“I want to do better,” David said as the sky turned the soft orange of evening.
“Then do better,” Elizabeth said.
David didn’t know what that meant, and he worked it out slowly in conversation with the beautiful girl.
Hours had passed since the first sat down and they grew hungry. David rose and helped Elizabeth to do the same, and they returned to her home.
“Will you dine with me?” she asked.
“I think not,” David said with a soft smile. “I would very much like to, but I feel the need to speak with my father. You are wise beyond your years,” he added.
“I hope to see you tomorrow,” Elizabeth said, and David took her hand and kissed it.
“I expect you will,” he said, and then he took his leave.
David and his father spoke at length that night, sharing glasses of brandy and a couple of cigars. David expressed his desire to learn the industry from his father, and that he yearned to take over at the bank within a year, as his father had wanted. At first, his father seemed hesitant, and David knew he worried that his son was simply trying to get back home, and get an allowance once more. But when David assured his father that he wanted no allowance, and would instead take pay from working at the bank, his father agreed. The two men hugged that night, something they had not done for some time.
The next morning, David hurried to see Elizabeth. He wanted to share the news with her, and he wanted to thank her. He would be working for the first time in his life later that morning, alongside his father, and if he had not spoken with the young girl, and through her learned what it really took to be happy in life, it would not have been happening.
While David was on his way to visit Elizabeth, Rupert had already called on her. They sat once more in the garden.
“I asked your father for you hand,” Rupert said. “Did you know that?”
“My father did tell me,” the young woman said. They say on the same bench where he had been kissing her in the days previous. He took her hand.
“I love you with all of my heart. I asked again. He told me you made some wager with David.”
“I did,” Elizabeth said. She didn’t pull her hand away from Rupert’s, but she felt as if though she should. She liked Rupert, and she knew she could love him. But something about David, she was hopeful he would impress her, hopeful he would make her believe that he loved her, and wanted to marry her, and not into the money her father would give him.
“I could take care of you. I would never gamble, never whore. I don’t think that could be said about David Weatherby,” Rupert went on.
“Perhaps not,” Elizabeth allowed with a slight nod of her head.
“So what is it? What compels you to reject me?”
“Oh, Rupert,” Elizabeth started. “It’s not rejection of you, it’s yearning for him.”
Rupert nodded, and let her hand fall away. He stood up and moved to a shallow stone pool, which had large golden fish swimming within it, surrounded by colorful flowers. It was the center of the grand garden. Elizabeth got up and moved to stand beside him.
“Don’t hurt me like this,” she said softly.
“Hurt you?”
“I care for you. I do. I love you even. In a way.”
Rupert sighed. “But not in a way like your love for him?”
“No. Not yet. Not when I love him so,” Elizabeth said. She felt frustrated, she was sure that no matter how she composed her words, she would never be able to adequately explain her feelings to Rupert.
He spun away. “I call too often. I am sorry for that. I should go.”
“No!” she said suddenly, surprising him and even herself. She reached out and placed a hand on his arm. He stopped and turned to her, and there was another shock between them as she leaned forward and up, standing on the toes of her heeled white shoes and placed a soft kiss upon his lips.
David had arrived moments before and he had assured the old servant who answered he knew how to get to the garden. He was just walking through the doorway and outside when he saw them, standing near the goldfish pool. Elizabeth, the woman he had realized he really did love, the woman who had made him realize what a fool he had been in almost every aspect of his life, was kissing another man.
Rupert. David knew him, but not well. He had never felt jealous of the man, because he had never coveted Elizabeth, but now he did, and he felt the bitter taste of jealousy well up in his stomach.
He went out into the garden, and his footsteps caused the other two to separate.
“David!” Elizabeth said.
“I should be going,” Rupert said, but David held a hand out to him.
“Stay, I will only be a moment. Elizabeth, if I may speak to you.”