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“That will do, Will,” Mama said. “Julia, tell us precisely what happened, from the moment you entered the rectory.”
So she told them, exactly as she remembered it, everything that had been said and done, and even now, she could see nothing wrong in any of it. Apart from that kiss, of course. That had changed everything.
When she had finished, she was dispatched back to the withdrawing room, with the instruction to say nothing to anyone, and although Pa and Mama and Will were closeted together for another half an hour, when they emerged nothing further was said on the subject.
“Let me look at that leg of yours, Julia,” Mama said.
Meekly, Julia followed, and as Mama washed and applied salve and rebandaged, she said, “Your father and I are agreed that there is no harm done to your reputation from today’s little encounter. Mr Plummer has behaved very properly towards you, apart from that kiss, of course. Was that your first kiss?”
“Heavens, no.”
Mama chuckled. “He should not have done it, but… better it should happen to you than to Rosie or Angie.”
“Oh yes! Rosie would have agonised over it and felt she had committed a grave sin, and Angie would have spun a fairy tale out of it, with herself as the tragic heroine, naturally. Whereas it just made me cross with him.”
“And you told us all about it, although perhaps it is best not to say such things in front of the servants.”
“No, Mama,” Julia said contritely. “I didn’t think.”
“You so rarely do, Julia dear. Incurable honesty is not precisely a fault, but when tempered with a modicum of restraint, may be accounted something closer to a virtue.”
~~~~~
James was watching the rain sheeting down through the drawing room window, and trying to discern the church through the murk when a footman, bundled up in a thick cloak, splashed up the drive. James answered the door himself, to be handed a brief note.
‘James, Pray be so kind as to attend me at your earliest convenience. Sir Owen Plummer.’
Such a request, however politely worded, was not one to be ignored. Delaying only long enough to put on his thickest greatcoat, he made his way to the Manor.
“Sir Owen is awaiting you in the library,” Jefford told him.
The butler would not lower himself to display any open sign of curiosity, but he must be wondering, and he would understand the significance of the library, a room only ever used for the most formal of occasions.
James knocked, waited for his father’s brisk, “Enter!” and went in. The room was chilly enough to make him shiver. A fire had been hastily lit, for it blazed up the chimney, but had not yet made any impression on the temperature in the room.
“You wished to see me, Father?”
“Thank you for coming so promptly, James. Shall we sit?” He gestured to the matching chairs set either side of the fire. “I have had Fletcher here this morning, regarding his daughter. Miss Julia. He wishes to know what your intentions are towards the young lady.”
“My intention is to marry her, Father. I intimated as much to her yesterday.”
“So you offered for her?”
“No, I told her that I plan to offer for her.”
“It is the same thing, a declaration. Is there cause for you to feel obligated?”
“Certainly not. Iwantto marry her.”
His father’s eyebrows rose slightly. “I see. For what reason?”
James gave a bark of surprise. “Because I like her, of course. She will suit me very well.”
“At what point did you arrive at that conclusion?”
“Almost the first moment I saw her. I believe I told you how I met her, the very day her family arrived. She had walked up to the High Field, and was sitting perched on the gate when I left the hut. I decided then that I would marry her.”
“That seems a whimsical decision,” Sir Owen said.
