it. But do you know what I’ve never heard included in that story? What her name was. I have no idea what James MacDonald’s mad wife was called. Do you?’
‘No,’ Toby said. ‘I don’t.’
Rachel nodded and then put down her glass. ‘I’m going to show you what’s in this box now.’
Rachel opened the box and lifted out a small bundle of bubble wrap. She placed the parcel on the table and unwound the crackling plastic to reveal a book wrapped in yellowing tissue paper. As she removed this layer, Toby saw a volume bound in dove-grey leather. Rachel turned the book around so he could see it the right way up and opened the cover to reveal the frontispiece.
SENSE AND SENSIBILITY
BY A LADY
‘Bloody hell,’ Toby said. ‘Is that—’
‘It’s a first edition,’ Rachel told him. ‘Austen published anonymously to begin with. This is a first printing. They’re rare, but not impossible to find. This would be considered in mint condition, except for the fact that it was originally published in three volumes but here they have been bound together as one. That was most likely done to match the style of the purchaser’s own library bindings, which was a trend for this period. Also, they’re inscribed.’
‘Inscribed?’ Toby asked. ‘Do you mean – by Austen herself?’
‘No. It was obviously given as a gift, which is what I want to show you.’
Rachel carefully turned a page and Toby saw that someone had added a dedication in beautiful cursive script.
To my darling Eveline, as we look forward to the birth of our child.
How lucky I am to have you both. All my love and eternal devotion, your husband, James.
‘Eveline,’ he said.
‘Eveline MacDonald,’ Rachel clarified.
Toby looked up at her. ‘E.M.?’
Rachel closed the book and folded it neatly back into its wrapping. ‘How about that?’
‘But James MacDonald had no children.’
‘No children that lived,’ Rachel pointed out.
Toby leaned back in his chair, absorbing this information. ‘This could just be another coincidence. The Austen wasn’t in the camera obscura room, it was under Cullen’s bed. We can’t know if it came from there.’
‘I think we can,’ Rachel said.
‘Oh? How?’
‘Because this leather is the same grey that James MacDonald used for all his private bindings. And besides, there’s more.’ She reached into the box and pulled out another three neatly bubble-wrapped packages. ‘Three more, in fact. To make up all four of the novels that Austen published in her lifetime, all bound in the same way.’