Wallflower (Pride and Prejudice fanfic)

Greenhill Park

Mr Wellfield lived at Greenhill Park in the west of Yorkshire and the first thing Mary noticed when being given a tour of the property, was the overall calmness surrounding the place. Since arriving with Anne and Mr Langston in the morning, she had felt a kind of peace that had been missing from the last few days. Even his children Thomas and Clare who, must have only been around nine years old, seemed to have a sereneness about them.

Even though Mary tried not to consider her future in fear of disappointment, as was so readily the case in the past, she could not seem to stop listing all the things of Mr Wellfield's that she approved of. He himself although a good few years older than Mary, talked to her as an equal. He asked her opinion on issues and let her speak her mind. For so many years Mary's father had described her as a silly young girl and it was a joy for an older gentleman to see her as an adult.

He showed her the gardens and countryside that surrounded the house. The hills were much more rugged than rambling as those in Hertfordshire and the gardens were classed more as wilderness than the landscaped topiary of home, but never the less they were beautiful. Mary couldn't help imagining herself walking daily through the woods as a future Mrs Wellfield. Thoughts of marriage were dangerous but Mary assured herself that as long as they remained only thoughts and she gave no weight to them, she couldn't be so disappointed when it didn't come to pass.

"Here we are Miss Bennet, I'm sure you will agree this to be the grandest room in the house" Mr Wellfield said, as he ushered Mary into the library.

As beautiful as the house was, Mary had thought it like all other grand houses she had visited, expensive and historic and decorated to the current fashions, but she had to admit that the library at Greenhill Park was the most astonishing room she had ever seen. What it lacked in width, it certainly made up for in height. Row upon row of books reached almost to the ceiling on three sides of the room. The forth being home to a very large window looking out across the dales in the distance. It would surely give the maximum amount of natural light needed to read the many volumes sitting along the walls. There were two chesterfield sofa's sat back to back in the centre of the room, that looked a very comfortable place to enjoy hours of quiet reading. Mary was speechless as she studied the volumes along the wall. There were books in other languages and books of sciences she had never heard of.

Mr Wellfield laughed a little at how large her eyes had become in trying to accept what the room had to offer.

"You should stay here a while and explore, we are having lunch in an hour in the dining room, come and find us when you are ready" he suggested and Mary observed the welcoming smile he gave her as he left.

There were novels and encyclopaedia's and periodicals on the local industry. It really did have everything. She picked up a book on Italian architecture and settled upon the chesterfield to read. In no time at all an hour had passed and Mary placed everything back as she had found it, then wandered back to the dining room to find that the noise from the past few days had returned. Mr Langston and Anne were engaging in a lively discussion on Mr Langston's choice of profession.

"You are an educated gentleman, Alex I do not see why you want to do this" Anne was saying and Mr Langston was shaking his head.

"I have no interest in the Law or the Navy or any other occupation my family is keen for me to enter into Anne" he replied looking a little aggravated. Mr Wellfield welcomed Mary to the table as the discussion went on and quietly filled her in to what was happening.

"Mr Langston is going into industry Miss Bennet, he is investing with a local manufacturer". Mr Wellfield whispered, so not to disrupt the conversation.

"And is that not a good choice for him?" Mary asked, having no idea about the textile industry but could see the worried expression Anne wore as she argued with her friend.