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"You will siht," Aunt Saffronia said as the ladies e room Jane eyed her aunt’s neat little flowers and fields of cross-stitches She was transfor her own fruit basket sampler into a knotted mass that rese had abandoned her e by the door, ready for the first sign of the gentle in the city this past year and is only just returning to the country to tend to her ht, is Sir Teive her the cottage I have not seen Aht in a year at least Last she was here--" Aunt Saffronia glanced at the hallway and then at theas if suspecting eavesdroppers She lowered her voice "Last she was here, I detected soe East, of decent breeding but no real prospects I do not knohat becaht returned to the city and Mr East to the sea, I suppose A shame, even if he was as poor as a far hearts are fickle things, are they not, Miss Char "I entle’s palpable elation, did conclude their billiards and join the ladies for tiffin and tea, charades and gossip Jane sat beside Colonel Andrews He had a dashing sht off his face

Another day, another night followed of pleasantthe rain thicken the panes No great events transpired, and Jane found that to be a relief She still felt dried up and brittle in this new pretend skin, and she really didn’t think she could stohteen o There would be tiood-bye forever So for now, she relaxed She couldn’t re an afternoon nap It felt scandalous

But when the rain lifted on her third day, herIt had been nearly a week since she had last done anything that in good conscience could be considered "exercise" She wasn’t a health nut (those people could be so irritating), she was just a touch obsessive-compulsive, thank you very much, and if she didn’t follow her coan to dear to choke her pancreas She had wandered the grand house and found no hidden gym (Mrs Wattlesbrook’s Ideal Client, apparently, insisted on mascara but not a StairMaster), so Jane excused herself after the sausage and jelliedegg breakfast, saying she desired a solitary walk around the gardens She earing her least favorite day dress (the pink one with little rosebuds that resembled splattered tomato sauce) and so felt no fear for its ruin when, once out of sight of the house s, she held the hem above her knees and ran

It ard in her ankle boots, the slap-slap of her uncushioned feet soon insisting she tone it down to a speed walk Even so, speed-walking in a corset was surprisingly vigorous, and soon the cool autuan to feel like a crispy hot Texas su on a bench, her skirts bunched up on her thighs and her elbows resting on her knees as she tried to slow her breathing, when she heard a male voice

"Uht, quickly pulling her skirts back down to her ankles She had been wearing drawers, of course, but it still felt absurdly immodest to sit that way in i8i6 attire She looked around, seeing no one

"Where are you?" she asked Theodore, her dance partner of late, stood from behind the bush directly in front of her His i while standing up, like stretched taffy

"What were you doing back there?" "I’ the shovel and pick like a show of evidence "I was just working here, I wasn’t trying to spy

"You, uh, caught me there at an unladylike moment Mrs Wattlesbrook would probably box my ears

"That’s why I spoke I wanted to let you know you were not alone before you did so worse

"Like what?"

"Whatever wohed "I don’t know I don’t knohat I’ about, you surprised me and I’m just--" His smile dropped "Sorry, I shouldn’t talkI’m not supposed to talk to you

"Well, you already have We may as wellI’ off his hand and then offering it to her She shook it, wondered if they should be bowing and curtsying, but is that what you do with a gardener? The entire conversation felt forbidden, like a secret Austen chapter that she discovered longhand in soardens look lovely"

"Thank you,in everything but her face, you’re from the former colonies?"

She looked hard at hiain, and sort of bowed She laughed

He tossed his pick into the ground "I can’t play this I sound co?"

"I’m supposed to be invisible You don’t know all the lectures we heard on the uests I shouldn’t have said a word, but I was afraid of getting stuck behind that shrub all day trying not toto peek up your skirt So, anyho do you do, the nainally from Bristol, raised in Sheffield, enjoy seventies rock and walks in the rain, and please don’t tell Mrs Wattlesbrook I need this job"

"I didn’t exactly find Mrs Wattlesbrook the kind of lady I’d be tempted to confide in Don’t worry, Martin"

"Thanks Guess I should leave you to your lady stuff" He picked up his tools and walked away

Jane stared after hiain, perhaps many wealthy and elderly twenty- year-old women had ratted on forward servants in the past He likely had the right to be paranoid She just wished he’d known that she was different Speaking to a real person had been like drinking a cold glass of water after too ary punch