The Lonely Shore

the long version

When Jenny, with youthful enthusiasm, was considering Clare’s chances of marriage, she offered her a generous selection of men to choose from: “There’s Jim Foster, the grocer’s son, and Peter Andrews who has a farm on the other side of the village and Paul Mallinson who lives at the Hall. He’s absolutely smashing and very rich. He has two cars and a butler and a gold cigarette case.” It never occurred to Jenny to add her uncle David, Clare’s employer, to the list. For Uncle David, though handsome and eligible and not so old, disliked and distrusted women and had no intention of getting married. But in spite of the attractions of Mr Mallinson and his cigarette case, it was with David, by a perverse trick of fate, that Clare fell in love.