[laughing excitedly] [chuckles] I think your sisters have drunk too much of the orange wine.

[laughs] You can bring your sister!

And your mother.

Miss Austen, er, Jane, would you marry me and be mistress of Manydown?

Yes, Harris.

I will.

[Harris's sister] Oh I couldn't be happier, Jane.

Let's go tell father.

[Cassandra] Jane.

Are you sure?

[thunder rumbles] [Jane] Tell me I have done the right thing.

Tell me I was right to change my mind.

Dear God, let me never regret this day.

Oh, I'm all fingers and thumbs with these ribbons today.

Here.

It's not your fault.

This poor old bonnet has breathed its last.

[Jane] My dearest Fanny, nothing can be more intriguing that your latest letter.

Such a description of your queer little heart.

This new young man you adore, is he the one?

If only we could see into the future and know in advance if our choices turn out to be wise.

Alas you face the most momentous decision of your life with only your aunt Jane to advise you.

Come to your cousin's wedding prepared to discuss every delicious detail.

[priest] Look mercifully upon these thy servants.

That this woman may be loving and amiable, faithful and obedient to her husband.

Oh Lord, bless them both.

[church-bells chiming] [quietly] Aunt Jane, you've got to help me decide Because I can't.

I must meet your darling Mr. Plumptre as a matter of the greatest urgency.

Plumptre, Plumptre, -[louder] Mrs. Plumptre!

-Stop it!

-Everyone will hear.

-[Jane] Such a plump and preposterous name.

I fear you'll find him hard to resist.

Come home with us aunt Jane.

Father!

Father!

Tell Aunt Jane she's got to come to Kent.

Please.

I'm dying to know what you think of him.

There may be aunt who could resist such an invitation, but I am not that aunt.

[crowd cheering] Just don't think you've got any chance of beating me to the altar.

I'm expecting a proposal at any moment, Oh, that's such a silly old joke.

Learn from me Fanny.

All any gentleman needs, is an opportunity.

Mr. Papillon.

Miss Austen.

Lovely service.

[reverend] Miss Austen, how kind you are.

How very kind.

My humble efforts no match for your intellect, I'm sure.

Surprisingly romantic.

Romantic, dear me, no.

I would have everyone marry if they could.

Don't you agree?

Saint Paul himself tells us it's better to marry, than burn.

[sighs] Who could resist?

I'm convinced Mr. Papillon that there's not a single freeborn English lady, even the most unlikely spinster, who could fail to find happiness, if only our English gentleman would... seize the moment.

Any moment really.

[smacks lips] All very clever I'm sure.

-What a lovely service.

-Lovely!

Good day to you ladies.

Jane!

Silenced, by the force of his passion.

[Cassandra] You shouldn't torment the poor fellow.

Like a cat with a mouse.

And it's cruel!

Mr. Papillon is such a dry old stick.

I'm sure he doesn't notice.

Anyway, I'm a vicars daughter.

[sighs] Why shouldn't I make a charming vicar's wife?

And you set a bad example to our niece.

[Jane] The child is delightful.

To think of her married to an ordinary gentleman from Kent.

[Cassandra] Everyone from Kent is always quite agreeable.

[Jane] I don't want people to be very agreeable.

It saves me the trouble of liking them Are you going to have time for that in Kent?

I'll make time.

Help me Cass.

I'll be late.

Write to me every day.

Think of all the new people she might meet.

Mother.

You.

You turned your face to the wall years ago.

But Jane, you're not going to tell me she's not interested in gentlemen.

She's met all the gentlemen in Kent.

Ugh!

You girls!

What if there's someone better?

What if I marry Mr. Plumptre, and I never meet him?

The Someone Better, I mean.

What if I pass him on the street and I never know that he was the one.

And what if you do meet him, and he doesn't have any money?

-[Edward chuckles] -But if I loved him then nothing else would matter.

In heaven's name what gave you that idea?

Well, it says so in one of your books.

If that's what you think they say my dear, perhaps you should read them again.

[Fanny] What's worse do you think?

To marry the wrong man, or to die a lonely old maid?

[Jane] There are worse things to die off.

-[Fanny] You're not old.

-[Jane] I shall soon be forty!

That's almost old enough to boast about.

Well, we must look for a wealthy old widower with six children.

Oh, very attractive!

I bet you had hundreds of proposals when you were my age.

[Jane] Thousands!

I bet every young man in the vicinity pined with longing.

Alas, not for me.

You must've been asked.

I never was my dear.

I'm simply a mistress of all the theory.

And despite the shame of being old, quite happy to be so.

It's much less messy.

Were you really never in love?

[sighs] The truth if Fanny, and this must be our secret.

You must never tell anyone.

The truth is...

I am she that loved and lost.

Who was he?

Tell me.

I loved and lost, and pined, and yearned.

Huh!

And then swore myself to solitude and the consolations of writing about it instead.

Did you really?

You read far too many novels.

[laughing] [laughing] [kids] Aunty is here!

[all cheering] Hurry up!

[Fanny] Hello!

Nerve-wracking, the idea she might make the wrong choice of husband.

Alas for fond fathers everywhere the days of arranged marriages are long gone.

Hm, It's hard for the poor child without a mother to guide her.

You know she will accept him if he has your blessing.

The responsibilities of an aunt are bottomless.

[scoffs] What do you think?

Will he adore me?

[laughing] Colored petticoats and flounces now!

