A Woman of Honour

Chapter 12

Ralph had spent most of the morning in the saddle and was looking forward to returning to an empty house. So far, the house-party had been everything he had expected it to be. Young ladies, fresh from the schoolroom, vying for his attention by simpering and giggling at his every word. It was all becoming exceptionally tedious.

His mother, who fully expected him to make an offer of marriage by the end of the week, had become unbearable. She hounded him at every turn, asking him which one he preferred as though she was offering him a plate of sweetmeats. He was also worried that his mother was trying to hatch some plan that would force him into an unwanted marriage before the week was out with her choice of bride.

However, today he could relax and temporarily let his guard down, as most of the guests had gone out on an outing to visit the cathedral in the city of Exeter. This allowed him to pursue some urgent estate business.

Ralph was riding through the village, on the way back from settling a border dispute between a couple of his tenants, when he spotted Helen walking up the gravel path towards the door of the church. By rights, he should immediately ride back to the Hall and that long-overdue meeting with his steward, but the temptation of seeing Helen again was far too great.

He tied his horse in the meadow next to the church and made his way towards the door. Once he entered the church and his eyes had become accustomed to the dark interior, he glimpsed Helen walking around the outside of the nave, reading the memorial plaques from past generations of his family.

She was wearing the same blue muslin dress she had worn yesterday. Even though the dress had seen better days, Ralph thought that she looked beautiful. The delicate blue flowers that matched her pelisse suited her dark hair and ivory skin. He continued to watch her as she carefully examined each plaque in turn.

After a few minutes, she sat down in one of the pews near the back of the church. The organist was playing a soft atonal tune, one he usually associated with the congregation gathering together on a Sunday morning. He continued to watch her as she sat staring with a look of contemplation on her face, at the stained-glass window behind the altar. She was so lost in her own thoughts, that she did not notice him sitting down next to her.

'It's peaceful in here,' he said as a greeting, more to alert her to his presence that anything else.

She looked startled to see him, and he felt a twinge of guilt that he had disturbed her.

Once she had regained her composure, he began to talk to her about the memorial plaques she had just been examining. Whether it was the unworldly atmosphere within the church or the presence of the woman sitting next to him, he did not know. However, whatever it was, he began to tell her things about himself that he had never confided to anyone else.

He talked about how his father had unexpectedly become the earl and the loveless and often violent marriage of his parents. Ralph felt a closeness to her that he had never experienced before.

He was surprised when she voiced sympathy for his mother. Helen, he concluded, was a product of her circumstances, just like everyone else.

When the organist had stopped, an eery silence descended on the church. He felt no need to fill the silence with unnecessary words. He just reached out and took her hand in his and held it for comfort. There was an ethereal atmosphere, in the church, that felt somewhat otherworldly. Ralph felt far removed from the man he had been less than half an hour ago when he had ridden into the village. This complicated woman, who had hidden her heart from the world for all these years, was allowing him into her world.