“I was disappointed not to see you this morning, Miss Shaw,” he said. “Went to the school with Sinclair onlyt’find the vicar there. Meant t’impress you, and you weren’tthere.” He laughed.
“I am so sorry, sir,” Rebecca said, smiling, “but I notice that you have managed to tell me about it, at anyrate, so that I might still be impressed.”
He shook with laughter. “Saw through my ruse, did you, ma’am?” he said at last. “Must say I didn’t feel comfortable at all. Disliked school enough when I had to go as apupil. Had a deuced time getting Sinclair away, though.”
“Really?” Rebecca said, making a poor job of keeping the sarcasm from her voice.
“Sat down next to that young fellow with the eyeglasses to help him read,” Mr. Carver said, “and seemed t’forgetall about me and the vicar and our luncheon.”
“He might have saved himself the trouble,” Rebecca said. “Cyril is an extremely shy boy. He probably blinkedand stammered and fidgeted until he had convinced Mr.Sinclair that he was an idiot.”
“On the contrary,” Mr. Carver said. “The lad was smiling and talking in no time, and then had his head intothe book until I thought it would never come out. He wasmaking progress too, by all accounts. Even that pokerfaced vicar admitted it. Oh, pardon me, ma’am—mostindelicate.” Mr. Carver started to cough and turned awayhis head.
“Did I hear my name?” Christopher asked, easing back on his horse’s reins to allow the two stragglers to catch upto him and his two sisters.
“Was telling Miss Shaw about that lad with eyeglasses that you helped this morning, Sinclair,” Mr. Carverexplained.
Christopher smiled. “I merely sat and listened to him,” he said. “It is Miss Shaw who has done all the hardwork.”
Rebecca did not reply. She was trying to maneuver her horse forward so that she would be riding with Ellen andPrimrose, but Mr. Carver had the same idea and executedit before she could do so. To her dismay, she found herselfriding alongside Christopher, a little way behind the others.
“Did you know that you have a willing slave in that boy?” Christopher asked.
“Cyril?” she said. “I am fond of him. But really one must not exaggerate what I have done for either him or theother boys.”
“I think he would not even be at the school if it were not for you, Becky,” he said.
“Oh, nonsense,” she said. “I believe I helped Philip to see what Cyril’s problem was, but it was Philip himself whodecided to buy the eyeglasses and who took the boy toWraxby in order to purchase them.”
Christopher smiled. “You have not changed at all, Becky, have you?” he said. “You still hate to be praised.”
“Will you go to Harriet’s birthday outing?” Rebecca blurted suddenly.
“Yes,” he said after a pause. “It would be bad-mannered not to.”
She did not look at him. “I thought you would perhaps find some excuse to avoid it,” she said.
He did not answer for a while. “Becky,” he said at last, quietly, “I shall be leaving soon. I would have been gonealready, but my mother has been very happy with my visitand has set her heart on my being here for the village fair.But soon after that I shall return to town. I will not comeagain, and you need not fear that I shall break the promisethis time. I did not know that my presence here wouldupset you after all this time, but I can see that it has. I amsorry. But you can be at peace again soon.”
“Why did you come?” she asked passionately, and then looked across at him aghast, wishing beyond everythingthat she could recapture those words.
He looked back at her, his face stiff with some sort of inner tension. “I don’t know, Becky,” he said. He drewbreath to say more, but closed his mouth again and staredahead. “I don’t know,” he repeated lamely.
They rode in silence for the rest of the way to Limeglade.
So he was leaving soon, Rebecca was thinking. The fair was eight days away. He would stay perhaps two or threedays after that. In two weeks’ time at the most, he wouldbe gone. And this time, he had said, he would keep hispromise not to come back. After perhaps ten or elevendays she would never see him again. Never. It was a longtime. An unbearably long time. Better, surely, the torture of seeing him occasionally, of having her whole life upset by his presence.
She could raise her eyes and see him now if she wished. She was sitting in Mr. Sinclair’s open barouche, one armresting across the top of a door, staring at her gloved hand.But she knew that he rode just a little ahead of them on herside of the vehicle. Julian was with him. She did not lookup.
“Now, Miss Shaw,” Mrs. Sinclair said from the opposite seat of the barouche, “do tell us how your cousin succeeded in persuading his lordship to come this afternoon. I said to Mr. Sinclair that he would never consent ifshe pleaded and threatened for a week and Mr. Sinclairagreed with me. You might have knocked me down with afeather when we arrived at Limeglade earlier to find hislordship all ready for the outing.”
“It was not easy, ma’am,” Rebecca said with a smile. “But you underestimate Harriet’s powers of persuasion.She succeeded finally when she convinced Uncle Humphrey that his health would not be in jeopardy. She evenagreed to ride with him in the closed carriage, and that hasturned out to be a greater sacrifice than she bargained for.It is an extremely hot day. The inside of the carriage mustbe sweltering. And we have agreed to picnic in the oldcourtyard of the castle. It is surrounded by the ruins of thewalls, you see, so that it is perfectly sheltered from thewind no matter what direction it blows from.”
It really had been a stormy argument, Rebecca thought privately. Harriet had won her point with a great deal ofpouting and head tossing and threatening. The baron hadresorted to three separate pinches of snuff before giving inand graciously agreeing to favor the picnic with his presence. Maude had been distressed, Mr. Bartlett conciliatory. Only Rebecca had stayed completely out of thediscussion.
Fortunately for Rebecca, the baron’s carriage was crowded when it contained more than four persons. Although Mr.Bartlett graciously offered to ride, Harriet had been mostinsistent that he accompany her in the carriage. In fact, she had been unusually friendly with him in the last few days,another ruse to force Christopher’s hand, Rebecca guessed.She herself hastened to offer to ride in the Sinclair barouche. Mrs. Sinclair had already offered it to anyone whoneeded a ride, though it would already be almost filledwith Mr. and Mrs. Sinclair, Ellen, and Primrose. Mr.Carver and Philip rode up ahead of the carriage. Christopher and Julian stayed closer to their own family.
Philip had been hesitant about coming. It would mean closing the school for the day. And there had been altogether too many social activities in the last few weeks totake him from his parish duties, he said. However, he hadtalked with the vicar of Wraxby the day before and arranged for him to come to the village in two and a halfweeks’ time to marry Rebecca and him. He felt it was timethat Rebecca’s family and closest neighbors be told of theplans. The birthday outing seemed a suitable occasion toannounce the coming event.
