Chapter 5.
A Story Worth Forgetting

The next morning after breakfast Aunt Imogen went to the Vicar's house. The weather outside wasn't as miserable as the evening before, but it was cold and cloudy. Abigail and George sat in the drawing room playing cards. The fire in the fireplace burned brightly and added warm and cheer to the gloomy atmosphere.

"Winters in England are so wretched," George mused as he looked out the window. "I was in Italy last year and the winters there are so much more pleasant and mild."

Abigail nodded absently. 

"So, my dear cousin, tell me, what was it that you so wanted to know. We haven't communicated much in the past three years and it was quite a surprise when you wrote and informed that you were coming to visit."

"It's like this, Cousin George, I was at a ball a few days ago and met someone who claimed he had once been intimately connected with me."

"Oh?" George raised an eyebrow.

"He was introduced as Lord David Righton. He took great offence at the introduction, however, saying that it wasn't necessary."

"Ah, so you met David at long last. I feared you would cross paths with him if you went to London."

"You know him?"

"I should say I do. We studied together in Oxford and became best of friends. He stayed with us as our guest and...oh..." George's voice trailed off. "Of course, you forgot all about it."

"He claimed that we used to be...well..."

"Sweethears?"

Abigail blushed from the word. "It was so awkward, Cousin George. He kept going on and on about our romance and it took all my brains to come up with answers that would satisfy him and keep my amnesia a secret."

"You might have told him."

"You know I don't want anyone to know. People will start looking at me differently and try to take advantage of me if they find out the only two people I remember from three years ago are you and Aunt Imogen. Lord Righton said me a lot of interesting things about our affair. What was the story exactly?"

"It wasn't a happy one," George shook his head. "David Righton is the second son of the late Lord John Righton, Marquess of Farrowsworth. They are an old, well bred English family who can trace their name back to the Middle Ages. Unfortunately, they did not approve of you. While your great uncle is a Viscount, they felt the connection was too distant. Not to mention there was all that drama with Maxwell Havisham. You came with little money and few connections, most of which didn't like you. Lord Richard Righton, David's older brother and the current Marquess, came here, took one look at you, and was not impressed. It was Mamma, however, who had the worst of it. You were beneath the high and mighty Marquess of Farrowsworth, so he took all his anger and disapproval out on Mamma. He called her ill bred and of lowly birth. You would almost think the fact that you were an orphan and had an uncle who turned out badly was Mamma's doing. He accused her of trying to marry into the Righton family and lift her status."

"But Aunt Imogen has good status. Uncle James comes from good family and he has property to his name."

"Yes, but we aren't nobility after all. Anyway, Mamma was offended, of course. Since the family disapproved of you so terribly she decided that the best thing to do was distance ourselves before we were humiliated even more. She demanded that you cut all ties with David Righton and that he never be allowed to set foot in our home again. David was devastated about how his brother had behaved and offered to elope, but you refused. You decided to listen to Mamma and told him to leave and never contact you again."

Silence followed as Abigail processed all that George had told her. The story was similar to all that Lord Righton had told her at the ball.

"He is a younger son," she spoke at last, "with no inheritance?"

"Just so."

"Does he have an occupation?"

"Back then he did not. He fancied himself something of a poet and kept talking about how he was going to get published one day. He did write you some very pretty verses, but I think Mamma burned them all."

"How about now? Is he still traveling around looking for his muse?"

"I haven't spoken to him since the incident. Mamma forbade me to have any contact with him as well, so I wouldn't know what he is up too. How did he look when you saw him?"

"Well dressed, though terribly slim. And he did strike me as a man who relied more on passion than reason. I don't know about the old me, but the Abigail after her accident was not exactly impressed." 

"I hope you did not mention him to Mamma?"

"I asked her if I had ever had a suitor, I never mentioned his name."

"Thank goodness. Don't ever bring him up. You saw how she behaved last night. If she were to know that the two of you met up in London she would place you under house arrest and never let you leave again. You know how proud Mamma is and to be looked down on and ridiculed by the Marquess was more than her pride could take. We may not be of the peerage, but we are also from an old English family. And despite the fact that your father and uncle fell out with the Viscount, you were still brought up well and given a good education. Just because we are not 'good enough' for them doesn't mean we are no good. But the Rightons are self-righteous people who snub at any person who is not from their close circle of connections."

"I won't speak to Aunt Imogen of what happened," Abigail promised. "And he returned my handkerchief and locket so there's really nothing to fear."

"Have you broken with him for good then?"

Abigail looked down at her cards. "Well, the way he jumped at me left me confused so I agreed to meet with him one more time."

"Just be wary of his brother. The Marquess always comes to London in the winter, so he's sure to be around. If he caught whiff that David is in contact with you again, he will not spare you or Mamma."

"I'll heed your warning."

They proceeded with their card game, and the conversation drifted to other topics.