Sarah's Story

PreludeISLE OF WIGHT DECEMBER 1803 'To lose one husband is unfortunate,' Kitty said severely, 'but to lose two is careless. I certainly hope that you can retain husband number three a little bit longer, Sarah.' She gave a melodramatic sigh. 'I have never known a woman experience so many misadventures in affairs of the heart.' I was not quite sure how to respond to that, so I showed her a cold shoulder. I always found that the best way to respond to Kitty Chillerton when she is being hurtful. 'You can't ignore me, Sarah Bembridge,' Kitty said, as we walked toward Knighton Hazard with the rolling fields stretching away on either side and a light rain drifting in from the Channel half a mile ahead. She was right of course. Kitty was always the most irritating of women and so very hard to ignore, much as I wanted to. 'You had better try and make this marriage last longer,' Kitty continued. 'You already have a reputation as a harbinger of misfortune.' Ouch. That one stung, probably because there was a lot of truth in it. I took a deep breath and looked toward Knighton Hazard and its chapel that seemed fated to be the nemesis of my misfortunes. I had a sudden feeling of sick despair as I remembered what had happened on my previous two visits here as an eager young bride, and then I had a moment of inspiration. You must have had them, these flashes of realisation where you suddenly see something that should have been obvious days or months ago. I stopped exactly where I was, nearly upsetting Kitty onto the ground, which is nothing more than she deserved, the dragon-tongued hussy. 'Good Lord,' I said, which was very mild when one considers what I had been through the last few months. 'Good Lord what?' Kitty asked, somewhat fretfully. 'Oh do come along, Sarah; have you forgotten that we have a wedding to prepare for? Or perhaps you have already decided to discard husband number three and are contemplating husband number four?' 'Good Lord,' I repeated, partly because I was not quite certain if I could perform the necessary act, and partly to further irritate Kitty. She was my dearest and most amiable companion, you see, and a woman does not hate or love anybody quite as much as her closest female friend. 'What is it that ails you so?' Kitty pushed me in her agitation. 'Would you stop Good Lording and pray tell me?' 'I had an idea that may remove the ill luck from my weddings,' I said, blithely aware that I was further stretching Kitty's inquisitiveness. It is a well-known saying that curiosity killed the Kitty. Well, I had no intentions of ending poor Kitty's life, irritating though she was, but I had no qualms about torturing her imagination. 'So tell me!' She stamped her foot in petulance which, you may imagine, pleased me no end. 'I shall take them down!' I announced, as if I had discovered a way of terminating Bonaparte's threat to the world once and for all. 'And that will put an end to it.' 'You shall take what down?' Kitty wailed in utter frustration, and so I told her. But if I told you at this juncture, then I should have begun near the end of my tale, and that is wrong-headed. All tales should begin at the beginning, and that is exactly what I shall do now, so please bear with me while I go back a few months when I was a frivolous and empty headed young girl and not the intelligent and mature woman I am now.