“So you sent him on his way?”
“I did. I took his name, of course. It’s only fair. I will be passing all their names to Edmund because I promised myself I would do so. Word of a lady. And also because that means I really wasn’t lying to anyone about why I was there this morning.” She smiled. “I do hate to lie unless it’s absolutely necessary.”
Harriet smiled at the slight twist to Letitia’s logic, but let it pass. “That brings us to the third candidate. And I will mention that he did his best to engage me in a flirtation while we waited for you.”
Letitia humphed. “I’m not in the least surprised. And you will not be surprised to learn that he was willing—nay eager—to remove his shirt. He even offered to remove his breeches as well, so that I could observe thefull measureof his strength.”
Harriet gasped. Then burst out laughing. “He didn’t say that exactly, did he?”
Letitia nodded. “Those were his exact words.”
The duck watched with interest as both women laughed heartily.
Harriet regained her breath. “I will not even ask if you allowed that…”
“It was a close thing. But perfect though he was, and I will admit that his body was very appealing indeed—did you know that some men apparently have a little line of hair that drops from mid-chest to—well, I don’t quite know where it ends, because I did not allow things to get that far. But it was an interesting feature.” She licked her lips. “However, I digress.”
“Quack.”
The duck had inched closer, as if eager to catch every word.
Letitia glanced at Harriet. “Do you think we should trust him? He is listening to our conversation, you know.”
Harriet stared at the duck once more. “I think so. He probably also knows that if he betrays our confidence, we’ll eat him.”
“Quaaack…”
“Good. See? He fully understands.” Harriet giggled. “Now, back to the subject at hand. The third man…how did you manage there?”
“I wasn’t quite sure how to handle him, I admit, being unused to such obviously lascivious intentions. I have indeed led much too sheltered a life here in the country. But I learned something this morning, strictly by chance. If you want to divert a man’s attention away from his baser desires, just ask him about himself. Then be prepared to listen with an appearance of interest while he discourses at length on many boring revelations.”
“It worked?”
“Like a charm.”
“Quack!” The duck, in an apparent display of male disgust, turned around and stalked back to the water’s edge, pausing only to cast the two women a reproachful glance.
Harriet threw her hands in the air. “Men.”
Letitia agreed. “I’m thinking of roast duck for dinner…” she called, in a louder voice.
Their erstwhile companion vanished in a splash of droplets, feathers and two orange webbed feet.
