The Affairs of Harriet Walters, Spinster

by Cathy Spencer

  “I’d be happy to, Miss Walters.”

  Harriet shot him a smile before turning back to her aunt. “I’m not saying that Mrs. Higgins’ house is perfect, Aunt Edna. I should like running water in the kitchen and a bathroom on the second floor. I plan to install servants’ quarters behind the kitchen, and enlarge the bedroom I’ll use for myself. But when it is all finished, I shall have the perfect house.

  Aunt Edna humphed and folded her arms over her chest. “You mean to live there alone, Harriet?”

  “Yes, except for a servant or two. I shall hire a groomsman, but he can live out, at least for now. The barn needs a second floor added on for living quarters.”

  “That’s wise, Harriet. You don’t want to undertake too much at first,” said Mrs. Walters. “Perhaps Mrs. Higgins neighbour’s eldest son would do? I think his name is Tom.”

  “Don’t encourage her, Edwina. Harriet can’t live out there alone.”

  “Of course I can, Aunt. You’ve lived alone in your house. And I’ll still be close enough to visit you and mother whenever we like.”

  “It sounds ideal, Harriet,” said Mrs. Walters. “I’m so pleased for you.”

  “It won’t be easy finding someone to buy Mabel’s place,” Aunt Edna grumped. “No one around here has enough money.”

  “What about Mrs. Hensley, dear? She’s been doing well with her dressmaker’s shop,” Mrs. Walters suggested.

  “Nonsense, Edwina, she has the lease to pay on her store. She couldn’t manage both.”

  Colonel York cleared his throat. “Actually, ladies, I’ve been considering the house for myself, if Miss Walters doesn’t want it.”

  All three women stared at him. “Really, Colonel?” Harriet asked.

  “I’ve been thinking of the stable, Miss Walters. It’s larger than the one I have at home, and there’s good pasture beside it. It’s getting more and more expensive to keep my horses in London, and I’ve been thinking about finding someplace less extravagant. That, and I like Mabel’s house. It’s old-fashioned and well-built. It may be a bit large for me, but I might want to invite some of my racing friends down from London from time-to-time. Besides, the staff is already in place.”

  “I’d sell it to you at an excellent price,” Harriet said with a laugh. “Wouldn’t it be wonderful having us all together in Rexton?”

  “Has everyone gone mad except me?” Aunt Edna howled.

  “Excuse me, Harriet,” her mother said, pushing her over to sit beside her sister. “Now, Edna, this is the answer to all of your worries. You were concerned that Harriet would be so taken with London that she wouldn’t come back, and now she’ll be settling down right here in Rexton.”

  “Were you, Aunt Edna?” Harriet said, touched that her aunt had missed her.

  “Hush, Harriet,” Aunt Edna said, glaring at her niece before returning her attention to her sister.

  “And you were worried that Harriet would sell Mabel’s house, and that strangers would make all kinds of dreadful changes to it.”

  “I like it just the way it is, Mrs. Slater,” the colonel added.

  “Plus, you won’t have to worry about where the money will come from to replace the roof on this house, now that I’ll be sharing the expenses.”

  “That’s true. I hated to ask my daughters for help.”

  “You see, Aunt Edna,” Harriet said, reaching around her mother to squeeze her aunt's hand, “everything is going to turn out better than you had imagined.”

  “Well, I’ll have to think about it. I shall rest in my room before dinner. Don’t forget that Mr. Ash of yours is coming. He just about went clear out of my mind with everything that’s happening around here.”

  “I won’t forget, Aunt Edna. I have plans for Mr. Ash, too.”

  Aunt Edna shook her head. “I didn’t know what I was agreeing to when I took you into my house, Harriet Walters. To think of all that has happened to me in just one short year.”

  “I know, Aunt Edna. It’s exhilarating, isn’t it?”

  “Humph,” the old lady said as she stamped out of the room.

  Chapter Forty

  Mr. Ash, looking very presentable in his best waistcoat and Sunday pair of shoes, struggled to follow the dinner conversation the next evening. Everyone was speaking at once and interrupting each other. Aunt Edna was negotiating her share of the colonel’s hazelnut harvest for the upcoming autumn. Mrs. Walters was begging Harriet to expand the servants’ quarters in Mrs. Higgins' cottage from two bedrooms to three just in case she wished to hire more staff in future. Harriet was trying to convince Aunt Edna that she was perfectly capable of looking after a few chickens, while Aunt Edna insisted that no lady should ever clean out a hen house.

