Drama

Oh the drama. I feel like I am live bogging a reality show. Normally my trips here are very quiet and restful: family dinners with the Musgroves and occasional guests, walks in the woods, time with the nephew (not so restful), and lots of time to read and work. This year, it is very different.

So Rietta has this guy she has been sort-of dating - Hal. It’s not clear to me if they were officially dating or casually dating, or just hanging out. Anyway - she has this guy that she has some kind of relationship with. He’s been away working and she hasn’t seen him for three weeks. He came by last night for the first time since returning and it was… awkward. He found Wentworth also at the Lodge and found everyone smitten with Wentworth, including Rietta.

Wentworth is guilty of working his charms on both Louisa and Rietta and it’s not clear to anyone who he prefers. Rietta is prettier and closer in age, but Louisa is more outgoing, and I don’t know Wentworth well enough now to guess which is more likely to attract him. Charles and Mary like to debate the issue. Mary likes to speculate he prefers Rietta, but I suspect that is because she doesn’t want to see Rietta with Hal (his family doesn’t pass Mary’s test for social standing). Charles puts his money on Louisa, despite the age difference between her and Wentworth.

It was very painful watching Hal try to rekindle Rietta’s interest while Rietta was constantly distracted by something Wentworth did or said. I tried my best to converse with Hal and cover for Rietta’s lapses in the conversation, but Hal was clearly aware of the shift in attention. Wentworth, to be fair, knew nothing of Hal and Rietta, and as far as I know there is nothing official to know about Hal and Rietta.