Page 48 of A Foolish Flirtation

“He is a beautiful child,” she quavered, still looking rather anxious.

“Now we can have some adult conversation at last,” he said, settling back into his seat. Emmeline shot a quick alarmed glance toward her friend, and he lifted his brows at her. “And by that, I mean that we can finally have a cozy discussion of Love’s Innocence Fled,” he said with relish, rubbing his hands together.

“Oh!” exclaimed Miss Pinson, turning toward him excitedly. “Do not tell me that you have read it, my lord!”

“I have,” he responded gravely. “I read it avidly from cover to cover in the space of three nights.”

“Three nights!” Miss Pinson was impressed. “Enthralling, was it not? Fortunately, Emmie managed to finish it just before we had to return it to the lending library.”

“I am very glad to hear it,” he said, turning back to Emmeline. “Now tell me, what was your favorite passage?”

Emmeline regarded him suspiciously. “What was yours?” she asked, clearly doubting he had so much as cracked open the cover.

“That’s easy,” Jeremy replied at once. “It was the chapter which dealt with the thrilling escape from the count’s secret lair in the country. When Josephine was forced to masquerade as a shepherdess.”

“That was very resourceful of her,” she agreed. “I, too, liked that part, but I think I preferred when she had to rescue Fernando from the count’s dungeon and they saw the ghost.”

“Oh, that part made me suffer agonies of anxiety,” Miss Pinson said breathlessly. “I was so sure they would be caught.”

“What, then, was your favorite, Miss Pinson?” Jeremy asked politely.

“Oh, I can hardly decide,” she wavered, pushing her pince-nez further up her nose. “Perhaps when they discovered the ghost was really the count’s henchman causing mischief.” She shivered slightly. “The accounts of the spectral clanking of chains and the agonized moans of a soul in torment were quite dreadful. I vow I could hardly sleep after reading of them.”

Jeremy gave a murmur of agreement. “I am always profoundly thankful that our ghosts at Vance Park are benign.” Miss Pinson gave a little shriek.

“You have a ghost?” Emmeline asked, sounding rather thrilled.

“Two actually. Two ancestresses of mine who haunt the grounds on special occasions.”

The ladies exchanged glances. “Did some great tragedy occur?” Emmie asked, lowering her voice.

Jeremy nodded. “In Tudor times, two sisters fell in love with the same suitor. Before he could decide between them, he died of dysentery.”

“Such an unromantic disease,” Miss Pinson said sadly.

“What happened to the sisters?” Emmeline asked.

“One died of a broken heart,” Jeremy said, “and the other dwindled into spinsterhood. The trouble is it is hard to differentiate between the two. Hardly anyone can ever be sure which ghost they saw, Lady Frances or Lady Mary. They look very similar. One betokens impending misfortune, and the other matrimony. Mixing them up can be most disappointing.”

“Oh, I see…” Miss Pinson broke in excitedly. “Which one betokens good fortune? The spinster? Then bad fortune would be the one who died prematurely. After all, the spinster probably found the time to do a lot of rewarding good works.”

Jeremy shook his head. “Not a single one,” he said. “She scorned charitable works till the end of her days. She was entirely self-serving, like most Vances. It is the Lady Mary who warns of marriage.”

Miss Pinson looked taken aback. “Oh,” she said faintly.

“In any case,” Emmeline interjected, “I don’t believe the other died of a broken heart. That very rarely happens in real life as I understand it, though,” she added conscientiously, “I know it often happens in novels.”

“You think it was likely dysentery too?” Jeremy asked with interest. “I have heard it is catching.”

Seeing her friend’s horrified reaction, Emmeline hastened to change the subject. “Tell me, my lord, which character did you think had the most rewarding development over the course of the story?”

Her willingness to debate the topic pleased him more than he could say. “Which do you?” he asked, genuinely curious.

“I think perhaps Fernando,” she said after a moment’s pondering. “For Josephine was already perfection from the first page, but as a hero, Fernando had a lot of maturing to do, did he not?”

“Oh!” chimed in Miss Pinson, her enthusiasm for the subject sweeping her shyness away. “I thought Fernando’s growing disillusionment with his fellow man rather sad, but then I suppose that comes to us all in time,” she said, shaking her head.

“I disagree with you both,” Jeremy said staunchly. “I think the wicked count had the greatest journey, and quite redeemed himself in the end, by sacrificing his life to save the young lovers.”