  The schoolmaster was agreeing with Mrs. Walters that apple blossom wallpaper would look lovely and fresh in the parlour when he noticed that everyone else had stopped talking. Looking up from his raspberry custard tart, he saw the colonel smiling at Harriet and Mrs. Slater staring at him.

  “I beg your pardon, Mr. Ash. Our conversation has been rather scattered this evening,” Mrs. Walters said. “Would you care for some more wine?”

  “Better not, young man, you don’t have much of a head for drink, as I recall,” Aunt Edna interjected.

  “Aunt!”

  “You and Mabel may have hid it from everyone else, but don’t think that I didn’t notice, Harriet. Not that it was his fault. My cider is pretty potent, and shouldn’t be forced in imprudent amounts on people with empty stomachs. Bear that in mind next fall, Colonel York,” she added, wagging a finger at the gentleman.

  “Is that so, Mrs. Slater? Perhaps you’ll try some of my home-made currant wine when I bring my supply from London. It’s very tasty, plus it has some kick to it.”

  Aunt Edna smiled. “Once I’ve pressed some cider, we’ll have a little dinner party.”

  The gentleman raised his glass. “Last man – or woman – standing wins.”

  Aunt Edna laughed out loud. “You might be a good neighbour at that, sir. Well, if we’re all finished, shall we rise, ladies?”

  “If you don’t mind, Mr. Ash, it’s a fine evening and I’d rather go for an after-dinner walk than sit here drinking port and smoking cigars with you,” the colonel said.

  “Fine with me, sir,” Ash replied. “I’m not really fond of either.”

  “I hope you don’t mind, Colonel, but I would like to kidnap Mr. Ash for a walk with me,” Harriet said. The young man stiffened and stared at her from across the table.

  “Not at all,” the colonel replied. “The gentleman is all yours.”

  “Would that be agreeable to you, sir?”

  “A walk would be enjoyable. Lead on, Miss Walters.”

  Harriet and Ash began by following the gravel path through the formal gardens, Harriet pointing out one or two of her favourite blooms while Ash remained mostly silent. As they emerged from the box hedge, the young woman indicated the miniature temple on the crest of the hill.

  “It has a wonderful view, particularly at this time of day when the sun gives the garden a lovely golden sheen. Would you care to see it?

  “It sounds idyllic, Miss Walters,” he said, indicating that she should precede him.

  They followed the bridge over the brook and arrived at the temple. Harriet passed through the portico to sit on the wrought-iron bench. Ash paused on the threshold, looking around the plain interior before taking a seat on the bench beside her. Rays of warm sunlight puddled on the floor just inside the doorway, but did not penetrate into the cool interior. Ash gazed out over the landscape while Harriet studied his profile. He turned and looked into her eyes.

  “Miss Walters, I think that you have brought me here for a purpose. What do you want with me?” he asked in a cool tone.

  Harriet was startled by the directness of his question. “You come right to the point,” she said. He said nothing. “Very well, sir, there is something that I wish to discuss with you,” she began. He nodded. “As you heard tonight, I hav
e made some important life decisions recently.”

  “Yes,” he interrupted. “I was amazed to hear that you are buying Mrs. Higgins’ property. Why?”

  Harriet explained her desire to live in the country without being too far away from her mother and her aunt, plus her need for independence. “I could not continue to live in my aunt’s home under her thumb, although she is dear to me.”

  “I can understand your desire to have your own household, Miss Walters. What did Mrs. Higgins say to your offer?”

  “She was doubtful, at first. Like my aunt, she did not think the cottage an appropriate place for an unmarried young lady to live alone. She also feared that my offer came out of a desire to do her a kindness rather than serving my best interests. I was able to convince her that her cottage would make the perfect home for me. In the end, she was pleased that her house was going to someone who would treasure it. Her family will help her pack her belongings, and she will move in with her nephew at week’s end. She cried a little to think that she was actually leaving her home. I invited her to visit anytime she liked, but she declined. ‘It wouldn’t be wise, Miss Walters,’ she said. ‘Better to make a clean break of it and move on. But you must come and visit me and Oliver at my nephew’s house,’ and I promised that I would.”

