Dinner
Proverbs 15:17
Better is a dinner of herbs where love is,
than a stalled ox and hatred therewith.
“Are you ready, my wife?”
“Almost, My Lord,” she said as Nara darted around, tying various fastenings at the bottom of her skirt.
“Women’s dress always amazes me,” her husband said as he watched. “There, you are ready now,” he said, holding out his arm.
They went out her door arm in arm and, together, went downstairs to the drawing-room, where they met Bethany, who curtseyed at her husband.
“Are you enjoying your visit, my dear?” Lord Ambrose asked Bethany.
“Oh, yes,” Bethany said. “You have a beautiful property.”
“Well, I’m sure my wife did an excellent job of leading you all over it. Did you swim?’
Bethany blushed, “No, My Lord. I’m afraid I’m not a very good swimmer.”
“Well, my wife is. A marvelous swimmer.”
Hadassah felt her face turn red. Surely that was not a proper thing to say? And Bethany, curse her, was grinning.
“So what pursuits do you have?” her husband asked Bethany, which didn’t seem quite proper grammar.
“Oh, I like to draw, although I don’t think I’m very good at it. And I enjoy playing on the harpsichord.”
“Ah, the harpsichord. It has such an old-fashioned sound. I love hearing the piano, but there is something emotional about the harpsichord. I especially enjoy Bach.”
“Ah, Bach,” Bethany breathed, and her husband grinned.
“It is difficult to fail to appreciate Bach,” he agreed.
The gong sounded, and Bethany followed them into the dining room. Her husband insisted on seating Bethany himself, waving off the footman, and then seated Hadassah himself.
She almost grinned when the first course came out, a lightly poached fish. She knew that Bethany had expected soup, but she also knew her husband didn’t like soup. She would no doubt have it served when she was alone, but she certainly didn’t see anything to complain about when they were together.
“This is lovely,” Bethany said, finally. And it was, too. This cook liked to poach fish in lemon juice, which Lady Hadassah had never had before. She added all sorts of spices to it, calm spices, though, which didn’t overwhelm the fish.
“So, tell me about your family,” her husband said. “You have brothers?”
“Oh, yes…”
Thank you for coming round Arthur’s Substack. I hope and pray it will be a blessing to you.
Arthur publishes with Wise Path Books and include the children’s/YA books:
The Bobtails meet the Preacher’s Kid: A Christian historical fiction chapter book about four orphans who go to live with their aunt on a dairy farm.
The Bobtails and the Cousins: The sequel to Preacher’s Kid. The aunt has married, and the cousins come to visit. Meaning town kids dealing with chores and manure and…
The Bobtails go to France: The sequel to cousins. The Bobtails, and Preacher’s Kid, get to take a trip to New York, London, Paris, and a small town in France. To get some cheese.
and
No Ordinary School: A brilliant but socially clueless boy gets recruited for a special school. Where he makes a lot of money, gets a girl, and solves a mystery.
As well as GK Chesterton’s wonderful book, “What’s Wrong with the World”, for which ‘Arthur’ wrote most of the annotations. The book is a series of essays on how modern politics has gotten the wrong prescription for the wrong diagnosis.
Quite a few chapters of the Bobtails and No Ordinary School are here on this substack as audio.
I also write as Von, and I encourage you to check out that substack. There is a lot of theology and politics there, as well as quotes, poems, other articles, and links to other Science Fiction. But ‘Von’ also is publishing some serial books and stories. Much more adult and serious books than here, for the most part. Some of them.