They've had flounces for ages.

It's quite short.

Well, if yours is too long, I'll take my scissors to it.

Don't you dare.

[whispers] Oh, I'll just die on the spot if you won't like Mr. Plumptre.

I'm weak with adoration already.

Please don't expect a Mr. Darcy.

My darling girl, this is the real world.

The only way to get a man like Mr. Darcy is to make him up.

I do long for the day when every one of us on earth can turn away from shallow worldly desires, believing, rejoicing that our Lord will reward us in heaven.

In the meantime, however-- [Mr. Plumtree] In the meantime, a writer like yourself is in such a powerful position to encourage people to be virtuous and that is why, please don't be offended Miss Austen, why, it worries me that so many of your men of religion are figures of fun.

My mother... my mother loves my foolish vicars.

-But I thought your father-- -A vicar.

Yes.

A real vicar.

Whereas my foolish vicars are... [sighs] are all made up.

Do you see?

They're just stories.

A clergyman has nothing to do but be slovenly and selfish.

Read the newspaper, watch the weather and quarrel with his wife.

Mansfield Park ?

[chuckles nervously] Have mercy on him, Fanny.

Do not oblige poor Mr. Plumptre to listen to anymore of my ramblings.

I could write a book.

Please, feel free to do so.

And I will put myself on the sofa by the fire, and drink as much wine as I want.

[Jane] Well, he's handsome, isn't he?

And his religious faith is a point in his favor.

I like his quiet gentleman-like manners .

Sensible rather than brilliant.

There is nobody brilliant nowadays.

Will you recommend him?

[scoffs] Good lord!

What do I know about any of it?

Precisely.

Nevertheless.

Girls of twenty are so desperate to be in love.

[Fanny chuckles] [Jane] It's so hard to tell if it's real.

Everyone should have the chance to marry once for love.

If they can.

Edward?

Anything wrong?

Fanny and I must visit our neighbors.

Don't worry, you don't have to come.

[Fanny chuckles] [Jane] My darling Cassandra, do not imagine I have any real objection to Mr. Plumptre.

I have rather taken a fancy to him than not.

Now, however, I am all alone.

What happiness.

At this present time I have five tables, eight and twenty chairs and two fires all to myself.

I am mistress of all I survey.

So where shall I begin?

Which of my important nothings shall I tell you first?

[gasps] [door opens and closes] [man] Hello?

Edward?

Edward!

[heavy steps down the corridor] [knock on door] [door opens] Good Lord.

Miss Austen Mr. Bridges.

What a lovely surprise.

Were we expecting you?

Er, I'm late, probably, or early.

I was just on my way back to Ramsgate.

Then I can see exactly why you might want to delay your arrival, as long as is decent.

It's my wife.

Her health's not strong.

She needs the sea air.

Then... then Ramsgate's just the place.

Fanny and Edward will be back in time for dinner.

Oh, till then don't let me disturb your writing.

Oh no, it's just a letter to my sister.

I can finish it later, by which time, thanks to your appearance, it's contents will be far more interesting to her.

You haven't changed at all.

[laughs] [Bridges] No, it's true, Ramsgate is not the most elegant of seaside towns.

But Harriet finds the air suits her.

My advice for a happy stay in Ramsgate... is to keep your face firmly south toward the sea and your back therefore-- Oh, north, towards Ramsgate keeping my life where I can't see it.

[Bridges chuckle] I might find services rather difficult to conduct, "Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today in the sight of God and a howling gale from France."

[Jane laughs] Are you happy in Ramsgate, Mr. Bridges?

Yes.

Are you happy in Hampshire, Miss Austen?

Yes.

I was surprised to hear that you had left Bath.

Dreadful multitude of ugly women in Bath.

-And as for the men... -[Bridges chuckles] Mr. Bridges I barely wrote a useful word in ten years.

Then we walked into the cottage in Hampshire... and I knew we'd never leave.

I knew my mother would be happy and my sister would be comfortable.

You've left someone out.

And I would be free to write.

Things always turn out for the best.

Don't you agree?

Perhaps.

[exhales sharply] Shall I say yes to him then if he asks me?

-Has he asked you?

-No, but when he does.

Because, aunt Jane, the worst thing of all, is that we'll have to wait absolutely years till he finishes his studies.

So you like him well enough to marry him, but not enough to wait?

-[Fanny] Er, no.

-[Jane] Makes perfect sense to me.

-Are you in love with him?

-Of course.

Because if you're not, that's an awful lot of breath we've both been wasting.

[gasps] There, you just admitted it, love is the most important thing.

But not the only important thing.

There's money and position and family.

And friendship and passion and shared purpose, Fanny.

-Do anything but marry without affection.

-Stop!

There.

Now you can turn down all the marriageable men in Kent.

I shall be as polite to them as their bad breath will allow.

Fanny my dear.

So grown up!

Mr. Lushington.

[Edward] My sister, Miss Austen.

Jane, may I present Mr. Stephen Lushington.

Member of parliament for Canterbury.

I'm thrilled to find you as charming in person as you are on page, Miss Austen.

I haven't said anything yet.

Discerning elements at the palace of Westminster, queue up for the chance of meeting you.

Shall I be stared at like a wild beast in a zoo?

[Lushington] A wild beast, caught in my net, right here in this library.

Just where you belong.

Surrounded and supported by the wisdom of the ancients.

"With awe around these silent walks I tread.

