Passing as Elias - By Kate Bloomfield Page 0,20

I shared a bed once a fortnight when we were courting.’ Her mother recalled, a glazed look forming over her eyes and she reminisced.

‘Yes, and I am sure all you did was talk.’ Elizabeth said sarcastically.

Her mother looked sternly at Elizabeth, ‘we were very good. Although … your father did sneak into my bedroom on many occasions. But all we did was cuddle.’ She insisted, ‘Bundling is a courtship ritual, many courting couples do it. Besides, I know you would not do anything to be ashamed of.’

Elizabeth considered this for a moment, ‘For how long were you and Father courting, before he proposed?’ She asked.

‘We courted for a month before your father sent a letter to my parents, expressing his desire to marry me.’ Her mother sighed, a far-away look in her eyes.

‘Did you marry right away?’ Elizabeth wondered.

‘Aye, we were wed within a fortnight of his proposal.’

‘Did … did you love him?’

Mary Searson focussed her eyes upon Elizabeth, who tried to fashion her expression into one of polite curiosity.

‘Very much.’ Her mother replied, ‘from the very first day.’

Elizabeth nodded in understanding and did not ask any more questions.

‘You seem troubled.’ Her mother noted.

Elizabeth sat in silence for a long while, ‘I am fine … really.’ She assured her.

As it turned out, Elizabeth’s mother did not need to concern herself with badgering Captain Greenwood with regards to his opinions of bundling up with Elizabeth. On Saturday night as the tower clock chimed ten, Elizabeth was putting on her nightdress, and washing her face in the basin. Her mother had retired an hour previously, and Elizabeth could hear light snores issuing from her room across the landing. Walking over to her bed, and putting out the candle, Elizabeth drew back the covers and slipped between the sheets. It was a cold night and she curled up into the foetal position. Barely a minute had passed since putting out her light when there came a strange tap at her window. Elizabeth raised her head slightly from the pillow and listened hard for the sound again.

Tap.

Sliding out of bed, Elizabeth made her way to her bedroom window, and pulled the lace curtains aside. The moon was lighting up the street, and standing below her second storey window was George Greenwood.

His face lit up when he saw her standing there and he dropped the handful of pebbles he had been intending to throw at the glass.

Elizabeth opened the window noiselessly and leaned out, her hair falling past her shoulders in curtains around her face, ‘Captain, what are you doing here?’ She hissed down at him, unable to suppress a small smile playing across her lips.

‘I had to see you.’ He said in a hushed voice that carried clearly up to her.

‘You saw me only yesterday.’ She pointed out. They had seen each other several times over the last two weeks, however they had not shared any more intimate moments since that kiss that had taken place after the funeral.

She saw him grin as he removed his hat, and held it to his chest, ‘I could not stay away.’ He confessed, ‘I have thought of nothing else all day, except coming to visit you. I could not stop myself.’

Elizabeth smiled, and her mother’s voice echoed in her head; I was thinking about asking Captain Greenwood his opinion on bundling. We courted for a month before your father sent a letter to my parents, expressing his desire to marry me. Could she really have the Professor’s apothecary in little over a month?

‘Captain,’ Elizabeth whispered, ‘Would you dare climb the wall and enter through my window?’

Captain Greenwood seemed momentarily shocked, before composing himself, ‘I would dare.’ He admitted with a nod, ‘But only if I was invited.’

Elizabeth tried to steady her breathing, ‘you are invited, Sir.’ And without another word she stepped away from the window and back to her bed, where she sat, waiting.

It did not take long for Captain Greenwood to scale the side of the house. The brickwork was clumsy, and there were many holes, allowing for an easy climb. He was rather silent as he climbed through the open window. His shoulders were a little too wide, but he managed to slip inside noiselessly.

Straightening up, Captain Greenwood gazed around the moonlit room, before his eyes fell upon Elizabeth in her nightdress, sitting upon the bed. She realised she had never been so bare in front of a man before, and twisted her hands together nervously as he looked at her.

‘I have never seen