Bath Tangle III

Serena is sorry for her stepmother, as she thinks it was a difficult marriage for Fanny, though she was fond of her husband and he looked after her. She was not good at the political and social hostessing, but she was fond of her husband and did her best. She and Serena begin to meet a few people at Bath, at the Spa but a lot of the population are elderly or invalids. Serena begins to get a little restless. She is used to an active social life, with a lot of riding and hunting and Bath is not a city to ride about in. However, she meets a lady who turns out to be Emily Laleham's grandmother. Mrs Floore is a widow, jolly and rather vulgar but shrewd and kindly. She is the daughter of a rich businessman, who married Mr Sebden, a gentleman and had one child, Emily's mother. She then remarried to another rich businessman so she has inherited more than one fortune. Her daughter Susan is snobbish and tries to avoid her. She still expects her mother to help her out financially. Serena and Fanny enjoy her company, but both of them are finding Bath a little dull, though it's better than being at the Dower House. One day Serena is visiting the library and runs into the man she had loved years ago, Major Hector Kirkby. He is still handsome, and charming, and has now sold out of the army and has inherited his father's estate, his older brother having died. His estate is in Kent, and he is visiting his mother who is now living in Bath. Serena hurries home to tell Fanny, and feels the emotion she had for him as a girl of 19. Fanny meets him and thinks he is a very nice man and clearly is still in love with Serena. In a short time, he asks her if she thinks it would be all right to propose. Fanny tells him that Ivo Rotherham is now Serena's trustee, but she can't imagine that he would object to the marriage. Hector is wary, since Serena was engaged for a time to Ivo... but he soon proposes. Serena accepts him, but they decide to keep their engagement private til she is out of mourning. She does feel a little uneasy that Hector admires her so much. He attributes virtues to her that she does not have. For his part, he is unnerved when he finds that her fortune is much greater than his... She goes to see Hector's mother, who is a hyponchondriac. Mrs Kirby is a little embarrassed that her son has become engaged to a young woman from the higher ranks of Society. She feels that Serena will not fit into a small Kent Manor.