Free Prue Phillipson - Hordens of Horden Hall by Hearts Restored

go. Keeping her eyes down she took it quickly, rolled it up and stood it in the corner beyond the window. Then she retreated to the dark nook under the stair and taking a small brush, swept the top of a wooden box there and sat down on it.
    Daniel, looking about in exasperation, saw his father and mother seating themselves on the bench at one side of the table where there was room for him too. William having blown out the candle which stood beside the open Bible placed himself opposite them and gravely laid the palms of his hands together.
    Daniel wanted to pick Eunice up and shake her. Why will she not look at me? Why will she sit in the corner when there is room beside her father at the table?
    Nathaniel had handed over Celia’s letter. “Your mother asked us to give you this and suggested you read it while we are here.”
    William took it and stood up. “I will take it to the door for the daylight but first I must offer you what refreshment we have. This morning at five of the clock I was in Covent Garden preaching and the basket of fruit you see on that shelf was my reward. Pray help yourselves from it. I can offer no strong drink but this jug contains milk from the dairy nearby.”
    “Oh William,” Bel exclaimed. “We haven’t come to eat and drink. We have had more than enough of that in The Strand. We wanted to see you and Eunice before we return home the day after tomorrow. We had hoped to get to know you a little in our time here.”
    William merely inclined his head and stepped to the door with the letter.
    Bel said, “Will you not come nearer, Eunice?”
    When she still sat with her head bent Bel got up and went over to her and held out both her hands.
    “I am not a monster, little Cousin, please can we not be friends?”
    Daniel watched for a reaction in the small hunched figure. Was she so ashamed of their poverty that she could not speak? He had never seen so cramped a living space and with the same area above, presumably divided into two smaller chambers, this was the whole house. She knows we have come from that mansion in The Strand and she simply cannot bear us to see how they live.
    But at that moment William turned from the door and addressed Nat.
    “Do you, sir, know the contents of this letter?” His tone was harsh.
    Nat stood up with his usual cheery open smile.
    “No indeed, Cousin. We presumed it was natural for your mother to wish to send a word to you. She might have come herself but for her other guests.”
    “Then this proposal she puts forward is not of your making?”
    “Proposal?”
    Daniel’s stomach contracted. What could that foolish, presumptuous woman have written?
    William went on in a level voice, “My mother wishes me to consider seriously” – he checked the letter for the exact words – “the proposition that I should give my daughter to your son in marriage when he graduates from Cambridge University. Do you endorse this?”
    Daniel didn’t dare to look at Eunice but a suppressed gasp came from that corner. He heard a soothing murmur from his mother before she stepped back to the table. She and his father both began to speak at once.
    Bel exclaimed, “You should know, William, that I am no lover of arranged marriages,” while Nat was answering mildly, “I am sure we would have no objection if the young people wished it but they scarcely know each other –”
    To Daniel’s astonishment Eunice jumped up from her seat and screamed across the room, “Daniel said the idea of loving me was preposterous.”
    She stood for a second open-mouthed at her own extraordinary eruption, then turned and clattered up the steep wooden stair and slammed the door at the top behind her so that the flimsy house shook.
    Daniel, appalled, felt all their eyes turn on him.
    “I – I did say something like that but those maddening French girls were tormenting me. I didn’t mean – it is as Father says – we don’t know each other. I have no thoughts of marriage for years to