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‘I could ask around in the neighbourhood if people know anything,’ Eve suggested. The rest of us exchanged a look. Eve lived in a rich neighbourhood and had a virtual army of acquaintances among her neighbours' daughters. If gossip was to be found anywhere, it was there.

‘I could re-read a few of my romantic novels,’ Flora offered timidly. ‘Maybe there is something in there not only about how people get engaged and married, but also about how they could avoid it.’Advertisement

‘Great idea.’ Patsy nodded. ‘And just in case that doesn't work, I’ll go and buy an especially hard and spiky parasol.’

We discussed our plans for the anti-suffragist meeting and then disbanded not long after. I arrived home late for dinner, but so many flowers from Sir Philip had arrived in my absence that my aunt didn’t even make a sharp comment. She was in heaven. When Ella sprang up after dinner, I was ready and followed like the watchdog I was.

Our Romeo on duty was waiting just beyond the fence, an incandescent smile on his face, his arms held out at his sides as if to catch Ella when she would come rushing towards him. Only when she had crossed about half the distance did he seem to realize that because of the metal barrier in the way, that wouldn’t be quite possible, and he lowered his arms.

His smile didn’t become any less incandescent, though.

‘Ella, my love!’ He breathed, gripping the poles of the fence with both hands.

‘Edmund, my love,’ she breathed back. ‘Finally! I’ve nearly been driven to distraction, waiting all day! Not knowing what will happen and when is pure torture! When will we leave?’

I leant forward as far as I could. This was the question I had come to hear the answer to, the question the answer to which would determine whether I could work on a plan to get rid of Wilkins or whether I would have to take Patsy up on her offer of parasolical violence. My heart started to pound faster in my chest as I stared at Edmund, the man who held my sister’s fate in his hands.

Why wasn’t he saying anything?

Why was he just standing there?

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Finally, he took a deep breath and leant forward until his lips were almost at her ear - and whispered something in a low voice I couldn’t hear!

I couldn’t believe it! He had whispered! The whole evening they had conducted their secret affair in the back garden in perfectly audible voices, and now, when it would actually had been useful for something to be audible for a change, that son of a bachelor decided to whisper!

Ella’s eyes went wide.

‘So soon?’

Soon? What does that mean, soon? Tomorrow? The day after?

Or did she have a different conception of ‘soon’? Could it be weeks still? Edmund had said it would take time to procure a marriage license, so it couldn’t just be a few days, could it? But then why had she said 'soon'?

The anxiety tortured me. I wanted to run over to the man who wanted to steal my sister away from her family and shake the truth out of him, but that would kind of have given the game away. So I stayed put and tried to take deep, calming breaths.

‘It’s not really that soon,’ Edmund replied.

Wait? What’s that supposed to mean? Is it soon or isn’t it?

‘I think it’s quite soon,’ Ella said. ‘I have to pack, remember?’

‘Yes, but remember, we will travel light, my love. We have to, in order to get away quickly.’

She bit her lip. ‘You’re right. Yes, if I don't have to pack too much, it’s not that soon. I think I can manage.’

Argh! This is maddening!

‘If I could, I would leave tonight with you,’ Edmund whispered. ‘I’ve done the best I can, but it still will take so long to get a marriage license. I only hope Sir Philip does not make his intentions clear before then. If he does, if all our hopes and dreams are smashed…’

‘Hush!’ Ella raised her slender hand, gently touching his lips with her forefinger and silencing him. ‘Everything will go well. I have no doubt. I trust you, my love.’

His answering smile was melancholic.

‘I only wish I had that much faith in myself.’

‘And do you know the exact time of day when we will leave?’ Ella asked, clearly in an effort to distract him from his dark mood.

I perked up. This was something! Maybe I’d know this much at least! Maybe I could lie in wait every day and make sure they didn’t get away without me noticing!

Edmund shook his head. ‘No, my love, I’m sorry. It depends on when I can get an inconspicuous coach to bring us out of town.’

This couldn’t be happening. It just couldn’t!

‘So how will I know when it’s time to leave, Edmund, my darling?’

‘That is the very best part of my plan,’ he whispered conspiratorially. ‘When the time is upon us to flee, I shall change the curtains in the window of my room.’

He pointed up to a small rectangular window in his parents’ house that pointed towards their back garden. ‘You see that now they are white? I shall change them to red curtains when the time for our elopement has arrived.’

‘Oh Edmund! You are so clever!’

‘Well… actually I got the idea from a book…’

‘Clever and well-read! My dream man!’

‘Am I really?’

‘Of course you are! Let me show you. Come closer, my love.’

‘Oh, my love! Only if you do, too.’

After that, the conversation was pretty much over. I turned discreetly away and, listening to the noises coming from the fence, did my best not to vomit into the rosebushes. It wasn’t easy. This was my sister we were talking of, after all.

Well, those were the burdens you had to carry when you were trying to save your sister from disgrace. Once this was over, I would really deserve a medal for my efforts.

Not that I had actually discovered a way to save her yet. And this problem had now abruptly become even more urgent than before. I had no idea how much time was still left before our piano-tuning pseudo-Casanova carried my sister off to parts unknown. The thought sickened me. Despite her brave speech from earlier, I knew she would be devastated to disappoint my aunt. She wasn’t like me, she was considerate of other people’s feelings. Some people were mad like that.

But what could I do? What could anyone do to prevent this disastrous turn of events? There didn’t seem to be anything that could make my aunt dislike Wilkins, and as for scaring him off in some way, I hardly believed it would be possible. His infatuations with Maria, Anne and even Patsy seemed to have been just passing fancies, but he appeared pretty stuck on Ella. pqdm.com