recuperate in the country."
"What a sad story," Anna said, though rejoicing that this affair had come to nothing. "What became of her?” she went on, more to conceal the intense interest aroused in her by Mr. Standish than because she gave a jot about a Miss Amelia Anybody.
"It all ended happily, because while Amelia was rusticating she met a local squire, quite a bumpkin, but a rich one, and she married him and now has two children."
How could anyone who had been in love with this entrancing man possibly have settled for such as second-best as a country squire, however rich? It was best not to say this, however and Henrietta was at last telling her what she wanted to hear.
"So, my dearest Anna, to answer your question, no, Mr. Standish is not married, nor indeed do I think is he engaged or indeed attached to any lady in particular. He has been abroad, you know and I dare say has had some merriment with the ladies, but he has not come back with some lustrous beauty from foreign parts, or I would have heard about it."
Anna had sufficient pride not to ask any more, and she must try not to look too often to the other box. She was helped in this by the fact that a few minutes later the man withdrew and, how disappointing, didn't reappear before the end of the performance. At the end, when they were downstairs waiting for their carriage to come Anna looked around, hoping that she might see him again, but there was no sign of him. and at least she was spared Henrietta' jibes, for Henrietta had her eye on a beau of her own who was there, and so had no time to notice what Anna was up to.
To her joy, Anna was introduced to Mr. Standish within the week. She confided to Henrietta, "It is as though it was meant and arranged by Providence , for I set eyes upon him, and then just a few days later there he is."
She had met him at quite an intimate party, the kind of gathering that she had only gone to with reluctance. A cousin of her mother's was giving a small dinner party, and no, Mama said, it was unlikely there would be dancing afterwards. This was promising to be an evening of infinite tedium, but Mama insisted she go, "For you have not seen Cousin Maria in an age, and she has requested that you go with us."
Anna remembered her cousin Mrs. Rufforth all too well, a woman of quite forty or so, with a sharp eye and a sharper tongue. But, as it turned out, she had reason to be grateful for the invitation and was glad that she had been thus summoned.
True, there was no dancing, and the people were amazingly dull, talking about all kinds of things for which she cared nothing, serious books and Italian sculpture and the situation in France and the events in some German state. She would have yawned away the time had it not been that Mr. Standish was there. He arrived late, just as the company was going into dinner. Anna couldn't believe her good fortune as he bowed over Mrs. Rufforth's hand, murmuring his apologies.
He was seated further along from her at dinner, on the same side of the table, so she couldn't watch him, and she longed for the meal to be over. Surely afterwards, when the men had finished in the dining room, he would join them in the drawing room and she might be introduced.
The time between the ladies leaving the table and the gentlemen arriving seemed interminable, made longer by the only other young lady of the company entertaining them with a performance of a long and dreary sonata upon the pianoforte.
At last, the door opened, the gentlemen came in. Mr. Standish stood beside his hostess, and then, with a gleam in her eye that Anna mistrusted, Mrs. Rufforth brought him over to where she was sitting on a small sofa.
"Anna, my dear, allow me to introduce Mr. Standish. Miss Anna Gosforth is a cousin of mine, Mr. Standish, thoroughly bored by the conversation this evening" – she had noticed, horrid woman with her keen eyes – "so you may entertain her with some more amusing talk."
He laughed, and Anna, furious
"What a sad story," Anna said, though rejoicing that this affair had come to nothing. "What became of her?” she went on, more to conceal the intense interest aroused in her by Mr. Standish than because she gave a jot about a Miss Amelia Anybody.
"It all ended happily, because while Amelia was rusticating she met a local squire, quite a bumpkin, but a rich one, and she married him and now has two children."
How could anyone who had been in love with this entrancing man possibly have settled for such as second-best as a country squire, however rich? It was best not to say this, however and Henrietta was at last telling her what she wanted to hear.
"So, my dearest Anna, to answer your question, no, Mr. Standish is not married, nor indeed do I think is he engaged or indeed attached to any lady in particular. He has been abroad, you know and I dare say has had some merriment with the ladies, but he has not come back with some lustrous beauty from foreign parts, or I would have heard about it."
Anna had sufficient pride not to ask any more, and she must try not to look too often to the other box. She was helped in this by the fact that a few minutes later the man withdrew and, how disappointing, didn't reappear before the end of the performance. At the end, when they were downstairs waiting for their carriage to come Anna looked around, hoping that she might see him again, but there was no sign of him. and at least she was spared Henrietta' jibes, for Henrietta had her eye on a beau of her own who was there, and so had no time to notice what Anna was up to.
To her joy, Anna was introduced to Mr. Standish within the week. She confided to Henrietta, "It is as though it was meant and arranged by Providence , for I set eyes upon him, and then just a few days later there he is."
She had met him at quite an intimate party, the kind of gathering that she had only gone to with reluctance. A cousin of her mother's was giving a small dinner party, and no, Mama said, it was unlikely there would be dancing afterwards. This was promising to be an evening of infinite tedium, but Mama insisted she go, "For you have not seen Cousin Maria in an age, and she has requested that you go with us."
Anna remembered her cousin Mrs. Rufforth all too well, a woman of quite forty or so, with a sharp eye and a sharper tongue. But, as it turned out, she had reason to be grateful for the invitation and was glad that she had been thus summoned.
True, there was no dancing, and the people were amazingly dull, talking about all kinds of things for which she cared nothing, serious books and Italian sculpture and the situation in France and the events in some German state. She would have yawned away the time had it not been that Mr. Standish was there. He arrived late, just as the company was going into dinner. Anna couldn't believe her good fortune as he bowed over Mrs. Rufforth's hand, murmuring his apologies.
He was seated further along from her at dinner, on the same side of the table, so she couldn't watch him, and she longed for the meal to be over. Surely afterwards, when the men had finished in the dining room, he would join them in the drawing room and she might be introduced.
The time between the ladies leaving the table and the gentlemen arriving seemed interminable, made longer by the only other young lady of the company entertaining them with a performance of a long and dreary sonata upon the pianoforte.
At last, the door opened, the gentlemen came in. Mr. Standish stood beside his hostess, and then, with a gleam in her eye that Anna mistrusted, Mrs. Rufforth brought him over to where she was sitting on a small sofa.
"Anna, my dear, allow me to introduce Mr. Standish. Miss Anna Gosforth is a cousin of mine, Mr. Standish, thoroughly bored by the conversation this evening" – she had noticed, horrid woman with her keen eyes – "so you may entertain her with some more amusing talk."
He laughed, and Anna, furious
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