Miss Cresswell's London Triumph (11 page)

The reason for all this commotion at his arrival became immediately apparent as he descended to the walled garden behind the breakfast room. There was Cassie, a picture of the fashionable young lady in a morning dress of shaded yellow jaconet muslin with sleeves en bouffants perched precariously on top of the wall clutching a distressed Ethelred.

Entirely forgetting the unfortunate nature of their last encounter, she greeted Ned with obvious relief. "Ned, the very one! You have no notion how delighted I am to see you."

An appreciative smile lit up his tanned features as he strode over to the wall, remarking, "On the contrary, Cassie, I have a very fair idea of exactly how glad you are to see me. Oh, do be quiet, I shall get you down." This last, obviously addressed to Ethelred, seemed to reassure both parties. "Here, hand him to me," he directed. Taking the frightened duck in a firm grasp, he smoothed his feathers and managed to calm him down before restoring him to his friends on the ground and turning to assist Cassie.

"Pooh, I am not such a poor creature, she remarked indignantly, ignoring his hand and climbing down the thick vines which must have provided her the means of scaling the wall in the first place. "You see. Lady Telfair's odious pug somehow got into the garden and took great exception to Ethelred, in his own garden, if you can imagine such effrontery. I daresay you think it's amusing"—Cassie fired up as Ned's eyes began to dance—"but you wouldn't if you were Ethelred, and it is truly a nasty little dog."

"Arf, arf," Wellington agreed wholeheartedly. Nelson declined to comment, but the look of disdain on his face provided ample evidence of his opinion on their neighbor.

"At any rate, neither Nelson nor Wellington was around to protect him, so, taking fright, he flew to the top of the wall, but he's not much of a flier. So he panicked, and began quacking dreadfully. This brought Teddy, Nelson, and Wellington, who routed the pug but could do nothing to rescue Ethelred. They went for James the footman, but it was beneath his dignity to rescue a duck—"

"But not beneath yours, I see," Ned interrupted. "I thought it would not take long before the true Cassandra Cresswell emerged from the proper young lady of the ton that I found upon my return." The air of injured dignity which Cassie invariably assumed at being caught in a scrape descended upon her countenance. Ned grinned and proffered one tan hand. "Cry friends, then, Cass," he begged.

Cassie's infectious smile lit her face as she in turn extended a slightly grimy one. "Friends, Ned," she agreed.

This satisfactory resolution to their quarrel was interrupted by Teddy, who insisted on discussing the finer points of Ned's bay with him. "He lookth to be a high-mettled, prime bit of blood," he observed, nodding his head with all the sagacity of a dedicated frequenter of Tattersall's.

Ned's eyes twinkled as he nodded. "Oh he is, I was assured of the purity of his lineage. He's a Thoroughbred from ear to hoof, and though highly strung, there's not an ounce of vice in him," he agreed. Recognizing the light of a fanatic in the boy's eyes, he offered, "Would you like to examine him yourself?"

"Oh, yeth," breathed Teddy, glad to see his belief that Ned must be a right one confirmed. He and Wellington began to head to the stables, where Higgins, seeing that Ned's visit was going to be protracted, had ordered the horse to be taken.

Teddy s headlong rush was stopped midflight by Ned, who suggested that his aunt, who was credited to be no mean judge of horseflesh herself, might like to accompany them. Teddy looked somewhat crestfallen at having the purely masculine nature of the party vitiated. Seeing this, Ned was quick to point out that many people, Nigel Streatham included, considered Cassie to be a far better judge of the finer points of equine quality than her brother. This was a piece of news, indeed, to Teddy, who looked curiously at Cassie for confirmation of this interesting opinion.

"Well, Freddie has been known to be more impressed by the more showy points of a horse than I am and he is sometimes less critical," she acknowledged, loath to disparage her twin.

"Cut line, Cassie," Ned commented. "You know if it weren't for you, he would have bought that gelding from Ponsonby and been taken for a complete flat. You saw immediately that it was spavined."

Cassie grinned at the memory of Freddie bouncing along on the gelding's back after she had suggested that it might be wise to put it through its paces before purchasing it. "You are right, as always, Ned. Freddie was certain he was striking a bargain. He insisted that Ponsonby was at the low-water mark and needed the blunt. He was, too, and it was a shame we weren't able to help him by buying the horse, but the price was too high to pay for that bonesetter."

