Grace: Spinsters of the Ton

Chapter 1

Spinster; a woman past a certain age that has remained unmarried. Usually they have some 'fault' that society has placed upon them. 'Their laugh is too loud' or 'their smile too wide', are among the many reasons why the male gender does not wish to marry them, put-on-the-shelf as it were.

However, there are the rare few of the 'fairer' sex that remain unmarried because they simply have no need to. They are independent. Have no need for a husband for them to get by in this world.

I am one such woman and some, namely my mother, would say that I am by no means a spinster at only one and twenty. I simply have no need, or wish for that matter, to marry. I lack nothing to get by as an independent woman; I have a title, a house, a large loving family which includes my brothers and their children, and twenty thousand to my name. Yes, you could say that I could live quite comfortably twice over.

Most women in my acquaintance do not have this luxury of living independently, having to rely on their husbands for almost everything. But I do know two other 'spinsters', Miss Ophelia Bedworth, heiress of Kennelly Keep in Cheshire, and Lady Sarah Kingsley, daughter of the Duke of Longley of Elveden House in Sussex. Both were my closest and dearest friends, who shared my desire to never marry.

We were having tea in Sarah's parlour around the time of my nineteenth birthday when we had realised how our lives would be should we marry.

"Oh, it is lovely to have you both here but I guess we shouldn't get used to it. After all, when we marry we will be too busy looking after our husbands and our houses to take tea and go for long rides about the countryside together." Sarah had sighed whilst pouring out the warm brew.

"Hush Sarah, our husbands would let us get together I am sure. And if not then we would just have to persuade them, wouldn't we?"

"Lia, you know Sarah wouldn't be able to persuade anyone, let alone her husband, to let her do anything. Don't you remember how she tried to persuade my brother to stand closer to the pond so we could push him in? He knew straight away what she was trying to do but went along with it just so he could push her in!" I remembered with a small smile how Sarah had refused to speak to Zach for a fortnight afterwards. But Zachary was in Her Majesty's service, that being one of the suitable employments of the third son of a Duke, and we only had contact with him by letters now.

"Yes, that is true. Well we'll just have to forever remain unmarried then!" Ophelia had cried.

"What?! Remain unmarried? But what of love? Of any future children? Surely you, Lia, will need to have children, you are the only heir of Kennelly Keep so don't you need children to pass your legacy onto?" Trust Sarah to be the more practical of the three of us and the only one who had hoped that a certain gentleman might see her as more than his sister's friend.

"I think I agree with Lia, what need do we have to marry anyway? We each have our own fortunes that we wouldn't be a burden on our families. We each have not found any suitable gentlemen. And what use do we have of love when we are surrounded by friends and family who love us."

"Oh, surely you want to be loved how only a man could love a woman don't you Grace?" Sarah had asked of me.

"You know I do not wish it Sarah. I have told you how I could never love a man, how I have seen too many marriages crumble like a wall built on clay. Even my parents' own marriage is on a slow decline. My dear Mama and Papa are arguing like they are on the opposite sides of the War of the Roses and my brothers are too busy with their lives to even notice." My confession had been met with silence and when I looked up at the two of them I was not surprised to see the shock in their expressions. They both broke out of their reverie and spoke at the same time.