Following Jane - Now Published

#2

I am so excited for this chapter. Mostly because I am able to post it before the power goes out and I lose all internet abilities!! I hope you guys enjoy!!

Lizzie-

Lizzie laughed at the hotel her father suggested as the taxicab pulled up. "Austen House Ma'am," the cabbie announced as he parked the car to help unload the suitcases from the trunk. She thanked him as she gave him his pay and walked up the stairs with her suitcases.

She walked in to see a little old lady at the front desk. Her white perm hair, and knitted shall made Lizzie wish she had a grandma like this woman. When the door finally closed, the woman looked up and with a smile greeted Lizzie. "Hello Deary. How can I help you this afternoon?"

Lizzie grabbed all her paperwork and placed it on the counter. "I am here to check in." she spoke nervously. She had never been able to converse easily with older people that were not relatives.

"Of course you are! Last name dear?"

"Price." She quickly answered.

The woman began to thumb through a ledger and placed her finger on a name, "Lizzie?" she asked. Lizzie quickly nodded. "Well Lizzie welcome to London and welcome to the Austen House. It looks like you will be staying with us for an extended length of time. Anything brought you here in particular?"

"No...No...just traveling around England." She spoke quickly. She wasn't sure she should be telling people what she was actually doing in the country. It was not something her mother told anyone, so why should she be putting it on blast?

"Well if you will follow me I will take you to your room." The lady walked around the counter and started walking up the stairs. Lizzie quickly grabbed her bags and began to follow. "My name is Fanny, if you ever need anything I am here until eleven every night. Here is your room, 302." She turned the key and let Lizzie walk in.

"Thank you Fanny." She dropped her bags down on the bed and heard the door close behind her. She took in the room and was pleasantly surprised at how spacious the room was. In all the reviews of hotels in London she heard they were like closets. This one had a full sized bed, a small desk and chair that also held the TV and some maps of the subway and London landmarks.

She unzipped her bags and pulled out the mounds of research she had done on Jane Austen before she left in case she could not access Internet or a printer. As she read she took notes in her mothers notebook about what she was going to have to look for in Oxford. Being smart about the situation she set up a student tour saying she was interested in taking some continuing studies courses and wanted to see what the university had to offer.

Oxford here I come.

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Graham....Graham...Graham. She now remembered all the times she saw him on billboards on her way to the hotel the night before. He was in some boy band she was semi familiar with in the states. She needed to stay focused as she crossed another book off her list.

--

As her tour went through all the colleges she finally figured out that Jane picked Drama out of all other subject she studied. In the first library they had walked into she saw a student on his computer jamming out to music in his headphones. She slowly walked over to him and put her sweet smile on. He smiled back.

"Hi. I know you have no clue who I am, but I am looking to come here in the future to continue my studies. I was wondering, does the libraries have a singular database you can look up all books?

He sat up a little straighter and replied, "It actually does. You can type in a major and it will pull all books affiliated with that major."

"How far does it go back?" She sat down next to him.