“More tea?” Mrs Edwards waived towards Amelia to serve her aunt more tea. The air in the morning room was filled with the smell of travels mixed with the smell of tea and scones. Amelia was sure she could smell the Florence streets - in her mind, they smelled sweet like cinnamon buns. She could also smell Mrs Spencer’s jasmine perfume and Mr Spencer’s cigars. Mrs Spencer just shook her head and continued in her depiction of their travels.

“But… what about the season?” Amelia interrupted her. Mrs Edwards was almost about to scold her but then, she cared very little about the refreshing aires in Florence. She wanted to know how come Jane was coming home without a single marriage proposal.

“We had simply delightful times in London, didn’t we?” Mrs Edwards nodded towards Jane.

“Yes, delightful,” Jane nodded. “But I am so happy to be back, even if it is for a short time.”

“Short time?” Mr Edwards woke up from his lethargic slumber of pretended polite interest in his sister-in-law’s description of their recent travels.

“Yes, during our travels we met Lady Bottomley. What an amazing woman. She inherited after her husband a villa near Florence. Very extravagant - her husband was some sort of Italian nobility, not that it would matter. In any case, she liked Jane very much.” Mrs Spencer waited for the information to sink in.

Mrs Edwards kept smiling. It was not what she expected but it was better than what she feared. Jane would be out of the house.

“Lady Bottomley and Jane got really well on together. You know how Jane is such a darling, so mature for her years,” Mrs Spencer cooed. Mature for her years - Mrs Edwards looked critically at her 20 years old daughter. She was perhaps not the youngest of the marriage market but she was not yet that old. Maybe lacking certain sparkle. Combined with a meagre dowry and only very weak connections her family had, Mrs Edwards felt sorry for her. She also felt sorry for herself, her dreams of a good marriage disappearing.

“And Lady Bottomley?” She asked, thinking hard who Lady Bottomley might be.

“Well, she is the middle daughter of late Lord Bottombley, 3rd Marquess of Northampton.”

Mr Edwards squeezed his wife’s hand in a loving gesture so that his wife could not embarrass herself anymore.

“Wonderful, you must tell us more,” Mrs Edwards encouraged her eldest daughter.

“We share an interest in books and botany,” Jane pointed out. Mrs Edwards thought that it was probably the books that caused all this.

“Lovely.”

“Lady Bottomley is also a passionate collector of Roman art. We can paint for hours,” she added.

“They had such a lovely time together so that she invited Jane to stay with her. She didn’t have any children with her husband and simply misses a company. Lady Bottomley is even as generous as give Jane a stipend.”

Well, maybe it would work out for Amelia, she was, after all, much prettier than Jane. Mrs Edwards smiled sweetly at her daughter. It could have been worse. She could have married someone poor.