There Must Be Murder (15 page)

O! useful may it be to have shewn, that,
though the vicious can sometimes pour affliction upon the good,
their power is transient and their punishment certain; and that
innocence, though oppressed by injustice, shall, supported by
patience, finally triumph over misfortune!

Catherine made an impatient noise and thrashed a
bit under her quilt.

Henry looked down at her in surprise. “You
disagree with Mrs. Radcliffe, my sweet?”

“I once believed that innocence could triumph
over misfortune, but now I am not so sure.”

Henry closed the book and set it aside.
“Somehow, I do not think you are speaking of
Udolpho
.”

“No.” He waited, and she said, “Well, look at
Miss Beauclerk! She has injured your brother, and poor Mr. Shaw,
and now she gets what she always wanted: to be Lady Beauclerk, when
she should be forced to—”

“—take the veil, like Laurentini?”

“Well, yes! Or something like that! It does not
seem fair!”

“Consider, my sweet: to achieve her ambition,
Miss Beauclerk accepted a husband who is unlikely to make her very
happy. Some would say that her success will be her own
punishment.”

Catherine subsided and rested her head upon his
shoulder, suddenly wearied by it all. “I suppose.”

He kissed her forehead. “I fear the friends you
have made in Bath have given your faith in your fellow man a severe
trial. Shall we give up the lodgings, and go back to Woodston
early?”

She considered his suggestion for a moment. “No,
I would like to stay another week or two, if we can; the Beauclerks
will be gone, and perhaps we will make new acquaintances. Although
I cannot think of any friends I should like better than you, and
Eleanor and John.”

“Then I must make plans for your further
entertainment. We shall go to the bookseller’s tomorrow and choose
something else to read together. Another by Mrs. Radcliffe? Perhaps
The Italian
, or
The Romance of the Forest
?”

“Perhaps
The Midnight Bell
? I like the
sound of that one.”

“
The Midnight Bell
it is, then. And we
have not been out once yet in the curricle; Matthew tells me the
horses are getting fat and need exercise. One fine morning this
week I will drive you out to Bristol and you shall finally see
Blaise Castle.”

Henry’s words, meant to cheer Catherine, instead
distressed her. “I once thought it a real castle! I was such a
foolish creature. How could you ever fall in love with me?”

He looked down at her with a warm smile, his
eyes all affection. “How could I not love you, Catherine? How could
any man of sense not see all your good qualities? You were not
foolish, just innocent of the world; and as Mrs. Radcliffe has
taught us, innocence—“ he reached out and extinguished the candle—
“must always triumph.”

It was not very long before Catherine found
herself agreeing with that sentiment; for when he was inspired,
Henry could be very convincing indeed.

FINIS.

The authoress wishes to thank Cassandra
Chouinard for her illustrations, which are not only beautiful but
capture the fun of the story so well; Laura Boyle for pitching the
idea and featuring the story so prominently on the Jane Austen
Centre at Bath online magazine; Christina Hamilton for her expert
copy editing; Laura McDonald for her patience and much-needed
prodding, not to mention introducing me to so many wonderful books
at Girlebooks; my Janeite Posse for posse-ing, in particular Team
Tilney and the gang at Molland's who provided such great feedback
and comments during the online serial publication of this Very Nice
Story; my family, as always, for their encouragement of my writing
and for embracing my Janeite freakiness, although they don't always
understand it; and of course the incomparable Jane Austen for
giving us these wonderful characters that continue to inspire
me.

Margaret C. Sullivan is the Editrix of
AustenBlog.com, a compendium of news and commentary about Jane
Austen's work in popular culture. She also created the website
Molland's (www.mollands.net), a resource for Jane Austen fans. She
is the author of
The Jane Austen Handbook: A Sensible Yet
Elegant Guide to Her World
(Quirk Books, 2007) and contributed
to the anthology
Jane Austen Made Me Do It
, edited by Laurel
Ann Nattress (Random House, 2011). Margaret is a life member of the
Jane Austen Society of North America.

At the age of 204, Cassandra finally changed her
last name but is still entrapped in her famous sister's orbit, as
you can see. (We shall get nothing more serious from her now...she
is not in a sober mood.) A doodler since childhood, Cassandra
Chouinard abandoned her painting studies to complete a master's
degree in harpsichord performance at McGill University. Meanwhile,
various stints as a street portraitist, student newspaper
cartoonist, and vanity press illustrator attuned her eye to various
details such as line, contour, and the all-too-quick approach of a
deadline.