These are the lasting mansions of the dead."

Do you like George Crabbe?

I always keep a copy of Crabbe in my pocket, when the House of Commons becomes too tedious.

I hope you mean Crabbe in one pocket-- Pride and Prejudice in the other.

Mansfield Park beneath my hat.

Sense and Sensibility tucked under my arm.

Oh, and where are you going to put my Emma ?

A new heroine.

My dear Miss Austen, you must allow me to monopolize your attention shamelessly till the end of dinner.

And beyond.

[upbeat fiddle music playing] But it's Saturday night!

It's gone midnight.

It's Sunday, the Lord's day.

Please Fanny, it's past the time for dancing.

Your sisters are dancing, showing their thick ankles.

Rescue poor aunt Jane.

She doesn't look to me like someone who needs rescuing.

She's having more fun than me and it's my house!

I'm going go to bed.

Fanny.

I'm an ass.

I know I am.

And a very bad guest.

Please, forgive me.

[music ends] Only if you abandon every single one of your principles and dance with me immediately.

Miss Knight, May I have the pleasure of this dance?

Once, when you were very little, I opened the dance of a rather grand ball with your uncle Brook.

[Fanny] Narrow escape there, Aunt Jane.

You could've ended up a vicars wife in Ramsgate.

Far too many beautiful young men here, Fanny.

How can you possibly choose one?

[slow piano music starts playing] [laughing] One-two... [inaudible over music] John.

[sighs] You let that horrid politician flirt with you all night.

I'm rather in love with him.

He's clever, and a man of great taste.

Ambitious and insincere.

It's a good thing, I'm prevented from setting my cap at him by his having a wife and ten children.

[Fanny] And he's ugly!

Well done, Fanny, you have at last uncovered the true reason why I never chose a husband.

Why?

Because you never found one handsome enough?

No!

I never found one worth giving up flirting for.

[Jane] A castle?

No!

Yes!

It's been in the Wildman family for centuries.

Yes, I can definitely see you at the altar with Mr. Wildman I like the idea of you in a castle.

And the next one.

Now, he looks very nice.

Unaffected.

-He's a bit boring.

-Oh.

The Knathabulls have pots of money.

Their father's a baronet!

Well, I like that quiet, sensible look.

He might do you for you very well.

Now, that must be Mr. Hatton you wrote to me about.

The one with the heavenly body.

Yeah, but are there any castles in his family?

[both] Huh.

Shh.

No.

I don't know what I saw in him now.

Fanny Knatchabull, Fanny Hatton, Fanny Wildbee, Fanny Plumptre.

I shall marry him if he asks me.

I hope he asks me.

But I think you like any of the others better than him.

Nonsense.

Mr. Plumptre has a thousand good qualities.

If you overlook the coarse mother and the sisters like horses.

Good prospects, good character.

He's a good match for you, Fanny.

I'm not like you, Aunt Jane.

More than anything else in the world I want to be married.

And I would have you marry, because I know you won't be happy until you are.

Single women have a dreadful propensity for being poor.

And the best recipe I know for happiness is a large income.

[both laugh] [Bridges] Who's there?!

Show me yourself!

Fanny.

What on earth are you doing out here?

My fault I'm afraid, Mr. Bridges.

Miss Austen!

Aunt Jane has accepted the awful duty of offering me moral guidance.

[both chuckle] In the shrubbery?

As good a place as any to lead a young lady astray.

[chuckles] Fanny, go to bed now please.

I was invited to stay here at Fanny's request.

to help her make a decision about her Mr. Plumptre.

I didn't know he'd made her an offer.

How does a gentleman's failure to make an offer interfere with a lady's ability to decide whether she likes him or not?

What lady flirts shamelessly all night then lurks outside in the dark gawping and gossiping?

Thank you for so freely sharing your poor opinion of my conduct and character.

Goodnight Mr. Bridges.

[Jane] My dear Cassandra, I believe I drank too much wine last night.

I know not else how to account for the shaking of my hand today.

My hair was at least tidy, which was all my ambition.

-[door opens] -[Edward] There you are.

-Everyone else is out.

Taking the morning air.

-I know.

I'm very late down.

Thought I might catch you sitting in the corner somewhere scribbling.

I'm not at all in a humor for writing.

Still going well I hope.

Well, Emma is nearly finished, but Mr. Edgerton is refusing to publish another edition of Mansfield Park, and I was wondering ... maybe we should find a new publisher for Emma .

Maybe we should ask for some more money, too.

Dear Lord, I do wish you wouldn't think of it as writing for money.

Sense and Sensibility has brought me a hundred and forty pounds.

May I not be proud of that?

Try to imagine how it reflects on us, your brothers, to have an unmarried sister seeking employment.

Jane I will always take care of you and Cass and mother, but I' a widower, I have eleven children, I inherited a house I can't afford to run, and an estate riddled with legal complications.

What complications?

[Edward exhales] I face a challenge to my inheritance.

A deed was drawn up wrongly, so they say.

If they win, Jane, I'll lose half of everything I own.

Not this house?

No, no.

This house is quite safe.

I didn't make myself clear.

The writ only affects my claim on my Hampshire properties -[whispers] The cottage.

-Now, I don't want you to worry, there'll always be a place for you all here with us.

Edward, the cottage is where I write!

Oh Jane... [sighs] if only you'd been less proud.

If only you'd married.

