Miss Grimsleys Oxford Career Read Online Free Page A

said, not failing her niece. “Does anything ever go on behind those blue eyes of his, Ellen?”
    “Oh, Aunt Shreve, you know that Horry loves Edwin. And if he is not over sharp, what is that to anyone in my family? They'll never notice.”
    Aunt Shreve took another sip of tea. “No, I suppose they will not. As long as he can sit a horse, I suppose everyone will overlook his other deficiencies.” She peered over her spectacles at her niece. “Not for the first time have I wondered how you and Ralph came to be dropped down in the midst of that ignorant family, my dear. One could accuse your mother of shady dealings.”
    Ellen laughed. “Aunt Shreve! You know that my mother is perfectly respectable!”
    Aunt Shreve managed a smile. “Respectable to the point of numbness. Setting all that aside, I trust you will do better than Edwin Bland, my dear.”
    Her niece sighed. “Mama claims that all I can hope for is Thomas Cornwell, particularly now since I have driven off the vicar.”
    Aunt Shreve winced. There was a long silence, which she finally broke when she had drained the rest of her tea. “Dear me,” she said finally, “he of the protruding ears?”
    “The very same,” Ellen replied.
    “Goodness, a lowering thought,” Aunt Shreve murmured. They regarded each other, and Aunt Shreve shuddered. “Now there is a young man with nothing to recommend him but his height!” She leaned forward. “I charge you to find some tiny little man. It will drive your father into bedlam.”
    “Aunt Shreve, you are absurd!” Ellen protested, laughing.
    Her aunt smiled. “I know it. We can safely say that your father only got a half-share of the eccentricity too! But seriously, my dear, you must get out of this place.”
    “How?” Ellen asked and helped herself to another biscuit. She studied the tray in front of her, remembered the reason for her visit, and cleared her throat.
    When she said nothing, Aunt Shreve snorted in impatience. “What errand has your ridiculous father sent you on, child?” She chuckled and rubbed her hands together. “One would suspect you had come to me on some nefarious expedition, sent by my brother!”
    Ellen was silent as the embarrassment spread up her shoulders and onto her face like a contagious disease.
    “You have hit upon it, aunt,” she murmured. “Papa made an extravagant promise at the last Assembly Ball that he would toast the happy couple with Fortaleza sherry, and now Sir Reginald won't rest unless it actually happens. You know what a connoisseur of wines he thinks himself.” Ellen looked away, suddenly ashamed of her relatives. “You would think that the fate of nations hung upon this single issue.”
    Aunt Shreve was silent for a long moment that stretched into minutes. She poured herself another cup of tea and took it to the mantelpiece, where she sipped it and regarded her niece thoughtfully.
    “My dear,” she said finally, “what would irritate your father the most? I mean, what would really get his goat?”
    Ellen smiled in spite of her own discomfort. “Probably to be forced to dance to your tune, Aunt. You know how he hates that.” She laughed out loud, her embarrassment overcome. “He must have been a dreadful little brother.”
    “The worst,” Aunt Shreve agreed absently, her mind intent upon the question she had posed.
    “Papa even told me that he would give me anything I wanted, if I could talk you out of one dusty bottle of sherry,” Ellen said, joining her aunt by the fireplace.
    Aunt Shreve mused a moment more and then looked her niece in the eye. “My dear, what is it you want more than anything?”
    “Well, I would like to be one of Horry's bridesmaids, but even wishing won't help me grow six inches.” She blushed at her aunt's shocked stare. “I … I upset the symmetry, Aunt.”
    “Upset the …” Aunt Shreve paced the length of the room and back.
    “I don't mind, truly I don't,” Ellen said quickly, her heart pounding at the look in Aunt