A Misbegotten Match by Boucher Rita

Author:Boucher, Rita
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Oliver Heber Books
Published: 2021-04-26T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 6

“How is he?” Lady Claire asked, waiting for Amanda at the bottom of the stairs.

“Contrary and disagreeable to the point of being intolerable,” Amanda said, wearily putting the tray down on the hall table. “It would seem that he is on the road to recovery. He ate his gruel.”

“That noxious stuff?” Lady Claire exclaimed. “I cannot credit it! Why, when you attempted to serve me those granary sweepings, I threw them into the fire. However did you manage to get him to swallow it?”

“Cajolery,” Amanda said, touching her wrist, lightly. It was still moist. “And the threat of calf’s foot jelly.”

Lady Claire gave a delicate shudder. “Calf’s foot jelly; a low blow, but a necessary one, I suppose. A bit of opposition is just what that boy needs, I suspect. He has become used to getting his way. And you did not back down,” her elderly friend said with a nod of commendation. “You are changing, my girl, nothing like a bit of gold to give you confidence.”

“Yes, I suppose that I have undergone something of a transformation,” Amanda said, her smile rueful. “Heaven knows the old Amanda would not have put a flea in your godson’s ear.”

“Just what did you tell him?” Lady Claire asked uneasily.

“Exactly what I thought,” Amanda said. “That his behavior was the outside of enough and that he has caused you a great deal of grief.”

“Never say so.” Lady Claire shook her head in dismay. “All that will do is anger him. He has ever had a contrary disposition, I fear, although I do not know how he came by it.”

“I thought that you had just said that opposition is what he requires,” Amanda said, puzzled. Lady Claire was not normally a here-and-therian. This vacillation was wholly unlike her. “I believe that he wishes to reconcile with you, Lady Claire,” Amanda added, putting a comforting hand on the elderly lady’s shoulder.

“Do you think so?” Lady Claire asked, doubt reflected in her eyes.

“What other reason could he have for coming all this way?” Amanda asked, guiding her friend from the draughty hall to the warmth of the parlor. She settled Lady Claire in a chair and then automatically began picking up the spillikins from the table, putting the wooden rods in their box.

“I do not know,” Lady Claire said, her fingers knotting worriedly. “Why would he come back here, when he was loath to return all these years?”

Amanda looked at her in surprise. “Why would he not wish to come back?” she asked, a rod poised in her hand.

“Memories, I suspect,” Lady Claire said, turning away to gaze into the hearth. “All at once, his life was ripped asunder, the two people that he loved most were dead and he thought himself alone.”

“But he had grown up in Millford?” Amanda asked, unable to understand. “He had you to help him. Why would he deliberately uproot himself from everyone who might care for him? His father was most beloved. There are still many people here who speak of the ‘blessed vicar’ with reverence.

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