Teddy looked from one to the other, round-eyed at these revelations concerning an uncle he had always considered to be something of a demigod, at least as far as the sporting world was concerned. Despite his high regard for Cassie's intelligence, he tended, like all boys, to dismiss female opinion, particularly in these matters, as so much chatter, and he was much struck by Ned's obvious regard for her horse sense. At this point they reached the stables and he became totally immersed in examining the horse, talking to it gently as he rubbed its nose and ran a remarkably experienced eye for one so young over it.

Watching Teddy and Brutus, Ned was recalled to the original purpose of his visit. "I say, Cass, remember how much we enjoyed ourselves at Astley's? How would you like it if I escorted you and Teddy there soon?" he inquired.

"Why, what a capital notion, Ned!" Cassie responded enthusiastically. "I am sure Teddy would enjoy it above all tilings." She smiled shyly and added, "And I should like it a great deal, too."

Looking down at her, Ned saw the little girl he had once known peeping out from behind the severely intellectual facade she seemed to have adopted and he felt a great rush of tenderness toward her. "It's agreed, then. I shall ask Freddie if he would like to join us and it will be just like old times," he said, surprised himself at how much he was looking forward to the outing all of a sudden.

It was just like old times, Cassie reflected, as several days later the four of them were ensconced at Astley's Amphitheatre, except that Philip Astley was no longer there to perform. As they witnessed one equestrian feat after another she couldn't recall when she'd enjoyed herself more. It was so comfortable to be with Freddie and Ned again, laughing and joking. She felt none of the constraint she sometimes did with Horace when, amused at some ridiculous pretension, she would laugh or make some sarcastic remark only to find him looking at her with a puzzled or faintly disapproving air. In fact, until now, completely at ease and accompanied by her oldest friends, she had been unaware that she had felt this way and she wondered at it. Loyalty to Horace immediately asserted itself and she banished such thoughts, recalling instead the intellectual stimulation she always enjoyed during their discussions.

"Cathie, Cathie," Teddy cried, tugging at her sleeve and recalling her to the scene at hand. "Do look at the way he standth on the horth ath it goeth. How doth he do it?" he wondered.

The small boy was totally entranced, and watching his absorption, Cassie could see that she would soon be hard put to keep him from emulating the famous trick rider Andrew Ducrow. Remembering another boy who had sat enraptured in much the same way many years ago, Cassie tried to save her nephew from disastrous experiences by cautioning him about the difficulties involved in attempting this particular feat. "I once knew someone who gave his head a nasty crack trying to do that very trick and he was in bed for weeks as a result," she warned him.

"You did?" Teddy looked up inquiringly. "Who was it?"

Cassie quirked a teasing eyebrow at Freddie. He grinned guiltily, admitting, "I was certain that it was easily done and tried it one day on Prince when no one was around to stop me. Unfortunately, it was in the stable yard, and when I slipped off his back, I hit my head on the cobbles. Everything went black, and when I awoke with a blinding headache, I found myself in bed, surrounded by anxious and disapproving adults. I was laid up for some time and was most uncomfortable, I assure you. But Cassie felt for me in my plight. She read adventure stories to me by the hour and was a famous nurse. Actually, old Ned here was a Trojan, too, because he retrieved his toy soldiers from Camberly, and when I was a bit better, Nigel was allowed to visit me with his and we had some famous battles. So you see, I was tolerably amused, but it was difficult being confined to a bed during such fine weather."

Seeing the disappointed look on her nephew's face, Cassie hastened to add, "But when we returned to Cresswell where there was nice soft grass, we practiced endlessly. And"— she smiled impishly—"I expect we could do the same thing now when we return to Cresswell."

"We could?" Teddy asked eagerly. "Would you help me?"

"Certainly," she replied. "I was able to ride several times around the paddock standing on Prince's back with no help and without falling. I should think I could do it again. I don't expect, after all, that once one has learned something like that, one forgets it very easily."

