Sunday’s Gossip

The church bells rang, welcoming all to the green courtyard. People, dressed in their Sunday-best were gathering in small groups, socializing before the church meeting started. Men were boasting of their feats in the latest hunt, women were showing off the latest fashions from Paris and children were playing with hoops.

A plain looking woman, all smiles, and a hopeful look on her face started toward a group of ladies.

“Look, here comes Lucille O’Conner, the gossiper.”

“I wonder what rumors she’ll spread this time? It’ll be interesting to hear what she’ll say today.”

The finely dressed ladies giggled a little as Lucille caught up to them.

“Good morning, ladies,” she said.

They greeted her with false friendliness, and indulged her in conversation.

“Did you hear that Lady George’s cat scratched Michael Bowman’s face when he came to court her daughter? The courtship was called off,” Lucille started on her story.

Small laughter came from the ladies. They shuffled in place, their fans waving to cover their boredom. After a few minutes, the ladies’ husbands came up and took the ladies’ by their arms, leading them into the church building.

As they walked, one called back, “When something exciting happens, Lucille, you will be the first to know.”

Lucille lost her smile for a moment, noticing the sarcasm. She turned her attention to other groups of people she could converse and gossip with. As she was looking, she saw an obvious couple with many men around them. She smiled again at the thought of a new audience and walked toward them.

Lord Henry and Lady Katie Thompson were in the middle of the courtyard surrounded by all of Lord Henry’s friends. They were the newest couple in the town. Lord Henry, up till then, had been a rich bachelor sought after by many; until, that is, he went on his winter holiday and came back married to young Katie. She was small, yet she was something to look at; her hair golden, and her eyes hazel. He was obsessed with her; loved every single thing about her.

Lord Henry was boasting about his new wife to all his friends, showing her off. As Lucille neared, she noticed that Katie seemed bored with the talking. Her eyes wandered over to Lucille and motioned for her to come over with the quickest nod of her head. Looking at Lord Henry, Lucille was glad for the invitation.

She joined the group just as Lord Henry was explaining how Katie had to have every hair exactly in place when it looks lovely no matter what style. Katie rolled her eyes and opened her mouth.

“Pardon me, darling, but do you remember Miss Lucille O’Conner?” Katie asked.

Lord Henry turned from his friends and smiled warmly, as he took her hand in his for a small kiss.

“So good to see you again Miss O’Conner,” he sweetly said.

It took Lucille all she could to not swoon. After the rest of the introductions, the conversation started up again. Katie took Lucille’s hand and led her away from the laughing men.

Right away, Lucille jumped into conversation. She pried into Katie’s life; asking her about the honeymoon, life in the mansion, the travels, the love. Katie answered, yet she still had that bored look on her face as she described even the wedding day itself. This monotone reaction was surprising to Lucille. It was common enough, yet very rarely spoken of, that girls would be married off to rich men for the money and status that came with it. Love usually came after, in small doses, and by the end of the honeymoon, the newly weds were usually hopelessly romantics. This, though, didn’t seem the case with Katie. What was strange was that almost every girl Lucille had known swooned to some degree at the thought of Lord Henry, including Lucille herself, yet Katie didn’t.

“Katie, I don’t want to be rude, but why did you want me to talk with you? Wouldn’t you rather be over with your husband than talking to me? I’m not rich, and my life isn’t exciting,” Lucille finished this last sentence with a disappointed sigh.

Katie looked away, seeming like she was looking for someone and said, “It just that I couldn’t stand it over there. I don’t know those men, I’m still new. I don’t want to know those men.”

As church bells stopped ringing, everyone started into the church for the Sunday meeting. Lord Henry came up and took Katie by the hand and led her in. As Lucille was going in, she saw a young man, with blue eyes and black hair, stare as Katie passed him, a look of love on his face. Lucille dismissed the thought as she walked in.

During the church meeting, Lucille sat in the row behind Lord Henry and Katie. Lord Henry at one point put his arm around Katie, but she just sat up straight without touching his arm. He kissed her cheek once, quickly, before the priest could see. She didn’t even respond to the kiss at all. By the end, Lucille was growing very confident with her theory that Katie only married for money.

One thing confused her though. A couple times, she caught that same blue-eyed young man staring at Katie for moments of time before his gazed returned to the priest. Katie turned her head to see him once or twice, but if their gaze caught, she would quickly turn back to the priest, sitting up even straighter.

After the last ‘Amen’, Katie stood up as quickly as she could and exited without Henry. Lucille saw the young man follow her. She followed them both.

When she finally caught up to them, they were going into one of the rooms in the hall holding hands and laughing gaily. Lucille silently opened the door and saw the two smiling and kissing. The boy had his arms around her waist, Katie with her arms around his neck. Lucille gasped quietly, and started to back out. As she was, she heard them talk between kisses. She poked her head back in to watch.

“When are you going to come with me?”

“I can’t, I’m married. We just have to do it secretly.”

“Do you love him?”

“No, I don’t. You know that. I love you.”

“And I love you.”

After hearing this last phrase, Lucille practically ran out to the courtyard, straight to the same group of ladies she had talked to earlier.

“Lucille! Whatever is wrong? Why are you breathing so hard?”

Catching her breath, Lucille told all that she had talked about with Katie, and then what she had seen in the room. The ladies gasped many times, commenting on what type of person Katie was.

“Are you certain, Lucille? You could be wrong - you have been before.”

Lucille answered, “I’m sure. I have never been more positive in my entire life. Katie does not love Lord Henry. She married him for his money and what’s more, she is seeing another man! This is a terrible scandal. It’s not proper, not proper at all. I know gossip’s not a terribly polite thing to do, but this is a hundred times worse.”

The ladies, now worried, looked at each other.

“We have to warn everyone. Katie does not deserve Lord Henry Thompson. This scandal will bring our small town down. Nothing like this has ever happened here before. We must not let it continue. We will spread the word. Thank you for warning us.”

The ladies, in turn, gave Lucille a hug and thanked her for her knowledge. One of them invited her to tea. Lucille was overwhelmed. She had just discovered the scandal of the decade. She had the thankfulness of the most predominant ladies of the town. What’s more, she was invited to take tea with one of them. Lucille could hardly contain her happiness. Things would finally start looking up from here on out. They would start looking at her differently than just a petty gossiper.

As Lucille was headed for her coach, she saw Katie come out of the church and head over to her husband. She looked a little disheveled, but other than that, she had a sweet, longing smile on her face that Henry mistook for him. He took his arm around her waist and gave her a quick kiss as they entered their carriage.

Lucille turned back to the church, where the young man exited with a rumpled shirt, looking around. He noticed Katie leaving, ran a bit, then thought better of it and turned in the opposite direction.