Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Coltman
Joseph Wright of Derby
c. 1769-73
View of the Chapel at Eton College
Canaletto
1754
Sir Brooke Boothby
Joseph Wright of Derby
1781
The new couple stood in a ray of light as the morning clouds passed over head. She sat atop her favorite mount and looked down upon the crown of her new husband's new hat. It was quite a good choice on her part she thought. The hat was a crisp and dark leather creation of her favorite gentleman's tailor. It went very well with his superfine blue vest and his dashingly stone colored riding coat. And of course his boots were of a similar color leather as was the style of the time. In fact, she thought, his whole wardrobe had turned out to be the spitting image of a lord's attire, which of course was just her aim. Sarah knew though that she could not take all the credit. Thomas himself was becoming the very picture of a lord. Thinking back to what he was only a short sennight ago, Sarah thought he was moving up in the world at a rapid pace. Though, if their plan worked out, she too would be ascending the ranks. Her dreams of becoming a lady at last and therefore finally owning her own destiny would be realized. Tomorrow her uncle would arrive and their fate would then be in his old refined hands. A frown was almost dawned on her face when she heard the stable boy bringing up the beautful horse she had told Thomas to request. It was a handsome Chestnut Bay she had purchased just last year for her uncle whenever he visited the estate. Now however it was her husband's mount. She set her other worries aside in favor of anticpation of the day's activites to come. Those worries were for the next morning. A small smile lit her face as she thought over the morning ride her new husband and her were about to embark on. It would be the first time she would show him the land she loved so dear. It wasn't, strictly speaking, neccesary for him to love Haberdash Estate, as she did, but for some reason she knew she would be sadly dissappointed if he did not. Not, of course for his benefit, but because she was so proud of what she had managed since almost her childhood. She couldn't care less about him, she was sure. He was after all just a tool in her arsenal against her own family. But still she thought she had picked a suitable husband to play off as a lord to her family. He certainly was as attractive as she'd always pictured a member of the aristocracy to be. Even his mannerisms were not so hard to correct once they had started seriously to work at it. He really fell into his role of lord rather quickly, almost as if he was born one. Of course, she had never seen a lord that worked as a stable hand in a common inn before, she thought with a small laugh. Too bad she hadn't been able to find the real lord that had been staying there. The inn keep said that the "esteemed gentleman" had departed just a moment ago. The original plan was to convince this man to marry her but since he had left dissappointingly early she had to settle for this common stable hand and her dangerous deception of passing him off as well born. She thought that maybe she got the better end of the deal anyway though, because the real lord would have likely been completely unmanageable. She thought Thomas really would do quite nicely as a husband too. He was certainly a little opinionated at times and often seemed to actually believe he was a lord and should be treated as such even by her. At other times though he seemed to show that he genuinely cared for her. Their own wedding ceremony for instance. He had pulled her aside before taking their vows when she was visibly upset not to be marrying for love and had said they would pretend their best that they were most truly and deeply in love. And that kind and wonderful charade carried on to the night after when he soothed her worries with his body as well. Also the time when she had taught him to dance, he had shown that he had an uncommon grace and consideration for a man of low breeding. Really he was quite the contradiction. She glanced up from her thoughts for a moment and realized that he had already mounted his horse and was watching her with a soft look on his face. Thinking that he had been amused by her wool gathering she straitened her shoulders and suggested they start the day off at a brisk pace. "As you wish . . .my love" he replied with a quirky bent smile to punctuate the last part. And with that they turned their horses and rode off towards the rolling hills and valleys of her land.