Looking over at her animated face as she discussed this with Teddy, Ned reflected how few of the women he had flirted with and encountered in society would have given a second thought to the pleasure of a small boy, much less have entered into it as wholeheartedly as Cassie did. Her unaffected enthusiasm had always attracted him, but now the contrast she presented to the sophisticated women of the ton made him cherish her even more. He was glad once again that the unpleasantness of the Countess of Wakefield's ball had not spoiled their friendship. Being an avid horseman himself, Ned was enjoying the evening as much as anybody. The horses were magnificent specimens, their riders no less so. He leaned over to Teddy, who, after this evening and the episode with Brutus, was now his ardent admirer, and explained to him how the equestrians were able to practice and to accomplish what seemed to be impossible feats.

Watching the rapt expression on Teddy's face as he listened to Ned, Cassie recalled an evening when she and Freddie had looked just such a way at Lord Mainwaring as he had introduced them to the marvels of Astley's. It was a rare man who was able to offer such a treat to a child, she reflected, and once again she was struck, as she had been so many times before, with Ned's kind and sensitive nature. The shock of seeing him as a man of the world—handsome, assured, sought after by ladies of all ages and descriptions—had wiped this original conception of him from her mind and she was glad to have it restored.

Thus it was that when he turned to her, a half-quizzical, half-amused expression on his face, and asked, "Enjoying yourself?" she thanked him warmly, her entire face glowing with enthusiasm.

Looking down at her, Ned realized, as he had from time to time in the past, that his tomboy playmate was also quite a lovely young woman. And later, driving home, as Cassie continued to tease Freddie with his past adventures, Ned decided that he could not recall when he had enjoyed an evening more.

"What a bouncer, Freddie! You most certainly did not succeed in riding the entire way Vound the paddock at Cresswell the first time we tried standing on Prince's back," Cassie protested, laughing at her twin's extravagant claims that after his accident he had immediately mastered the art. She turned to appeal to Ned. "Don't you recall that you tore your second-best breeches when you fell off and that I didn't fall nearly as many times as Freddie?"

Ned, however, was not one to be completely won by feminine appeals. "Now Cassie, if you don't remember, I do, several pinafores that were all over grass stains," he argued.

She frowned, but remained undaunted as she asserted, "That may be true, but I only slid off. Freddie fell"

Ned choked, "You never could bear to be anything less than the best where horses were concerned." A darkling look from Cassie made her pause and admit, "Very well. You were in the right of it. Freddie did fall more times than you."

"There! You see, Ned agrees with me," Cassie crowed triumphantly as she turned to her crestfallen twin.

"Well, if that don't beat all," spluttered Freddie. "You defend a friend through thick and thin over all parts of the globe and at the least argument from a woman he betrays you."

Ned laid a palliative hand on his shoulder as he admonished, "Calm down, my boy. Cassie may have fallen fewer times, but you stayed on longer."

Cassie was outraged. "Why you traitor!" she blurted. "You know that's not true!"

By this time Ned was laughing so hard he could argue no longer. He held up a hand as he gasped, "Peace, you two. Youll be the death of me. I always swore you would be, and you will if you don't give over."

Theodore, scrunched into a corner of the carriage, was enjoying himself hugely. He had never seen adults scrapping like this before. Why, they were no different from him and Jem, Cresswell's stableboy, when they got into an argument. This had truly been a most instructional evening!

The night s experiences proved to be illuminating to more than one of the party s members, though their particular enlightenment dawned on Ned and Cassie later than it had on Teddy.

Ned had ample opportunity to reflect on Cassie's original, open, and friendly nature as he escorted Arabella to Lady All sop's the next evening. As always, she was a vision of loveliness. When he came to collect her and her mother, the sight of her quite took his breath away. In a dress of aerophane crepe over a white satin slip the silver Vandyke trimming on her short sleeves matching the border of the skirt also edged in silver, and pearls threaded through her hair as well as at her throat, she looked like an angel as she descended the staircase. Her smile as she took Ned's arm was devastating, and the melting look that accompanied her seductively murmured, "Oh Ned, you do look dashing," would have captivated a far less susceptible man than Ned Mainwaring, who, despite his treatment at her hands and a series of torrid affaires de coeur in the capital cities of Europe, was predisposed to admire his former love.