Today has been a strange day! I can scarcely believe it all happened, but the piece of gossamer is indisputable, a reminder of the oddest but most amusing day of my life.
It began normally enough. Emma and her father, Mr and Mrs Elton, Harriet Smith, Jane Fairfax, Frank Churchill, the Westons, and the Bateses joined me at Donwell Abbey for an al fresco party to pick strawberries.
Most of my guests were happy. Mrs Elton was holding forth, saying she wanted to ride on a donkey, and the Westons were revelling in the company of young Churchill, but Emma appeared dissatisfied.
‘Are the strawberries not to your liking?’ I asked her.
‘The strawberries are delicious. It is everything else which disappoints’ she said. ‘I wish . . .’
‘What do you wish?’
‘I wish it were Harriet that Mr Elton loved. I wish he were going to take her home to the rectory, and not the wretched Augusta. I wish Jane Fairfax were not quite so beautiful or quite so accomplished. And I wish . . . ’ She stopped suddenly, and gave a mischievous smile.
to be continued
~*~
Mr Knightley and the Fairies
part 1
part 2
part 3
part 4
part 5
part 6
part 7 - end
*guest post from Amanda Grange, author of Mr Knightley's Diary
* image source Emma picnic (i tweaked it)
Pictured (l-r): Harriet (Louise Dylan), Mr. Knightley (Jonny Lee Miller), Mr. Weston (Robert Bathurst), Miss Bates (Tamsin Greig), Emma (Romola Garai), Jane Fairfax (Laura Pyper), Mrs. Elton (Christina Cole) and Mr. Elton (Blake Ritson).
Credit: Laurence Cendrowicz BBC
* part of Mr Knightley's Picnic
