Free Green Girl by Sara Seale Page A

ingratiation and miraculously uncurled an inquisitive tongue to lick her. “ Did you see that, Duff? He kissed me—he actually licked me! ”
    “ Well, I shall administer a different kind of licking if you don ’ t pay attention to me, ” he retorted, but he smiled all the same at the ridiculous look of shining gratitude she bestowed alike on the dog and himself. “ I asked you if you ’ d changed your mind, meaning about marrying me, but it will be too late if you have, in any case. ”
    “ Then why did you ask? ” she said not unreasonably, and he shot her a sharp look as if he suspected pertness, then smiled.
    “A sensible retort, and I don ’ t know why I asked. The wedding ’ s set for tomorrow. ”
    “ Oh! ”
    “ Is that all you have to say? ”
    “ I don ’ t know what you want me to say, ” she replied a little helplessly. She had no idea how long such matters as a special licence took to arrange and no one had enlightened her.
    He leaned forward in his chair and touched her hair with an uncharacteristically hesitant gesture.
    “ I don ’ t know, either, ” he said. “ Perhaps I ’ m having last-minute qualms. “ You ’ re so young Harriet, so utterly inexperienced, and filled with all sorts of romantic nonsense. I feel, I ’ m taking an advantage. ”
    “ Do you—I mean have you perhaps had—had second thoughts yourself? ” she stammered, wondering whether it was he who wished to change his mind, but his sudden smile was a little unkind.
    “ Never have second thoughts, my dear, or, if you do, sit on them firmly. I haven ’ t changed my mind, if that ’ s what you were hoping for, and it ’ s too late for you to recant that nice little preference for butter to bread and scrape, so let ’ s forget about the conventional heart-searchings that cast doubts on the wedding eve and get tomorrow ’ s itinerary cut and dried. Now— ”
    She sat on the rug patiently listening to all his instructions; no wedding guests because time was short and his social obligations negative; no reception for the same reason, but mild celebration for the tenants because that was expected of the Castle. Harriet asked if the little girl was to attend the ceremony, but was told rather shortly, no. Nonie hadn ’ t been told yet, and Duff thought it better to wait till the holidays with the new relationship already an established fact.
    Later, as Harriet ate her dinner in solitary state, Duff having gone out, and the two dogs rather pointedly preferring to remain in the snug, she wondered whether Duff was indulging somewhere in the traditional stag party, but it seemed unlikely in view of the kind of marriage he was contemplating that he would consider there was anything much for the bridegroom to celebrate.
    She went back to the snug when she had finished her dinner and tried to settle down with a boo k , but the silence of the big house seemed oppressive and presently she took herself up to bed and stood rather forlornly in the middle of the big room wondering what to wear on the morrow. All Duff ’ s careful arrangements had not covered the bride ’ s apparel, and she supposed he could hardly be expected to remember that she had arrived with one suitcase, and the suit she was wearing at the time had been ruined by bog-water. She inspected the meagre contents of the wardrobe, disconsolately aware that her hasty purchases, so satisfying at the time, were utterly unsuit e d to Irish country life; neither had she invested in a warm coat, thinking her old one would do since it had seemed more important to buy the cheap little cocktail dresses which she had imagined would be essential to gay life in an Irish castle.
    Harriet sighed, selecting the least offensive garment from her wardrobe to brush and lay out in readiness for the next day. Her prospective bridegroom had certainly not succumbed to love at first sight, or shown any sign of courtship, neither, so far as she could judge, was there any dark impediment