At a quarter after eight, Lizzie walked to the front of the room again and announced that the "guided discussion" portion of the evening was over, but told them they were all welcome to stay and talk about whichever nineteenth-century poet they wished while eating all of the cookies and drinking all of the lemonade and punch. "Otherwise it will all end up in the staff room and I'll eat too much of it," she said to quiet, polite laughter.

Surprisingly, Cassandra approached her not two seconds after the babble of voices rose again. "Lizzie," she smiled, "so good to see you. I didn't know you worked at a library." She glanced very briefly at Christopher, who didn't seem to see her.

"Yup," said Lizzie. "Three years this spring."

"How nice." Cassandra flashed her a frozen-on smile, then turned to Christopher, looping her arm through his. "You said it would be Jane Austen tonight," Cassandra said.

"No, I said Emily Dickenson," Christopher replied calmly. "You *heard* Jane Austen."

"I heard it because you said it," said Cassandra.

Not wanting to watch them in the middle of a fight, however satisfying it may have been, Lizzie jumped into the conversation. "Are you a fan of Jane Austen?" she asked.

"I *loved* the *Pride and Prejudice* movie," said Cassandra, turning to Lizzie and talking brightly as if her sulk had never occurred. "Kiera Knightly is so pretty."

"Have you read the book?"

"I'm sorry?"

"Have you read the book?" Lizzie asked again.

"Well... no." Apparently Cassandra didn't know what to think of this question. Books seemed beyond her realm of entertainment.

"Ah." Lizzie smiled smugly, which, happily, seemed to infuriate Cassandra.

"I didn't think I'd like the movie at first," Cassandra said, regaining some of her former poise, "but then that... what was it? That *Jane Austen Book Club* movie came out, and I didn't see it, but it seems like Jane Austen is quite the *thing* now." She plastered on her previous smile.

It didn't stay in place for long. "You know *The Jane Austen Book Club* was also a book first?" asked Lizzie. Just as she'd thought, just as she'd told Christopher at Billy's party, Cassandra only liked things because other people liked them, and only did things because other people did them too. Movement caught her eye, and she looked up at Christopher, who had turned his head toward her upon hearing that. He was looking right at her, no doubt wishing she would either drop through a hole in the floor, or go and antagonize someone other than his girlfriend.

"Well goodness, was *every* movie these days a book first?" Cassandra exclaimed, giving a fractionally brittle-sounding laugh.

"Hollywood can't resist the slaughter," Christopher said mildly.

"What?" asked Cassandra.

"They ruin books," he said simply. "All the important points are lost. The main plot points are generally left in tact, but they change the setting, the subplots, even the characters, in order to make more money at the box office. That's all they care about."

"Well, that's Hollywood, Darling," Cassandra said, giving his arm a squeeze. "I would know," she added, "I *did* work there for a year and a half."