“Quaint country landscapes and college courtyards,” Diana sighed. “Why not try something different, Mother?”
“Because those are what sell, my dear. Is it time for tea already?” she asked as she plunged her brush into a jar of turpentine spirits. “My, how the morning has flown.”
“I shall put the kettle on. Come inside to the kitchen when you are ready.”
Mother stood up from her canvas stool and stood back to admire her painting. “Not too bad… I think it needs a steeple in the distance though, don’t you?”
“A steeple would be just splendid,” Diana said a little sarcastically.
Mother gave her a sour look. “Now, be nice to your dear old mother.”
“Mother, you are not old—just jaded.”
“You will send me to an early grave.”
“What in heaven’s name is an early grave? Is it a grave that gets up first thing in the morning?”
Mother waved her hand at Diana. “Now it is you who is being silly.”
They both laughed and linked arms and marched toward the kitchen, after putting a back in five minutes sign on the gallery door.
Mother and daughter looked like sisters—younger and older.
Diana was of medium height, with straight dark brown hair that she let flow down her back to her waist. At times, she piled it atop her head in a large bun or created a crown—often inserting small flowers from the garden. She was thin but not fragile, and perhaps her best features were her large brown eyes and her delicate mouth—which almost always had a welcoming smile.
Ann—Diana’s mother—looked just like her daughter, only a little shorter and a tiny bit stouter. And, as there were no other siblings, the two behaved as slightly naughty sisters who loved mischief and playfulness.
“I’ll have no cream but just lemon today in my tea,” Mother said as she set out the tea cups.
“Cream and honey for me, please. I want some of the honey from the comb we found while out walking in the Dailey’s field last September,” Diana said as the kettle came to a boil and she poured water into the teapot.
Mother opened a tin of ginger biscuits and sat at the kitchen table as Diana poured the tea.
“And how is the writing going this morning?” Mother asked.
“Well enough, but I have only just started the new book so I am still feeling my way to some extent.”
“I loved the way you used our banker, Mr. Cropper, as the villain in your last book. Poor old dolt never had a chance, did he?”
“Mother, it was just fiction. It was nothing personal.”
Mother laughed. “It seemed personal to me after he rejected your father’s request for a loan.”
“Perhaps a little personal, then,” Diana said with a sly smile.
“Did I hear the crunch of a ginger biscuit?” Father asked as he shuffled into the kitchen in his bathrobe and slippers.
“Are you still not dressed?” Mother exclaimed.
“I don’t have any tutorials until this afternoon,” he replied. He reached into the biscuit tin and took out a handful of biscuits.
Mother gently slapped his hand. “Just two, George.”
He dropped several but kept three.
“Would you like some tea, Father?” Diana asked.
“I would not say no,” he said, slipping into a chair at the table.
George Browning looked rumpled even in his bathrobe. He had a bald pate, but his ring of remaining grey hair shot out in all directions like he was caught in a crosswind. He constantly rubbed his pate with his hand as though he was attempting to polish it. He had droopy eyes from his years of reading in the poor light of musty libraries. And he kept a pair of eyeglasses that had either slipped to the end of his nose or were pushed up to his forehead where he could never find them.
Diana poured her father his cup of tea.
“I have not seen Adam lately,” Father said. “Has he not been coming around?”
“I believe he has been studying for some important exam or other. And I know he is still working hard on his dissertation,” Diana answered.
“He’s a good lad, your Adam. He’s a very promising scholar,” Father said.
“But he wants to go into his father’s publishing house. I do not believe he wants a university position.”
“Huh. That would be a shame.”
“Not for him.”
“So I suppose you like him because he will promise to publish your scribbles?” He dipped a ginger biscuit into his tea.
“Not at all. I am already published, as you well know, Father,” Diana said.
“Yes, that silly business. Romance and fluff and frills. Is that not so?”
“My many readers might disagree with you, Father,” Diana said sternly.
“What do they know? Layabouts or silly teenaged girls, I imagine.”
Diana stood up from the table and whisked her and his teacup away and took them to the sink and began washing them. She was angry at his narrowmindedness but refused to engage with him any further at the moment. She wanted to get back to work.
Mother, who preferred to stay out of these arguments between father and daughter stood, grabbed another biscuit, and stated, “It’s been a lot longer than five minutes and I must get back to the gallery. Ta ta, you two.” Then she left.
Diana saw Adam Hardy coming down the street toward their house. He was carrying a pink pastry box from Delaware’s Bakery—a favorite of her family’s. Adam usually brought something from the bakery when he was either feeling guilty about something or wanted to ask a favor.
Diana went to the front door of their house to greet him as he came through the front garden, just beginning to bloom with the first spring flowers.
“Adam, what did you bring us this time?” Diana asked as she accepted the bakery box from Adam.
“Something new,” he said with a big smile. “They have just started making the most delicious, individual custard tarts—just perfect for tea or breakfast.”
Adam was a handsome young man with dark red hair that he combed to the side. His green eyes were most appealing, and his freckled cheeks dimpled when he smiled, as he did often.
