First Comes Marriage Read Online Free PDF

the time gone?”

    For Margaret it had gone in caring for her siblings. On being unswervingly unselfish in her devotion to them. She had rejected a number of marriage offers, including the one from Crispin Dew, Hedley’s older brother.

    And so Crispin, who had always wanted to be a military officer, had gone off to war without her. That was four years ago. Vanessa was as sure as she could be that there had been an understanding between them before he left, but apart from a few messages in his letters to Hedley, Crispin had not communicated directly with Margaret in all that time. Nor had he been back home. One could say that he had not had any chance to come home with the country constantly at war as it was, and that it would have been improper anyway for a single gentleman to engage in a correspondence with a single lady. But even so, four years of near-silence was a very long time. Surely a really ardent lover would have found a way.

    Crispin had not found one.

    Vanessa strongly suspected that her sister was nursing a severely bruised heart. But it was one thing they never spoke of, close as they were.

    “What will you be wearing this evening?” Margaret asked when her question was not answered. But how could one answer such a question? Where did time go?

    “Mama-in-law wants me to wear my green,” Vanessa said.

    “And will you?” Margaret settled in her chair again and for once sat with idle hands.

    Vanessa shrugged and looked down at her gray wool dress. She had still not been able to persuade herself to leave off her mourning entirely.

    “It might appear that I had forgotten him,” she said.

    “And yet,” Margaret reminded her—as if she needed reminding, “Hedley bought you the green because he thought the color particularly suited you.”

    He had bought it for the summer fete a year and a half ago. She had worn it only once—to sit beside his sickbed on that day while the revelries proceeded in the garden below.

    He had died two days later.

    “Perhaps I will wear it tonight,” she said. Or perhaps she would wear the lavender, which did not suit her at all but was at least half mourning.

    “Here comes Kate,” Margaret said, looking through the window and smiling, “in more of a hurry than usual.”

    Vanessa turned her head to see their youngest sister waving to them from the garden path.

    A minute later she burst in upon them, having divested herself of her outdoor garments in the hallway.

    “How was school today?” Margaret asked.

    “Impossible!” Katherine declared. “Even the children are infected with excitement about this evening. Tom Hubbard stopped by to ask me for the opening set, but I had to say no because Jeremy Stoppard had already reserved it with me. I will dance the second set with Tom.”

    “He will ask you again to marry him,” Vanessa warned.

    “I suppose so,” Katherine agreed, sinking into the chair closest to the door. “I suppose he would die of shock if I were to say yes one of these times.”

    “At least,” Margaret said, “he would die happy.”

    They all laughed.

    “But Tom brought startling news with him,” Katherine said. “There is a viscount staying at the inn. Have you ever heard the like?”

    “At our inn?” Margaret asked her. “No, I never have. Whatever for?”

    “Tom did not know,” Katherine said. “But I can imagine that he—the viscount, that is—will be the main topic of conversation this evening.”

    “Goodness me, yes,” Vanessa agreed. “A viscount in Throckbridge! It may never be the same again. I wonder how he will enjoy the sounds of music and dancing above his head for half the night. It is to be hoped that he does not demand we stop.”

    But Katherine had spotted her dress. She jumped to her feet with an exclamation of delight.

    “Meg!” she cried. “Did you do this? How absolutely lovely it looks! I will be the envy of everyone tonight. Oh, you really ought not to have. The ribbon must have cost