  Ash nodded. “I congratulate you, Miss Walters. Everything has worked out magically well for you. You have found the perfect home, your mother is taking up permanent residence with your aunt, you have secured a worthy owner for Mrs. Evans’ house, and you are keeping the colonel close by. But you have still not answered my question. What do you want with me?”

  Harriet rose from the bench, took a deep breath, and blurted, “I want you to marry me.”

  Ash stared at her, his jaw dropping open. “What on earth for?” he asked.

  “Because you have so much to offer, Mr. Ash.”

  Ash laughed. “You must be jesting. I have nothing to offer you, or any other woman. I have no home, my salary is inappreciable, my possessions are of no monetary value, and any inheritance I receive from my parents will have only sentimental value. All that I possess you see sitting here before you on this bench.”

  Harriet sat beside him and reached for his arm. “You do not see it from my point of view, sir.”

  “Pray, enlighten me.”

  “When I marry, Mr. Ash, my inheritance will become my husband’s property. Now, I might have gone to London seeking a man of fortune to combine his resources with mine, making us both much wealthier, but what would my life have been? I would have had to assume a place in society, spending my days visiting other well-to-do wives, going to dinner parties, perhaps taking up a charity, and breeding. Remember the story I told you about my friend, Abigail Pope?”

  “The young woman who studies medicine?”

  “That’s right. Abigail’s great ambition is to put her medical knowledge to good use. She was willing to marry a missionary and leave her family for an uncivilized country to achieve that goal. Fortunately, she met Harold Gwinn, who will allow her to become his assistant when he opens his medical practice. And they love each other. It is a brilliant, providential match.”

  “So, you want me to be your ‘Harold Gwinn,’ Miss Walters? Tell me, what are your ambitions?”

  Harriet stared at him. “I want to explore the world around me. I want to learn. I want to speak with educated people – men of ideas – not just parish widows or society people who care only for their own advancement or amusements. I want to study history. I want to travel and learn about other cultures. I want adventure and a big life, not a life dictated by society. And, when I am not travelling, I want to live in the country with nature and sunshine and peace. I want freedom, Mr. Ash.”

  The young man’s eyes grew large as he listened to her speech. “And you think that I will somehow provide you with all of that?”

  “Yes, I do. Tell me – if you had not so selflessly given up your savings to your sister this summer – what would you have done with your holidays?”

  “Gone to Bath to examine the Roman ruins.”

  “Exactly. And what would you do if you had a thousand pounds to spend any way you choose?”

  Ash’s eyes shone. “I would go to Rome, Miss Walters. I would see the Coliseum, the Pantheon, and the Forum. I would study the ancient civilization that melded with our own eighteen centuries ago.”

  “Yes. And if you were in Italy, would you stop to visit other cities, such as Florence and Venice?”

  “Of course. Who would not want to see all that architecture and art and history – to absorb them like a sponge – to wallow in them, in fact?”

  Harriet nodded, her body tense with excitement. She took his hands. “We could do those things together, Joseph. We could have those adventures. We could share Mrs. Evans’ inheritance and have the lives we both dream of.”

  Ash ran his hands threw his hair and jumped up, pacing in the same space that Harriet had just vacated. “My teaching . . . ?”

  “You could continue doing that if you wanted. That was one of my considerations in buying Mrs. Higgins cottage – its proximity to the school.”

  Ash turned to stare at her.

  “You could teach at the grammar school during the school year, and we could travel in the summer. What a wondrous life we could have! While you are teaching, I could read and study. You could direct my education in British and Roman history. And we could have dinner parties for the other teachers. I would particularly like to know the headmaster’s wife, Mrs. Harris. She sounds so likable. And I would like to know Mr. Harris better, too. He always has such a twinkle in his eye. I think that he must have a devilish sense of humour.”

  Ash smiled. “Oh, he does, Harriet. They are very likable people. They’ve been good to me, too. I would enjoy entertaining them in my own home.”

  Harriet held out her hand and he took it, joining her on the bench. “What do you think, Joseph? Doesn’t it sound like the perfect life?”

  He beamed at her. “It does. It sounds wonderful.” Then the smile transformed into a frown. “But, Harriet, you don’t need me to have that wonderful life. You are an independent woman of means. You could achieve all of that on your own.”

