Mrs Arabella Strange is seated by the fire, a teapot and cups on the table beside her. She has a book in her hands, and seems quite interested in whatever it is that it contains.

Mrs. Strange may be found in her room, sitting and reading. Every so often, her eyes raise from the page and dart towards the door, which is slightly ajar. More unsettled than she would readily admit from her encounter with a certain book, at last she stands and moves to shut the door.

Arabella is seated, of all places, before a piano. Who knows where it came from-- the Mansion may well have produced it out of thin air. But she has found it, and she has sat down before it, though she has not yet opened it. She knew how to play the piano once, as most young ladies do, but she does not know if she can anymore.

Though one of the hostesses, Arabella is not at the ball. She is instead in her room. She apparently never intended to go at all-- she is not dressed for it, her hair is not fixed, and she is quite calmly reading a novel. Only closer inspection will reveal that she is, in truth, neither reading nor calm.

Mrs. Strange does not personally care for dancing (anymore). But since discussing the idea of a dance of some sort with Elizabeth Bennet, she has found planning for one to be a pleasant distraction from her usual routine of idleness. Though of course the event is by no means a certainty, it is pleasing enough occupation at present to explore the ( Read more... )

Arabella is waiting once more for the Gentleman, though this occasion is granted some novelty by the fact that she is waiting for Jonathan as well. This fact just makes her nervous, though. Whatever both gentleman have said about their intentions to act perfectly civil, she must confess (though she'd never actually confess it to anyone) that she ( Read more... )

Properly, she supposes, it is the gentleman's turn to entertain, but Arabella has come looking in any case. Well, looking in the sense of waiting in their usual place in the garden-- for she rather has the feeling that he's much more likely to find her than she is to find him.

Typist: And if any anyone else wants to talk, too. :)

The route by which Mrs Strange reached her current position, sitting in the grass in the sun, can be clearly seen. It is most distinctly marked by, first, a discarded shawl. Not far after, an upside-down parasol dropped on the grass. And, finally, two delicate shoes, kicked off one after the other. It's a relatively secluded little spot, trees ( Read more... )

Were Jonathan Strange to be looking for his wife, he could find her in the hallway outside of the bedroom. This would be a less unusual place for her to be were it not the middle of the night, and were she not pacing, her white dressing gown the only bright spot in the darkened hallway. But then again, this would be more unusual were it not ( Read more... )

At the chosen time, in the chosen place, Arabella can be found preparing for tea. Her table is far less ornate than the gentleman's (the cloth is some lace she found somewhere in the mansion, the settings china she found somewhere else), and the food less plentiful, but it is all neatly and prettily arranged. The same can be said of the hostess-- ( Read more... )