Daughters of War (32 page)

‘The engagement is announced of Miss Leonora Malham Brown, of 31 Sussex Gardens, London, to Mr Thomas Andrew Devenish, only son of Sir William Devenish, Bart., of Denham Manor, Hertfordshire.’

The following day, the Bulgarian General Savov launched a surprise attack on Serbian forces in Macedonia. The two former allies were at war.

Back in England Leo took refuge from the congratulations of friends and acquaintances and the inevitable invitations to attend social functions with her new fiancé by retreating to Bramwell, the family estate in Cheshire. Here, under the care of James and Annie Bartlett, the estate manager and housekeeper who had always treated her like one of their own children, she had time to reflect and recover. It was clearly understood between her and Tom that their engagement was simply a matter of expediency and was not to lead to marriage. The question she had to answer now was how she intended to use the rest of her life. She could not imagine finding a new love, and the idea of marrying for convenience, to secure her place in society, was abhorrent to her. Her grandmother’s will, together with her father’s legacy, had left her well provided for financially so she had no worries on that score but she urgently needed to find some purpose powerful enough to distract her mind from the contemplation of her loss. The newspapers were full of increasingly hysterical assertions of German aggressive intention and war seemed inevitable. Leo’s one consolation was the thought that she had shown that she could be of use on the field of conflict and it seemed likely that before long she would be called on to prove her courage and ability again.