Final Note
During the Darcys’ lifetime, the werewolf population in Great Britain dropped significantly. With the arrival of the Industrial Age, forests and woodlands were being denuded, and there were few safe places for a werewolf to hide. Most chose to emigrate to British North America or to the sparsely populated areas of the upper American Midwest. As a result, incidences of contact between werewolves and humans dropped dramatically in England as well as in Western Europe, and none was recorded in Britain after 1832.
The final entry in the records of the Council was the death in 1856 of the last surviving werewolf living in England. The Council was disbanded the following year, and the Underhill property was deeded over to the National Trust of Scotland, and thus an era where wolves—and werewolves—had roamed the British Isles came to an end.
Acknowledgments
Without the support of my editor at Sourcebooks, Deb Werksman, my third Austen reimagining would not have become a reality. I would also like to acknowledge my readers on Jane Austen fan fiction sites—where a much rougher version of this story, titled Mr. Darcy and the Eve of All Saints’ Day, first appeared—as well as Tony Grant of the United Kingdom for helping me with the Scottish dialogue. There is also a great group of ladies and one gentleman at www.austenauthors.com who provide support for writers who cannot seem to get enough of Jane Austen.
About the Author
Mary Lydon Simonsen, the author of Searching for Pemberley, The Perfect Bride for Mr. Darcy, Anne Elliot, A New Beginning, and The Second Date, Love Italian-American Style, has combined her love of history and the novels of Jane Austen in her third story inspired by Pride and Prejudice. The author lives in Arizona. For more information, please visit http://marysimonsenfanfiction.blogspot.com.
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