Vice and Virtue Read Online Free

banns in which to choose a length of fashionable material and have her mother make a beautiful wedding dress. But however much she had considered the situation during the seven days and nights that had passed since Mr Francis’s proposal, she could find nothing actually illogical in his request for a hasty wedding. They must marry now, and Aurora must be satisfied with only one item of new finery – a wide-brimmed hat, lavishly trimmed with flowers by the excited fingers of Flora and Eleanora. Apart from that, her blue dress and best gloves would suffice until such time as she could employ her own dressmaker and milliner, and visit the glover, hosier and shoemaker whenever she wished. In short, when she was Mrs Edward Francis, a woman of means.
    She knew she should be happy that such a rich man wished to marry her, under any circumstances. But she did not feel happy. She felt perplexed, unsettled and disappointed.
    “Something is happening over there,” declared Flora, craning her neck. “Could that be Mr Francis and his groomsman?”
    A carriage had been prevented from coming nearer than the end of the street by the narrowness of the space between the jutting upper storeys. Two men emerged from its door, one tall and fair-faced, the other smaller and stooping.
    “Aye, that is my would-be husband,” observed Aurora without enthusiasm. “And the man he was with in the park.”
    Flora bounced a little on her toes. “The tall one is—”
    “I know, the better-looking,” said Aurora. “You will have to set your cap at him, Flora. I am sure you know how.”
    The gloom of the street was too great for Aurora to see Mr Francis’s features distinctly, but his wiry frame and round shoulders were unmistakeable. He was wearing another highly decorated jacket, dark red this time, and a long wig. His sword hung at his left side, but, unlike his companion, he did not rest his hand upon it as he approached. His right hand held a walking-stick, which he leaned on with every step.
    Aurora’s heart contracted with pity. If his condition had so weakened him within a single week, how many weeks could she expect to pass before she became a widow? Silently, she prayed. If it please you, God, allow Mr Francis to live long enough for me to bear him an heir, and give his father happiness beyond the grave. This I ask you from my heart. Amen .
    “My deepest and most humble apologies for keeping you waiting,” Mr Francis said to the ladies with a bow, “but I found myself indisposed this morning and had to take a little time to recover.” His friend went to his side, ready to support him if he staggered, but Mr Francis waved him away. His eyes beneath the curled wig alighted upon Aurora. “I am quite well now,” he said softly, “and happier than I have ever been.”
    Aurora knew she had turned pink. She curtseyed. “I am honoured, Mr Francis.”
    “Please, you must call me Edward. And so must all your family.”
    The other ladies curtseyed, Flora and Eleanora unable to resist a giggling glance at one another. “Thank you, Edward,” said Mrs Eversedge.
    “And this is my good friend and groomsman, Richard Allcott. Richard, allow me to introduce Mrs Catherine Eversedge and her daughters Miss Aurora, Miss Flora and Miss Eleanora Eversedge.”
    They curtseyed; Mr Allcott bowed, ignoring the quizzical look thrown at him by Flora. “Delighted,” he said and, with a glance at Edward, he opened the door of the inn and offered his arm to Mrs Eversedge. “Madam, shall we enter?”
    The innkeeper ushered them into a low-ceilinged room with a small window and a bare floor. Behind an oak table was a carved chair, and before it stood two plain chairs with shabby worked cushions. Aurora wondered how many hopeful, or apprehensive, or relieved, or possibly happy men and women had sat on those cushions.
    An elderly man in the black garb of a clergyman appeared through a doorway behind the table. He indicated the assortment of benches arranged