[Jane sighing] [Fanny] But if everything on earth is made by God, including us and everything we do, then that must include music.

Yes!

Sacred music!

Devoted to magnifying his grace.

But do you think he never meant us to dance?

He did give us feet.

Well, I know of course, but I... Oh, now you're making fun of me.

I'm not.

-I know you think I'm too serious.

-[Fanny] I don't.

Like your aunt Jane, always laughing out of the side of her face.

She doesn't!

I don't either.

Please, let's not argue.

[Plumtree] No, we mustn't argue.

Right.

I'm sorry.

[exhales] Oh, Fanny... you think me so serious.

And here I am... And here I am, overcome by feelings of joy, and, I must ask you... Um... Could you...

Uh, that is, may I... could you consider... [sighs] How hard it is to find words to express ones deepest feelings.

Erm... Oh you're laughing, look I know I'm not brilliant with words.

Oh no, you are.

You are!

John.

Forgive me, forgive me I, er...

I think I might take a walk to that line of trees.

Beeches, I think.

Beeches.

Yes, I believe so.

Fagus sylvatica.

The dead leaves stay on the tree all over the winter, did you know that?

Fascinating subject, botany.

[whispers] Oh, God...

I shall deserve it if you never forgive me for my dreadful rudeness last night.

You are forgiven everything except for your failure to ask me to dance.

What, and let you point out how little my technique has improved in all these years.

You were always enthusiastic, which is what one needs most in a man.

I waited for news that you'd married.

As every woman knows, there is a scarcity of men in general, and an even greater scarcity of any that are good for much.

You can hide behind your clever words as much as you like-- Good, because my clever words will soon be the only thing putting a roof over my head.

Or my mother's or my sister's.

I'm to be my own husband, it seems.

And theirs.

I'd have put a roof over all your heads and cherished you, dear Jane till death did us part.

[Fanny] Aunt Jane!

Aunt Jane!

Aunt Jane.

I need to speak to you.

My darling girl, when I consider how few young men you have seen much of, and how much temptation the next six or seven years of your life will be full of!

I'll be twenty-seven!

And a woman of seven and twenty can never hope to feel or inspire affection again, that was satire!

Just because you wrote that as a joke it doesn't stop it being true.

He thinks we both laugh at him.

He'll never pluck up the courage again, I've missed my only chance.

You could have my widower.

-All six children.

-Why must you always turn everything into a joke?!

This is real!

It's me and all I want is to be a girl and be pretty and be loved by John Plumptre and marry him like Anna married Ben.

You haven't got the first idea what it's like.

Ben had a cousin, who came to visit Hampshire one summer when I was twenty, your age exactly.

Tom Lefroy was going to be a lawyer just like Mr. Plumptre.

Shocking amounts of dancing went on, I remember.

Shameless bouts of sitting together and gazing at each other.

I was a horrible flirt.

Does this ring any bells?

What happened?

Wiser heads than mine noticed that we neither of us had any money.

So at the end of the summer he went home.

Fortunate fellow, married an heiress.

Was he the one?

No, he wasn't.

And I'm telling you this because it hurt me for about five minutes and then it passed.

You're so young.

Depend upon it Fanny, the right man will come along.

He never did for you.

[inaudible over music] [Jane] More than seven years were gone since this little history of sorrowful interest had reached its close.

She hoped to be wise and reasonable in time, but alas, alas, she must confess to herself that she was not wise yet.

-Ridiculous.

-[Jane laughs] I know!

[Jane] She had used him ill. Deserted him and disappointed him, and worse, she had shown a feebleness of character in doing so which his own decided, confident temper could not endure She had given him up to oblige others.

She had been forced into prudence in her youth.

She learned romance as she grew older.

The natural sequence to an unnatural beginning.

I don't know how you can sit there with dry eyes.

I never weep over anything that might make me some money.

[both chuckle] You can call it persuasion.

Our new publisher will be thrilled.

My darling brother is a genius.

So when's our publication day?

Don't really have one.

Not a date, as such.

But the contract...

The contract is, um, a work in progress.

Oh Jane, the money he's offering.

He wants all your books for four hundred and fifty pounds.

That's pitiful.

I'm a banker.

If there's one thing bankers know, about, it's money.

You know you can rely on me.

[with a French accent] Mademoiselle Jane.

Welcome to London.

Madame Bigeon.

So good to see you.

Am I mad to think that anyone could love a horrible little snob who can't mind her own business?

Emma.

Everyone'll love her.

What if everyone thinks it's not as good as Pride and Prejudice?

What if everyone thinks my best work is behind me?

Henry?

[groas] Darling, what is it?

[Henry groans] Why hasn't he seen a doctor?

[with French accent] Let him rest, Mademoiselle.

He's always better by the morning.

[Henry cries out] Help!

Oh!

[Henry groans] Henry, who is your doctor?

[groans] He hasn't got one.

[Madame Bigeon] It's too late to find anyone today.

[people coughing] Excuse me, I'm looking for a doctor.

Come with me.

[woman screaming] Are you the doctor?

-I'm one doctor of many.

-I need your help.

My brother's terribly ill.

He's screaming with pain, stomach pain of some sort.

It's been going on for ages.

He hasn't said a thing.

We don't live far away, Hand's Place, I-I walked here myself.

-Alone.

-I had no choice.

[Henry] I don't need a doctor.

And you mustn't go wondering the town on your own, Jane.

