'Still breakfasting m'dear?' My husband was back from his ride. Then he saw my face. 'Whatever's the matter?'

 'Oh Hardley!' Suddenly he seemed, if not a safe, then at least a solid point, in an unreliable sea. Unthinkingly, I stretched out a hand towards him and he took it. 'I've done something terrible and upset your mother and Louisa!'

 'Indeed. Tell me your iniquities,' he invited, sitting beside me. 

 'I didn't know it belonged to her mother! I thought that it was just an ordinary vase. How could I have known? But now she's upset, and Louisa hates me!'

 'Slow down. Are you talking about that ugly vase that used to be in the drawing room and isn't any longer?'

 'I'm so...

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