The Major and the Country Miss by Dorothy Elbury

Author:Dorothy Elbury [Dorothy Elbury]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Romance
ISBN: 9781408908228
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2009-12-15T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirteen

As soon as luncheon had been cleared away, Georgianne sought out her friend and suggested that she might like to take a walk down to the lakeside.

‘Then you can tell me what happened between yourself and Mr Fenton,’ she declared, as she selected one of a collection of straw hats from the row of hooks in the back lobby and tossed another to Stephanie. ‘I trust that he managed to persuade you to forget your ridiculous proposal?’

‘As a matter of fact,’ replied Stephanie complacently, as she tied the ribbons under her chin, ‘he didn’t think that it was in the least bit ridiculous, but he did say that it would require quite a bit of organisation and—as he so charmingly put it—a fair bit of blunt!’

‘Perhaps Mr Fenton is not quite as well heeled as you supposed him to be?’ observed Georgianne quietly.

‘Oh, he clearly has plenty of money,’ returned Stephanie, with a careless shrug. ‘It’s just that—not expecting to be in need of it on this trip—he didn’t bring a great deal with him. So, it would appear that our plans will have to be put on hold until he can have some funds transferred up to the Town & County in Dunchurch. Plus, it seems that he will need to apply to some bishop or other for a special licence.’

Georgianne, who had, long since, reached the conclusion that she would not care to trust the sickeningly over-confident Mr Fenton any further than she was able to throw one of the marble busts that stood on the hall plinths, took hold of her friend’s hand and regarded her searchingly. ‘Are you certain that this is what you want, Steffi?’ she asked.

‘Of course it’s not what I want!’ exclaimed Stephanie, angrily tugging her fingers away from Georgianne’s clasp and turning her head away. ‘I want to marry a duke or an earl and have a huge society wedding in Hanover Square! I want to host huge balls in my own grand mansion and be the envy of every female in the ton, but—for the moment, at any rate— I shall have to make do with a clandestine affair in some shabby back-street registry office!’ Her eyes glistened with unshed tears. ‘It’s so unfair!’

‘But if you are so unhappy about the whole thing, why are you so determined to carry on with it?’ queried her bewildered friend.

‘Oh, Georgie, you will never understand,’ said Stephanie, with a weary shake of her head. ‘I just can’t put up with this same boring humdrum existence for another minute. I simply have to get away—if I stay here any longer, I shall run quite mad!’

Privately, Georgianne was on the verge of thinking that her friend had already run mad but then, as she contemplated the succession of long dreary days ahead of her once Maitland had departed, she began to feel a good deal more sympathetic towards her friend. Whilst it was true that Stephanie was simply in love with the idea of life

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.