Page 18 of The Lady's Companion
The cat nudged her ankles and she sat up, looking about her to make sure that no one had seen her sprawled all over the table like a barmaid. She got to her feet and stood there a moment until she felt entirely steady. Her boots were still by the stove, so she retrieved them and put them on, enjoying their warmth. I can at least spare Mr. Wiggins a trip for nothing, if I’m not too late, she thought as she snatched a shawl from the coat tree.
It was going to be a chilly walk back to Quilling, she thought as she left the house and went to the cattle byre. The barnyardwas muddy, and she hated to think what was happening to her beautifully polished boots. She pushed open the door, smiling in spite of her misery at the pleasant odor of hay and cows. Who can be too unhappy around cows? she asked herself as she hurried down the central passageway, looking for the bailiff.
He was sitting in one of the loose boxes, regarding a cow in labor. He looked up at her and then returned his attention to the cow. Susan leaned on the railing.
“I’m so glad you haven’t gone to Quilling for my trunk yet!” she said. “I can spare you the trip.”
“Change your mind, Miss Hampton?”
She shook her head. “No, but it’s been changed for me. Lady Bushnell... Lady Bushnell says I won’t suit. She turned me off. I’ll leave in the morning.” She didn’t trust herself to say anything else just then, and truly, he didn’t seem too interested. She looked at him a moment more, remembering a time in her life when everyone was interested in her. “Thank you for whatever you did, Mr. Wiggins. I’ll not trouble you any further.”
She turned to leave, but paused when the bailiff stood up, brushing the hay off his leather breeches.
“Where will you go?”
“I don’t know.”
He came to the railing and rested his elbows on it, looking directly at her again with that unwavering gaze of his that she was familiar with, in spite of their brief acquaintance. ,
“Miss Hampton, I could loan you the fare back to London.” He smiled. “I have that much, at least.”
She shook her head. “That’s kind, but I have no way of repaying you, Mr. Wiggins.”
“Marry me, then.”
Chapter Six
Susan couldn’t have heard him right, but she was suddenly too shy to ask him to repeat himself. She swallowed, and stared at him. Maybe if I do not say anything, I’ll discover that I was just hearing things. He looks perfectly rational, except that he has hay on his shin. Absently, she reached out and plucked it off.
“God knows I can’t afford a special license,” he continued, “but I know a family you could stay with in Quilling until after the banns are cried. My house isn’t big, but it’s big enough.”
He stopped talking then, waiting for her to say something. Susan tried to remember everything her mother and aunt had told her about proposals, but she couldn’t think beyond the fact that this was the nicest offer anyone had ever made her. It was impossible, of course, but she was moved past words. She just patted his arm, resting so close to her shoulder on the railing.
“Mr. Wiggins, yours is the very first proposal I ever had and I do not think anyone will ever make me a kinder offer...” she began finally, unable then to look him in the eye.
“But no, thank you,” he concluded for her.
She nodded, embarrassed.
“It was a foolish notion,” he murmured, “but I thought to help you. I suppose I overstepped my bounds. I do that, sometimes.”
“Oh, no!” she said, putting her hand on his arm again. “That is not my objection! Mr. Wiggins, you don’t know anything about me! Suppose I turned out to be a ... a thief, or a wine bibber, or...”
He laughed softly and moved away from the railing, away from her hand. “You’re nothing of the sort, and I have never been safer, Miss Hampton!” He scuffed his boot in the hay and looked down at the cow, who was regarding him with mild interest as her insides heaved. “I’ve never been so impulsive.” He shook hishead at his own temerity.
He chose a light tone, and she matched it. “I didn’t think you were given to sudden starts, Mr. Wiggins. Please don’t worry about me. Perhaps I could accept that loan from you. I... I think Mr. Steinman would make it good.”
“Joel will do me right,” Wiggins said, coming to the railing again.
“You know him, don’t you?” she said, forgetting her own troubles for a moment.
“Quite well. I remember that arm of his ...” He shook his head. “You don’t need to hear those stories. Yes, I know him, and he owes me a debt beyond payment. I’ll get my shillings back, if you need to borrow them, Miss Hampton.”
“I do, sir. Let us shake on it.”
They shook hands over the railing. Susan hitched the borrowed shawl higher on her shoulders and turned to leave the bailiff to his business.
“But what will you do in London?”
