Storm and Silence(140)

‘No plans can save me,’ she whispered. ‘I have no future!’

Now that’s just not true! I shook my head disapprovingly. If people only could be more accurate about such things. She might have a future wherein she would be absolutely miserable, married to a man she couldn’t stand and separated from her one true love - but she would definitely have a future. One should always be accurate. Ten hours a day and six days a week of sorting files for an office tyrant teaches a girl that much.

‘That is why I said we would forge a future, Ella. You may not have one now, but we will find a way.’

‘How, Edmund, my love? How can we possibly find a way?’

‘I do not know yet. But take heart, my love. With time, we will surely devise a plan and…’

‘With time?’ More tears running down her delicate face, Ella stared through the fence in desperation. Now the moon was out from behind the clouds and I could actually see the mournful expression clearly. It made me wish for darkness again. ‘With time? Edmund, you do not understand. We do not have time. I… I believe…’

‘What?’ Edmund stepped closer to the fence and grabbed the metal poles. ‘What are you keeping from me? Tell me! I beg you, my love, tell me!’

‘I believe,’ Ella said in a breathless whisper, ‘that Sir Philip will shortly propose matrimony.’

‘No! Say it isn’t so!’

‘Yes, my love.’ Reaching up, she swiftly touched his pallid cheek with her fingertips. ‘Yes, it is. I wish it were not so, but I cannot change it. I cannot change my fate.’

There were a few moments of heavy silence. Edmund was staring at the ground, his fists clenched at his sides. Curious, I leaned forward, trying to get a look at his face, but it was impossible to see from here.

Blast! And this is the best part of the drama!

I should have gotten a seat closer to the stage.

Then, suddenly, he raised his head again, and I blinked in surprise. I hardly recognized him. All the despair was gone from his face, replaced by a look of iron, immovable determination.

‘Yes, you can,’ he said in a hoarse voice. ‘You can change your fate, my love. Run away with me! Run away with me and become my wife!’

You could have knocked me down with a feather. Actually, half a feather might have done it. Or maybe a very small piece of yarn?

Ella, I could see, was equally taken aback. She wasn’t gaping open-mouthed at Edmund like I was - proper ladies don't do that sort of thing - but she had definitely turned an even whiter shade of pale than she normally was.

‘M-marry?’ Her voice was almost inaudible over the soft wind that had picked up and that rustled the leaves in the trees as well as the soft folds of her dress in an appropriately romantic manner. ‘But how… Aunt Brank would never agree!’

‘I asked you to run away with me, my love,’ Edmund reminded her, his voice gentle but firm, his gaze never leaving her face. ‘That means she wouldn’t have to agree.’

‘But… go against the wishes of her and all my family…?’

‘Yes.’

‘Shame them before all the world? Hurt them in such a way?’

‘Yes, my dear. For love, it must be.’

Hell’s whiskers! He’s really going to do it! He’s really going to take advantage of your poor, innocent little sister and whisk her away.

Getting stealthily to my feet, I prepared to launch myself from the bushes if he made even one tiny move towards her.

A rake! That’s what he is! A dastardly rake!

I knew what was coming next, of course. I had heard Anne and Maria discuss romance novels often enough. Next he would grab Ella and carry her off into the night. But he didn’t reckon with me in that equation! The moment he touched her, I would be ready to take up the chase!

Of course, there’s the small matter of the fence between them, so you probably won’t have to hurry that much.

‘Are you in earnest, Edmund?’ Ella whispered. ‘Do not toy with my heart. Would you really make me your wife, if you could?’

Grasping her hand, he stepped forward. I prepared to jump out of the bushes, but he didn’t move to touch any other, strictly restricted, parts of her. Instead, he fell to his knees, bowing his head over her hand and kissing it softly.

‘How could you ever doubt it?’ he demanded. ‘For years I have admired your beauty, your charm and your loving nature. My love for you has grown and blossomed ever since it first sprang to life. Now that is has come to full bloom, nothing will stop me from making you mine. Will you do me the honour…?’

With a small sob, she pulled her hand from his grasp. I could see her face as she turned from him, towards my hiding place, her arms wrapped around her slender body as if to protect herself.