But on the following day, just as she had sat down to a lightluncheon with Lady Ombersley, Cecilia, Selina, and Hubert, Mr Rivenhall walked into the room, and handed her a small package. ‘Your ear-rings, cousin,’ he said briefly. ‘I think you will find that they have now been cleaned to your satisfaction.’
For once in her life, Sophy was bereft of all power of speech. Fortunately, he did not seem to expect her to say anything, for he turned away to carve himself a slice of ham, and began to talk to his mother, desiring to know whether she wished to spend any part of the summer in Brighton that year. Lady Ombersley referred this question to Sophy. Brighton did not agree with her constitution, but the Regent had made the resort so fashionable that any number of distinguished persons would flock there in June, and if Sophy wished it she would certainly hire a house there for some part of the season.
Cecilia, who had her own reasons for wanting to remain in town, said: ‘Oh, Mama, you know you are never well in Brighton! Pray do not let us go! I am sure there is nothing more stupid than those parties at the Pavilion, and the excessive heat in the rooms quite knocks you up!’
Sophy at once disclaimed any wish to visit the place; and the rest of the meal was spent in discussing the rival attractions of Ombersley, Thorpe Grange, and Scarborough, with some reminiscences from Lady Ombersley on a summer she had spent at Ramsgate before the Regent’s patronage of Brighton had quite cast this resort into the shade.
When they rose from the table, Hubert, who had been trying unavailingly for some time to get his cousin alone, blurted out: ‘Are you busy, Sophy? Would you care to stroll in the garden for a while?’
‘Thank you! By and by, perhaps! Charles, may I have a word with you at your convenience?’
He met her direct gaze unsmilingly. ‘By all means! Now, if you wish.’
Lady Ombersley looked vaguely surprised; Selina exclaimed: ‘Secrets! Are you hatching a plot, I wonder? Shall we like it?’
‘Nothing so exciting,’ replied Sophy lightly. ‘Merely, Charles executed a commission for me.’
She accompanied him across the hall to the library. She was never one to beat about the bush, and no sooner had he shut the door than she said, without preamble: ‘Now, if you please, tell me what this means! How did you know that I had sold my ear-rings, and why have you – as I suppose – bought them back for me?’
‘I bought them back because I can think of only two reasons why you should have disposed of them.’
‘Indeed! And what may they be, Cousin Charles?’
‘I have never been permitted to see the bills for your ball, but I have some experience in these matters, and I can possibly guess at a rough total. If that is your explanation, you can want none from me. The arrangement was repugnant to me from the outset, as well you know.’
‘My dear Charles, I have a great many expenses of which you know nothing at all! You are being absurd, you know!’
‘I do not think that you have any expenses which your father would be unprepared to meet.’
She was silent for a moment. Then she said: ‘You have not yet told me what is the second of the reasons that occurred to you.’
He looked at her under frowning brows. ‘My fear is that you have lent the money to Hubert.’
‘Good gracious! Banish it!’ she exclaimed, laughing. ‘Pray, why should I do such a thing?’
‘I hope you have not. The young fool was at Newmarket with a set of fellows I could wish at Jericho. Did he lose a large sum there?’
‘Surely he would tell you if he had, rather than me!’
He walked over to his desk, and rather absently tidied some paper that lay on it. ‘It may have been that he was afraid to,’ he said. He looked up. ‘Was that it?’
‘I needed the money for reasons into which I will not take you,’ she replied. ‘I must point out to you, Charles, that you havenot yet answered my other question. How did you guess that I had sold the ear-rings?’
‘It was not a conjecture: I knew.’
‘How is this possible? You were not hidden in the shop, I assume!’
‘No, I was not. But I called in Brook Street on my way home yesterday, and saw Miss Wraxton.’ He hesitated, and again looked across at his cousin. ‘You must understand that Miss Wraxton felt it to be her duty to tell me that she feared you might be in some difficulty! She was in Rundell and Bridge’s with Lady Brinklow when you were transacting this sale. It appears that Bridge had not properly closed the door into his office; Miss Wraxton recognized your voice, and could not help but overhear something you said to Bridge.’
Her hand, which was lying on the back of a chair, closed tightly on the polished wood, but relaxed again after a moment. She said, in a voice from which all emotion had been banished: ‘There is no end to Miss Wraxton’s solicitude. How very obliging of her to have interested herself in my affairs! I expect it was delicacy that forbade her to speak to me rather than to you.’
He flushed. ‘You must remember that I am betrothed to Miss Wraxton. In the circumstances, she thought it her duty to mention the matter to me. She felt that she did not stand upon such terms with you as could make it possible for her to ask you for an explanation.’
‘Well, that is certainly true,’ said Sophy. ‘Neither of you, my dear cousin, stands upon such terms with me! And if you have any notion of asking me for an explanation of anything I choose to do, let me tell you that you may go to the devil!’
He smiled. ‘Then perhaps it is as well that Eugenia did not venture to address you on this head, for she would have been much shocked at being told to go to the devil! Do you always talk like your father when you lose your temper, Sophy?’
‘No, not invariably. I beg your pardon! But it was quite intolerable!’
