Twins of Tenby Hall

Chapter 32

December twenty-five. Today we did feast. I tried to glean from Matthew the reason for Edwin's sudden departure but he was as giving as a stone wall. Lunch is over and, every last one of our party now bloated and languid from excessive gluttony, we have retired to a sitting parlor and croaked and sat about like frogs in a muddy hole. I sit as far from the heat of the fire as I can and write. No one wishes to speak more than a sentence or two, undoubtedly due to the discomfort of talking with stomachs taut. 

"What is it you write so fervently?" Eugene Dunsworth's voice interrupted her flow of thought.

She snapped her journal shut and turned from the writing desk to face him. "Nothing of great interest, just an account of the day." 

He placed a small chair quite near her and sat thereon. "Nothing of great interest is still something of little interest, and better than nothing at all - which is what I have been doing this past hour. Might I succeed in coaxing you to read it to me or shall I be scolded for prying?" 

She quickly skimmed her eyes over her current passage and, determining it was safe to read aloud, she smiled, "Very well, for the sake of your sanity I shall indulge you." she read him the December twenty-fifth entry. 

He chuckled. "I would not call that only a little interesting, I found it entertaining. Will you continue writing or will you indulge me further with your company?" 

Isabel's smitten heart could have burst. She complied. He returned his chair back to it's set in the corner of the room and she joined him there. 

"You wouldn't happen to know the reason for my cousin's sudden departure would you?" she tried her luck at prying information from him considering she had been unsuccessful with Matthew all day. Dunsworth claimed he did not know the full of it but gathered it had somewhat to do with pursuing a lady.

Isabel imagined her cousin had decided on a whim to see Miss Cotton, he had been displaying the marks of one with an attachment to the lady of late. She did not mention this to Eugene Dunsworth; instead she joked "My cousin has not been away from London a week! How desperate some young men are in their pursuits that five days is too long to be parted from their lady love." 

"You claim you cannot relate?" jested he with a grin. 

Isabel could, of course, relate to some extent; but what was she to say?! "Every woman has been crossed in love at least once, and it therefore follows I can." 

Then he teased further saying "At least once? Is it to be assumed then that you have fancied more than one member of your opposing sex?" 

To which she replied the negative "I am unfortunate in that I have only ever loved one." As the words left her mouth she feared she had become too brave; but something brightened in his eye causing her to begin to understand why Miranda loved to flirt – if that is what one would call the exhilarating sensation in one's chest that threatened to steal one's breath; though thought she I am only bold enough to do so with Eugene, I don't understand how Em mustered the audacity to flirt with so many strange men. 

"Why is it unfortunate to have only loved one? That shows great loyalty and strength of character." 

"I feel it shows more foolishness than any such things as you claim. I am infinitely more likely to end up with a broken heart than any number of ladies, such as Miss Wescott, or even my sister.." 

"A broken heart is one thing I am sure you will never suffer Miss Riley, I do not think any man you desired could refuse you his heart." 

She searched his face for anything that might suggest some hidden meaning or hope, but he wore a passive protective mask she could not see past. She had broken this mask before, she wished to do it now. "The man who holds my heart is proving to be one such man."