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‘Why?’ he replied, his voice low, urgent.
‘Because you can’t promise me anything right now.’ Her voice wasn’t much above a whisper even though the rattling of the tram and its intermittent bell could drown their words for others. ‘The world’s gone mad; conscription is surely around the corner and suddenly short-sightedness can be overlooked. Where is your monocle, by the way?’
‘I don’t need it. It’s an affectation. The reason I couldn’t make it into the army is plainly that I’m too short but that’s hard to explain so I use eyesight as my excuse.’
‘You’re not hard of sight?’
He shook his head patiently. ‘Perfect vision. The monocle is clear glass,’ he said, retrieving it from his waistcoat pocket and holding it up for her to look.
She peered through it, then at him, half dismayed, the other half of her impressed at his cunning. ‘Thank you for the truth. And I suppose you didn’t happen upon an old friend at the military hospital, either?’
He shook his head. ‘Pure fabrication but sorely needed in that moment, I felt.’
She had to laugh.
The trolley bus swung up the Haxby Road and Alex could see the factory ahead of her with its new ‘Almond Block’ as it was known, standing as a tall tower at the helm. It was here they made marzipan and the other nut treats. Matthew slipped the monocle back into the tiny pocket. ‘I may need it today. But remember, this is what we share, dear Alex. We will always be honest with each other. Most couples cannot ever achieve that sort of understanding. We already have it. We both know each other’s secrets.’
‘Do we?’ She shook her head.
He shrugged. ‘Of course. That we’re both lying about how madly in love we are when we tell our parents about us getting married.’
She gusted a breath of soft despair as one might at a child. ‘You really mean that, don’t you?’
‘Why not? Neither of us has anything to lose. Everything your heart desires you shall have – including the independence you crave to pursue your ambition. I pledge you, the world is yours and I make no demand upon you other than to share my name as man and wife.’
Alex could only stare at him in a state of mild shock. ‘We’re here,’ she said, bending and craning her neck to admire the Rowntree’s complex.
They alighted, Matthew offering her a hand to step down.
‘A final few words, if I may?’
Alex nodded permission.
‘Unlike yourself, I’ve never been the adored child.’
She frowned. ‘What does that mean?’
He looked away but not before she caught a shadow flicker across his gaze that stole all amusement. ‘Oh, you know, wrong place in line, wrong height, useless at sport, can’t shoot straight, interested in travel and literature, and don’t for heaven’s sake ask if I ride – I’m abominable at it.’
She suspected he was not touching the real truth of his pain but let it go, already saddened by his candour. ‘I’ll teach you.’
‘You will?’
‘Why not? One favour deserves another.’
‘Frankly, I’m good for nothing by comparison to my elder brothers; I’m not sure my subtle mind is recognised as a talent to be lauded.’
‘Tell me, did your parents specifically send you here to come back with a rich wife?’
He sighed. ‘No. But my father agreed that if I could persuade the Frobisher girl to marry into our family, he’d look at me in a whole new light.’ Matthew shrugged. ‘Every son wants to impress his father. It’s not one thing, Alex, it’s everything; I couldn’t even volunteer to be killed. I couldn’t even get that right.’
‘Don’t make me weep for you, Matthew,’ she said.
His generous lips flattened out to a grin. ‘You’re very easy to like and be with. Come on, maybe we were meant to be together and perhaps we could be great together. Why are you an only child, by the way? Why am I not fighting off a crowd of burly brothers?’
She sighed. ‘So my parents didn’t share that? We should go,’ she said, moving away from the small bridge that overlooked the Selby Halt railway station. Workers flowed around them like a stream passing around rocks. She caught snatches of conversation and envied the girls once again their freedom to work. If only they knew, she was sure they’d swap places in a heartbeat.
He looked baffled, tugged at her elbow. ‘Shared what?’
