Chapter Text
14th April 1832
Miss Lister came to visit today. I made an witless fool of myself conversing inanely about how we had met previously. She does not remember but is too polite to say so.
We had the most pleasant afternoon talking about all manner of things. From the mountains in the Alps she has climbed to her studies of the human body in Paris. I would not care to examine the things she has seen and touched for fear of one of my dizzy spells coming on.
I did at one point feel the strangest palpitation of my heart which was curious as I had not at all exerted myself since a short walk in the morning and was only sitting in the drawing room gazing upon Miss Lister. She does seem to have the most compelling eyes and radiant smile that makes her whole demeanour give the impression that I’m her only real concern, despite our being only very recently re-acquainted.
She stayed so long that James came in with the tea tray and he had burned the muffins again. Miss Lister recommend a toasting fork of her own design, which she hopes to take to Mr Parker. She claimed it is an ingenious device in an iron box that can be put on a range or in the fireplace. It is apparently possesses a clockwork mechanism and is able to toast any muffin admirably with a small bell to ring to advise the servants of its readiness.
I said I would very much like to make an order of one should she ever make it to manufacture. She seemed most pleased with my interest in her project but insisted that I should not purchase one but it would be gifted me. I responded that I could not think of anything to repay so generous a gesture but she told me quite firmly that she would think carefully upon it and would in due course suggest a fair exchange.
After her departure, I stared out at the garden window for reasons I cannot now recall.
29th April 1832
Catherine’s maid sent over a number of valises today for our trip to the Lake District. We are to use my carriage as she and the Priestlys say it is the most comfortable conveyance for our journey and that I could spare the groom and driver.
It is another week until the trip and I have not even thought about what I should pack for such a long expedition. Miss Lister has kindly lent me a number of guides to the area as well as some other lighter works for my leisure time.
She particularly recommends an author by the name of Brantome. He was an abbot in France some three hundred years ago so I was sure that what he would have to say was morally inspiring. As I was feeling some anxiety due to the arduousness of the trip, I turned to its pages for encouragement.
It is the most curious work titled, The Lives of Gallant Ladies. One chapter covers the question of whether a wife who loves another woman, commits adultery against her husband. It is apparently a question that troubled a number of Roman writers, so I can only presume it is of some importance. His conclusion was that it did not, but I was a little confused as to his reasoning. This is maybe because my French is poor and it seemed halfway through the chapter to revert to its original language.
I think Miss Lister is quite the cleverest woman I have met to be able to follow such complex philosophical ideas, so I shall fall in with her opinion and tell her I found the work very enlightening, although I did not understand half of it. I hope this will please her, as I do so like to see Miss Lister smile.
Fortunately, there was a little Italian and I was able to decipher in it that referred to acts of “Donne con Donne that occur, even in the present times”, which I took to mean reading to each other, sketching one another and other typical day to day activities women do together. So I will tell her, without hesitation, that it was the most illuminating book and I wholeheartedly agree with her high opinion of it.
Miss Lister says when I return from the Lakes she will take me into her new shrubbery in Lower Drip Ing, so that I might experience the cosiness of her “chaumiere”. It is apparently a thatched hut that she has arranged most pleasingly and thinks I might take equal enjoyment in it.
I can barely wait for the day to come.
28th May 1832
Oh my!
[Editor’s note: there follows a series of letter that have currently no scholar has been able to decipher. Lister experts have confirmed that the cipher seems to be of Ann’s own invention and bears no resemblance to Lister’s own code. For the sake of completeness I have included the extract which follows:
🎩🌳🌳🌳🏕🌳🌳🌳🔥🛋🎩👄👄🎩🏠🎩💋🧙♀️😱🤬😂🤣🤣😂🎩🛏🧣👢🍒🤭👛👇🏻💥💥💥💥👛💦💦💦💤💤👛👅💥💥💥🌊🌊🌈🌈🌈🎩⏱📜✒️
ggggnnnhgfatgbko [Editor’s note: there follows a degradation in writing as to make the next two sentences indecipherable]