“It sounds delightful, sir,” agreed Kit. “The only thing is-’
“Yes, yes, I know what you’re going to say, my boy!” Sir Bonamy interrupted. “It wouldn’t do for a large party! But I mean only to invite three other persons, so that we shall sit down no more than six to table. And there will be side-dishes: a haunch of venison, and a braised ham, possibly. Or a dish of lamb cutlets: I must consider what would be most suitable.” A note of discontent entered his voice. “I do not consider this the season for dinners of real excellence,” he said gravely. “To be sure, few things are so good as freshly cut asparagus, to say nothing of a basket of strawberries, which I promise you, my pretty, you shall have! But only think how superior it would be if we could have some plump partridges, and a couple of braised pheasants!”
“Yes, indeed, but that wasn’t what I was about to say, sir! Nothing would give me greater pleasure than to escort Mama to your party, but it so chances that I am obliged to return to Ravenhurst almost immediately.”
“Why, whatever will you find to do there?” asked Sir Bonamy, opening his small round eyes to their widest extent.
“A great deal, I promise you,” responded Kit easily. “If Miss Stavely does me the honour to marry me, my uncle, as I dare say Mama has told you, means to wind up the Trust. There are arrangements to be made—a quantity of things to be done before I could venture to bring my bride to Ravenhurst!”
“But don’t you mean to be in Brighton this summer?” demanded Sir Bonamy, greatly astonished. “I thought you had acquired the same house on the Steyne which you rented last year!”
“Yes, so I have—and it is naturally at my mother’s disposal. I expect I shall be joining her there presently. I don’t know what her plans may be, but I can’t think that she needs my escort to your party, sir! Her poet will be delighted to take my place!”
“If you mean that silly young chough I sent to the rightabout not ten minutes before you came in, Evelyn, I won’t have him at my party!” said Sir Bonamy, roused to unwonted violence. “A fellow that knows no better than to come to visit a lady, dressed all by guess, and with a handkerchief knotted round his throat—! Ay, and what do you think he was doing when I walked in? Reading poetry to her! What a booberkin! I can tell you this, my boy: in my day we’d more rumgumption than to bore a pretty woman into a lethargy!”
“I was not in a lethargy!” stated her ladyship. “No female of my age could be bored by poems written in her honour! Particularly when the poet has been so obliging as to liken her to a daffodil!” She observed, with sparkling delight, the revulsion in both gentlemen’s faces, and added soulfully: “Tossed like a nymph in the breeze!” She went into one of her trills of laughter, as the gentlemen exchanged speaking glances. “Confess, Bonamy! you never said such a pretty thing to me!”
“Puppy!” said Sir Bonamy, his eyes kindling. “A daffodil! Good God! Well, I’ve never written a line of poetry in my life: it is not my way! But if I did write about you I shouldn’t call you a paltry daffodil! I should liken you to a rose—one of those yellow ones, with a deep golden heart, and a sweet scent!” said Sir Bonamy, warming to the theme.
“Nonsense!” she said briskly. “You would be very much more likely to call me a plump partridge, or a Spanish fritter! As for your party, I should like it of all things, and it is most vexatious of Evelyn to go into the country again, for naturally I must accompany him. It is so dreary at Ravenhurst, if one is quite alone: not that I ever have been there alone, but I have often thought how melancholy it would be if I were obliged to stay there by myself. So you will drive over from Brighton to dine with us, if you please! I expect we shall be able to set ducklings before you, though not, I fancy, quails. But certainly lobsters and asparagus!”
This ready acquiescence in his resolve to seek refuge at Ravenhurst surprised Kit. It was not until Sir Bonamy had departed that he learned the reason for it. “Dearest, did you know, then?” demanded his mother, when he returned from helping to hoist her admirer into his carriage.
“Did I know what, Mama?”
“Why, that your uncle Henry is coming to London, on a matter of business! Bonamy told me that he had heard someone say that he was coming, and he said that he would invite him to his party! To be sure, Bonamy couldn’t recall who had told him of it, but I wholly believe it, because it is just the provoking sort of thing Henry would do! When anyone would have supposed that he would be fixed in Nottinghamshire—or do I mean Northamptonshire? Oh, well, it’s of no consequence, and you will know! Wherever it was that he purchased a property when he retired! My darling, I know you have a kindness for him, but you must own that nothing could be more unfortunate than this ridiculous start! I don’t feel that he can be depended on not to recognize you, do you?”
“On the contrary!” said Kit emphatically. “He would know me within five minutes of clapping eyes on me! When is he coming to London?”
“Oh, not until next week!” she assured him. “There’s no need to be in a pucker, Kit!”
“No—not if I can get out of town!” he said. He looked at her, between amusement and exasperation. “Mama, I don’t think you can have the smallest notion of the dangers of this appalling situation! I met a friend of Evelyn’s on my way to Mount Street, and gave him the cut direct! God knows who he is! I brushed through—said I had been in the clouds, and he swallowed it. But what if he’d guessed I wasn’t Evelyn? A pretty case of pickles that would have been, wouldn’t it?”
“Yes, but he didn’t guess, and I’m persuaded no one will, except your uncle, or some particular friend of yours, and you may easily avoid them. However, I think you are very right to remove from London, for I perfectly understand that it must be very exhausting to be always on the watch for Evelyn’s friends. Not that I believe any of them would suspect a take-in. Well, look at Bonamy! I did think that he might recognize you, and I let you come into the room just to see whether he would. It wouldn’t have signified if he had, because I should have disclosed the whole to him, and he wouldn’t have breathed a word to a soul, but he hadn’t a notion!” Her eyes searched his face, trying to read his thought. She stretched out her hand, and when, with a faint, rueful smile, he took it in his, she said coaxingly: “Dearest, why do you look like that? Are you not enjoying yourself? Not at all?”