You fortunate to have such a devoted sister, Mr. Austen.

[sighs] Would you excuse us?

He's so young, I hope he knows what to do.

Not much fun for you this.

Isn't that what widowed brothers are for?

Suffering terrifying illnesses and giving their unmarried sisters a chance to fuss and flap?

Pick up that notebook.

Certainly not.

I'm not a writer today.

I'm your nurse.

You just write down what I tell you to write.

Go on.

So, to Mr. John Murray, publisher.

[Jane] No, Henry.

Why don't I just go to see Mr. Murray myself?

You can't go out to a gentlemen publisher's office.

It's not seemly, it's not respectable.

I'd rather be rich than respectable.

[doctor] I couldn't agree more.

Glad to see you looking a little brighter today, Mr. Austen.

And Miss Austen.

I didn't understand last night just who it was who brought me here.

I'm delighted to introduce to you myself properly, Miss Austen.

Charles Haden, an admirer.

I'm surprised to hear that you read novels, Mr. Haden.

I'm not clever enough for you.

Gentlemen read better books.

The truth is, I've read far more sentimental novels than is quite good for my immortal soul.

You'll have to take that word "sentimental" back, if you want to truly prove that you've read mine.

Well, I was particularly entertained to notice that Lizzie Bennett only realizes she loves Mr. Darcy when she sees how big his house is.

The moment for alarm has passed.

Bed rest and quiet are what he needs now.

This means you.

I've taken twenty ounces of blood, but I fear I shall have to come tomorrow to do the same.

Oh, good.

I mean, erm, just as you say.

Well, Good day Miss Austen.

Ladies.

See you tomorrow then.

It would be my pleasure.

[Jane] You must fancy Henry in the back room upstairs and I am generally there also working or writing.

Henry calls himself stronger every day, and Mr. Haden keeps approving his pulse.

A young man said to be very clever, and he is certainly very attentive.

Tomorrow he is to dine with us.

There's happiness.

We really grow so fond of Mr. Haden that I do not know what to expect.

From Jane?

No.

[Jane] Mr. H is reading Mansfield Park for the first time and prefers it to Pride and Prejudice .

But Cassandra, you seem to be under a mistake as to Mr. H. You call him an apothecary.

He is no apothecary.

He's never been an apothecary.

He is a Haden.

Nothing but a Haden.

A sort of wonderful, non-descript creature on two legs.

Something between a man... and an angel.

Infinities of love, J. Austen.

Jane!

God like figures quiver at the sight of his scalpel.

Jane!

Uh, she's in her own little world.

Mademoiselle!

Haden here's got a jolly good idea for you.

Might even force a better offer out of our publishers.

Talk to her, Haden.

[Haden] Perhaps your brother has not told you Miss Austen, but my senior partner has patients in astonishingly high places.

Places of height beyond imagining.

But my imagination flies very high.

Well, I happen to know that the Prince Regent loves your books.

Oh, I hate that man.

I always take his wife's side.

Hide your true feelings as you will.

I'm told to expect a royal invitation at any moment.

We are to attend his royal highness?!

Not we, no.

You, just you.

I'm only the messenger.

[sighs] Well, I shall decline it.

The Prince Regent is such a disagreeable man, it's quite a misfortune to be liked by him.

Oh, so you wish only to be read by men you approve of?

Why shouldn't I choose my readers, as I choose my friends?

Because, you'll never make your fortune.

Then I shall remain poor and obscure forever.

[chuckles] No, on the contrary, I would give a lot to see you in a fine gown sparkling in the best company.

[Jane] And how does your Mr. Plumptre like your coming to London without him?

Of course he's completely devoted now.

Hangs off my every word.

Whenever I look at him he's gazing down and adoring me.

[Jane scoffs] Aunt Jane, I don't know if I do love him after all.

What strange creatures we are.

Soon, as we are sure of a man's attachment, we become indifferent.

Poor dear Mr. Plumptre.

[sighs] You must give him up.

No!

Whenever you are together behave with a coldness that may convince him that he has been deceiving himself.

But he'll be so hurt!

I have no doubt that he will suffer a great deal for a time, but it is no creed of mine that such sort of disappointments kill anybody.

Now, that I've arrived in London.

Where the streets are paved with eager young gentlemen.

[chuckles] Fanny, nothing compares with the misery of being bound without love.

Bound to one, and... preferring another.

That is a punishment even you do not deserve.

[Fanny] You've got a lovely curl in your hair today.

Not nervous, surely.

Mr. Haden, I don't know how to do this.

I have no experience.

You have something much more powerful and much more desirable than experience.

Oh?

You have imagination.

Think of me cheering you on.

Your greatest supporter willing you to victory.

[man] Miss Austen.

Miss Austen.

Ah.

[panting] Miss Austen, the honor of your visit is immense.

It's just incalculable.

Now, the regent has read and admired all the publications His Royal Highness keeps copies in every one of his residencies.

Yes, indeed he does.

And even I, his humble librarian, James Stanley Clark, [laughs nerviously] I have read them all.

Twice.

Will you have cake?

I will.

[Clark] I'm sure Emma will be a triumph!

All the same, I'm afraid that those readers who liked Pride and Prejudice will think it's too serious, and those readers who liked Mansfield Park will think it's not serious enough!

It's not possible, madam, since with every new work your mind seems to increase its, its energy, it's powers of discrimination.

Your books reflect the highest honor on your genius, and your principles.

