‘Not then. Because I was surprised. You might say I was betwattled.’
‘Like a duck in a thunderstorm.’
‘No,’ said Sir Nugent, giving this his consideration. ‘I fancy, Duke, that if you were to ask all round the ton if Nugent Fotherby had ever looked like any species of fowl in such a situation the answer would be, in a word, No!’
‘Well, I haven’t the least desire to throw a rub in the way of your marriage to my sister-in-law. You may marry her with my good-will, but you will not prevail upon me to relinquish my nephew into your care.’
‘But that’s another nub!’ objected Sir Nugent. ‘You may say it’s the primest nub of all! Her la’ship won’t give him up!’
‘A man of your address must surely be able to persuade her to do so.’
‘Well, that’s what I thought myself,’ said Sir Nugent. ‘Queer creatures, females! Devilish attached to the infantry. Let us discuss the matter!’
‘No. Let us do no such thing!’ interrupted Sylvester. ‘Talking to me will pay no toll. I have only this to say: I have neither the power nor the desire to scotch your marriage to Ianthe, but there is no argument you can advance that will induce me to delegate the least part of my authority over Edmund to you or to anyone! Try if you can twist Ianthe round your thumb: don’t waste your time on me!’
He spurred his horse forward as he spoke, and cantered on to overtake the rest of the party.
Phoebe, meanwhile, after enjoying an all too brief gallop, had been forced to pull up, and to continue at a walking pace beside Ianthe, who wanted to talk about herself, and had found Georgiana an unresponsive audience. She disclosed that she had brought Sir Nugent in place of her brother because she was convinced that Sylvester’s dislike of him arose from mere prejudice. He was barely acquainted with Sir Nugent: did not Phoebe think that if he were given this opportunity of getting to know him better he might well reconsider his cruel decision to part a mother from her child?
Phoebe found it impossible to answer this question, since a flat negative was clearly ineligible. Fortunately Ianthe was more interested in her own opinion than in Phoebe’s, and had posed the question in a rhetorical spirit. Without waiting for an answer, she continued: ‘For my part, I am persuaded that Sylvester must be agreeably surprised in him. I don’t mean to say that his understanding is superior, for it is not-in fact, he has a great deal less than common sense, and is sometimes quite addlebrained-but if I don’t care for that I’m sure I don’t know why Sylvester should! His disposition is amiable, and his manners excessively polished and civil. He is a man of rank, and of the first stare of fashion; and if he does associate with inferior persons, and fritter a fortune away in gaming hells, that will cease when he is married. And as for his racehorses, he is so wealthy that losses on the Turf can’t signify. In any event, it is nonsensical to suppose that it would do Edmund the least harm. Besides, even Sylvester must own that there can be no one better able to teach Edmund just how he should go on in all matters of taste and ton! He is always in the high kick of fashion, and makes the other men appear positively shabby! You have only to look at him!’
Phoebe looked instead at her, and in wonder. Beside Sylvester’s quiet elegance and Major Newbury’s military cut she had been thinking that Sir Nugent presented all the appearance of a coxcomb. He was a tall man, rather willowy in build, by no means unhandsome, but so tightly laced-in at the waist, so exaggeratedly padded at the shoulders, that he looked a little ridiculous. From the striking hat set rakishly on his Corinthian crop (he had already divulged that it was the New Dash, and the latest hit of fashion) to his gleaming boots, everything he wore seemed to have been chosen for the purpose of making him conspicuous. His extravagantly cut coat was embellished with very large and bright buttons; a glimpse of exotic colour hinted at a splendid waistcoat beneath it; his breeches were of white corduroy; a diamond pin was stuck in the folds of his preposterous neck-cloth; and he wore so many rings on his fingers, and so many fobs and seals dangling at his waist, that he might have been taken for a jeweller advertising his wares.
Phoebe was not obliged to make any comment on Ianthe’s last observation, for Sylvester overtook them just then, and a minute later Sir Nugent ranged alongside, trying to convey to Ianthe by a series of shrugs and grimaces, which nearly overset Phoebe’s gravity, that his mission had not prospered. She stole an apprehensive glance at Sylvester, fearing that Sir Nugent had put him out of temper, and was relieved to see no trace of the cold look of indifference she so much disliked. He looked rather amused, and when he addressed Sir Nugent it was in a light, good-humoured tone. Encouraged by this, Sir Nugent, who had been looking dejected, brightened, and asked him for his opinion of the horse he was riding. He won so courteous a reply that Phoebe took her underlip firmly between her teeth, and stared resolutely ahead. Sir Nugent, gratified by Sylvester’s praise, drew his attention to the chestnut’s manifold excellences, and confided that he had bought the animal at a devilish long price. A stifled sound from Phoebe, who knew just how long a price he had paid, made Sylvester’s lips quiver, but he said, without a tremor: ‘Did you indeed?’
It might have been thought odd conduct in a sporting man to use his hunters for hacking at the end of the hunting season, but this idiosyncrasy was not as inhumane as it seemed to the uninitiated. Sir Nugent was a member of several hunts, and he owned an astonishing number of horses, which he stabled all over the country, and seldom rode. When he did turn out it was rarely that he went beyond the first few fields, for, like Mr. Brummell when he had led the ton, he wore white tops to his boots, and feared to get them splashed. Lord Marlow’s showy chestnut certainly looked to be more in need of exercise than of rest, and succeeded, by sidlings, plungings, and head-tossing, in giving Sir Nugent an uncomfortable ride.
As soon as he could contrive to do it without the appearance of incivility, Sylvester suggested to Phoebe that they should shake the fidgets out of the horses. She agreed to it in a strangled voice; the Firefly broke into a canter, lengthened her stride to a gallop; and in a few moments carried Phoebe far beyond earshot of Ianthe and Sir Nugent. Beside her thundered Sylvester’s black, but neither she nor Sylvester spoke until they presently reined in at the end of the stretch of greensward. Then, as Phoebe bent forward to pat the Firefly’s neck, Sylvester said in a voice of mock censure: ‘Miss Marlow, I had occasion once to reprove you for laughing at rustics! Now I find you laughing at the very finest Pink that blooms in the Ton! You are incorrigible!’
‘Oh, I didn’t!’ she protested, gurgling irrepressibly. ‘You know I didn’t!’
‘Do I, indeed? I promise you I was in the liveliest dread that you would start at any moment to giggle. If you had seen your own face-!’
‘Well, I own it was a very close-run thing with me,’ she admitted. ‘How you were able to answer him so gravely I can’t imagine!’
‘Oh, he has been on the town for as long as I have, so that I have grown inured to him! I can understand, of course, that the first sight of his magnificence must come as a severe shock.’
She laughed. ‘Yes, but I can’t plead that excuse. I was for ever seeing him last year. In fact, I-’
‘In fact you-?’ he prompted, after waiting for a moment for her to finish the sentence.
She had broken off in confusion, the words: I put him into my book only just bitten back in time. She said now, with a tiny gasp: ‘Grew so accustomed to him that I began not to notice him! Except when he came to a ball in a green velvet coat, and a waistcoat embroidered all over with pink roses!’
He did not immediately reply, and glancing a little nervously at him she saw that the flying line of his brows was accentuated by a slight frown which drew down their inner corners. He looked steadily at her, and said: ‘Yes? But that isn’t what you were going to say, is it?’