Four young ladies were sheltering from the unseasonable heat of May the following afternoon. There was a garden party in progress and many guests basked in the bright sunshine on the lawns, conversing, drinking cool beverages, strolling perhaps to the cooler shade of the terrace before the house. Three young men who had been with the four ladies for a while had just strolled back to the house to join a few other guests who had taken shelter from the glare of the sun.
The four ladies were all sitting in the shade cast by two large oak trees, their light muslin dresses arranged carefully about them. Miss Honor Jamieson held a frilled blue parasol above her head, but it was quite unnecessary as protection against the sunlight. Its use perhaps owed more to the fact that it matched exactly the shade of her slippers and sash and complemented the lighter blue shade of her muslin gown and bonnet. She was noticeably the loveliest of the four, having been blessed with a small but shapely figure, dark glossy curls, and a face whose features were faultless.
"When I marry," she said, continuing a discussion that had been in progress for several minutes, "it will be to the most handsome man in London. I do believe I could tolerate extravagance or even some of the lesser vices, but I really do not think I could bear a plain man."
Prudence Crawley brushed some grass from her skirt. "Oh, but love is so much more important, Honor," she said. "Handsome features do not last very long, you know,especially if the man indulges too heavily in drink or eats to excess. But love continues to the grave and even beyond."
"Well, of course love is important,Prue," Honor agreed. "But I believe I can love only a very handsome man."
"I have little choice of whom I will marry," AlexandraVyesaid with a resigned sigh. "There is no point in my dreaming of either handsome looks or love. Papa says I must marry a title, and Mama says I must wed someone from home. Do you have any idea how few single titled gentlemen live in the West Country? And even fewer of them happen to be in London this Season. I sometimes despair of ever finding a husband."
Honor shuddered and twirled her parasol. "Thank heaven Mama and Papa are more enlightened," she said. "I have a large enough dowry that I need not look only for wealth. They have said I may choose whom I will, provided only that he is not a chimney sweep."
All four young ladies laughed.
"And what about you, Jane?"Honor asked, turning to her cousin, Miss Jane Matthews.
"I do not ask for wealth or good looks or love," Jane replied. "I ask only for an amiable gentleman with whom I might be comfortable."
Honor pulled a face. "How dreadfully dull!" she said. "Surely you would not marry just anyone, Jane."
"Absolutely not," her cousin agreed. "Amiable gentlemen do not abound, you know. And even those there are do not necessarily flock to make me their offers. I do not have your beauty, Honor, or the freshness of youth that all of you have. I am three-and-twenty.Quite on the shelf and almost a confirmed spinster."She smiled cheerfully.
"It must be just awful to be that old and not married," Alexandra said with lamentable absence of tact. "Have you never wanted to marry, Jane?"
"Indeed I have," Jane replied. "Ever since I was eighteen and brought here for my first Season, in fact. Unfortunately, wanting and achieving are vastly different things. I had an offer during that Season that I would now accept cheerfully. But at that time I was as you three are now. I dreamed of making a dazzling marriage with a handsome gentleman with whom I would be head over ears in love. I went home to Yorkshire still dreaming. And that is where I have been ever since, until Aunt Cynthia and Uncle Alfred invited me to join them here for Honor's come-out."
"How dreadful!"Prudence said, wide-eyed.
Jane smiled. "The years have not been wasted," she said. "I have grown up since I was here last and now realize that amiability is the most important quality in a gentleman. Good looks, as you said, Prudence, quickly fade, and I am sure that romantic love does too. Character traits are longer-lasting and are something on which a good marriage can be built. Respect and affection can grow in a marriage if husband and wife like and respect each other."
"Well, if that is the sort of attitude that age brings."
Honor said feelingly, "I hope I am never three-and-twenty, Jane. Give me a handsome man and I will promise to live happily ever after. Really, though, there are so few to fit the description in London. I am mortally disappointed. They must have all enlisted and are wasting themselves with the armies in Belgium or in America. Only the plain, ordinary ones remain. Look atAmbieand Harry and Max." She waved a hand in the direction of the house, into which the three young men had disappeared a few minutes before."
"You should not complain, Honor!" Alexandra said indignantly. "Wherever you go, a trail of lovelorn gentlemen follows. If that would only happen to me, I should not care that they looked ordinary. Anyway, Max is quite handsome, I think, though not very tall."
"You are not right about one thing, anyway, Honor," Prudence said. "The most handsome man in all England happens to be in London at this very moment. At least, I would wager he is the most handsome."
"Pooh!" Honor said scornfully. "Then he must be that chimney sweep Mama andandPapa warned me against. If there were such a man of our class in town, I should have found him long ago,Prue, and raced him off to the altar before the rest of you could even catch your breath."
"Ah, but he has only just arrived," Prudence said. "And I have first claim on him, Honor, for I was the first to see him."
"I daresay the midwife was the person to have that pleasure," Honor said with a tinkling laugh. "But tell all,Prue, my love. I do believe you are just teasing. And it is a most cruel joke."
"He was atGrandmama'syesterday when Mama and I were visiting," Prudence said. "Grandmamais his godmother, and he had come to pay his respects the day after his arrival. I declare I fell in love with him the instant he walked through the door. I could do nothing for the remainder of our visit but gawk at him with my mouth hanging open. I still do not believe he can be real. Tall and built like a god. Dark, thick hair that would make any girl's fingersitchto touch. The most perfect face I have ever set eyes on. Blue eyes—really blue, not gray. And one expressive eyebrow—the left, I think. Anyway, it made me turn quite weak at the knees. And he is here for the rest of the Season!"
"You must have been imagining things," Honor said. "I have quite given up hope of meeting such a paragon this year,Prue. You must not raise all our hopes like this unless you are quite sure of your facts."
"You will see for yourself soon enough," Prudence assured her."Though I shall probably be very sorry when you do.You will doubtless take him right from under my nose, Honor. He is bound to admire you. He is in search of a wife,Grandmamasays."
"This becomes more and more promising," Honor said, her parasol twirling wildly above her head.
"Yes," Prudence said. "His first wife died a year ago quite tragically while giving birth to their third child. He has two little girls and is badly in need of a mother for them."
"A definite obstacle," Honor said. "I am not over-fond of children, especially some other woman's. Oh well, we cannot demand perfection of life, I suppose."
"I hardly dare breathe," Alexandra said. "Is he by any chance a titled gentleman from the West Country,Prue?"
