Free Edmund Bertram's Diary by Amanda Grange

July
    It has always been Miss Crawford’s habit to take a strol in the evenings and it has now become a regular thing that we al walk out together. My work about the estate is being left to others, and I am spending less time with my family, but I cannot help myself. Miss Crawford is so agreeable that I cannot tear myself away.
    Saturday 30 July
    ‘I saw you ride past my window this morning,’ said Miss Crawford to my sisters as she and her family joined us at the Park for dinner. ‘How I envied you your exercise.’
    ‘You must come with us,’ said Maria.
    ‘It would do no good, for I cannot ride.’
    ‘Cannot ride?’
    The idea was startling.
    ‘Then you must learn,’ said Maria.
    ‘Alas, I have no horse,’ she said rueful y.
    ‘Then you must borrow one of ours.’
    ‘Indeed you must,’ I pressed her. ‘I have just the animal, a quiet mare who is perfect for beginners.’
    ‘What if I am frightened?’ she asked, glancing at me teasingly, so that I could not tel whether she meant it or not, for her temperament is so different from my own that half the time I do not know how to understand her.
    ‘There is no need,’ I said, taking her at her word. ‘She is the quietest creature imaginable. I bought her for Fanny when the grey pony died.’
    ‘In that case I must decline,’ she protested. ‘I cannot think of taking Miss Price’s mare from her. It would be very wrong.’
    ‘There would be no question of that. If Fanny does not object, it would only mean taking the mare down to the Parsonage half an hour before your ride, wel before Fanny usual y goes out, and you may both have your exercise.’
    Fanny said at once that she did not mind at al .
    ‘Then I wil bring the mare down to the Parsonage tomorrow, ’ I said.
    ‘And wil you instruct me?’ Miss Crawford asked me.
    ‘If you wish.’
    ‘I do wish. I wil feel safer with you there, for I am sure you wil be able to teach me how to go on, you are such an experienced horseman. I should have learned before this; Henry was always trying to teach me; but somehow I never had the urge before now.’
    ‘Then we must not disappoint you. I wil be at the Parsonage early with the groom.’
    Her face fel .
    ‘I have no habit,’ she said.
    ‘That is nothing,’ said Mrs. Grant, ‘you may borrow one of mine until you can have one made. You wil want something in a newer style eventual y, but mine wil serve you for the present.’
    As the ladies continued to talk of their habits, I found myself looking forward to the morrow with an eagerness I have not felt since I was a boy.
    Sunday 31 July
    I set out after church for the Parsonage, rejoicing in the day. It was calm and serene, with just enough cloud to prevent it being too hot, and a welcome breeze. Miss Crawford was waiting for me, attired in Mrs. Grant’s habit.
    ‘You must excuse my dress,’ she said drol y, glancing at the yards of material that trailed on the floor behind her. ‘My sister is inches tal er than I am.’
    Tom would have thought of a compliment, but such things do not spring easily to my mind. Instead I told her that her habit would do very wel and helped her to mount. She was almost as light as Fanny, and with my hands round her waist she was soon sitting on the mare. She looked nervous to find herself so far off the ground, but I reassured her, and she laughed at her fears and was soon restored to her usual humor. I gave her instructions on how to sit, and how to hold the reins, and everything else necessary for her to begin, and then told her how to walk forwards, which she did with surprising grace.
    ‘If I had known it was so enjoyable I would have learnt to ride long ago,’ she said, as her confidence grew, ‘though I suppose with riding, as with everything else, it is the company that determines the enjoyment.’
    She cast me a smiling glance and I felt that she had read my mind, for it was her company that was making the day so enjoyable for me.
    After half an hour I felt