He wore large owlish metal rimmed glasses, which made him look like he was always just about to ask you a question. However, he tended to be a bit clumsy and would trip on even the most modest door sill.
“Come in. It’s been over a week since you stopped by,” Diana said as she ushered him into the parlor after taking the bakery box to the kitchen.
“Just a few more months until graduation, so I have been piling on the work to get it all done in time.”
“Please, take a chair by the fire. It’s still a bit nippy out.”
“I’m not interrupting your writing, am I?” he asked as he sat.
“Not at all. I am usually done for the day by lunchtime. I find I can only do so much creative writing without fading after four or five hours. Would you like some tea?”
“Not for me, thank you. I had some in digs before I came over.”
Diana sat opposite him and folded her hands in her lap.
“Have you spoken to your parents about the walking tour of Switzerland?” he asked enthusiastically.
“I have not, Adam. I have given it a lot of thought. And I know you are excited about such a trip, but I can’t, in all honesty, subscribe to such a venture. It just isn’t right for us to travel abroad together unchaperoned.”
“But we will be going as a group. There will be plenty of people around at all times,” he insisted.
“Yes, but they are all young people like us.”
“Certainly, there will be some older people too. It’s not just for youth.”
Diana stood up to emphasize her point. “I am truly sorry, Adam, but I just do not think it is advisable or wise. And besides, I am still in the early stages of my new novel and I would have to leave it for too long.”
Adam looked dejected and hung his head and stared at his folded hands.
/> “But might you reconsider if we were formally engaged?”
“Adam, we have discussed this. You are still a student and when you graduate you will be entering your father’s publishing house and you need to establish yourself. And you will be making only a modest salary to begin with. I thought we had agreed to wait until you were a full editor.”
“Yes, I know.” He looked up at her. “But I am so passionate about you. You know how I feel and it seems like there is an ever- receding horizon when it comes to us being together.”
“Don’t make me be cross with you, Adam. You well know our mutual decisions.”
“Yes, Diana,” he said in a resigned but equally complaining voice.
Diana reached out to him. “Come, be a poppet and take me to tea at Carson and Bindell’s. You know how I love their scones.”
Adam pouted. “But I already brought you the lovely custard tarts.”
“Yes. And that was very sweet of you, but we’ll save those for tonight’s sweet for the whole family.”
“You are a terrible tyrant,” he said, as he stood and took her hand.
Diana carried two of Adam’s custard tarts wrapped in a towel to her neighbors two doors down—the spinster sisters, Abigale and Kitty Goodwin.
Kitty opened the door. “Oh, Abigale, look who’s here—it’s the adorable Miss Diana.”
Abigale called from inside the house, “I will put the kettle on.”
“Not necessary,” Diana said. “I can only stop a moment. I wanted to bring you these delicious looking tarts from Delaware’s Bakery.”
“Oh, my…” Kitty said, lifting the edge of the towel to examine the treat. “Come in for just a minute, though.”
Diana followed Kitty to their kitchen where she put the tarts onto a plate that Kitty offered.
Abigale came over and, after taking a quick peek at the tarts, put her hand on Diana’s arm and said, “Have you heard about Mabel Stephenson?”
“I don’t believe so,” Diana replied.
Abigale leaned in and whispered. “She has a growth.”
“Really?”
“Indeed, and the doctors are not sure what to think about it,” she added, nodding with a “you know” look.
Kitty added, “And she sat at this very table and swore it was nothing to be worried about, but how does one ever know such a thing? I ask you.”
Diana adored the two sisters but was less enchanted with their occasional gossip. She usually tried to divert the conversation when such matters came up.
“I noticed you have been working in your garden. Isn’t it a bit early to be planting annuals?” Diana asked.
“Oh, we always plant by the end of March. The house shades from the north wind and the boxwood hedge helps protect from the traffic on the street.” Kitty said, then leaned in and whispered, “Now don’t tell a soul, but after dark, we pop out into the road and sweep up the horse droppings. Just marvelous for the garden beds you know.”
Abigale came over and offered solicitously, “We were so sorry to hear about your dear father’s misfortune.”
This took Diana aback. “I am not sure to what you are referring.”
“Oh dear, Betsy Johnson said her husband at the bank told her that your father applied for a loan and it was denied.” Abigale patted Diana’s arm out of sympathy.
“Thank you for your concern, but that is not something I wish to discuss outside of the family.”
The sisters nodded. “We completely understand,” Kitty said.
“I best run along now. I am preparing dinner this evening, and I don’t want to keep the family waiting,” Diana said as she edged her way out the cottage door.
“Bye, dear, and thank you for the lovely tarts,” Abigale said waving good-bye.
Diana linked her arm with her father’s as they strolled up Northampton Street toward St. John ’s College where he was soon to have a tutorial. A chill breeze was at their back and she lifted up his coat collar around his neck.
“Thank you, dear. I sometimes do not know what I would do without you.”
“Well, you don’t have to Father.”
