Jane Actually

thought she sounded like Maggie Smith playing Lady Catherine de Bourgh, and then wondered if Maggie Smith had ever played Lady Catherine, or was she thinking of Judi Dench?
    “You seem to be taking extra care in your appearance,” Jane said.
    Mary only distantly heard Jane’s comment while she was attending to her makeup.
    “I only notice that you are applying makeup. I thought you did not apply makeup when representing me.”
    “What? Don’t be ridiculous. I always put on some foundation to try to match your flawless complexion.”
    “Yes, but I am referring to your lipstick.”
    Mary looked in the mirror and realized she had in fact applied lipstick.
    “Oh, sorry, I guess I was preoccupied,” she said, and quickly removed it.
    “Are you expecting someone, Mary?”
    Mary debated lying but considering how close they were and that she never knew when Jane was about, it would be impossible to keep a relationship secret from her. And so she decided to come clean.
    “Maybe. Well, yes. There’s a guy I met in Chicago. We signed a book for him.” She added the last comment as if to make Jane somehow complicit.
    “We have signed any number of books, Mary. How am I to be expected to remember one person in particular?”
    “He’s Dr Alice Davis’s graduate student.”
    Jane thought back and did remember the man in question.
    “Oh, he was a rather nice young man. And how did you come to be acquainted? I don’t remember meeting him subsequently.”
    Mary was now brushing her hair back and pinning it up before putting on her cap.
    “We ran into one another in a coffee shop later that day.”
    “How serendipitous,” Jane said, wishing she might have eyes to roll.
Not the running into a young lady at the park ploy
, she thought. Still it pleased her to know that things never changed and young men still dreamed up methods for “running into” young girls.
    Mary emerged from the bathroom, properly attired, and unplugged the portable terminal from the computer, and placed it in her reticule. 1 She also inserted the earbuds and turned them on. She gave a quick glance about the room, wondering if there was anything she required. She decided against taking the spencer.
    She walked to the front door and took a quick glance in the mirror, adjusting her “AV” pin right side up and left the room, giving Jane plenty of time to exit.
    “We spent the day together,” Mary continued, once they were in the hallway.
    “Oh yes, I remember you did seem very happy the next day. What is his name?”
    “Stephen Abrams, and he’s in town … actually he’s in Colorado Springs attending a writer’s conference, but he said he would stop by the book signing and … well if you won’t need me the rest of the day …”
    Jane was tempted to make a joke and pretend to be hurt at being abandoned, but she could tell if she did make such a joke Mary might take it seriously. The truth was that Jane had grown a little too reliant on Mary to keep her company and she should go out with her young man.
    “Of course you may spend the rest of the day together, but only after we’ve been properly introduced.”
    They’d left the hotel and as usual Mary’s costume elicited some notices and even a car horn, which caused her to jump. She almost responded as a New Yorker, but thought the sight of Jane Austen flipping someone the bird might cause her employer some embarrassment.
    “Well, he definitely would like that. Maybe we could sit with him for a cup of tea and you could chat.”
    They walked down Wazee Street and turned right at the 16th Street Mall and could see the bookstore ahead of them.
    Once inside, Jane felt the comforting presence of a very strong AfterNet field.
    “OMG!” Jane said. “Mary, you will not believe the AfterNet field in this store. I have never experienced its like.”
    Mary grinned at Jane’s enthusiasm and then pointed to a prominent sign in the store that explained the entire store was an AfterNet hotspot and also the process for joining the local store chat rooms.
    “Mary could you … would you excuse me for a moment?”
    “I will carry on without you,” Mary said silently, for a store employee was approaching her with an already outstretched hand.
    “Miss … Austen,” the woman said, after quickly glancing at the AV pin. “I’m Laurie Smith. We’re so honoured to have you here.”
    Mary returned the appropriate pleasantry, remarked on the charm of the store, the fineness of the day and the