Mary could barely contain herself in church. She sat with the rest of the household servants, her head bowed demurely, hands folded in her lap and tried to concentrate on the pastor's voice intoning that day's sermon. But her mind kept drifting, thinking about Jack and his kind smile, his eager hands, his soft lips...
She shifted in her seats, this line of thought making her flustered, and Betsy, sitting next to her looked across at her. Betsy knew why Mary was so fidgety and smiled to herself. Mary was so sweet, so kind to Betsy and she deserved to meet a nice man to love. Betsy had no disillusions about herself; short and plump, her face friendly but plain, she would never meet a man to take care of her. Her nature was kind and she was a good worker; the best she could hope for was solid employment in the house, but sometimes, at night, when the house was quiet she would have liked someone to talk to, someone to call her own. At 21 years old, she could see no future for herself other than hard work in the house.
After the service, Mary, still in her good clothes, ran with unseemly haste to the oak clearing in the woods to meet Jack. He was already waiting for her, unfamiliar in his stiff collared shirt and jacket rather than his sturdy work clothes. He held out his arm for her and she threaded her own through his crooked elbow. Together they wandered slowly through the woods and onto country lanes, not following any route in particular but enjoying the country air, the sounds and sights of spring around them, and each other's company.
It was obvious to Mary that Jack was overwhelmed by her. He trembled when she touched his arm, stuttered whenever she smiled at him. She wondered what he would do if she should suddenly draw her skirts up and beg him to touch her in the way he did before, and as her mind drifted, she began drawing closer to him, her long thigh brushing against his as they walked, her arm pressing more firmly on his. Jack was aware of the sudden change in tension between them; he hadn't known how to approach her, how to tell her what he wanted but he began to see that she wanted it as much as he did.