Read Online Lady Barbara's Dilemma by Marjorie Farrell - Free Book Online

you always say, but it seems to me that too many young girls are increasing after Midsummer’s Eve. Perhaps old Zenobia’s myrtle sprig is a good custom.”
    “What’s that?”
    Barbara pulled the myrtle out of her pocket, where it had lain forgotten till now. “I am to put this in my prayer book, and if I sleep on it and it is still there in the morning, then I will know that Peter will not marry me.”
    “I dare you to do it,” Robin challenged, with a gleam in his eye.
    “I cannot accept such a challenge, Robin, for we both know it will be there in the morning.”
    “Aren’t you sure of Wardour?” Robin said with a smile.
    “Of course I am. And even if the myrtle were still there, it would mean nothing. It is only an old superstition. But I am not afraid to take your dare.”
    “Done,” said her brother, who had decided that if Barbara accepted, he would steal into her room and remove the sprig himself. He wanted nothing to mar her happiness with Wardour. She was a very intelligent young woman, his sister, but all women had an irrational streak in them, and now that he had pushed her to it, he didn’t want her to have even a fleeting disappointment.
    When Barbara got to her bedchamber, she opened her prayer book, found the marriage service, and carefully placed the myrtle on the right words, then put the prayer book under her pillow.
    It will be there in the morning, of course, she thought. And Robin and I will laugh at ourselves, for it will mean nothing.
    Unfortunately, when Robin went to bed a few hours later, he was so sleepy from the ale he had consumed and his vigil, watching till the fire burned down, that he completely forgot his plan and fell asleep immediately.
    And when Barbara awoke in the morning, conscious of a strange lump under her pillow, she almost didn’t open the book, saying to herself, I know it will be there, and I know it doesn’t mean anything that it is. Yet she couldn’t resist.
    And there it was, the dark green leaves flattened and dried out. She suffered a momentary pang of doubt, and then, laughing at herself, closed the prayer book. “Let the myrtle stay,” she said aloud. “And when we are married, I will open this and show Peter and we will have a good laugh.”
     

Chapter 12
     
    After all their work on the picnic, the Stanleys usually relaxed in the morning and made their appearance at the fair in the afternoon. This year, they didn’t set out until after two o’clock, all crowded into the old landau: Barbara, Robin, Diana, the twins, and the twins’ nurse. As they drove through town the noise and dust became more noticeable and by the time they were dropped off, the twins were beside themselves with excitement.
    Robin was one of the judges at the cattle show, and he was off quickly, leaving the women together. Barbara traditionally awarded the prize for the best domestic animal, but that wasn’t until later in the afternoon, and so she spent some time with Diana and the children, buying lemonade and sweets, keeping them out of the freak-show tent (“For surely,” said Diana, “they are too young for a two-headed calf, much less the Cotswold Giant. I do not want them having nightmares”). The Punch and Judy show was perfect, and so when Diana decided to stay through a second performance, Barbara, having arranged a meeting place, wandered off on her own. Robin had mentioned the new fiddler to her, and as she walked, she had her ears open. She came across several buskers, one with a tin whistle and one with a fiddle, but the fiddler was small, dark, and English, and not that memorable a musician. She was beginning to wonder if the Scotsman had got to the fair when she heard the strains of a reel and followed the sound to its source.
    There was a fair crowd around the musician, so that Barbara could only see the top of his head, bent down over his bow. As soon as people saw her they cleared a space, and she found herself right in front of him.
    He was tall,