The Secret Attachment

VI

"Seldom, very seldom, does complete truth belong to any human disclosure; seldom can it happen that something is not a little disguised or a little mistaken." Jane Austen, Emma

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VI.

Mr Banes had insisted on a doctor being sent for, and Mrs Banes, who kept a close eye on the household expenses, absolutely agreed with him.

Luckily, Katy's gash on her leg was the worst of her injuries, and her bandaging and cleaning it right away to prevent infection had potentially saved her life. Nobody thought to ask Katy how she managed to clean her leg in the middle of the woods, and Katy was relieved, as she would have had no answer that did not get her into trouble.

But it only made her feel more conflicted about her rescuer. Harry had truly saved her life, and Katy had fled from him without a word. Had she not been such a coward about the butterflies in her stomach, she would have had a clearer conscience.

The doctor had stitched her wound properly, and had wrapped it in fresh bandages, assessed her other cuts and bruises as minor, and gave her a clean bill of health.

As a precaution, Katy was put on strict rest for a week, which meant that it was left to Eliza to do Katy's morning chores. But to Katy's, and everyone's, surprise, Eliza rose early from bed without complaint. She fed the chickens and the pig, collected the eggs, milked the goat, boiled water, ironed the newspaper, and lit the fires every morning.

This change in Eliza was viewed by the household in two different ways. To Katy and Mr Banes, they saw Eliza's improved attitude towards the mornings as her demonstration of affection for Katy.

But to Mrs Banes, she saw it as Eliza finally maturing, which only increased her anticipation and excitement for Eliza's eventual meeting with the new Earl of Wilshire.

The new earl, a Mr John Everett, had arrived at the Wilshire estate the day that Katy had arrived home. Mrs Banes had been adamant that Mr Banes go to see him that very afternoon, but Mr Banes had refused. He thought it rude to barge in on a man when he had barely arrived in a village.

He was able to keep his wife at bay until luncheon the next day. Mrs Banes had her husband's Sunday best laid out for him, and he was out the door and off to the Wilshire estate by one o'clock that afternoon.

Nothing could have spoiled Mrs Banes' mood that day. Katy was certain she could have told Mrs Banes about Harry and she would have received a congratulations.

Eliza, however, found the whole spectacle ridiculous. "She knows I will not marry him," she uttered to Katy, who was resting on the settee in Mrs Banes' sitting room. "I told her so the day she sent you to Mrs Spencer's with that letter."

"You never know," Katy replied, "you might like him."

Eliza laughed. "I honestly do not know what sort of man could ever persuade me into matrimony, Katy," she said, shaking her head, "but I can tell you this with utter confidence. That man, Mr John Everett, would sooner marry you than me."

To which Katy laughed as well.

The whole village, and neighbouring parishes, were all soon abuzz with the new earl's arrival. A day did not go by in the next week when Mrs Banes did not have at least three callers coming to gossip about their meetings with Lord Wilshire.

"Such an amiable young man," said one.

"What manners!" remarked another.

"I never saw a face more handsome!" cried one more.