The design was apparently Oscar’s own. In slipping this ring on to her finger, Constance knew that she was going to have to steel herself for a barrage of objections. When she informed her brother of her engagement, Constance revealed that, although the Dublin Atkinsons were delighted with the match, she held some concern that she would face opposition from the Lloyds, and specifically from Aunt Emily. ‘I am so dreadfully nervous over my family; they are so cold and practical,’ she worried. But in the same breath her determination to go her own way whatever was also clear. ‘I won’t stand opposition,’ she wrote, ‘so I hope they won’t try it.’1 Constance felt sure that Otho would be her ally in negotiating any objections from the Lloyd camp, not least because she had spent recent months smoothing the way for his own somewhat unconventional matrimonial ambitions. Otho had fallen in love with a beautiful girl called Clara, whose background was socially dubious, to the minds of the conservative Lloyds at least.
