“What is it?” he asked, worried.
She swallowed and then took a deep breath.
“A Mr Thorpe has written an article about our marriage, using very thinly veiled mocking language about me as your bride. IfThe Timescontains reports like this one, I cannot imagine what the scandal sheets are saying,” she shook her head before putting her face in her hands.
After several deep breaths, she regained her composure and sat up. “I’m sorry.”
“For what?” He asked, frowning.
“I don’t know.”
“You have nothing to feel sorry about. I am the one who performed the actions that led to our hasty marriage, and I should be the one to apologise to you. I won’t, however, since I rather enjoy being married to you,” he smiled at her and sat down at the head of the table.
Elizabeth smiled back weakly but sincerely.
“AndMister Thorpeshall regret the day he picked up a pen, mark my words,” he added darkly.
Talbot watched his wife carefully for the rest of their meal.
“Are you ready for our outing?”
“I will be, as soon as you tell me where we are going.”
“Let’s go fishing.”
Elizabeth clasped her hands together in excitement.
“That sounds wonderful! Let me dress, and I shall be ready to go.”
*
“Do you prefer to go in the carriage or to walk?”
“Walking, always,” she told him as she pulled on her gloves. “I can never get enough exercise.”
“Well, slow down, we’re not in a hurry.”
“Maybe you're not,” she grinned at him as she walked briskly like she always did.
Not for the first time, Talbot admired his wife’s way of moving through the world, the strong sense of purpose behind every step she took. As they walked on, all her anxiety from that morning seemed to bleed away, and she became more animated as she talked and motioned at the nature around them.
She sometimes spoke with her entire body. He’d never had the chance to fully experience that part of her in London. The longer they were alone here in the country, the more she shed the bindings that had held her in place. He hungrily waited for each new layer of her to be revealed.
“Whenever I see something beautiful, I think to myself,God could have created a world that was ugly, but He didn’t. And then I am overcome by such love and gratitude, and I feel so close to Him, is that silly?” Elizabeth asked.
“Don’t you think we would be less likely to worship Him in an ugly world? You would never experience that love and gratitude, for instance.”
She thought about Talbot’s words. “I don’t think so. I think people would worship Himmore,but it would be due to fear, since they would be more aware of how weak and small and powerless they were. And they would be less distracted by all this beauty. It is by God’s grace that we were given all this.”
“Both grace and temptation, you say,” Talbot said, and they were both lost in thought for a while.
“What kind of fish are we going to catch?” Lizzie asked as they sat down on a blanket by the water, and she untied her bonnet.
“We are game fishing for trout, which is the only kind of fish in this pond.”
“What other fishing is there?” she laid the bonnet down next to her.
“There is coarse fishing, in public rivers and ponds, angling for fish far less delicious than salmon and trout.”
