“I have met a young lady that I would very much like to marry,” he said. “However, her dowry is not enough to allow for the kind of life I am used to and still provide for her and our children. I am attempting to see if I would like the kind of life I would be reduced to if I married her. So far, I find that I do. I’ve been a little bored, but I suspect that would change once children come along.”
“I assume she is someone you met in Hertfordshire,” said his mother. “Richard, how on Earth did you fall in love with some poor country girl?”
“First of all, she is not poor,” said Richard sternly. “She has a dowry of four thousand pounds. Not extravagant, but certainly not nothing. Secondly, she is the daughter of a knight and a gentlewoman. Mother, you will not talk me out of this, so I beg you not to insult her any further.”
His mother simply blinked at him for what seemed like eternity. Then the questions began. Richard did his best to answer everything honestly. In the end, she seemed to relent. “Well, she might not be quite up to the level I expected you to attract, but if she is all that you say, I suppose she will do well enough. I do have one last question, though. Why did you not come to us in the first place to see if we could help you?”
“Father made it perfectly clear that my position in the army was all I could expect from him. I assumed it would be fruitless. So, I said nothing.”
“Well, that may be true of your father, but it just so happens that I might be able to help you, myself,” she said. “Do you remember my Great Aunt Audrey?”
“Is she still alive?” asked Richard. “Good Lord, she must be more than ninety years old.”
“She was eighty-nine when she died in December,” said his mother. “She left everything she had to me, including a nice little house and a significant amount of land. I was going to sell the property and contribute the money toward your niece’s dowry, but if it will get you to stop behaving like a pauper, I think it would be better to give it to you.”
“Mother, are you serious?” When she nodded her head, he said, “How much is it?”
“Well, the property itself is not worth much since it is not improved and is in a remote location, and the house is not large. All told, it is probably worth four or five thousand pounds. There was also her money in the funds, which was a little more than five thousand pounds.”
“That is perfect!” cried Richard. “That brings me to exactly the income I wanted in order to be able to propose. If you are sincere in your intentions, then I would like to go back to Hertfordshire immediately.”
She smiled indulgently. “I am sincere,” she said. “Go and propose to your lady. But do bring her back to London with you. I would certainly like to meet her before the wedding. When you return, we can take care of the transfer of the property.”
Richard leaped up and hugged his mother. Then he dashed out the door.
~~~~~
Charlotte walked slowly down the path she took for her exercise every single day. For the first week after Colonel Fitzwilliam had left, she had refused to use it, since doing so always brought back a thousand memories of her walks with him. However, not doing so meant she did not get the fresh air and exercise she desperately needed. In the end, she decided to face the memories and the pain of missing him and begin her walks once again.
On this blustery day in late March, when winter seemed to finally be relinquishing its hold but spring had not quite begun to truly set in, she was walking more slowly than usual. She thought about the colonel, as she so often did, and wondered if he had been able to meet his goal of only spending fifty pounds over the last three months.
Her gaze had mostly been toward the ground in front of her, but when she heard the distant sound of a horse, she looked up to see who it might be. When she saw a very familiar horse and rider galloping toward her, her world stood still.
Before she could even decide whether to believe her eyes, Colonel Fitzwilliam had stopped in front of her and was dismounting.
Once he was on the ground, without any preamble or explanation whatsoever, he said, “Charlotte, will you marry me?”
Practical considerations flew out of her mind, or perhaps more accurately never found purchase there in the first place. She flung herself into his arms and wrapped her own arms around his neck.
He accepted the invitation and kissed her soundly. The experience was like nothing she could have imagined. The world around her faded, and she was lost in him. When they separated, she knew she would belong to him for the rest of her life.
“Yes,” she said.
His eyes, still a little smoky with the passion of their kiss, widened in surprise. “You aren’t going to ask about the success of my experiment?”
Charlotte blushed. “I admit, I didn’t think about it in the least, but now that I am thinking about it, I assume you are confident in its success or you wouldn’t have asked me.”
“You have such faith in me,” he said with a tinge of awe in his voice.
“You have never given me reason to doubt your honesty or honor,” she said.
“Well, it just so happens that it was a resounding success. Not only did I succeed in staying under my budget by a significant margin, I found that I rather enjoyed some aspects of that lifestyle. However, that is not why I have returned three months early.”
He proceeded to explain the property he had been given. There was quite a bit of discussion about whether to keep the property and attempt to make something of it or to sell it and put the money into the funds, but no conclusion was reached.
They eventually returned to Lucas Lodge, where Sir William quickly gave his permission for their wedding, which was to take place in just two weeks.
Charlotte spent those two weeks in London with Elizabeth, who reveled in the joy of helping Charlotte choose her wedding clothes and who supported Charlotte as she met her future mother and father-in-law.
