Zacharias nodded, as if this was what he had been waiting to hear.
“Very good. You will be pleased to know I have hit upon the very thing,” he said. His entire manner changed: he sat up, steepled his hands and continued, in a crisp, schoolmaster-ish voice:
“You will oblige me by prevailing upon your aunt Georgiana—and indeed upon any and all of the respectable women you know—to introduce Miss Prunella Gentleman to unmarried gentlemen of eligible prospects, so that she may find a husband.”
Rollo goggled. Damerell was apparently seized by a fit, but when a footman rushed up, desiring to assist, Damerell waved him away.
“Have some sense, man!” he gasped. “Don’tinterrupt!”
“What can you mean?” said Rollo.
“I gave a speech at a girls’ school in your stead, and in consequence I find myself burdened with a new apprentice, a female of overweening ambition,” said Zacharias. “We have agreed that I shall facilitate her introduction into society, in return for which she will apply herself to the study of magic. I have nothing to do with thebeau monde, but you do. It seems only just that you should take over the task.”
Rollo gazed at Zacharias in wild surmise, before turning piteous eyes upon Damerell.
“Why, Robert, it is clear as daylight,” said Damerell. “A girl has followed Zacharias to London, and she wishes to find a husband. Zacharias desires you to manage the business. And I must say, Rollo, it would only be gentlemanly to step up, considering what he’s done for you.”
“But, dash it—”
“I don’t desire you to marry her yourself,” said Zacharias reassuringly. “I gather she hopes for something better than a younger son, though I confess I have no clear notion of the income she seeks. You should certainly speak to her about her requirements, however.”
“It is best to be clear on these points,” Damerell agreed.
“Dash it, Zacharias,” Rollo burst out. “I am amazed! I never would have thought it of you, of all people. Ican’tintroduce your barque offrailty into society. Why, it is out of all reason—it is—I don’t know what it is!” He paused, choked with emotion.
“What Rollo means to say is that he thinks the proceeding unprincipled in the extreme,” translated Damerell.
Rollo nodded. Breath returning to him, he added, “And what’s more, it just ain’t the thing!”
“There is nothing of that sort between me and Miss Gentleman,” said Zacharias sternly. “I propose to tutor her—there is nothing more to our connection. Lady Wythe has agreed to have Miss Gentleman to stay with her, and to lend her countenance. But as you know, Lady Wythe has not been much in society of late, and I would spare her what I could. She has never been very fond of crowds.”
“She is staying with Lady Wythe?” said Rollo. “I must say, it seems a dashed racketing way of going on. Lady Wythe always strikes one as being such a model of propriety!”
“How many times must I tell you that Miss Gentleman is a perfectly respectable young lady?” said Zacharias in a terrible voice. “Will you or will you not do it, Rollo?”
“My dear fellow, anything to oblige, but—but anything decent, you know!” begged Rollo. “Anythingplausible!”
“I fail to see what is either indecent or implausible about my request,” said Zacharias freezingly.
“Zacharias, with the best will in the world—!”
Damerell dabbed at his eyes with a handkerchief and put it away. He seemed to feel that Rollo had suffered enough.
“It’s no good, my lad,” he said to Zacharias. “Rollo’s aunt ain’t goodton. She’s not a maternal aunt, you know. She is connected to the other side of the family. Haven’t you ever met her?”
Zacharias, still rather wooden, said, “No. But I had understood she was received by all the best families.”
“Oh yes. When Rollo’s aunt Georgiana knocks on one’s door, one doesn’t bar it and hope she goes away,” said Damerell.
“Doesn’t do any good,” said Rollo morosely, with the conviction of one who had tried.
“Quite. Rollo is of the best sort of family on his mother’s side, but his paternal relations are a different affair altogether,” said Damerell. “For your real influencers you must look elsewhere.Iknow them—and they owe me a favour or two. But first I must know what lies I am to tell them. Who is this girl? Tell your uncle Damerell.”
Zacharias explained something of Prunella’s history, and the position she had occupied at Mrs. Daubeney’s school.
“I gather that her father was a gentleman, though he seems to have been an elusive character,” he said. “Of her mother Mrs. Daubeney knew nothing. Mr. Gentleman spent time in India, and it seems likely that the mother was a native of that country. There is no suggestion that there was any irregularity in the connection, however. Miss Gentleman speaks as prettily as any fineborn girl, and she has as much education as any of Mrs. Daubeney’s gentlewitches.”
“Well, the mother need not be an insuperable obstacle,” said Damerell, considering the matter. “There is no other family in England? That is all to the good. We need not fear the appearance of disreputable relations upon the scene. Is the girl pretty?”
