I've had a heart to heart talk with Winston. He apologized for yelling at me, and I apologized for throwing the vase at him. We spent much time talking about it. Then he surprised me.

He said, "Penelope, would you respect a man who let someone else control him?"

"No, Winston, I wouldn't," I replied. "But you are hardly a man who lets anyone else control him, so what is your point?"

"My point is simply this, my dear," he went on. "I firmly believe with all my heart that the fox hunt is a valuable British tradition and that the new law banning it is an unjust law, passed merely for cynical political gain by Tony Blair. I believe it is my sworn moral duty, in fact, to resist that law. Now, I understand that we don't agree on the moral question of the fox hunt...but, Penelope, I would not be being true to myself were I to let your opinion of the hunt...or anyone else's opinion...control my own free decision regarding whether or not to violate what is to me an unjust law. I would, in fact, be surrenduring my own identity as an independent Briton in the process and betraying my family's tradition going back 500 years...and then I would not be the man you married."

I hardly knew what to say. Before I could think what to say, he went on...

"But I know that you too, Penelope are a woman of your word and principle, and that is why I married you. Therefore, you must do your duty. If I do decide to illegally conduct a fox hunt, you must at once inform the legal authorities and let the law take its course. I will face the consequences. In this manner, you and I will both have stood up honestly for what we believe in, and neither one of us need compromise or deny our own right to be who we truly are nor the one lose respect for the other."

Well, I was quite stunned. On the one hand, I know that Winston simply wants to wangle his way into hunting foxes, but on the other hand, he had a point I could hardly refute. I took a deep breath.

"Very well, Winston," I said at last. "If you feel that way, then we both must do what we must do. But don't be rash, Winston. I could not bear the thought of seeing you incarcerated in some dank gaol on a diet of bread and water." (I was being a bit funny...)

"Never fear, my dear. I have faced worse things than that," he said, with a twinkle in his eye. "I once woke up and found my face within 3 inches of Bertie's discarded athletic socks at the fencing club..."

Well, we both burst out laughing at that, and have been getting along famously since. Still, I wonder just what he is up to. He's a sly rogue. Surely he's not going to go brazenly out and force me to get him arrested? And if so, then what? Well, I shall have to wait and see, shan't I?

Meanwhile, Winston has purchased two marvelous new horses and we've been out riding on them. The black stallion is named "Cutlass" and the dapple mare is "Raphaella". We rode like the wind down Prentice Lane together today. I am sure I can deal with whatever Winston has up his sleeve on this fox hunt business.

*PRW-J