Er...it's still 'tomorrow' isn't it? Sorry for the delay. Normal service has been resumed. Happy Andith Fest everyone!
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Anthony went into the village after coffee. He looked all through the small selection of books the Post Office had on sale, but found nothing. The library was out of the question: too many nosy matrons. He instructed Stewart to drive him on into Ripon, where he did find a copy. They were back at Locksley before luncheon, which proved to be as quiet as breakfast. With the brown paper covered package in the pocket of his tweed jacket, Anthony retreated into his library in the afternoon, while Edith went upstairs to her day room, where she had established a separate study for when she wanted some solitude. There she finished reading the book that she had been eagerly devouring all morning.
Jack Carstares, Earl of Wyncham, Miss Heyer's protagonist, was a perfect, superhuman, two-dimensional hunk of a man. Edith mused that if she had met him in real life, she would think him a little bit silly with his strict notions of honour, and his self-sacrifice, dressing up in silly clothes to play the part of a highwayman, despite his...despite his...er...wounded...arm…
Well the highwayman thing didn't fit, unless you believed in the Socialist principle that all property was theft, like her Irish brother-in-law! But otherwise...white tie and tails counted as fancy dress, didn't they? To any normal person they did. And in every other quality...he was Anthony.
Except that he wasn't. Anthony wouldn't talk to her about his past, his time at Cambridge for instance, or his travels around the Continent. It was almost as though he wanted to keep every part of himself apart from her except for Locksley and Yorkshire, the here and now. Nor did he hold her to him, panting with desire. He didn't give her the impression that she compelled him to desperate acts of love, or that she drove him out of his mind with desire. He was always gentle, reverential, adoring…repressed, proper, and courteous. And she loved that he was always a gentleman, she really did. It was wonderful that she could lean on him, rely on him to protect her and defend her against her family, and the world. She'd never had a champion like that before. It was just that she wanted to feel that Anthony defended her because he wanted to, not because he felt he had to.
…
Anthony closed the book and sighed. It was almost time to go up to change for dinner. If he didn't go up, Stewart would come looking for him. He put the slim volume into one of his desk drawers and closed it, before stretching out the aches of reading a book from cover to cover in the space of an afternoon sitting in the same position. He wandered over to the big picture windows looking out on the orchards, and saw only empty years ahead, both for her and for himself.
Why was she so keen to keep the fact that she was reading this book from him? He'd gone through possibility after possibility, always arriving back at the same conclusion. Edith needed some excitement in her life…in her love-life.
"Well, dammit" he exclaimed in frustration to the books on the shelves, "then she shall have excitement in her love-life! I will provide her with what she needs, or die trying!" With determination he went to find Stewart.
…
Stewart had just finished laying out his master's evening wear, when the gentleman in question burst in through the dressing-room door with an energy and purpose the gentleman's gentleman had only seen once or twice in his career at Locksley.
"Stewart, forgive me for asking, and I'm ashamed to realise that I've never asked before, but have you ever been married?"
Stewart was a professional. The only indication of his surprise was one raised eyebrow. "I am glad to say that I have avoided the happy estate, Sir."
Anthony deflated. "Oh." Who the hell can I ask now?
"May I enquire as to why you wished to know, Sir?"
"I need some advice…about…about women's needs." Anthony had not really thought this through. Now that he was here and trying to talk about it, even with Stewart who was more of a brother than a servant, he was beginning to blush a deep scarlet, and finding words had become more difficult than usual.
"Women's needs, Sir?" Stewart was actually beginning to enjoy this. He had wondered how long it would take for the Strallans, the happiest couple in Yorkshire, to outgrow the honeymoon period, and have to begin working at their relationship, and it had taken longer than the majority of people of any class. For the moment, though, he indulged in a little teasing.
"Is Lady Strallan unhappy concerning her dress allowance, Sir?" Stewart's deadpan face fooled Anthony, as it always did.
"Er…no. That doesn't seem to be the problem, Stewart…and if I don't get this right, I fear I will lose her."
Anthony looked stricken, lost and forlorn now despite his recent determination to make Edith happy, simply because he didn't know how to achieve Edith's happiness. Stewart stopped ribbing his master, and became serious.
"I may not have been married, Sir, but I believe I know what you mean…"
...