‘I expect she was very well-disposed towards you,’ agreed Sophy cordially. ‘But she had not then seen Augustus Fawnhope. At least, she had, but it seems that he was covered in spots at that time, so no one could expect her to fall in love with him.’
‘I don’t find the reflection precisely comforting, Miss Stanton-Lacy.’
‘Call me Sophy! Everyone does, and we are going to become excessively friendly.’
‘Are – are we?’ he said. ‘I mean, I am delighted to hear you say so, of course!’
She laughed. ‘Oh pray don’t be alarmed! If you still wish to marry Cecilia – and I must tell you that although I thought otherwise before I had met you, I have now made up my mind to it that you would suit capitally – I will show you just how you must go on.’
He could not help smiling. ‘I am much obliged to you! But if she loves young Fawnhope –’
‘You must, if you please, consider for a moment!’ said Sophy earnestly. ‘Only think how it was! No sooner had you declared yourself to my uncle than you contracted a ridiculous complaint.Shewas informed that she was to become your wife – quitegothic, and most ill-judged! – and along came Augustus Fawnhope, looking, you will own, like a prince out of a fairy-tale, and what must he do but turn his back on all the poor females who were setting their caps at him, and fall in love with Cecilia’s beauty! My dear sir, he wrote poems in her praise! He calls her a nymph, and says that her eyes put the stars to shame, and such stuff as that!’
‘Good God!’ said his lordship.
‘Exactly so! You cannot wonder that she was swept off her feet. I daresay you had never so much as thought of calling her a nymph!’
‘Miss Stanton – Sophy! Even to win Cecilia, I cannot write poetry, and if I could I’ll be dashed if I would write such – Well, in any event I have no turn in that direction!’
‘Oh, no, you must not attempt to outshine Augustus inthatline!’ said Sophy. ‘Your strength lies in being precisely the kind of man who can procure one a chair when it has come on to rain.’
‘I beg your pardon?’
‘Can you not?’ she asked, turning her head to look at him with raised brows.
‘I expect I could, but –’
‘Believe me, it is by far more important than being able to turn a verse!’ she told him. ‘Augustus is quite unable to do so. I know, because he failed miserably at the Chelsea Gardens. I thought he would, which is why I made him escort Cecilia and me there on a day when you could see it would come on to pour. Our muslins were soaked, and I daresay we should have died of an inflammation of the lung had not one of my old friends procured a hackney to convey us home. Poor Cecy! she became almost cross with Augustus!’
He burst out laughing. ‘Major Quinton spoke nothing but the truth about you!’ he declared. ‘I am already terrified of you!’
She smiled, but said: ‘Well, you need not be, for I mean to help you.’
‘That is what terrifies me.’
‘Nonsense! You are trying to quiz me. We have established that you can procure chairs in a rainstorm; I am also of the opinion that when you invite a party to supper at the Piazza the waiters do not fob you off with a table in a draught.’
‘No,’ he agreed, regarding her with a fascinated eye.
‘Augustus, of course, is not in a position to invite us to supper at the Piazza, because my aunt would certainly not permit us to accept, but he did once entertain us to tea here, in the Park, and I could not but see that he is just the kind of man whom the waiters serve last. I feel sure I can rely upon you to see to it that everything goes without the least hitch when you invite us to the theatre, and to supper afterwards. You will be obliged, of course, to invite my aunt as well, but –’
‘For heaven’s sake!’ he interrupted. ‘You cannot suppose that in the situation in which we now stand Cecilia would consent to make one of a party of my making!’
‘Certainly I do,’ she replied coolly. ‘What is more, you will invite Augustus.’
‘No, that I will not!’ he declared.
‘Then you will be a great gaby. You must understand that Cecilia has been driven into announcing that she means to marry Augustus! You were not there to engage her affections; Augustus was sighing verses to her left eyebrow; and to clinch the matter my cousin Charles behaved in the most tyrannical fashion, forbidding her to think of Augustus, and fairly ordering her to marry you! I assure you, it would have been wonderful indeed if she had not made up her mind to do no such thing!’
He rode in silence beside her for some moments, frowning between his horse’s ears. ‘I see,’ he said at last. ‘At least – Well, at all events, you don’t advise me to despair!’
‘I don’t suppose,’ said Sophy honestly, ‘that I should ever advise anyone to despair, for I can’t bear such poor-spirited conduct!’
‘Whatdoyou advise me to do?’ he asked. ‘I seem to be wholly in your hands!’
‘Withdraw your suit!’ said Sophy.
He looked sharply at her. ‘No! I mean to make a push –’
