Chapter 3

The following morning a letter arrived which expressed an invitation for Sir William and Lady Elizabeth to join one of Lady Elizabeth's elder brothers in a tour of northern England. Lady Elizabeth was not pleased at first. She considered it an inappropriate situation, especially since Emily was to leave for London. Lilian was to be left by herself at home, therefore and it was the last thing on earth that Lady Elizabeth could agree with. Therefore the reply to the letter was postponed. Lilian told Emily how bad it was for her to be the source of all trouble. Emily's thoughts had been related to this matter when she came up with the idea of Lilian's joining Mr Holmes to Richmond.

"Oh, Emily, what a brilliant idea you had! But I believe I shall be a burden to Mr Holmes, since I ride very poorly and can by no means travel so long. Therefore I shall need to take our carriage and maman and papa will have to hire one. And think of it, Mr Holmes will have to send word to his friend. Imagine this short note: "My dear friend, there is a young lady that you shall find very agreeable. Due to some interferences in her family's schedule, she is in need of accompanying me to Richmond. Be not alarmed - she shall be of no disturbance to you." Emily, what if he has a wife? A vain and proud wife? What will she think of me?"

"It would be most unpleasant for me to be in your place. But since you cannot be left alone at home, you shall have to join either me or Mr Holmes."

"Pray, how can I join you? They have not invited me. It seems that maman and papá will have to stay at home."

"There is another way of getting it done. You see, we know nothing of his friend. Maybe he is agreeable, though I would rather believe he is not. Perhaps we can ask Mr Holmes about his temper."

"Emily, you are a salvation, indeed! Oh, what a relief!"

"We must find a way of getting to the point of asking, however. Shall we invite him to dinner?"

"Of course, but his sisters should be invited as well. Imagine their surprise at our ignorance."

They laughed at it and decided to call on them with no other excuse than a mild morning indisposition. They were received with high spirits and Catherine soon brought the London affair up.

"I am exceedingly fond of our trip! I only hope that we shall not be restrained to only a fortnight; we do not often get out of Hertfordshire."

"Yes; it would be a pity", continued Cassandra.

"At home we talk only of London. We barely get near the matter of your leaving, Mr Holmes," said Emily, glancing towards Lilian.

"Yes, indeed. You have told us nothing of your friend! Pray, tell us something about him."

"Are you that eager to find out, Miss Barton?", continued Mr Holmes, smiling at Lilian. "I can think your interest is not of the usual kind."

"Mr Holmes, you are such an unusual man. I am not the only one that thinks it is an exceedingly mysterious business; after all, we, women, read books about mysteries and in the end, there is always someone who manages to make them clear for everyone."

"Joseph, do tell them about Mr Barnes and his recent accomplishment!" said Catherine.

"Well, how can I begin? I met him at Oxford; he was the son of a rich gentleman. He was a young man of good fortune, and very good-looking."

Emily did a rather stupid and inappropriate inquiry, which was secretly laughed at by Lilian:

"How good is his fortune, Mr Holmes?"

"Emily, that is no concern of ours!", her sister said.

"I cannot quite say a number. Once, he mentioned that it was about twelve thousand a year."

"It is a good fortune, indeed; perhaps there are better fortunes in England; pray, tell us about his family!", continued Emily, determined to leave Mr Holmes with nothing left to say.

"He has no other siblings. His mother died at his birth, unfortunately. His father was a very agreeable man and, once, when he took me to his estate - I forget its name!, we talked about recent science discoveries. Shame that he left his son alone in this world last month. In the letter of invitation he mentioned the great pleasure of company, since he is as isolated as us; he apologized for the great commitment he asked me to undertake. I am looking forward to seeing him again; I could even bring him to you, Miss Barton, if you were pleased."

"Mr Holmes, I have never given any hopes of our relationship; yet, if it is not a burden to you both, I shall be more than pleased to extend my acquaintance."

"Then it is settled. I shall persuade him to come with me back to Ellsworth Manor and perhaps make him join me in my daily walks to Barton Hall."

"Have you heard? I am sure you have not! Our parents have received an invitation from our uncle and they are quite undecided whether to go or not. What do you think of it?", Emily breathlessly said.

"Is there a reason why they should not go?" asked Cassandra.

"Yes, there is a rather pointless reason. As you both and Emily are to leave for London, I cannot remain at home by myself. Mother is very disappointed, and she repeatedly said that she should write and tell them I should go, too. It is not what I would do, I dare say. They could be vexed at our stoutness and withdraw the invitation."

"Miss Barton, why do not you come with me to Richmond? Mr Barnes will be outstandingly pleased when he shall hear that I bring someone else with me."

Lilian did not know how to answer this sudden invitation. Emily was more than satisfied with the turn of events. Both Cassandra and Catherine insisted on Lilian's going, and their brother was very eager to take her with him. Lilian, whose refusal could not be even thought of, agreed, seeming very happy.

"We would like to invite you to dinner this evening. Since we are to leave tomorrow, it should be perfect for a last meal together before we go," said Emily at last.

"We are obliged to receive the invitation," Mr Holmes said.

They soon parted. On the way back home, the two sisters soon found themselves lost in a conversation about Mr Barnes.

"How exciting that I shall meet him! Oh, Emily, so great a turn of events! Did you see how the two Miss Holmes tried to persuade me to go? I think I will not spare a thought for anything but Mr Barnes during the night."

"Had I not known you, I would say that you have quite fallen in love with him."

"How can it be? I did not even ask Mr Holmes about his appearance. Love cannot be based only on character. The appearance of a person is truly important."

"I will not be surprised at your coming back home engaged to him, my dear Lilian."

"Emily, you do know how to use my own weapons against me. As to my marrying soon, I should not think so. Perhaps Mr Barnes is good-looking for, let us say, Catherine Holmes, and is not for me. This is beyond our power."

Having arrived home, they noticed that their parents were eagerly talking about their future tour.

"Maman, I have found the sollution to our little issue. Mr Holmes asked me to join him to Richmond to one of his friends."

"Is it not dangerous, my dear Lilian?" said her mother. "I hope his friend is a gentleman!"

"Yes, and of good fortune too!" Emily added, as if an explanation was needed. "His father recently died - it is a great loss, I think - and he has inherited a great estate. His income is large, too!"

"Emily, you should not speak in that manner of a stranger!", her sister scolded her.

"Yes, Emily, you should not; well, by the look of things, it shall be of no consequence to our Lilian to go, my dear," Sir William said.

"Very well, you may go. My dear daughters, today I received a second letter from my brother; he says that the tour has been extended to three months!"

"And this is implying that I shall stay in London three months, and go to balls, and meet new people? What great news!", Emily loudly exclaimed.

Lilian quietly thought: "And this means that I shall spend three months or more with Mr Holmes and Mr Barnes; I cannot quite determine the nature of this news."

Soon after these had happened, the three arrived and were introduced in the dining room. Dinner went on normally, accompanied by Sir William's jokes and Mr Holmes' stories about the seaside, and they all soon parted, each looking forward to leaving the next day.