Blindingham Hall September 1864

Another Summer is ending and I must decide whether to stay in the Hall over Winter or pay visits to friends who live in warmer quarters. I am happy to spend time in smaller houses once the weather turns, and if my friends choose to heat their homes I may as well share in the glow of it, surely?

I fancy Boo may not wish to receive me this year. I cannot say I blame her, when I remember the embarrassment of my last stay in her home.

I had arrived late at night, after a rain-sodden journey in a carriage whose wheels had surely been fitted by a simpleton. Boo was waiting for me in the hallway, smiling and open-armed, and as I was ushered through the doorway by her butler I had the fright of my life. The shock of it almost did for me. Boo was moving toward me and Josiah was following behind her! Bold as brass and waving me welcome.

Josiah! I gasped and exclaimed his name – unable to disguise my distress at seeing him. I hardly give him a thought these days so I was ill-prepared to be in his actual presence. I shouted his name again, at a pitch to summon the saints. Boo screamed at me to be quiet – and before I had handed my cape to the maid I was ready to turn back for home.

Of course, in my carriage-shaken addlement, I had mistaken the situation entirely and what I thought was my ex-husband standing there was in fact Bradstone, Boo’s boy, who is now quite the young man. He is fourteen years old, tall as a clock and handsome as biscuits. Why I saw Josiah in his stead is quite beyond me. My visit was over-shadowed by this disastrous start, no matter how much we tried to laugh as we always had. I was as happy to leave as Boo was to wave me goodbye.

I wonder who I should write to this time, to offer my company as the nights draw in. Should I go to London? I wonder whether Mrs Price would like to see me?