Page 14 of Gwen and Art Are Not in Love

‘What the hell were you looking at herhandsfor?’

‘I take an interest in people,’ said Arthur, noticing that quite a lot of blossom had already landed in his hair and attempting to dislodge it.

‘I bet you do,’ Gwendoline said gravely.

‘Oh, yes, very good, I’m a pervert and a criminal because I looked at a person’s hands,’ Arthur snapped. ‘Shall we walk? While we talk? You did ask me here because you wanted to talk, didn’t you?’

‘Fine,’ said Gwendoline, as if walking were beneath her,despite the fact that she had just been doing it quite willingly. They started awkwardly down the row, as far apart as they could be from each other without either of them actually walking into a tree. ‘I don’t see any logical reason why I wouldn’t tell my father what I saw last night. Whatever you try to tell him about me, he won’t believe you. And then the engagement will be off, and we can put this whole thing to bed.’

‘Right,’ Arthur said, dread bitter on his tongue. ‘Well. I don’t suppose I could appeal to your sense of humanity, instead?’

‘Oh, comeon, Arthur. He won’t necessarily tell your fatherwhy. Then we’re both out of this mess, and free to part ways and never meet again …’

She was still talking, but Arthur wasn’t listening. He knew with absolute certainty that it didn’t matter one jot what reason Gwendoline’s father did or didn’t give for breaking the betrothal. His father would … well, Arthur couldn’t begin toimaginewhat he’d do. As he had quite a vivid imagination, this was more than a little concerning.

‘I thought you might say that,’ he said, despite having no idea whatsoever what she’d just said. He fought to keep his voice steady. ‘So I had a little think last night. And then I went for a little walk.’

‘A little think and a little walk?’ Gwendoline said. ‘What on earth are you—’

Arthur presented his evidence with a flourish. The flourish was probably unnecessary, but gratifying nonetheless. Gwen flushed an interesting beetroot colour, and stopped walking.

‘But – you – how did you—’

Arthur cleared his throat and opened the cracked leather binding with a reverence befitting the occasion. His prize had, after all, been quite hard-won. There had been absolutely no way to know for certain that the damned thing would stillbethere, after all these years, and they’d had to dig under quite a few trees before they’d found the right one.

‘Dear diary,’ he began to read. ‘There is a new squire at the tourney. She is strong and brave, and she has black hair and brown eyes. I think she’s very beautiful. They say she is an only child, and that her father saw no reason not to treat her as he would a son. Her name is Bridget Leclair and she is actually a Lady but she wants to be a knight– Christ, didn’t anybody ever teach you that you’re supposed to show, not tell? –so she has been travelling the country attending tourneys all year. I don’t know why but I would like to kiss her.’ Arthur stopped then, not because he had run out of steam, but because Gwen had lunged for the diary and necessitated his taking a very quick step backwards.

‘I didn’t …’ she said, still an alarming shade of purple. ‘You can’t—’

‘Well, that’s just the thing, isn’t it?’ Arthur said smoothly, tucking the diary into his trousers where he was relatively sure she wouldn’t follow. ‘I don’twantto, but I can. And I’ve already torn out some particularly damning entries from that summer and given them to Sidney for safekeeping.’

It had been like striking gold. He had been fully prepared to discover that she had long ago burned it, or to find page after page of utter banality – and therehadbeen plenty ofthat – but then, dated three years ago, just before Gwendoline’s fifteenth birthday and the last summer she had put pen to parchment, there it all was in embarrassingly neat script.

‘Don’t do this,’ Gwendoline said, finally finding her words.

‘I won’t if you won’t.’

There was a very long silence, during which Arthur wondered if he may have miscalculated.

‘Fine,’ she said eventually. His shoulders sagged with relief before he remembered he was trying to give the impression that he was the one driving this carriage.

‘Good. That’s what I thought.’ He started walking again, and after a pause Gwendoline followed. ‘There’s no need for this to get nasty. And, as a show of good faith, what if we agreed to … to help each other out? In this regard.’

‘In what regard?’ Gwendoline said, her voice still tight with anger.

‘You know. Look out for each other. Or – not, as the case may be. I’ll turn a blind eye to whatever you might get up to, and you do the same for me.’

‘I don’tget up toanything,’ Gwendoline said, bristling.

‘Well, that much is painfully clear,’ Arthur said, raising an eyebrow at her. ‘But if you did ever loosen your skirts for a night out on the town, I’d – I don’t know – cover for you, if you’d do the same for me.’

‘I don’t need you tocoverfor me,’ she snarled, but then she thought for a few seconds and seemed to reconsider. ‘There is … My mother and father want this match to work. If we were to give them the impression that thingsare going well between us, it could make my life a lot easier. I’d be left alone.’

‘So we just – pretend to get on?’ Arthur said doubtfully. He supposed it wasn’t actually much to ask, but as he couldn’t look at her scowling face without wanting to flick it, it felt monumental.

‘Yes. We pretend their grand plan is working, we are –pleasantto one another. It’s classic misdirection.’

‘My father will be ecstatic.’