“Oh, no!” she replied calmly. “I fear it won’t do her any good either—but that, after all, is not your object, is it?”
He checked her, as she was about to sit down, saying: “One moment! You will have the sun in your eyes: I’ll turn the seat a little.”
She let him do so, but said, smiling faintly: “Trying to change the subject, sir?”
“No, no! Just sparring for wind, ma’am!”
“I imagine that to be some horrid boxing cant,” she observed, seating herself. “I trust, however, that you don’t think me such a ninny as to be blind to what is yourobject?”
He sat down beside her. “No, I don’t,” he confessed. “I’ll own to you that I’ve been torn between the hope that you did know, and the dread of having a peal rung over me!”
If she blushed it was so slightly that he was unaware of it. She replied, ignoring the first part of his sentence: “Oh, I don’t mean to scold!”
“Now you have surprised me!” he remarked.
“I suppose, under certain circumstances I might scold,” she said thoughtfully. “But my situation is rather difficult. The thing is, you see, that Mrs Underhill doesn’t wish Tiffany to marry your cousin any more than you do.”
“In that case, it is a little astonishing that she should encourage Julian to run tame here,” he said sceptically.
“I daresay it may seem so to you, not knowing Tiffany as well as I—we—do. I can assure you that if her mind is set on anything the least hint of opposition is enough to goad her into going her length, however outrageous that may be. And in general it is outrageous,” she added candidly. “You will allow that an à suivie flirtation, conducted in my presence, or her aunt’s, is by far less dangerous than clandestine meetings would be. For one thing, it is not so romantic; and, for another, such meetings would of necessity be infrequent, as well as brief, and that, you know, would preclude her becoming bored with Lord Lindeth.”
He could not help smiling at her matter-of-factness, but he said: “Yes, I will allow that, ma’am. I will even concede that the girl might prevail upon Lindeth to meet her in such a way. But when you talk of her becoming bored with him I think you are wide of the mark. I daresay she may be—but Lindeth would be a big prize for her to win.”
She wrinkled her brow. “Well, it is very natural that you should think that, but she doesn’t. She means to marry a Marquis.”
“Means to—Which Marquis?”
“Any Marquis,” Ancilla replied.
“Of all the absurdities—!”
“I don’t know that. When you consider that besides beauty she is possessed of a handsome fortune you must surely own that a brilliant match is by no means impossible. In any event, I beg you won’t depress that one of her pretensions! I have suggested to her that to form a connection with a mere baron—and before she is even out!—would be perfectly bird-witted!”
He regarded her in some amusement. “Have you, indeed? What a very odd sort of governess you are, ma’am!”
“Yes, and you can’t imagine what a worry I have been in, trying to decide what I ought to do in this troublesome situation,” she said seriously. “I think I am right to scotch the affair, if I can; for while, on the one hand, the Burfords might welcome the match, on the other, Mrs Underhill would not, and Tiffany is too young to be contracted to anyone.”
“Why wouldn’t Mrs Underhill welcome the match?”
“Because she wants Tiffany to marry her cousin, of course.”
“Good God! I should have said that the boy holds her in contempt and dislike!”
“Mrs Underwood thinks they will learn to love one another.”
“Foolish beyond permission! Isn’t he dangling after the pretty redhead?”
“Yes, and I should think they will make a match of it one day,” she agreed. “Which would be a very good thing, for they suit wonderfully. And once Tiffany has left Staples, which will be next year, when her aunt Burford is pledged to bring her out, Mrs Underhill will very soon become reconciled. In the meantime, I do believe it to be my duty to do my possible to keep Tiffany quite—quite unattached!” She smiled kindly upon him, and added: “So I am very grateful to you for your assistance, Sir Waldo!”
“Even though—if the little minx has made up her mind to many a Marquis!—it must be thought superfluous!”
“Oh, no! We can’t foretell what might happen, you know. Tiffany is only a precocious child, and although she may indulge dreams of grandeur she doesn’t scheme.Would you care to say that she won’t take just enough fancy to Lord Lindeth to imagine herself in love? I promise you I wouldn’t! He is very good-looking, you know, besides having such engaging manners! Indeed, I am more than half in love with him myself!”
“Now, that I utterly forbid!” he declared.
She laughed. “I should rather think you might! I must be several years his senior. But in all seriousness, sir, a marriage between him and Tiffany would not do!”
“I am well aware of it.”
“Even if her birth matched his!” she said earnestly. “It must seem shocking in me to say such a thing of her, but I feel it would be quite wicked of me not to put you on your guard!”
“You believe it to be necessary?”
“I don’t know. I’ve seen how she can bring people round her thumb, and how charming she can be, when she chooses. But she hasn’t a particle of that sweetness of disposition which is in your cousin, and nothing but misery could be the outcome of a marriage between them!”
“Let me assure you, ma’am, since you seem to think I might succumb to her wiles, that my taste runs to females of quite another complexion!”
“I am glad of it,” she said, thinking, however, that he might well be courting more danger than he was yet aware of.
“That’s the kindest thing you have yet said to me,” he murmured.
She glanced at him, a puzzled expression in her eyes. They met his, and saw that they were quizzically smiling; and the suspicion flashed into her mind that he was trying to beguile her into flirtation. It was swiftly succeeded by the startling realization that she could very easily be so beguiled. That would never do, of course; so she said lightly: “I should be sorry to see anyone in Tiffany’s toils. Which puts me in mind of something I had to say to you! Tell me, Sir Waldo, what do you think of this proposed expedition to Knaresborough?”
“Too far, and the weather too sultry,” he replied, tacitly accepting her rebuff. He thought she sighed faintly, and said: “Do you wish for it, then?”
“I own I should like to go, if it were possible. Your cousin’s description of the Dripping Well made me long to see it. Tiffany, too. No sooner had Lord Lindeth told us of the wild, ragged rocks, and the cavern which was once the lair of bandits than she became mad after it!”
He smiled. “Mysteries of Udolpho?”
“Naturally! And I must own that it sounds most romantic. Isn’t it odd that it should be Lord Lindeth, a stranger to the district, who should have told us about it?”
“Oh, no! Natives are never enraptured by their surroundings. Over great familiarity,you know, genders despite.”
“Very true. I wish it were not too far to make an expedition eligible. I had not thought it about sixteen miles.”
“Which would mean a ride of thirty-two miles.”
“Nothing of the sort! Two rides of sixteen miles, with a long rest between for repose and refreshment! That’s a very different matter.”
“Out again, Miss Trent! Refreshment, certainly; but instead of reposing yourself you would spend your time clambering up rocky crags, and exploring caverns. Why don’t you go by carriage, if go you must?”
“Because nothing would prevail upon Tiffany to sit beside me in a carriage, driving sedately along the road when she might be on horseback, enjoying a canter over the moor. To be honest with you, I should think it sadly flat myself! Do you picture us being quite knocked up? I know my own powers, and as for Tiffany, she is the most indefatigable girl imaginable. However, it is very hot, so I’ll say no more.”