They are my darling children.

I send them out into the world to compete with the likes of Sir Walter Scott and Lord Byron.

No competition at all, dear madam, [mumbles] the gentlemen are unreadable.

[chuckles] [Jane chuckles] And yet, [sighs] I have accomplished so little in my life.

I have seen so little.

My work is so small.

My canvas... [Clark] Miss Austen, Just a little bit of ivory, two inches wide, in which I work with so fine a brush.

You are quite at liberty to dedicate Emma... to his Royal Highness.

Quite at liberty.

Um, perhaps, in some future work, um, you could write about the, habits of life, character and enthusiasm of a clergyman.

Erm, describe him burying his own mother, as I did.

Never recover the shock.

Or, or-- [putting on Clark's accent] Carry your clergyman to sea, as the friend of some distinguished naval character.

"Mr. Clark," said I, I am honored.

But a man such as that would have to talk on subjects such as science, philosophy, of which a woman like me can know nothing.

Alas, I think I may boast myself to be, with all possible vanity, most unlearned and uninformed female who ever dared to call herself an authoress.

[all laugh and cheer] Brava.

You're so naughty.

You should take pity on the poor kind soul.

I never take pity on anyone to whom I'm not related.

Another reason to thank the Lord each day that I'm your brother.

To our wicked Jane, And to Emma.

Like her creator, your Emma is a jewel.

[all] To Jane and Emma.

And now that you have contrived to get it dedicated by permission to non other than the Prince Regent-- [Jane] No you contrived it for which I thank you most gratefully.

Mr. John Murray, publisher of this parish will have no choice but to give it a swift print run.

[Henry] I shall get two thousand copies out of him at twenty one shillings for the three volumes.

Ahh, surely you can get more.

As any publisher will tell you, public taste tends more to serious romance.

Alas, I couldn't write one of those to save my life.

I prefer to let other people's pens dwell on guilt and misery.

[Henry] A toast to guilt and misery.

[all] Guilt and misery!

Now, if we are to help you make your fortune, Miss Austen, we must help you to write a proper modern novel.

The kind where every heroine must be the daughter of a clergyman.

Perfectly good, tender, sentimental.

Have not the tiniest sense of humor, speak several foreign languages brilliantly and be wonderful at music obviously.

[Henry laughs] And which instrument shall our new heroine play?

[Jane] The piano.

Because it shows off her arms so beautifully.

Oh, what hero could be worthy of such a paragon?

One who is perfectly boring and boringly perfect to contemplate.

You'll have to write his chapters Mr. Haden.

Pictures of perfection make me sick and wicked.

Yes, villains are so much more attractive.

[Jane] Totally unprincipled and heartless.

Desperately in love with the heroine, he pursues her with a relentless passion.

Our heroine is utterly beautiful and her elderly father, utterly hopeless.

Oh dear, please don't tell my brother.

Everywhere our heroine goes, people fall in love with her and she receives repeated offers of marriage.

Then after at least twenty narrow escapes from falling into the arms of anti-hero, many tears flow and then in the nick of time... She marries the one she was destined for all along.

And do you believe that, Miss Austen?

That destiny always provides us with a perfect mate?

[Jane] I do.

When I'm writing a novel.

So unromantic!

Oh, but your aunt's heroines always get it right.

Each one marries a wealthy man, each one marries him for love.

And you Monsieur Haden, what is you idea of the perfect wife?

Strong mind and sweetness of manner.

Mm, well said Haden, in this company.

[inaudible over music] You shall have your sweet wife.

All gratitude and devotion.

I would wish her to be of a silent turn and somewhat ignorant Fond of cold veal pies and green tea in the afternoon.

You looked fagged, Henry, I'll take you upstairs.

No fear.

I'm enjoying myself far too much.

Imagine, if you could take Mr. Plumptre's modesty... Mr. Wildman's castle in Kent... And Mr. Haden's I'm not sure I know the words for what Mr. Haden contributes.

Good Lord.

What has become of all the shyness in the world?

Can all the young men in London be as flirtatious as Mr. Haden?

Was that two chairs I saw you and him sitting in or just the one?

Aunt Jane, you were jealous!

-I am an aunt.

-Still a woman.

Still a cat when I see a mouse.

Well, you can have him my dear, I will not stand in the way of your happiness.

Aunt Jane.

Aunt Jane.

The more I think about your Mr. Plumptre, the warmer my feelings become.

The more strongly I feel the desirableness of your falling in love with him again.

You like Mr. Haden, don't you?

He has very good teeth.

If when you were younger...

I should never have wanted to become a doctor's wife.

There's not nearly enough money in medicine.

[door opens] Did I tell you mademoiselle, I have a letter from my friend, living in Paris.

She has read a wonderful new book.

It is called Raison et Sensibilité.

Sense and Sensibility.

My friend says, whoever the woman is who wrote this book she knows more about love than anyone else in the world.

It's like someone who can't cook writing a recipe book.

Passion is meant for the young.

It fades so quickly.

Not in our dreams.

Comfort remains, friendship remains.

If you are lucky as I was.

Happiness in marriage is entirely a matter of chance.

But a fuss we make of who to choose and love still dies and money still vanishes.

And every woman spinster, wife, widow, every woman has regrets.

So we read about your heroines and feel young again and in love and full of hope as if we can make that choice again.

Do it right this time.

This is the gift which God has given you.

It is enough, I think.

