3. Romantic Love (with an odd sort of slant to it, I hope it makes sense). And not set at night either. Call it an odd one out.
Elsie thinks she might just love Joe. Yes, she probably does. He's as good a man as ever she's met. She's known him for ten years- since she was twenty- and as far as she knows, he's liked her all of this time. And now, as soon as there's the smallest sign of her going away; he's asked her, implored her, to marry him.
He's always been a bit like that, really. He likes his romantic gestures, in his own small way. Three years ago when he wanted to start courting her, he knocked on her father's door to ask his permission, and handed her a bunch of flowers from one of his fields. He takes care to offer her his arm if they walk any where, he always lets her through doors before himself. Of course, it you just be common courtesy- her mother insists that it is and, says she's foolish to be suspicious of it. But of course, Elsie was never one to listen to anyone- especially when her own convictions were so strong.
The thing is that Elsie is not one for romantic gestures, not in the least. She has her own deep-seated conviction that love should not be about the gestures, but the intensity of real feeling behind them. They do well enough for those who like them, but a marriage couldn't be built on them.
"Intensity of feeling!" her Mam says, torn between amusement and horror, "Intensity of feeling won't keep you fed, with a roof over your head! If you had the ounce of sense you were born with, you'd take Mr Burns- he's a good man- and have done with it!"
He was a good man, and that wasn't making Elsie feel any better with herself. But as for the roof over her head, she had seen to that, she was going to be head housemaid at a place in Yorkshire, for Heaven's sake!
She can't marry Joe, not in good conscience. She can't tie herself to a way of life on the basis of a few well-meant but half-hearted romantic gestures. She loves him for his goodness, for his decency, but she's not in love. And to her that makes all the difference.
Please review if you have the time. I will try to update my Old Socialist fic tomorrow.