Lady of Lincoln Read Free

that it might,’ the other lady agreed. ‘But just because the reasons for my unhappiness can be explained away does not mean that I can just stop feeling unhappy. Anyway, there is something else.’
    Emily simply nodded sympathetically. She had for some time been interested in the very pretty wife of the Reverend Ernest Fanshawe. Mr Fanshawe had not been in Lincoln for long, and he was one of the most junior clergymen attached to the cathedral . He had arrived with his young wife just a few months ago, and since Mrs Fanshawe was expecting their first child, and seemed to be inclined to be delicate, no one had seen a great deal of her. Mr Fanshawe, tall, blond and far more handsome than any clergyman had a right to be, might well have caused a flutter or two in the cathedral close had he not been so clearly devoted to his lovely wife. Indeed, this very devotion had given rise to some criticism. Emily had overheard the end of a conversation between Mr Fanshawe and the dean, in which the latter had been heard to say rather severely, ‘The cathedral comes first, my dear sir; always first. Your wife must wait her turn.’
    Emily’s interest, however, did not mean that she had any intention of prying. Over ten years of sympathetic listening as aclergyman’s daughter had taught her that when people were in a confiding mood, then sooner or later they spilt everything out.
    Sure enough, moments later, Mrs Fanshawe said, ‘You do not ask me what it is.’
    ‘It is not my place to ask any questions about your private affairs, Mrs Fanshawe,’ Emily replied.
    ‘Pray call me Nathalie,’ begged the other. ‘And may I call you Emily? I still feel so strange here and I have few friends.’
    ‘Of course you may.’
    ‘The reason for my unhappiness is no secret,’ Nathalie said, after a few moments. ‘The fact of the matter is that Ernest has been promising to take me away to the sea, to build me up for my confinement.’
    ‘A very wise idea,’ Emily interpolated.
    ‘Yes, and Dr Boyle is of the same opinion,’ Nathalie answered eagerly. ‘So Ernest decided that the best thing would be to take me to Mablethorpe. It is only a little place on the coast, but he knows of a very respectable woman who would have been very glad to put us up, but now it is all come to nothing!’
    With that, Mrs Fanshawe showed a remarkable inclination to burst into tears again, so Emily said quickly, ‘What is the problem ? Does the woman have another booking? Surely another place can be found.’
    ‘No, no, it is nothing like that,’ Nathalie assured her. ‘It is just that Ernest has been told that he will not be permitted to go. He is needed for something in the cathedral. Oh Emily, you cannot imagine how I had been looking forward to that little visit. I know that you have lived here all your life, but I am a stranger here and just recently I have started to feel so hemmed in and trapped that I fear that I will lose my mind.’
    ‘Oh, surely not,’ Emily protested.
    ‘Well perhaps I am exaggerating a little, but I am conscious of a lowness of spirits and I had been so looking forward to getting away.’
    ‘Are there no relatives to whom you could go?’ Emily asked her.
    ‘No, nobody at all,’ Nathalie replied in a subdued voice.
    At that moment, the door opened and the exceedingly handsome young clergyman about whom they had been speaking came hurrying into the room. ‘Nathalie, my darling!’ he exclaimed. ‘I have just chanced upon Dr Boyle in Bailgate and he told me that you were unwell.’ He sat on the edge of the bed and took his wife’s hand in his. ‘You must take care, dearest,’ he added fondly.
    ‘Oh, I shall, I promise you, and Dr Boyle and Miss Whittaker have been so kind.’
    The clergyman stood up, came over to where Emily had risen to her feet, and took her hand, kissing it in quite the grand manner. ‘God bless you for that,’ he said fervently.
    ‘It was nothing, really,’ she told him, a little flustered,