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Chapter Two

Presently, Jack ca by the side of the road The old s, his feet were bare, and he sat as if the whole world rested upon his shoulders

"Oh, kind sir," the beggar cried "Have you a crust of bread to spare?"

"I have more than that, Father," Jack replied

He stopped and opened his pack and drew out half a meat pie, carefully wrapped in a kerchief This he shared with the old man, and with a tin cup of water from a nearby stream, it made a very fine meal indeed

--froht, Melisande sat at dinner and contemplated a meal of boiled beef, boiled carrots, and boiled peas It was her brother Harold’s favoritetable At the head of the table was Harold and at the foot was his wife, Gertrude The room was dim and shadowy, lit only by a handful of candles They could well afford beeswax candles, of course, but Gertrude was a frugal housekeeper and did not believe in wasting candle wax--a philosophy that Harold heartily approved of Actually, Melisande had often thought that Harold and Gertrude were the epitome of the perfectly matched husband and wife: they had the sa

She looked down at her grayish portion of boiled beef and considered how she was to tell her brother and his wife of her understanding with Lord Vale Carefully she cut off a sers and held the bite down by her skirts Under the table, she felt a cold little nose against her hand, and then the beef was gone

"I a," Gertrude commented from the foot of the table Her sle indent between her eyebrows "Or rather, her not wedding, for I am sure that her mother, Mrs Templeton, would="4„ have appreciated my presence there I am told by many people, many people, that I am a comfort and a relief to those whose fortunes are in decline, and Mrs Templeton’s fortunes are quite in decline at the ht even say Mrs Templeton’s fortunes are abysmal"

She paused to take a tiny bite of boiled carrot and looked to her husband for his concurrence

Harold shook his head He had their father’s heavy jowls and thinning light brown hair, covered noith a gray wig "That gel ought to be put on bread and water until she co over a viscount Foolish, is what it is Foolish!"

Gertrude nodded "I think she must be insane"

Harold perked up at this He was always morbidly interested in disease "Does lunacy run in the fa She looked down to see a se She cut off another piece of beef and held it under the table Both nose and beef disappeared

"I do not know if there is lunacy in that family, but I would not be surprised," Gertrude replied "No, not surprised at all Of course, there is no lunacy on our side of the family, but the Templetons cannot say the same, I’m afraid"

Melisande used the tines of her fork to scoot the peas to the edge of her plate, feeling rather sorry for Mary Mary had only followed her heart, after all She felt a paw against her knee, but this tinored it "I believe that Mary Templeton is in love with the curate"

Gertrude’s eyes widened like boiled gooseberries "I don’t think that pertains" She appealed to her husband "Do you think that pertains, Mr Fle?"

"No, it does not pertain at all," Harold replied predictably "The chit had a satisfactory match, and she threw it away on a curate" He chewed meditatively for a ht’ve brought a bad strain of insanity into his bloodline Not good Not good at all Better for him to find a wife elsewhere"

"As to that" Melisande cleared her throat She would find no better opening Best to get it over with "I have so to tell you both"

"Yes, dear?" Gertrude was sawing at the lump of beef on her plate and didn’t look up

Melisande took a deep breath and stated it bluntly, because really, there didn’t seem to be any other way to do it Her left hand lay in her lap, and she felt the coue "Lord Vale and I ca to be married"

Gertrude dropped her knife

Harold choked on the sip of wine he’d taken

Melisande winced "I thought you should know"

"Married?" Gertrude said "To Lord Vale? Jasper Renshaw, Viscount Vale?" she clarified as if there land

"Yes""Yesnt>

"Ah" Harold looked at his wife Gertrude stared back at him, quite obviously at a loss for words He turned to Melisande "Are you quite sure? Might you have mistaken a look or" His sentence trailed away It was probably quite hard to think of what else e proposal

"I am sure," she said quietly but clearly Her words were steady, though her heart was singing inside "Lord Vale said he would call upon you in three days to settle the matter"

"I see" Harold stared in consternation at his boiled English beef, as if it had turned to Spanish stewed squid "Well Then I offer ratulations, my dear I wish you every happiness with Lord Vale" He blinked and looked up at her, his brown eyes uncertain He’d never really understood her, poor man, but she knew he cared for her "If you are sure?"