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Jane and the vicar?  Why, he’s vain and boring and I’m sure that Jane could do a great deal better.”
    “Do you really think so?”  Tommy asked despondently.  “Perhaps she would be better off with him than with me.  She certainly seems to think so!”
    “Obviously the two of you have had some kind of disagreement.  I know you’ve been going to see her every day during her daily walks.  You wouldn’t have done that unless she’d given you some encouragement.”
    “I thought that things were going well.  We seemed to be getting closer and then, we had a misunderstanding.”
    “Well, no matter what you fought about, you must make the first move to rectify the situation.  Time is of the essence.  Jane has already agreed to the vicar’s proposal.  Short of kidnapping her and taking her to Gretna Green, there’s not much you can do—unless you manage to change her mind somehow.  I take it you renewed your proposal during your walks?”
    Tommy looked up at his sister shamefacedly.  He had thought about proposing again, of course, but kept putting it off, unwilling to risk another rejection.  And today, when Jane offered herself up to him, body and soul, he’d rejected her .
    “You didn’t propose!” Elizabeth exclaimed.  “No wonder she’s intent on tying the knot with the vicar.  You sought out her company so many times, leading her to expect a proposal which never came.”
    “It wasn’t exactly like that,” Tommy protested.  But, upon thinking about it, he realized that that was exactly what it was like—at least in Jane’s eyes.  He’d never tried to view things from her perspective before, but now, he saw things differently.  The magnitude of Jane’s gesture earlier in the day, hit him full force.  He had to make things right.  But how?
    “It’s not too late,” said Elizabeth.  “Go to her house tomorrow or meet her by the avenue.  I’m sure you’ll be able to contrive something.  She loves you, Tommy.  I can see it in her eyes.  She looks at you differently since you returned from Oxford.  You’ve grown up and so has she.”

    ****
    Jane was mortified at her own actions.  She didn’t know what had possessed her to behave in the way she had by the stream.  Allowing herself to be swept away in the heat of the moment was one thing but actually setting out to seduce a man was another.  She was a shameless hussy with no regard for propriety or decorum.  But she had hoped that Tommy would see past all that to her need to please him and be with him in the most intimate way possible.  When she’d seen the look on his face as she came out of the water, she’d been sure of success.  She’d felt like a powerful goddess then.  But her dreams had come crumbling down in that moment when he had turned away from her, as though pained.  He’d been disgusted and rightly so.  He’d assumed that she was an innocent young woman poised on the brink of womanhood.  Now, he probably thought that she allowed all her suitors such liberties.  Jane was so angry at herself, she wanted to scream.  At least, she reassured herself, she’d now learned her lesson.  She would no longer let herself be guided by her feelings and would make the most prudent match possible.
    It had not been her intention to rush into anything but the vicar caught her unawares.  In a fit of desperation, she allowed him to pop the question, answering with an impatient yes.  She wanted this whole business of choosing a mate to be over and done with.  It made no difference who she married if she couldn’t be with Tommy, the only person so far that she could imagine herself in love with.  This thought entered her mind out of the blue, like an epiphany.  The truth had been before her all along and yet, she had shied away from it.  She loved Tommy!  She loved the dear, sweet boy that she had known all her life, who had been her partner in many games, but she was in love with the man he had