hey hi beau monde, obviously
this is just a dumping ground for my regency ideas and for you i select my favorite (have not written a word of it in years but it made me laugh just now rereading)
“I think we ought to hasten the wedding.”
Lady Euphemia arched one fine brow. “Do you?”
Steeling himself, James nodded. “October is a ways off. Why should we wait when we are not likely to change our minds?”
With deceptive mildness, his mother said, “The purpose of an engagement is not to allow you to change your mind, James. Your mind must be already made up at the time of the proposal.”
“I am not changing anything,” he said. “And neither is she! But what I mean to say is—”
“The heat of a summer wedding would be ill-advised,” his mother murmured. This was an argument thoroughly covered by Lady Euphemia and Mrs. Evans jointly, when the date had been decided. “Your many elderly relatives, to say nothing of your ageing parents—”
James scoffed. “You can’t pretend you and Great-Aunt Mabel are of similar health.”
“Well, as you are bent on ignoring Great-Aunt Mabel’s wishes, I must bring mine into the conversation!” His mother shook her head, her lips pursed. “Your godmother, James, only wants to witness your wedding — I do believe it’s the only event keeping her with us.”
Momentarily forgetting which side he was on, he said, “Mother!”
Lady Euphemia did not break stride at all. “It is not right to leave the relatives who have cherished you and spoiled you rotten to the wayside—”
“What wayside? Mabel’s in Greece!”
“—when you bring your wife into this family. No, James, your father and I are very firm on this matter. We will do things properly. Why, he and I were engaged ten months. Six is next to nothing—”
“But I love her!” James protested before he could restrain himself. (So much, he thought, for grand, refined Oxonian rhetoric.)
