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CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
However much Sir Lucius might have wanted to visit Mount Street that very afternoon, he controlled his natural inclinations. It was thus the following afternoon when he handed his card to Ribston, with a request to see Lady Chalford and the young ladies, should they be at home. The response, had he been privileged to see it, would have both amused him and given him cause for hope. When Ribston presented the card for her ladyship’s perusal, Lady Chalford read out the name and smiled enigmatically, Miss Amelia gave an involuntary squeak and dropped her copy ofMoral Talesover which she had been yawning, and Miss Elizabeth ran her embroidery needle into her finger, and was heard mumbling agitatedlywhilst sucking the injured digit.
When Sir Lucius was announced and entered the room, all signs of these actions were gone. Lady Chalford rose regally to greet him, and the young ladies set aside their respective activities with cool deliberation and made their225curtseys. Only the tinge of colour in Elizabeth’s cheeks betrayed her internal agitation. The one glance she gave Sir Lucius, as he bowed to her, was of warning.
‘I am come to enquire after Miss Ashling after yesterday’s “mishap”, though I can see that she looks very well.’ He gave her the ghost of a smile as he was invited to take a seat. ‘But also to ask whether you might consider joining a party I am putting together for Derby day next week.’ He paused as Lady Chalford blinked in surprise, and played his masterstroke. He was well aware that neither Lady Chalford nor her daughter were interested in horses so he had to make the day appeal to them as a social event. ‘The Godmanchesters are engaged to come and Lady Micheldever and her daughter, Miss Wingate, and both Lord Nuneaton and Lord Carbrooke hope to join us.’
Sir Lucius knew a moment of panic. If Lady Chalford declared they were otherwise engaged, he had spent the last twenty-four hours scrambling around to make up a party of persons, excepting the Godmanchesters, whom he barely knew. The potential for a disaster hung in the air. Elizabeth looked unashamedly delighted at the prospect, but her approbation was not what counted.
Lady Chalford had her own idea why Sir Lucius had bothered to put together a party, and understood far more than Sir Lucius might either suspect or wish, and was happy to promote his cause. Whilst she foresaw a day of limited interest to herself and Amelia, she applauded the way in which Sir Lucius had hit upon just the thing to cast Elizabeth into transports. That he had thereafter gone to the trouble to invite persons that she and Amelia would be happy to226spend a long day with showed both his intelligence, and the lengths to which he would go. He had even invited Lord Nuneaton, and she would have given her new hat to see the look on his lordship’s face when approached, since she doubted very much that Lord Nuneaton and Sir Lucius had exchanged more than common civilities until now.
‘That is a very generous offer, Sir Lucius.’ She waited, enjoying the moment. ‘I believe we are not engaged upon that day, and it would be a high treat for the girls. Assuming the weather is not terribly inclement, we will be delighted to come. Do but tell us the hour by which we must be ready.’
Details were given, and Amelia and Elizabeth added their thanks. Sir Lucius, fighting the urge to gaze only at Elizabeth, addressed Amelia, recommending she bring some pin money so that the gentlemen might place smallbets on her behalf.
‘Oh, but I will need guidance, I am sure. One horse looks much like another to me. It is Elizabeth who will make educated choices, based upon their grandmother winning something in Yorkshire, or whether the turf is too bouncy for them.’
Elizabeth smiled and shook her head. It gave Sir Lucius the opportunity to look directly at her, and for a moment he thought the smile in her eyes deepened, though whether it was from more than gratitude for the promise of a day out, and his circumspection over the incident in the park, he was unable to judge.
‘I will be interested to hear your selections, ma’am.’
‘Oh dear, I fear my cousin has given you a false idea ofme, Sir Lucius. I am not some Delphic oracle of the Turf.’227She did not look very perturbed, but blushed delicately.
‘I will limit myself, therefore, to hoping you are not a Cassandra, who will tell me that every horse I have backed is doomed to be boxed in on the final turn, or stumble at the vital moment.’
‘Ah, to do that, sir, would be both pointless, since the bet would already be laid, and ungracious, since we owe you so much,’ and she gave a slight stress to the phrase before adding, ‘for arranging the expedition.’
She could not thank him openly for his services the day before, and hoped he understood her covert gratitude; she thought that he did. The constrictions upon them, which she would until so recently have welcomed, now chafed as fetters.
‘I assure you, Miss Ashling, no thanks are needed.’
Amelia frowned slightly, hearing yet not understanding the subtext. Her mama, with years of experience, made a decision, and when, after a few minutes of polite but non-committal conversation, Sir Lucius rose to take his leave, she waited until he had just left the room and then exclaimed, ‘Oh no!’
‘Mama?’
‘I forgot to tell Sir Lucius that we must definitely be home before eight in the evening. Elizabeth, my dear, do go after him and make sure he knows.’
Elizabeth got up and hurried to detain Sir Lucius as he went downstairs. He turned at her voice, looking up at her, his expression surprised but pleased.
‘My aunt says that I must tell you that we have to be back by eight in the evening, Sir Lucius.’
228‘Oh yes, that will be no problem.’
Elizabeth was now at his side, and dropped her voice. ‘I could not say, could not tell you how truly grateful …’
‘Please, Miss Ashling. As I said, no thanks are necessary.I am only sorry that you were exposed to upset.’
‘And your hand, sir?’
He held it for her inspection. The swelling had largely disappeared, but there were still red grazes. She reached out to touch it with her fingers.
‘You see, nothing of note.’
‘It looks sore to me, Sir Lucius.’
He could not say he did not care how sore it was if it meant the touch of her hand. They stood for a moment, then the spell broke and she pulled back her hand as if scalded.
