Speculations on Will

There is a little café in Bath that I love. It is tucked away off a hidden courtyard and is quiet and comfortable and has the best scones. It is so hidden that I wonder how it stays in business, but every time I am in town I visit and find it is still there. I never check in advance - walking into the courtyard full of uncertainty and hope and feeling a sense of relief at the sight of it is part of the magic. I made Lacy meet me there for tea because I needed to get out of the house.

Lacy, having met Will at the gathering last night, declared him to be the complete package, which she listed off as “good manners, bright mind, knowledge of the world, a warm heart, feelings of family duty and honour, no excessive pride”. She was sure he had been unhappy in his last relationship, but says she doesn't think he is embittered by it. She is entirely satisfied by him.

It took me a while to learn it, but sometimes Lacy and I can think very differently about things. I value her opinion greatly but I've learned not to take her opinions for my own. So, I wasn't totally surprised to find her pleased with all aspects of Will. I am alone in my suspicions about him and his motives for this reconciliation with Dad. Lacy thinks it natural now that Will is older that he wants to be on good terms with his remaining relations, however distant; family is something the young easily cast aside as being not worth the time and effort, but more mature men see it differently, she says. This could be the case, but it doesn't fully satisfy me. I suggested to Lacy that Elizabeth might be another reason for his return, but she was not ready to speculate on that.

To be fair, Will is not making any obvious moves on Beth. Maybe his painful breakup is too recent and he is wisely avoiding jumping into anything right away.

Whatever his motives or intentions, he is by far the most pleasant friend we have here. I have no one else, besides Lacy, that I can have a serious, interesting conversation with. He and I have had very pleasant conversations, we have talked over our meeting in Lyme at some length - he wondered if I remembered our meeting on the pier as well, where I said I did and accused him of ogling. He admitted being guilty as charged and said he was likely to be a repeat offender.

The worst I can charge him with at the moment is that he cares too much for rank and social standing, like Dad and Elizabeth. He read in the society section that some ‘important’ woman had arrived in town and reminded Dad that she is a distant relation to the Elliots. After that was said a whole day was lost in trying to figure out how to introduce ourselves to the woman and get into her social network. All I heard all day long was ‘our cousin, Ms. Dalrymple’