Sadly, none of these characters belong to me, neither does most of the dialogue.
They were certainly not the words he had expected to hear.
"Mary is still in love with you."
Matthew was immediately reminded of one of those odd things in life: the sleep twitch. That moment when half way between consciousness and sleep, you feel as if you are falling. Consequently, coherence did not seem to be an option.
"What?"
"I was watching her. The other night, when you spoke of your wedding. She looked like Juliet on awakening in the tomb."
Matthew felt as if his mind has been torn apart. One half seemed to switch to auto-pilot and continued the conversation with Cousin Violet; the other was left very confused, and began a conversation with his heart. Listen to the woman Matthew! She looked like Juliet!
"Mary and I have always..." Mary and I have always what, Matthew? Come on, work it out!
"Of course, I suspected long ago that the flame hadn't quite gone out. But then there was no chance of your recovery and it seemed best to let her try best for happiness where she could."
"I quite agree and Sir Richard is..." Why are you bringing that slimy bastard into this?
Violet seemed to agree with the back half of Matthew's brain: "No, no, let's not muddy the pool by discussing Sir Richard. The point is: You loved her once, are you sure you can't love her again?"Yes Matthew, are you sure you can't love her again? Are you even sure you stopped loving her at all?
"Cousin Violet...I... please don't think I mind your speaking to me in this way, I...quite admire it. Consider this though, Lavinia came back, against my orders, determined to look after me for the rest of my life…She has done things only the most dedicated nurses would undertake, without hope of children." I can't help but wonder, Matthew, why your main objection wasn't that you love Lavinia and want to be with her?
"But Mary has also done all of those things for you, without hope of anything.
And with that, the fatal blow, Matthew's mind became one, and finally caught up to his heart. As he thought back to all the glances, comments, moments that now seemed so clear, he arrived at the long hidden, long denied, but inevitable, truth.
From the look on his face, Violet knew her work had been done, but added: "Marriage is a long business. There's no getting out of it for our kind of people. You may live forty, fifty years with one of these women. Make sure you have selected the right one."
Satisfied, she left, leaving Matthew once again in a place somewhere between consciousness and sleep, about to fall.