“You will not upset everything, will you, Winnie? Please? I know it will be uncomfortable for you, and Mama has managed it all so far without you knowing anything about it — you did not know, did you? We drove out with him here and there, and he dined with us when you were out, for no one wanted to distress you. But now… if he offers, I mean to have him, and I will not give him up, not for you or for anyone.”
“Lily, I would not for the world stand in your way. If he is what you want… and perhaps you will not mind the horrid kisses so much.”
William gave a shout of laughter, and Hebe said gently, “Winnie, dear, you have no delicacy whatsoever.”
Lily lifted her chin and said defiantly, “I do not find his kisses horrid, not in the slightest.”
“Oh! Then you have… oh!” Winnie laughed. “How very forward of you, Lily.”
“Well, you told him to practise, and it seemed to me that I should like to practise, too, and so we… practised together. And it was most agreeable. Oh Winnie, I do love him, and I know he was in love with you, but I think he is a little bit in love with me too, and I mean to make him very happy, truly I do. He is everything I could ever want in a man,” she added with a sigh.
Maynard returned just then with a wide smile. “Miss Lily, you’re wanted in the book room.”
Lily gave a little squeal, her whole body wriggling in excitement, and Winnie gave her a quick hug. “Off you go, dearest, and may I be the first to wish you joy.”
She ran out, and Winnie flopped on a chair, shaking her head. “She is seventeen, Hebe! Has she any idea what she is doing?”
“None at all,” Hebe said equably, “but one never does when one marries. It is a great adventure, with surprises around every corner, as you will discover.”
“Yes, but Mr Lomax! The man who abandoned me twice, andliedto me!”
“Lily will not mind that sort of lie, designed to shield her from unpleasantness. You never needed to be shielded. I think Mr Lomax wants a wife he can protect, and Lily wants to be protected. She is not like you, dearest, and she will do very well with Mr Lomax, who is a sensible man at heart.”
“And I shall do very well with Walter,” Winnie said with a sigh of pure delight.
“Indeed, you will, since you have the good fortune to marry a man of sense who also loves you to distraction.”
Walter entered in time to overhear. “It is true that I love you to distraction,” Walter said, lifting her hand and pressing a long kiss on it. “As for sense, however, I cannot in all conscience make any claim in that direction. A sensible man would have recognised your worth long ago. A sensible man would never have betrothed himself to Bea Franklyn when he could have had you. A sensible man would never have believed malicious tittle-tattle about you, or repeated it. I have been abominably slow to come to my senses, my love.”
“Better late than never,” she said.
“True. I had hoped to whisk you into the village to see about the banns, but Maynard has hinted that a celebration may be in the offing. Tomorrow, however, no matter what, and then we may be married a month from now, if that would suit you.”
“That would suit me very well,” Winnie said, smiling up at him. Then, unaccountably, tears spilled down her cheeks.
“Darling, whatever is the matter?” he said, enfolding her in his strong arms. “What have I done this time?”
“We are going to be married,” she whispered through her tears.
“Is that a weeping matter?”
“Walter, I have waited so long for this… for you… and now all my impossible dreams are coming true. It is so hard to believe.”
He hugged her tight, and for once he had no words to answer her.
Epilogue
The carriage splashed to a halt, as Winnie peered out of the window at the imposing building towering above her.
“Here we are — Grafton Street,” Walter said cheerfully.
“Very grand,” Uncle Alfred said, with an approving nod. “I shall enjoy staying here, I believe. Oh look, they are expecting us.”
As Winnie watched, the front door opened and servants in the livery of the Earl of Rennington emerged, two to attend to the luggage, one to open their door and let down the steps and a fourth to hold an umbrella over them, although the rain had all but stopped. Behind them, the stately figure of the butler, and behind him, a familiar tall Negro. And behindhim, a small, rather plump and not at all stately person, tearing down the steps at an alarming rate.
“Aunt Sofia!” Winnie cried. “How lovely, but what are you doing here?”
“Getting everything ready for you, of course, with the help of the indispensable Percival. The luggage, Percival.”
