Chapter 5Miss Patricia Coulbourne was the daughter of a Cit who had done well on ‘Change. A widower whose deep-seated desire to mingle with the gentry—and marry his daughter off to whomever of them chose to offer for her—had led to his purchase of the properties that lay to the southwest of Fayerweather, and he settled in to become a gentleman farmer. Although Mr Coulbourne had renamed the estate after himself, the neighbours showed their disapproval of his upstart manners by persisting in referring to it by its original name: Hadley Court.
That was neither here nor there, however. Miss Coulbourne had attracted William’s attention after church services one Sunday.
“I’m smitten!” he’d declared, and I could understand why.
We’d seen Miss Coulbourne at church a number of times accompanied
