Moth and Spark by Anne Leonard

Author:Anne Leonard
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Penguin Group, USA
Published: 2014-02-20T05:00:00+00:00

The comb was only wood, but it was quite beautiful, glossy and reddish and finely grained. The handle was inset with a filigree of a running horse in gold. “When did he give you this?” Tam asked.

“Yesterday,” Jenet answered.

“It will be a ring next.”

“Do you really think so?”

“Yes. You have pretty hair, he must be desperate to touch it. Thus a comb.”

Jenet looked happy, then said despairingly, “But sometimes he’s so dull. How could I marry a man I couldn’t talk to? I don’t have to love my husband, but he shouldn’t bore me. If I married him I should have to have ever so many scandalous affairs.”

Jenet could not possibly mean the last sentence, she was far too proper, but Tam heard a real fear behind it. “Well, what have you tried to talk to him about?”

They were in Jenet’s sitting room, all pale green and silver. Tam had a book with her, her place marked with the pass. The window was on the garden side of the palace, and birds were singing outside even though it was early afternoon and hot. They were drinking a sweet pink juice that had been iced; moisture was beading on the silver cups. Tam did not expect much of the answer; she remembered Darrin’s tendency toward pompousness.

“Oh, he goes on at length about his land and his art collection and hunting. He has his county to administer, but he never talks about that. I imagine he thinks I would be bored or wouldn’t understand. Every so often he asks me something about myself and then pays no attention to the answer. It’s not so bad when we’re alone, but that hardly ever happens.”

“That doesn’t sound promising,” Tam admitted.

“I know,” Jenet said, and lapsed into a glum silence.

“Suppose he’s quite interesting in, well, other ways,” Tam suggested slyly, to see what would happen. Then she remembered the night before and felt herself blush.

Jenet turned slightly pinker and covered her mouth, coughed. Although they were completely alone, she whispered, “He seems to, um, have potential.”

“Is it a good enough match for him to be serious?”

“Yes.”

“Then you shouldn’t encourage him if you don’t want to marry him,” Tam said.

“I know. But aren’t they all like that? How do you pick one over the other in the end?”

“Well, if you want to marry a rich man with a title you have to expect he will be most interested in himself. You have the leisure of falling in love afterward.”

“Oh, Tam, don’t say things like that, it’s so melancholic.”

“Who are his friends? Are they any better?” If they were all like the two bored young men she had met, there was not much hope in them either.

“A few. But none of them are half so good-looking.”

“Can’t you complain to one of them and see if Darrin gets the message? He may just be trying to impress you, you know.”

“No,” Jenet said. “Even if it were proper, I’m too bashful. I expect you could if you were in my place, you’re much bolder.

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