  Harriet blushed and glanced down at her hands. “I could, Joseph, but I don’t want to be alone anymore. I want someone to share my life with. More than that, I want someone who wants to share his life with me. Someone who finds me attractive, someone who could want me in that way.” Her voice faltered, and her eyes glistened with tears. She closed them, and turned her face away in shame.

  She felt Joseph’s calloused hand cup one side of her face and turn it back toward him. She sighed and opened her eyes. His other hand rose to brush through her hair, coming to rest on her shoulder. She felt too vulnerable to look into his eyes, afraid that she would find pity there. He folded her in his arms and drew her to him, resting his face against hers. Tentatively, she reached her hands around his back, trembling. His face turned, and he kissed her on the cheek, the eyes, and then tenderly on the mouth. Harriet was very still, her eyes closed, waiting. The breath caught in his throat, and he kissed her more fervently, pressing her hard against him. Harriet gasped and returned his kiss.

  An hour later, the evening sky was a dusky blue with the last tinges of the pink and purple sunset fading from it. It was dark inside the temple. Harriet sat on Ash’s lap, clasped within his arms, their heads touching as they talked. Ash looked up and sighed.

  “We must go, my love. If we don’t get back soon, your aunt will come looking for us. If she found us like this, I fear that she’d have me horsewhipped.”

  Harriet laughed, laying her head on Ash’s shoulder and snuggling against his chest. Ash groaned. “No, don’t start all that again or we’ll never leave. Of course, if things get out of hand, you know what to do with scoundrels.” Harriet pulled a face and gave him a light punch on the shoulder. “Ouch,” he complained, “the abuse starts already.”

  Harriet laughed, gave
him a quick kiss, and hopped off his lap. She stretched her back to ease muscles cramped in one position for too long. Ash rubbed his legs to improve their circulation.

  Harriet grinned mischievously and held out her hand. “Come, Joseph, let’s go in and tell them that we’ve set the wedding day. I can’t wait to see Aunt Edna’s face when we tell her that we’re getting married in just three weeks. Long enough to read the bans, and then off for a quick honeymoon in Bath!”

  Chapter Forty-One

  When Harriet and Ash returned to announce their wedding plans, they found the two ladies and the colonel worrying about their whereabouts. Their announcement set the house into an uproar, and it was full on two o’clock in the morning before Colonel York rescued the exhausted schoolmaster and delivered him home in his carriage. Mrs. Walters and Harriet weathered Aunt Edna’s emotional storm by never being at home over the next two days, but after that the aunt could not resist getting caught up in the wedding preparations and the cottage’s renovation plans. Mrs. Higgins left her home at the end of the week as planned, and then the five were either at the cottage or at Aunt Edna’s house.

  Harriet, Ash, and the colonel did have a day’s respite spent visiting a racing acquaintance of the colonel’s to purchase a carriage and a pair of horses. The middle-aged gentleman wanted to sell his curricle in favour of something speedier, and Colonel York bargained him down to a good price.

  The curricle, looking very festive decked out in bows and ribbons, carried Harriet and the colonel to St. Michael's Church on her wedding day. Harriet looked radiant in her wedding gown with her father’s seed pearl necklace around her throat, while Joseph looked handsome in the new wedding suit his parents had purchased for him. Ash’s sister and her husband were not able to return from Spain in time for the wedding, but the bridegroom’s family was represented by his parents and his four little nieces and nephews. Harriet’s brother-in-law gave her away, while Mrs. Walters was supported in her pew by Helen, with an extra handkerchief for her mother’s happy tears, and Aunt Edna, whose own eyes looked suspiciously shiny during the ceremony. Mrs. Higgins and Oliver were brought by the lady’s nephew, and sat in the pew behind Harriet’s mother. Aunt Edna insisted that the wedding meal be served in her home, and Harriet compromised by paying for the refreshments. Mr. Ash, Senior, his wife, and their grandchildren stayed at Aunt Edna's house for the festivities, while Helen, Sinclair, and their nine children were accommodated in Mrs. Evans’ larger house, affording the bride and bridegroom’s families an opportunity to get to know each other. Harriet escaped the bedlam by sleeping in her cottage the night before the wedding, and she and Ash spent a blissful wedding night there before departing for Bath the next day.