I've been quiet lately...

...because I can't find my copy of the book! I'm leaving for vacation in the morning, so I'll be on hiatus for the next week or so anyway, but in the rush of packing I've completely forgotten the book's whereabouts. Sorry!

Awakened Heart, chapter 7

It's rare for a Betts heroine to have a shopping spree without the Betts hero paying for it, but aided by a check from her father, Sophie manages to do this. She buys a jersey outfit, natch, a brown and gold brocade blouse, and a wide-skirted dress for the evening. Betts heroines rarely, if ever, wear a sheath.
Also, Sophie settles on a winter-white wedding dress, complete with coat and hat. This reminds me of the Dowager Duchess in Sayers's Busman's Honeymoon who rambles on about Jane Eyre, "who I always think behaved so ungraciously to that poor man - so gloomy to have your bride, however bigamous, insisting on grey alpaca or merino or whatever it was, and damping to a lover's feelings..." (Dorothy L. Sayers, Busman's Honeymoon, 5 October in the Prothalamion).
Rijk arranges for a choir and flowers at the wedding, and then flowers again when they arrive at his home in Friesland. So his feelings can't have been too dampened. It's worth noting that every Betts hero and heroine who have an arranged marriage make an agreement not "to live as man and wife", at least for a while. There's one Betts, can't remember which, where the Betts wife says that she's glad that they're married on the last page, with the fairly strong hint that she's looking forward to sleeping with him. But not Sophie and Rijk.
Rijk makes it clear that he'll be returning to work within a day or so, so there will be no honeymoon. Frighteningly, this quotation comes as an epiphany (not as a given) to her: "She suspected that he [Rijk] expected her to have her own interests when he was away..." (p. 146). Sophie takes the reins of the house, insofar as a Betts heroine ever does: she inspects the linen, does some tapestry work and knitting, and takes over some light shopping.
She probably also arranges the flowers, consults with the cook about the meals, and helps with some children's charity in the village, but we don't hear about it. All those are typical activities of the Betts wife.
At the end of the chapter, she goes to meet Rijk at work, but she sees him driving away in the other direction with - gasp! - an attractive woman. I'll be astonished if jealousy isn't one of my tags tomorrow.

Awakened Heart, chapter 6

This wasn't as uneventful as the last chapter, but it was close. Rijk owns a farm, so they go to see it - I'm not absolutely sure that he owns the farm house, so this isn't house #3, but it could be. They go to Groningen for no apparent reason, except that Betts might have needed padding (this book has relatively little plot, after all), and so that Sophie could say that she doesn't like heights. I'll be surprised if nothing comes of that - usually, when Betts heroines reveal a fear, they have to confront it later in the book (never for a good reason, by the way).
They travel back to England just before Christmas. Sophie spends most of the chapter on the verge of telling Rijk that she'll marry him, but it takes her days to say it.
They set a wedding date for mid-January and start preparing for the wedding. Rijk dives into a pile of work, presumably so he'll have time for Sophie later. Sophie starts thinking about wedding clothes. It's a small wedding, so of course she'll wear a winter-white or grey suit. Heaven forbid she wear a wedding dress! Very strange.
At the very end of the chapter, Sophie realizes she is is love with Rijk.

Awakened Heart, chapter 5

Half-way through The Awakened Heart! It doesn't seem possible.
I can't imagine a chapter of any Betts, ever, in which less happens. The chapter covers the first few days of Sophie's visit with Rijk. She meets his family and tours around the house and the village. By the end of the chapter, she's sure she'll marry him.
The best line of the chapter (as evidence of its dullness): Rijk 'fesses up that he's rich, but admits that "a good deal of my wealth is the result of no doubt ill gotten gains from my merchant ancestors" (p. 103).

How referential of Betts!

When Sophie announces her plan to marry Rijk to the other nurses, one of them says, "When you're married you can invite me to stay; there must be lots of people like him out there" (p. 74-75). This is funny, of course, because the Netherlands are well-stocked with men who are almost identical. It wouldn't do Sophie much good to invite her friend, though, because each of those similar men is already married to an English nurse.

Awakened Heart, chapter 4

Sophie goes home to think about whether she should marry Rijk or not. Of course, despite no compelling reasons to do so (aside from her secret love for him), she decides to marry him. So she packs up (the usual for a Betts heroine: a velvet dress with a wide skirt, a silk dress, a Jaeger suit with plenty of silk blouses, a quilted jacket for the cold weather, etc.) and goes to Holland with him for a trip.
The chapter ends as Sophie and Rijk pull up to his huge house in Friesland.

Awakened Heart, chapter 3

Sophie and Rijk see each other a few more times in this chapter. They eat together, go on walks, and even see his house - yes, he has a house in London. Of course Rijk has a house in London, given that he's there for - what? probably about 40 days of the year? Clearly, one would need a house with two servants for those times.
At the end of the chapter, Rijk proposes to Sophie. I wish I were making this up:
Rijk: "May I take it that we are now good, firm friends, Sophie?"
Sophie: "Oh yes."
Rijk: "Then perhaps you know what I am going to say next. Will you marry me, Sophie?"
Sophie: "Marry you? Why? Whatever for?"
After a few minutes of chatter, during which she tells him about the man whom she loved when she was 19, and who left her for a small girl (that's where Sophie's fixation with height comes from! Good to know), they go on:
Rijk: "I think that we may be happy together, Sophie. We do not know each other very well yet, but we have so little opportunity to meet. Would you consider marrying me and getting to know me after?"
A bit more chatter, then:
Sophie: "I'm not sure, but I think this is a very funny kind of proposal."
And how!