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With any other woman, this turn in the conversation would have been alarming, but he knew he was safe with her. “You would never marry me,” he said confidently.
“Beggars cannot be choosers, sir.”
“You despise me thoroughly,” he said, still seeing no danger. “Even if I were mad enough to offer for you, madam, you would never accept.”
She laughed, throwing him a teasing glance. “Are you sure about that?”
For the first time, he felt a frisson of fear. “You would never marry me — would you?”
She stopped and turned so she was looking directly into his face. “I would. I will. I cannot afford not to. If you are serious.”
Only in that instant did Will see the trap she had set for him. And he, like a fool, had walked straight into it.
At that moment, he was hailed by Angie and Stepmother, who were approaching in a large group, and there was no opportunity to continue the conversation. Not that there was much to be said. He was well and truly caught.
18: An Engagement
Will sleepwalked through the rest of the evening, the late-night brandy with Pa and Johnny and the ritual of undressing for bed. Then he crept next door, to Johnny’s room.
“Are you still awake? Do I disturb you?”
“Of course not,” Johnny said, neatly placing a marker in the book he was reading and placing it on the night stand. “I thought you would be in for a chat. You have been as miserable as a month of wet Fridays ever since you returned from Vauxhall’s. Are you concerned about Somerwell?”
“Not that, no. Brother, I have got myself into rather a mess. I might have proposed to Eloise Whittleton, and—”
“What!”
“—and she might have accepted me.”
“Youmight haveproposed? Will, whatever have you done?”
“We fell to talking about marriage — it started with Rosie, and her prospects, and then shifted to Eloise’s prospects, and somehow… and I am not at all sure how it happened, I said to her,‘You would not marry me — would you?’, meaning it as a statement of fact, for I thought she would never countenance the idea, but she took it as an actual offer and said yes! And now I do not know what I should do.”
“Has she told anyone?”
“No… we bumped into Stepmother and Angie, and nothing was said, and Eloise behaved just as usual — you know, composed, as she always is, and not at all as if she had just accepted an offer of marriage.”
“Then it is obvious,” Johnny said. “You must go to her and tell her that she has misunderstood, and you had no thought of marriage. She will understand.”
“I cannot do that,” Will said slowly.
“But Will, you do not want to marry her, do you?”
“I have no particular wish to marry anyone, not for years yet, but that is nothing to the point. For weeks now she has been tormenting me, telling me that I have no idea how to behave, that I am no gentleman. But I know exactly what a gentleman is supposed to do in such a case. Once the expectation has been raised, then the marriage must follow.”
“Even when the raising of the expectation was unintentional?”
“Even then, and even when, as I suspect, she has tricked me into it. There is no help for it, Johnny. I have to go to Marford House and offer for her formally, and if she accepts me… well, that is the end of the matter. She has accused me of not being a gentleman, and if I fail to do my duty by her now, she will be proved right, and will have won.”
“You would marry a woman you dislike just to prove a point?” Johnny said in horrified tones. “Will, you are insane!”
~~~~~
Will went to see his father first thing, to apprise him of this surprising development in his son’s life.
“Hmmm. This is an odd turn of events, Will. You must do this, I suppose.”
“There is no avoiding it, although I cannot imagine why she wishes to marry me. I thought she despised me quite thoroughly, so perhaps she will have thought better of it herself, and turn me down.”