“I certainly will one day soon. I have seen how your young man looks at you. He has marriage on his mind. I can see that even with these poor old eyes of mine. It will not be long until he will be whisking you away to London and a totally new life.”
“But not quite yet, Father.”
They walked on in silence for a time until they came near the college entrance.
Diana squeezed her father’s arm and asked, “Father, what are you going to do since the bank denied you the loan? That was some time ago and you have not said.”
Father looked at his daughter. “Ah, my dear, that is naught to trouble your head with.”
“But maybe there would be something I could do to help,” she offered. “I have my royalties from the books. I, of course, contribute to the household expenses, but I pay no rent and I have some savings. I would be happy to help if I could.”
Father seemed to consider her offer. “That’s very kind of you, my dear, but I am afraid my needs far exceed even what you could possibly offer.”
“Then tell me, what is it you need, and why?”
“Not now, my pet. This is no time for that discussion. Suffice it to say that it is a serious matter and if you really want to know then I shall discuss it with you later.”
“Can you at least suggest what it is about?” she asked.
“I have not wanted to trouble you with all of this, as I believe you shall soon marry and my troubles will not touch your life any longer.”
“But your troubles shall always touch my life, for they are your troubles, and you are my dear father, whether I am close by or not.”
Father removed his arm. “It is time for my tutorial. If it really interests you then let’s discuss the matter in my study after supper. You mother will have her fire and her knitting to occupy her then.”
“Very well.” Diana watched her stooped father head off across the quadrangle toward his rooms and her heart swelled with sympathy for her dear parent.
Chapter 3
Amelia Donnelly, Robert’s elder sister, tilted her head in front of the standing mirror in her bedroom. She had been going through her hats and discarding what she no longer cared for. The hat she was currently modeling was a maybe. One moment she liked it, and the next she detested it. She finally threw it on her bed—the maybe pile. But she noticed her rejection pile was much larger than her acceptance pile.
“Next,” she shouted out to her personal maid.
The poor girl brought out the last hat which Amelia immediately snatched from the girl’s hand and carefully placed atop her head. She studied it and sighed. Reject. She tossed it aside. And her only consolation was that she would now need to go hat shopping, which meant a trip to the London house, which she always enjoyed—especially when it involved spending Robert’s money.
She turned to her maid. “Get rid of all of those—but not to any of the servants. I do not want to see any of them parading around as though they were some sort of a duchess. Understand?”
“Yes, your ladyship.”
She pointed. “And those I am keeping. Put them away.”
She then turned to her maybe pile and studied them again. She picked up only one hat and dismissed the rest.
Amelia turned to, once again, study herself in the mirror. She took stock—looking for subtle changes. She pinched the bridge of her nose where there was a slight pain. It appeared to be nothing. She shook her head and let her long dark hair fall freely after removing the combs that held her hair in place. She was a tall woman with finely chiseled, aristocratic features, with a long lean nose and dark brown eyes. The set of her mouth generally fluctuated between neutral and harsh—with only the occasional smile which was quite pleasing when it rarely appeared. She was a strong woman, a determined woman—and she had plans.
She was seven years older than her brother and had taken care of his upb
ringing from the age of thirteen when their parents were lost on a scientific expedition in Africa. She was so used to managing his life she gave very little thought to how he might resent her continued interference in his affairs. But despite the fact that he was now the Earl of Donnelly, she still thought of herself as ruler and head of the family as she had a distinctive appetite for control.
Amelia knew that Robert would be at his desk this morning in the magnificent Balfour library—a room of such rococo beauty it had been written about in a number of architectural books and journals. A large fireplace dominated the center interior wall of the spacious room. It was tall enough for a man to stand in upright. The library’s vaulted ceiling was capped by a windowed dome that let in light to illuminate the painted gods and goddesses sporting amongst mythical animals and cherubs. And one entire wall alternated book shelves with tall windows overlooking the entrance-park to the estate.
“Robert, I do not know if you remember or not but we have guests coming up this weekend,” Amelia said as she stood firmly in front of his desk.
“Guests? Remind me again. Is this another one from your parade of tender maidens dragged onto the auction block to tempt the eligible but reluctant Earl?” he asked.
Amelia’s mouth was hard set. “It is Sir Benjamin Daniels, his lovely wife, Caroline and their most enchanting daughter, Charlene—a charming young lady of eighteen.”
“Then I am sure you will greatly enjoy their company. However, I shall not be here. I am going down to London on Friday for at least the entire weekend,” Robert said with a great deal of self-satisfaction.
Amelia’s nostrils flared, and her eyes narrowed. “What are you talking about? I asked you specifically several weeks ago if you were free this weekend and you assured me you were.”
Robert stared her down. “However, plans change, my darling sister. And I can quite assure you that I shall not be here.”
Amelia turned from him and began pacing. “Robert, Robert how can you be so negligent of your duty? You are thirty-years-old and still unmarried. You need an heir and, still, you thwart all my well-meaning efforts to find you a suitable bride.” She turned to face him again and accused. “I do not know why I bother. I really do not, when you care so little for my efforts on your behalf.”
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