Walking a Fine Line: Day 3

Word Count: 18,019

Summary of Events:

Arriving home from their visit to his oldest sister's house, Joseph was displeased to learn from Theresa that she'd been invited by Mr. Varley to meet him in a nearby park, and that she intended to go without a chaperone. Since she left before he could insist on accompanying her, Joseph followed her discreetly and observed Mr. Varley to look just as Theresa had described. He was alarmed when Mr. Varley looked intent to flee the park with Theresa for some reason and pursued them, getting into fisticuffs with Mr. Varley before revealing he was, in fact, Theresa's brother, and not a suspicious person coveting Theresa for himself. Having the opportunity to speak to Mr. Varley for himself, Joseph took advantage of it to question Mr. Varley about his family in hopes of learning more from Mr. Varley than he'd learned from anyone else thus far…

Excerpt of the Day:

“Where do your parents live?” Joseph asked.

“What does it matter?” Mr. Varley asked, his voice sounding unbothered, but his eyes belying a degree of displeasure with Joseph’s enquiry.

“Do they know where you are?” Joseph asked.

Mr. Varley said nothing.

“Do they know what you’re up to?” Joseph pressed.

The expression on Mr. Varley’s face darkened.

“You seem quite intent to get information out of me about my family, but you have no intentions of volunteering anything about yourself,” Joseph snapped. “It makes me doubt whether anything you’ve told me — or even Theresa — to this point possesses the least bit of truth.”

“My parents want nothing to do with me,” Mr. Varley replied, his tone hard and bitter. “Thus I can’t say I see any reason for their place of residence or knowledge of my activities to be relevant to you.”

Joseph felt immediately quite suspicious. If Mr. Varley’s parents wanted nothing to do with him, that seemed to Joseph a clear indicator that he was doing something they disapproved of, and if that was the case, Joseph wasn’t sure why he should be inclined to think Mr. Varley was as upstanding as everyone else seemed to think he was. Surely his parents weren’t unjustified in their actions.

“Oh, Ernest!” Theresa exclaimed, the sympathy in her voice evident. “Why would your parents want nothing to do with you?”

“Please, Theresa,” Mr. Varley said gently. “It is a wound too fresh for me to think on at the present time.”

Theresa nodded in evident understanding, but Joseph was by no means reassured. It was clear that Mr. Varley was wont to hide as much about himself as possible from everyone, including the girl whom he evidently possessed a romantic interest in.

“If that’s the way you’re going to be, I don’t think I’m inclined to give my approval to the two of you continuing to see one another,” Joseph snapped sharply. “I don’t want my sister keeping company with a man who is intent on keeping so much of himself hidden in the shadows. Theresa, we’re going home.”

“Joseph, you’re being unfair,” Theresa protested.

“No I am not,” Joseph snapped, taking hold of her upper arm and guiding her toward the end of the park that was nearest their home, in order that they might reach home in the shortest period of time.

Theresa tried to break free from his hold, but Joseph didn’t loosen it.

“Furthermore,” he hissed into her ear as he towed her along. “I have no intentions of leaving you alone with him. Ever.”

There was no mistaking that Theresa was sorely displeased with the situation. She continued to struggle against Joseph’s hold, but he didn’t release her. He had no intentions of letting her run away to Mr. Varley. Despite everyone else’s shining reviews of the man, he had seen nothing but tarnish, and if he wasn’t wise enough to keep his sister away from such a man, then Da had been right about him, and he didn’t want that to be the case.