Hilary came away from Henry Eusatius, Antiques, with a flaming colour and a determination not to be downed by Henry Cunningham. If she once let Henry down her, her spirit would be broken and she would rapidly become a dreep. Like Mrs Mercer. Like Mrs Ashley. Horrible and repellent prospect. They had both probably started quite young and pretty - the Ashley daily help certainly had - and some man had downed them and trampled on them until they had just given up and gone quietly down the drain. She could imagine Mercer breaking any woman´s spirit if she was fool enough to let him, and the other poor creature had probably had a husband who trampled on her, too. That was what was the matter with Henry - he was a trampler born, and bred, and burned right in. But she wasn´t going to be the person he trampled on. If he wanted a door-mat he could go and marry a door-mat, and it wasn´t going to be Hilary Carew.
I never thought I would say this, but at this point I´m more interested in the relationship between Hillary and Henry than in the actual mystery aspect of the story. And I´m not even rooting for this couple. But who knows, maybe Hilary will raid her kitchen cupboard and she will find this:
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