What Would Jane Austen Do? Read Online Free

I'll dance on a flying carpet of gold. I'll—"
       "Good. Deirdre and I will take care of everything."
       "No we won't."
       "Listen to…"
       And then there was silence.
       After what seemed like several long minutes, Eleanor sat up and looked around. The room appeared normal and best of all empty. She let out a deep sigh of relief. "What a crazy dream," she mumbled as she snuggled back under the covers.
       She regretted it had just been a dream. Wouldn't it have been cool if it had been true?
       When she sat up once more to turn out the lamp, the room began to spin. Bolts of rainbow-colored electricity zoomed around the walls. The bed seemed to rise and float.
       Eleanor was usually a woman who confronted her problems head on, but this was too weird, outside the realm of anything she'd experienced before. The spin ning room made her dizzy. The flashing lights hurt her eyes with their laser intensity, and her head throbbed with what she could only describe as unheard sound. She dove under the pillow, covered her ears, and closed her eyes tightly.

Two

    ELEANOR WOKE AND HAD NO IDEA WHAT TIME IT WAS. She fumbled for the watch that she'd left on the bedside table. At least she thought she'd left it there. Had she put it in her carryon? She sat up and blinked in the pale light.
       Mina and Deirdre were seated by the window.
       Eleanor pinched herself. "Ouch!"
       "Good morning, slug-a-bed," Mina said with a bright smile. "It is half past ten on Wednesday the twenty-third day of June in the year 1814."
       "Oh no," Eleanor said, shaking her head. If she wasn't dreaming, that meant the ghosts were real. "Why are you still here? Why are you haunting me?"
       "We promised we would be here to help you with the nuances of Regency life," Mina said.
       "Even though there is much you cannot possibly understand, especially in the short time available," Deirdre added.
       Eleanor held up her hand. She needed a minute to deal with this… whatever this was. What was it they always said to ghosts on TV? "You should go toward the light. Move on to whatever—"
    "We explained that we can't leave this property."
       "Right. I remember. Look, I'm only going to be here for a week. There is no other room where I can stay, so why don't we come to an agreement? I'll try to not bother you if you'll try to not bother me. Sound reasonable?"
       "But we can help you—"
       "I don't want your help. In fact, I don't want to see you anymore, or hear you, or… or sense your presence. Is that clear?"
       Mina nodded, her expression sad.
       Deirdre crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes. "You are not properly prepared to manage—"
       "Whatever happens this week, I'll figure it out. Now, I want you both to promise you'll leave me alone."
       "Perhaps you should listen to her," Mina said with a nod toward her sister.
       "Arrrgh!" Eleanor flopped back on the bed and pulled the pillow and blanket over her head. "Go away!"
       After a few minutes, Eleanor realized she might as well get up because she wasn't going back to sleep. Yet she hesitated. What if the ghosts were still there?
       She heard the door open and someone moving around. In one quick move, she whipped off the cover and sat up. "Why are you—"
       A scream stopped her mid-sentence. A maid stood in the center of the room, her hands to her mouth, her eyes as wide as if she'd seen a ghost.
       Eleanor apologized for startling the girl, who didn't look much over the age of fourteen. At the same time, she was impressed that even the maid was dressed in an appropriate period costume for Regency Week. She wore a white mobcap and a simple gray ankle-length dress covered by a long white apron.
       "I weren't expecting no one to be here," the maid said as she picked up the dropped linens and draped them over her arm.
       "Understandable." Eleanor gave the young girl a sympathetic smile. "I arrived late last