‘Did you tell her so, Sir Richard?’
‘Yes. But she did not believe me.’
‘Perhaps,’ suggested Lady Luttrell, ‘you had not previously given her reason to suppose that you had fallen in love with her?’
‘Madam,’ said Sir Richard, with a touch of impatience, ‘she was in my care, in a situation of the utmost delicacy! Would you have expected me to abuse her confidence by making love to her?’
‘No,’ she said, smiling. ‘From the little I have seen of you, I should have expected you to have treated her just as I imagine you did: as though you were indeed her uncle.’
‘With the result,’ he said bitterly, ‘that that is how she regards me.’
‘Is it indeed?’ she said tartly. ‘Let me tell you, Sir Richard, that men of twenty-nine, with your air, countenance, and address, are not commonly regarded by young females in the light of uncles!’
He flushed, and smiled a little wryly. ‘Thank you! But Pen is not like other young females.’
‘Pen,’ said Lady Luttrell, ‘must be a very odd sort of a female if she has spent all this while in your company and not succumbed to a charm of manner which you must be so well aware that you possess that I do not scruple to mention it. I consider that your conduct in aiding the chit to escape was disgraceful, but since you were drunk at the time I suppose one must overlook that. I do not blame you for anything you have done since you found yourself in the stagecoach: indeed, you have behaved in a manner that would, if I were twenty years younger, make me envy Pen exceedingly. Finally, if she did not spend the better part of last night crying her eyes out, I know nothing about my own sex! Where is the letter she left for you? May I see it?’
He drew it from his pocket. ‘Pray read it, if you wish. It contains nothing, alas, that may not be read by other eyes than mine.’
She took it from him, read it, and handed it back. ‘Just as I thought! Breaking her heart, and determined you shall not know it! Sir Richard, for a man of experience, which I judge you to be, you are a great fool! You never kissed her!’
An unwilling laugh was dragged out of him at this unexpected accusation. ‘How could I, situated as we were? She recoiled from the very thought of marriage!’
‘Because she thought you had asked her to marry you out of pity! Of course she recoiled!’
‘Lady Luttrell, are you serious? Do you indeed think –’
‘Think! I know!’ said her ladyship. ‘Your scruples were very fine, I make no doubt, but how should a chit of Pen’s age understand what you were about? She would not care a fig for your precious honour, and I dare say – indeed, I am sure! – that she thought your forbearance mere indifference. And the long and the short of it is that she has gone back to her aunt, and will very likely be bullied into marrying her cousin!’
‘Oh no, she will not!’ said Sir Richard, with a glance at the clock on the mantelshelf. ‘I am desolated to be obliged to leave you, ma’am, but if I am to overtake that stagecoach this side of Chippenham, I must go.’
‘Excellent!’ she said, laughing. ‘Do not waste a thought on me! But having caught the stage, what do you propose to do with Pen?’
‘Marry her, ma’am! What else?’
‘Dear me, I hope you do not mean to join my foolish son at Gretna Green! I think you had better bring Pen to Crome Hall.’
‘Thank you, I will!’ he said, with the smile which she privately thought irresistible. ‘I am very much in your debt, ma’am.’
He raised her hand to his lips, and kissed it, and left the room, calling for Cedric.
Cedric, who had been partaking of breakfast in the coffee-room, lounged out into the entrance-parlour. ‘The devil take you, Ricky, you’re as restless as that plaguey friend of yours! What’s the matter now?’
‘Ceddie, were you driving your own horses yesterday?’
‘Dear old boy, of course I was, but what has that to say to anything?’
‘I want ’em,’ said Sir Richard.
‘But, Ricky, I’ve got to go back to Bath to get hold of that necklace before it’s discovered to be made of paste!’
‘Take the landlord’s gig. I must have a fast pair immediately.’
‘The landlord’s gig!’ gasped Cedric, reeling under the shock. ‘Ricky, youmustbe mad!’
‘I am not in the least mad. I am going after the London stage, to recover that brat of mine. Be a good fellow, now, and tell them to harness the horses at once!’
‘Oh, very well!’ Cedric said. ‘If that’s the way it is! But I’ll be satisfied with nothing less than a cavalry regiment, mind!’