[Jane] For a few moments her imagination and her heart were bewitched.

She had some feelings which she was ashamed to investigate.

They were too much like joy, senseless joy.

Anne hoped she had outlived the age of blushing.

But the age of emotion she certainly had not.

All the overpowering, blinding, bewildering, first effects of strong surprise were over with her, still, however, she had enough to feel.

It was agitation, pain, pleasure.

A something between delight... and misery.

The room seemed full of persons and voices, [children laughing] A thousand feelings rushed on Anne of which this was the most consoling.

[door creaks] [door closes] But it would soon... be over.

[door opens] Jane.

Ready.

[gasps] [groans in pain] [Cassandra] We're going to be late!

Coming.

Slowcoach!

[Jane breathing heavily] -[baby crying] -[bells ringing] [priest] Sanctify this water to the mystical washing away of sin.

And grants that this child now to be baptized therein, may receive the fullness of his grace and ever remain in the number of his faithful and elect children, through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

-Amen.

-[all] Amen.

[Cassandra] Let's go straight home.

It's just a bit of backache, really.

I'm well.

Really, don't make a fuss.

Poor Anna Moth.

she'll be worn out before she's thirty.

[Mrs. Austen] Girls!

Well Fanny, now you are become almost an aunt, you are a person of some consequence, and must excite great interest whatever you do.

My dear, what is it?

Mr. Plumptre's got engaged to somebody else.

Ahh.

You could at least try and be upset for me.

My dear, sweet perverse Fanny, you did not choose to have him for yourself.

Why not allow him to take comfort where he can?

I would have chosen him but you ruined it.

-I did not.

-You laughed at him.

And every time I looked at him I saw him through your eyes.

You frighten me out of my wits.

You cannot let anything depend on the opinion of your maiden aunt.

[Fanny] Oh, don't worry, I know that now.

A woman at your time of life making a spectacle out of yourself, with that silly butterfly of a doctor.

-[Mrs. Austen] Girls!

-[Fanny] In front of everyone.

[Mrs. Austen] Girls!

How could I ever have thought that you knew the first thing about real love.

Girls come this instant and admire this beautiful little creature.

Isn't she lovely?

She has the Austen eyes, I think.

Haven't you little beauty?

Yes, that's right.

Aunt Jane, I'd like you to meet my Jemima.

[baby cooes] Now I've met your Jemima, I'd like to introduce you to my Emma.

Reading?

You won't have time for that sort of childishness now, Anna.

Take her from me a moment, will you, Jane.

There.

Ugh.

Oh, not like that.

She's not a sack of potatoes.

[baby cries] Look at the dear girl.

Clever as the day is long, but give her a baby and she has no idea which end is up.

Hardly like a woman at all.

She doesn't mean to be cruel.

I know.

You say that you're happy and she takes you at your word.

I am happy, Cass.

Something happened to you in London.

Something between a man and an angel.

Mr. Haden was young and unsuitable, and he thought himself very clever and very fine.

And you thought him?

I didn't think him anything at all.

Thinking didn't come into it.

[whispers] My mind was not involved.

[chuckles] [Cass] You take me back to feelings I thought were long forgotten.

Feelings best left buried for two old ladies like us.

-You could have-- -No, I couldn't.

-Yes, you could.

-No.

I'm happy, too, Jane.

Stuck here, looking after mother and me.

Well, someone has to do it.

[knock on door] -Henry!

-Shh!

Don't wake mother.

[whispers] We weren't expecting you till tomorrow.

It means, I've lent too much and I borrowed too much, and now... Oh, God Jane, don't look at me like that.

Yes, my bank has collapsed, which means, yes, I'm ruined.

Bankrupt.

But Edward could help you.

[Jane] Edward has his lawsuit.

He has enough problems of his own.

Edward's already guaranteed my loans up to twenty thousand pounds.

I don't think he'll ever see that money again.

Oh, Henry... Oh, God.

[Henry] Now do you see.

I'll take the whole family down with me.

[sighs] Mother.

Don't say a word.

I'll tell her myself.

I'll tell her tomorrow.

[children shouting] [Mrs. Austen] Where's she going now?

[Bridges] Oh, leave her be.

[shuddering] Do you want to go back?

I don't want anything.

I want to make more money.

I want you and mother to be comfortable.

And not always terrified that our brothers are going to lose the house and... everything we have.

I want to shake off this awful tiredness and I can't.

We could take you to the seaside.

[exhales] Nobody loses their appetite at the seaside.

Nobody feels gloomy at the seaside.

Nobody suddenly feels so weak they can't stand.

Please, tell me why you're angry with me.

Why should I be angry with you?

I'm angry with myself.

I can't be ill.

I have a book to finish.

There are so many characters in my head.

So many stories... and so little time.

-Jane, let me-- -Just leave me alone.

Ah ah.

I saved that bit for Henry.

Oh, please take it, Mr. Pappillon, I'm quite full.

[Mrs. Austen] Where's your appetite today?

I wonder how many more she'll have.

Let's hope not as many as your poor mother.

It's not like in the story books, Fanny.

Books always end with weddings.

[Henry] Leave Fanny alone, mother, you'll spoil her happy ending.

All the interesting business happens after that.

[coughs] Mrs. Austen!

Like finding out how ever much you love the man you married, you love your children more.

Right!

Uncle Henry saves the day.

[indistinct shouting] On your way back to Ramsgate again Mr. Bridges?

