Read Online The Village Spinster by Laura Matthews - Free Book Online Page A

declared. “Perhaps my papa-in-law would join him there.”
    “And you would end up in America as well,” she pointed out.
    “Oh, I’m not so sure. I could probably convince Jane that she didn’t want to go. Then they would be there and we would be here, a much more suitable arrangement than the current one.”
    They had reached a path which led through a small coppice of copper beeches. Clarissa turned onto the path and headed west on the second leg of the triangle she sometimes made on her walks. Mr. Traling kept pace with her, frowning slightly as he considered his situation. “It wouldn’t be so bad if they didn’t put so much store in the baby,” he remarked. “Poor Jane can’t make a move without her mother saying, ‘You mustn’t tire yourself, Jane,’ or her father saying, ‘Let’s make sure this is a healthy lad, Jane.’ What if it’s not the son they expect? Or what if it’s sickly and dies? You know that can happen.”
    “Jane is their only child. Of course they’re concerned.”
    “Oh, it’s more than that. You know it is.”
    Clarissa sighed. “Yes. They’re just naturally overbearing people who insist on controlling everything that concerns their daughter. You knew that when you married her, Steven.”
    She only called him by his Christian name when there was no one else around. Right now they were in the middle of Priory Lane, fresh greenery springing out on either side, with a sweep of fields all about them. Far away to the north could be seen some of the spires of Bath itself; straight ahead lay Stanton Prior. At the hedgerow they would turn back toward the village of Pennwick.
    Grudgingly, he admitted that he had known what his in-laws were when he married. “But, you know,” he said, kicking a stone out of his path, “Jane didn’t seem so cowed by them then. I think I depended more on her being a stronger person.”
    Clarissa regarded him with assessing eyes. “Perhaps you expected that you would be a stronger person, Steven. Or thought you would have more power when you were actually married.”
    “And so I should have,” he agreed, with asperity. “Under the marriage settlement I was to have control of her fortune. How was I to know that her father still controlled the source of funds? I’m not an attorney. And God knows I couldn’t have afforded one to go over the settlement. It sounded perfectly all right.”
    “You’ll come about. Just be patient. Once the baby is born and Jane settles into motherhood, she may very well side with you in having a home of your own—at some distance from your in-laws.”
    “Faint hope.”
    As Mr. Traling was seldom this despondent, in fact was almost never anything less than charming and cheerful, Clarissa was about to test him further on the cause of his black humor, when they were interrupted by a rider on the road. This was unfortunate, because Clarissa never went about with Mr. Traling. Though he came to her house once a fortnight or so, they never went into the village or about the neighborhood. It was a simple matter of prudence. There was wont to be talk in a small village. Clarissa was not one to explain herself or her actions, but neither was she in the habit of provoking her neighbors to talk about her. The rider, on closer approach, turned out to be William.
    “Miss Driscoll! Mr. Traling.” William tipped his hat to them. “Glad you could get out walking. I was afraid having Aria in the house would just about lock you in.”
    “She’s sleeping now, and Meg is there to take care of any of her needs.” Clarissa frowned. “I’ve just remembered the doctor, though. I should like to be there when he calls.”
    “Not likely to miss him in the morning. Sees the more urgent cases then.”
    “Goodness. How do you know that?”
    “Well, he told me yesterday when I went to get him, don’t you know? Good sort of man. Very comfortable.” William dismounted from his horse and led it as they walked. He didn’t notice the