Читать книгу Buried Jewellery Box - Reseda Shaykhnurova - Страница 7

“What did you decide for me?” exclaimed Ralph at dinner. “I do not want to marry Georgia Melshem or anybody else!”

“But, son, she will get three thousand as her dowry!” his mother said joyfully.

“She is a good match for you, as well as for us,” said Lord Fellows sternly. “You have lived at our expense enough. You did not even complete your studies at Oxford that your grandfather paid for.”

“I explained the reason,” the young Fellows strained through his clenched teeth.

“No, you did not. We received a letter from your Dean, informing us that you had been involved in the incident, tarnishing the reputation of the university, and that you could not continue your education. He did not state the name of the second participant. The only thing your mother and I were able to learn, is that the incident had been hushed up before it could seep into newspapers.”

“My dear, let us not talk about that,” his wife stepped in. “If Ralph does not want to tell us, you should not make him.”

“You all told me then that my brother was ill, so he could not study,” mentioned Melody casually. “So what was his illness exactly? The cunning, cowardice or laziness influenza?”

“That is enough!” said Ralph angrily. “Have you even heard that our parents are going to marry me?”

“Yes, to my best friend,” smiled his sister.

“Whom I do not love!” stated Ralph.

“I do not love George either, but that did not stop you from showing him my naked body.”

The parents froze in amazement with their mouths open. They looked at their daughter, then at their son unable to squeeze out a single word.

“It is not what you think!” Ralph tried to soften the accusation. “Melody was not intimate with George.”

“But how did he see her naked?” asked his mother barely able to keep from crying.

“It was a demand of your beloved countess’s son, Mother!” tartly replied Melody.

“What? It cannot be so.”

“Yes, it can. On that very day when he called Ralph to a duel.”

“But they made friends!”

“Not quite, Mother,” the young Fellows joined in. “My friend insisted that his only condition to cancel the duel was… Melody.”

“Henry, say something!” Rebecca broke down. “Our family’s honor is in question!”

“Children, did it happen on Tuesday?” the head of the family joined the conversation finally. “When I, too, by accident, saw… I saw you, Melody?”

“Yes, Father,” confessed his daughter.

“Oh, lord! My nerves!” cried Mrs. Fellows. “Do not tell me that you saw our daughter naked too, Henry?”

“Yes, I did,” was the answer.

His wife fainted at once, and all the family members rushed to bring her to her senses.

“Here are her smelling salts, milord,” Megan came to the aid.

“Thank you. Please give all necessary instructions so Mrs. Fellows is put to bed and not disturbed.”

“Yes, milord.”

“See, what you have done?” Ralph snapped at his sister. “You could not keep your mouth shut!”

“I am sorry, Father!”

“Everything will calm down, dear, do not worry. You and your brother should go to bed now.”

Melody sullenly walked up the stairs. Her brother followed her.

“They would have found out soon anyway Ralph,” she said, going up to her room. “Georgia wrote me. She had heard how George boasted about that to his blacksmith when they were harnessing his horse.”

The young man did not reply, just slipped into his bedroom and locked the door.

In the morning, he gave his consent to the marriage. The newlyweds’ preparation work began. It took the two families a whole month to select wedding styles and fabrics, the chapel and the priest, as well as the venue of the festivities. Georgia and Melody did not participate in the debates, preferring each other’s company, away from the bustle.

They liked to be alone in the beautiful garden of Melshem Hall, fenced by brick walls and stone fences, overgrown with creeping roses and other flowers. Approaching the bower, the girls swept the flowerbeds with lavender and rosemary with their fluffy skirts, rising plume of fragrance. Miss Melshem attended some flowerbeds with irises and peonies herself. The farther flowerbeds with white and red petunias belonged to her mother. The young ladies enthusiastically shared their secrets and plans.