The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor: Cost

[methylviolet10b]

Author: methylviolet10b
Rating: PG
Character(s): Lord Robert Walsingham de Vere St. Simon
Summary: Lord St. Simon reflects.
Warnings: Spoilers for NOBL.
Word Count: 60.
Author's Notes: 60 words of my own inspired by one of the canon stories - plus 100 more, in extended play!
Disclaimer: I don't own them.
A HUGE thanks to hardboiledbaby, who helped me right an accidental wrong. I originally forgot and only posted the extended version. Thank you for the keen eye and timely nudge!

NOBL -- The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor

Flora, well… A man of my status was expected to keep a mistress.

Hatty was another matter. I had to marry a rich wife to maintain my lifestyle. But in Hatty’s tomboyish ways, I found more. I found interest, affection, even the faint stirrings of hope.

And then I found humiliation, pain, and ridicule.

I will not attempt marriage again.

Extended play version: 100 words
Flora Millar was a necessary expense, nothing more. A man of my status was expected to keep a mistress, along with horses, carriages, and a house in town.

Hatty was another price I was expected to pay. My father could leave me little; I had to marry a rich wife to maintain my accustomed lifestyle. But in Hatty’s tomboyish, free-spirited ways, I found more than just a convenient income. For the first time in my life, I found interest, affection, even the faint stirrings of hope.

And then I found humiliation, pain, and ridicule.

I will not attempt marriage again.

Comments

[methylviolet10b]

No, Lord St. Simon doesn't get much sympathy from anyone in the story, or from ACD. But something about the fact that he was forty-one and engaged for the first time struck a chord with me when reading it this time around, and it made me start to wonder: what if, along with all the undoubted mercenary reasons, this was the first time Lord St. Simon really had feelings for a woman? And it all built from that. :-D Thank you!