"Ernest," she said, "what about the marquess?"
He ran one hand through his hair, leaving it standing in curled spikes on his head. "Oh, well, you know," he said, "Jack is something of a rake, if you will pardon me for using such a word in a lady's hearing. It's inevitable, I suppose, given his good looks and all that. Females go wild over him."
"Do they?" she said quietly. "And do you think that I have gone wild over him, Ernest?"
"You?" he said. "No, no, Diana. You have too much sense. But no woman seems to be safe with him. I thought it only fair to warn you."
"He has no morals at all?" she asked.
"Oh, I daresay he has morals," he said, looking decidedly uncomfortable. "All gentlemen have morals, Diana. He just doesn't use them much where females are concerned, that's all. He almost fought a duel with old Percy, you know, over Percy's wife. Jack even went as far as to name his seconds. But then she ran off with an army captain and Percy withdrew his challenge. A nasty business, though."
"And was the marquess guilty?" she asked.
''Well, of course he was guilty,'' he said. ''He never tried to deny it. But look, Diana, I shouldn't be saying this. I shouldn't have started it. It's not at all the sort of thing you should have to listen to."
"Why did you tell me then?" she asked.
He said nothing for a while, only took a deep breath. Diana idly watched Clarence walk along ahead of them, carrying on his shoulder his son, who had come running down from the house as soon as the game was over.
"No reason," he said. "I would just advise you to stay away from him, that's all, Diana."
"I have been trying," she said, "but without much success, I'm afraid."
"It's wise of you to try," he said. "No good can come of it, you know. He will only break your heart."
"No, he certainly will not," she said firmly. "I would have to have some feelings for him before he could do that, Ernest."
"That's true," he said, brightening. "The only trouble is that most females seem to end up having some feelings for Jack."
"Well, not this female," she said. "You may count on it. And you can be my knight defender, Ernest. You can protect me from him. Will you? Prevent me from being alone with him and all that?"
"He would probably flatten me the first time I tried it," he said. "But I'll do it anyway, if that is what you want, Diana. I have to look after you, don't I, with Teddy gone. Do you miss him?" He covered one of her hands with his own.
"Yes," she said softly. "At times like this I miss him dreadfully, Ernest. I feel so very—unsafe."
"Well, you don't need to," he said. "I can't bring Teddy back for you, Diana, though I wish I could. But I can protect you as he would have from someone like Jack."
"Thank you, Ernest," she said, smiling warmly up into his face and feeling safe for the first time since Claudia had asked her if she had met Jack.
7
"The gall of the man," Diana said indignantly to Bridget a few hours later, when her maid was arranging her curls at the back of her head for the evening."The very gall, Bridget.To come to a respectable house like this and expect decent people to associate with him."
Bridget clucked her tongue. "Shocking it is, mum," she said. "It's what comes of being too handsome, very like."
"I would wager the countess, my mother-in-law, does not know he is a rake," Diana said. "She surely would not have allowed him to come here if she had. I should tell her, should I not? But I don't believe I could get my tongue around the word outside the privacy of this room.Oh, to think of it, Bridget."
Bridget shook her head to indicate that she was indeed thinking about it.
"I might have known," Diana said, "when he showed no shame after mistaking his room at the inn, but actually made a joke of it at poor Reverend Ingram's expense. Yes, he did, Bridget. I did not tell you of that before, did I? That showed a very base instinct. And of course I might have known even earlier when you told me about the barmaid."
"She was a very common piece, mum," Bridget said. "No respectable girl would allow a gentleman to kiss her and place his hand on her bosom in the middle of a public taproom, would she?"
"No, indeed," Diana agreed, having worked herself into a very satisfactory state of righteous indignation."I shall not speak with him again, Bridget, and I shall refuse his arm if he offers it to me on any occasion whatsoever.Even if her ladyship goes to extraordinary lengths to arrange it.I shall have nothing more to do with the Marquess of Kenwood at all."
''Very wise, mum," Bridget said, standing back to admire her handiwork on her mistress's hair."Though he is a very handsome gent, to be sure.And if that man"—Bridget referred to only one mortal as that man—"looks at me one more time along that thin nose of his as if I am no better than a scullery maid, I shall disgrace myself and poke my tongue out at him, mum. I give you fair warning. He never has said he was sorry for what happened at that inn.Accusing me of being a thief, indeed!"
"Like master, like man, I suppose," Diana said, and felt vastly comforted by her lapse into spite.
