That Would Be a Fairy Tale - By Amanda Grange Page 0,75

hand on his arm. ‘There are plenty of other girls who would love to marry you.’

‘Really?’ he asked, his spirits rising.

‘Really,’ said Cicely firmly. ‘I know for a fact that Gillian Fraser thinks you a very handsome man.’

‘Gillian Fraser?’ asked Chuff Chuff. Gillian was a diffident young lady who lived in Nether Oakleigh.

Cicely nodded, and Chuff Chuff brightened.

‘Oh, well. Not the same, of course,’ he said, shaking his head. ‘The Frasers aren’t the Haringays. Still, the mater would be pleased,’ he went on thoughtfully.

Cicely breathed a sigh of relief

‘Well, mustn’t keep you,’ he said, standing up. ‘Better go talk it over with the mater. Toodle pip.’ And with that he ambled out of the room.

Cicely sank down into a chair. Only to spring out of it a minute later as she heard Chuff Chuff, from the hall, saying, ‘What ho! Evington. Didn’t see you standing there.’

Alex! So he was here.

She had just time to smooth the wrinkles out of her skirt before he walked in the room. He stood there, framed in the doorway, a strange expression - a mixture of hope and fear - on his face.

‘You refused Chuffington?’ he asked.

‘Yes,’ she said.

‘I thought you were going to marry him.’

‘That was what I tried to talk to you about this morning,’ she said. ‘I wanted to tell you that you were wrong. You had little faith in me,’ she added, as she remembered how quick he had been to believe the tale of her marriage. ‘I thought you knew me better than that. But I suppose Mrs Murgatroyd passed on some village gossip.’

‘I would never have believed Mrs Murgatroyd, or anyone else, if it had just been a matter of gossip. I believed it because Chuffington himself told me so. He told me that you could not be expected to live at the Lodge, that you were used to better things, and that your marriage to him would restore you to your rightful place in society.’

Cicely’s eyes opened wide.

‘When did this happen?’ she asked.

‘At the ball,’ he replied. ‘After the theft of the necklace.’

‘So that was why your manner changed,’ she said, beginning to understand. She remembered the moment clearly. She and Alex had seemed so close, and then, suddenly, so far apart. ‘But still, you believed him.’

‘I had no reason to doubt him. And I did not know you very well at the time. But I know you now, and I know that you could never marry a man you don’t love. But a man you do love . . . Cicely, will you marry me?’

Her heart stopped beating. ‘Marry you?’ she asked, hardly daring to believe her ears.

‘Yes, Cicely,’ he said, taking her hands. ‘I am in love with you. Marry me.’

‘And what of Miss Postlethwaite?’ she asked. ‘You seem very fond of her.’

‘Eugenie?’ he asked in surprise. ‘Yes. I am.’ He smiled. ‘Can it be that you are jealous? You have no need to be, because Miss Postlethwaite is not Miss Postlethwaite at all. She is Mrs Dortmeyer.’

Cicely looked startled.

‘Eugenie lived next door to us when we were children. She set out to seek her fate, and found it in the form of Hyram Dortmeyer. She married him, and they have lived happily together ever since, but for the purposes of deceiving Goss she reverted to her maiden name.’

Cicely laughed. ‘And to think, when I saw you fastening the necklace round her neck . . . ’ She stopped, realizing she had given too much away.

‘You thought Eugenie and I . . . ?’ he asked in astonishment. Then burst out laughing. ‘Eugenie is a fine woman, but I would never want to take her in my arms like this’ - he embraced her - ‘or kiss her like this’ - his lips found her own, and for a long time nothing more was said. ‘Or offer her my hand,’ he said. ‘You haven’t answered my question, Cicely. Will you marry me?’

A surge of joy welled up inside her.

‘Yes,’ she said.

He took her in his arms and kissed her again.

‘It is a good thing I returned to England today and not tomorrow,’ she said.

‘Why? Do you think I would have been content to let matters stand if that had happened? You’re wrong. I needed to know how you felt about me, about Chuffington, about everything, and I knew I had to see you one last time to be sure. I knew I could not leave for ever without discovering for certain if you were lost to