July 14th, 1763

Now it is done.
Yesterday at dinner; well, before dinner - I got it over with and started with the easiest task to open up to my husband: I told him, that 'I' ordered a stew, vegetables and boiled meats for the first course of the meal, then a peacock pie and bread buns coated with cheese sauce and for dessert some fresh and sugared fruits (candied pineapple) as it was quite hot and I didn't want it too elaborate for only the two of us. [We had no guests, as usual, and] I hoped he would approve of my choice.
It was a great success I think, because he first just stared at me, then had to clear his throat at least half a dozen times before he could even start about what to think of it and moreover what to reply. We both must have been an amusing picture, right out of a comedy at the Royal Theatre. During the first two courses I asked him a great deal about his library and he invited me to show me parts of his collection that would be of interest to me... & I'm a great deal interested as the books I brought with me and some of those in the drawing room I already have read, in some cases twice - or in others don't want to read, 'cause I'm not at all interested in botany as must have been the last Lady C.; Well, thankfully she loved gardening. It is a work of art. And thankfully Mr. Pankhurst jr. is working to keep it like that.

I made tea in the Music Room, as usual, and he joined me there. Lord C told me about his latest plans he had discussed with Mr. Wolstenholme to enlarge the stables for the new horses he would acquire in autumn. As well as the enlargement along the anfractuous stream. He wants to connect the lane there with that of the park, leading to the stables from that direction... his business anyway... But conversation felt less awkward than before and it went more easily. Funny how everything can be made more effortless over a good meal...