I fear, there is no escaping Ramsgate.

Oh.

Oh, Cassandra has caught you very well.

I believe she has.

Sickness is a dangerous indulgence at my time of life.

[Bridges] When we met in Kent I believe I spoke very rashly.

[Jane] You're not going to be so ungallant as to take it back now.

[whispers] I wouldn't have prevented you from writing if that was your fear.

How could I have written if we'd been married?

All the effort of mothering.

We'd have been too poor.

You're poor anyway.

[chuckles] [chuckles] We'd have made each other laugh.

Is that what marriage is?

I suppose no man of flesh and blood would ever be worthy of the creator of Mr. Darcy.

You're all quite wrong about him.

He wouldn't have done for me at all.

If I had plucked up the courage after we danced at the ball... We'd have been too young.

And later, when I did ask you...

I simply went off the whole idea of marrying anybody.

Tell me now you regret it Tell me now that sometimes, in the night you think of me.

Tell me even if it isn't true.

What on earth would be the point?

[Edward] Henry has made a complete hash of telling Mother.

She's talking very wildly, old grudges, re-surfacing.

Whatever she says, Jane, don't take it personally.

She's not angry with me at all.

I've had it with banking, Jane.

I need to become a vicar.

My sons have always done their best for this family.

But she is a selfish, selfish girl.

I saw you with Mr. Bridges.

Flirting like a silly girl.

He is a married man.

If you wanted to be Mrs. Bridges, the vicar's wife, you should've said "yes" when he asked you.

That's easy, I didn't want to.

It's not as if you were waiting for a better offer.

The rich man with the big house.

No, you had that, and thrown it away!

You threw your life away.

And mine!

And your sisters with it.

'Coz no, he wasn't good enough for clever Miss Jane and her fancy ideas.

No, she was worth much more than Mr. Harris Bigg with his stately home and his thousand acres.

Oh, mother, that was years ago.

Yes, fifteen years.

It's engraved on my heart.

Fifteen years since the night you let her run away, like a spoilt child, from marriage and security.

I couldn't marry a man I didn't love.

[Mrs. Austen] Then why did you say "yes" to him.

"Yes, Harris, I will be Mrs.

Bigg."

I made a mistake.

Your mistake was to get up the next morning and take your promise back.

[shouting] What did you want me to do?

Sell myself for money?!

We would've been rich.

Yes.

And what does that mean?

Rich is just another word for safe.

[Cassandra] Oh, mother, I beg you.

Don't you protect her, you've done enough of that.

You sacrificed all our security security on a principle, Jane.

And has it made you happy?

Has it?

Look at you.

[Jane sniffs] You're ill. Nobody tells me anything, but I have eyes in my head.

Oh, my poor lonely girls.

[Fanny] Aunt Jane.

Not now, Fanny.

You said "yes" because he was rich and "no" because you didn't love him.

That's so romantic.

Would you choose my life?

You can be angry with me, Fanny.

But don't you dare feel sorry for me.

[Cassandra] Harris Bigg, Brook Bridges, Tom LeFroy... All any one of those men might have done is make me quite happy.

[sniffs] Quite happy is not enough.

Quite happy... is not the ending I want to write for my story.

And quite poor is the absolute limit.

[exhales] The only regret I have about not marrying Harris Bigg... is that I'm going to die... and I'm going to leave you and mother with nothing.

Oh don't.

Don't, don't Jane.

It's my fault.

If I'd have stayed silent.

If I hadn't persuaded you... All that night I nagged and nagged you to change your mind.

I made you refuse him.

[Jane] You made me see the choice for what it was.

Because of me, you chose loneliness and poverty.

Because of you...

I choose freedom.

I didn't do it for you, Jane.

I know.

I'm so ashamed.

[Jane whispers] Cassie... Everything I have... and everything I have achieved...

I owe to you.

[Cassandra crying] To the life we have made here.

To the love that we have together.

[Cassandra sobs] This life I have... is what I needed.

It's what God intended for me.

I'm so much happier than I thought I'd be.

So much happier... than I deserve to be.

I am so thirsty.

[chuckles] [sniffs] Your mother sent me Oh, thank you.

Please let me see Aunt Jane Not now.

Please, there's so much I need to ask her.

Maybe tomorrow.

[Jane] Fanny.

I'm still going to marry Mr. Papillon.

So you're welcome to the horrid old widower and his six children.

A widower with six children.

Jane was right as usual.

Annoying girl.

Dearly beloved, we are gathered together here in the sight of God and in the face of this congregation, to join this man and this woman... [inaudible over music] [Fanny] Don't be sad, Aunt Cass.

Not tonight.

I'm more than happy for you, Fanny.

My husband says I'm the only person in the world in who's society he can find happiness.

I'm glad he knows how lucky he is.

What's that you're doing?

Don't worry.

I've saved you the ones where she mentions you.

Don't!

You can't burn Aunt Jane's letter.

You still believe there's a secret love story to uncover.

Maybe I still hope there is.

She was the sun of my life.

The gilder of every pleasure.

The soother of every sorrow.

I had not a thought concealed from her, and it's as if I lost a part of myself.

My husband sent me to ask you for a dance.

Your aunt Jane was the dancer in this family.

[Jane] When I look out on such a night as this, I feel as if there could be neither wickedness nor sorrow in the world.

You are the delight of my life.

Fanny, listen to your own heart now.