Which Way? by Theodora Benson

Author:Theodora Benson [Benson, Theodora]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Tags: alternate timeline, affair, sliding doors, divorce, adultery, polo, childlessness
Publisher: British Library Publishing
Published: 2021-10-14T00:00:00+00:00

2

For, thogh that wyves been ful holy thinges,

They moste take in pacience at night

Swich maner necessaries as been plesinges

To folk that hav y-wedded them with rings,

And leye a lyte hir holinesse asyde

As for the tyme; it may no bet betyde.

The Man of Law’s Tale, Chaucer.

It was great fun talking about the engagement. Claudia had endless lovely girlish chats with her mother and Eileen. Everyone was pleased about it. Even Mr. and Mrs. Lester, having decided to make the best of her, discovered that she had some serious tastes and was certainly nice mannered and attentive. She would let their son lead his own life, they felt, and on her next visit to Gloucestershire they got quite fond of her pretty presence and her gaiety. Mr. Lester was even found to respond to mild teasing.

The engagement was as happy as such an exhaustingly busy period can be. Mr. and Mrs. Heseltine were pleasantly, easily sympathetic; Eileen and Hugo were becoming fast and intimate friends; Hugo was radiantly in love; and Claudia had no ghastly tremors and doubts. He was so gentle with her and yet so happy and assured; she loved his endless flow of high spirits and talk, and thought him the sweetest, most companionable person in the world. The evening before her wedding she found that her mother contemplated telling her various things of vaguely sinister import. But she was tired and nervy and wanted to go quickly to bed, to forget everything in dreamless sleep, to be fresh and looking her best in the morning. Besides it was all inevitable now; and anyway marriage was the usual lot of woman. So she stopped her mother by pretending that she knew everything already.

Claudia and Hugo had a fashionable London wedding. She wore a long, slim dress of white panne velvet with a sheath of white lilac and a light, frothy lace train. The bridesmaids wore a deep, warm tone of rose, and held before them bunches of shaded tulips. As Claudia and Hugo signed the register the voices of boys sang crystal clear and void of all emotion, “Love one another with a pure heart, fervently: see that ye love one another.” Eileen smiled at Tommy and thought that those were indeed the two requisites of love. “With a pure heart, fervently.” Not one without the other. Not either, but both. “See that ye love one an-oth-er. See that ye love one anoth-er.”

Claudia cried a good deal on her honeymoon. Hugo was very understanding and forbearing and kind. They had many tastes in common, and she did manage to enjoy a certain amount of the thing. Even honeymoons have their lovely interludes, and improve with time and patience as they proceed.

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