The Aim of a Lady (9 page)

Diana felt relief flood through her. “We’ve put your name on it, and Jenkins thinks Charger would be best to pull it. Josh has used it with him and found everything secure. Would you like to try it now? Jenkins is afraid you’ll break your neck, but I really don’t think so,” she said seriously, her eyes dancing.

“If I do, you are not to hold yourself to blame,” he retorted.

“No more shall I.”

There was a great deal of excitement surrounding the harnessing of the horse to the chariot and Alma’s testing its balance. The entire complement of the stable staff provided a cheer as he asked them to release the horse. It was an entirely unique experience for him to drive in such a manner, of course, requiring a great deal of balance and a different touch on the reins altogether. He had to break himself of the desire to use the ribbons as a balancing mechanism, for that confused the horse and tended to slow him. The exhilaration which encompassed Alma as he urged the horse to still greater speed did not tempt him to release his caution, however. For an hour he tooled along the lanes near the Park, laughing at the astonished faces of the people who passed him.

When he brought the chariot back to the stables he found it was more difficult to alight than to drive the thing, but the stable lads ran to his assistance. “Tomorrow,” he informed them, “I should like to drive two horses tandem. Then I will race Miss Savile.” He turned to bestow a radiant smile on her. “Will you accept my challenge, ma’am?”

“Certainly,” she responded readily. “Was it fun?”

“Yes. A bit awkward at first, almost more like riding than driving in some ways. You feel very much closer to the horse than in a carriage, and more dependent on your own ability. I’m sorry, I didn’t offer you a chance to try it. Would you like to?”

“Perhaps another time. I must join Mrs. Lewis for tea now. Do you come?”

“Yes, I could stand a cup, and I will even sit down so that Mrs. Lewis will not be uncomfortable,” he offered handsomely.

“There is no need, for you charmed her at lunch,” Diana replied. “I cannot doubt but that she will even accept your standing now."

They began to walk toward the house and Alma suddenly placed his hand on her arm. “I cannot express to you how grateful I am, Miss Savile. It was a very clever idea and I feel better just knowing there is something I can do. Oh, I have enjoyed the archery and the fencing and the fishing, but not being able to ride or drive was a nuisance. Worse than a nuisance. It put me in a very black temper and I could not feel easy. I...well, thank you."

“I’m pleased that it will serve,” she responded happily as he removed his hand from her arm and they continued toward the house. “Do you think the chariot goes faster than a phaeton?”

“It is lighter, of course, and everything would indicate that it should. We shall see. You will not mind losing, I trust,” he said quizzingly.

“Not I. I have spent most of my life losing races to George. He was never one to let me win out of soft-heartedness; I feel sure you will be the same.”

“‘Depend on it,” he retorted as they entered the small parlor.

During their absence Mrs. Lewis had sustained a visit from a friend just back from London. “She has brought me several papers from town, Miss Diana. You may wish to see them."

Diana thanked her for the offer and did avail herself of them after the tea tray had been removed and Mrs. Lewis had begun once more on her embroidery. “Oh, dear,” she said pathetically. “He was too late. Poor George.”

Pacing about the room, ready to excuse himself, Alma looked at her questioningly. Her stricken expression startled him.

“There is an announcement of the engagement of Miss Alonna Sanfield to Lord Vallert,” she explained sadly, biting her lip. Diana lapsed into thought for a while, unaware of the concern she was causing her companions. “I think I must go to London.”

“To London?” Mrs. Lewis asked quaveringly. “I thought you did not even like to go to town, Miss Diana.”

“No, I do not really care for it, but I think George must be feeling rather down and he could use my company.” Her eyes chanced to land on Alma at that moment and his ludicrous expression drew her up sharply. “No, of course I cannot go now. What am I thinking of? Forgive me, Lord Alma. If George needs company he will surely return to the Park,” she prophesied with an overly brilliant smile.

Alma was at a pass. Miss Savile obviously longed to go to her brother but felt she must stay to entertain him, and he could not suggest that she go because that would leave him without either host or hostess at the Park, and he could not leave yet. Well, he could manage without a host or hostess for a few days, he supposed. She had been very kind to him, attentive to his needs and sympathetic to his moodiness. “If you wish to go to London, Miss Savile, I hope you will not allow me to detain you. I can manage here on my own.”

Diana studied her hands and bit her lip. “No, there is no need for me to go. The paper is three days old now, and George has not returned. He was not altogether sure...Well, I shall just assume he is fine,” she said stoutly.

Mrs. Lewis surveyed the two young people uneasily. That Mr. Savile would be affected by the announcement of this young lady’s engagement, she surmised readily enough, but she did not like to see Miss Diana so downcast, so she said heartily, “If you were to go to London you would probably pass Mr. Savile on the road, my dear. If he has decided to come home, that is.”

Diana met the old woman’s concerned gaze. “Yes, it would be very foolish of me to rush off in such a helter-skelter fashion, would it not, Mrs. Lewis? I shall stay right where I am and wait for word from him.”

* * * *

It had not occurred to George to send word to his sister. He had decided the previous day, whenever his concentration drifted from his book, that if the rain had not stopped by the next morning he would hire a closed carriage to take him to Lymington. He was in luck, however, and a watery sun shone through that following day, so he set out through the mud regardless of the tales of flooding.

The whole day was spent fording unknown and unexpected streams across the roads, being splattered with mud each time he passed another carriage and urging each new pair of horses to face the inconveniences with courage. George reached the Old Toll House at Lymington late in the evening—cold, wet and muddy. The meal he ordered in his room was nourishing if not very appetizing looking, and the brandy seemed heaven-sent.

George was tempted to discard his distressed clothing forever, but instead decided to pay a premium for having it respectably cleaned by a maid who tutted the while she examined it. He had not brought more than a few changes of clothing, and he had no intention of presenting himself at Franston Hall other than respectably dressed. He had begun to question the wisdom of his journey, but it bore in on him the fact that he was more deeply attached to Alonna than even he had previously suspected. Though he realized that there was little hope of a successful conclusion, he looked forward to the next day with a great deal of tension which was wholly foreign to his placid nature.

* * * *

Lord Vallert had returned to London in high dudgeon, and the interview he conducted with Lord Franston did not please either of them. Alonna’s father refused to order his daughter back to London or to retrieve her. He simply said, “She’ll come about, young man. Give her time. No need to take on so.”

Vallert lost his temper then. “Why the hell shouldn’t I take on? The chit said if I did not have a retraction printed she would do so herself, and threatened to blacken my character in the process! Have you no control over your daughter?”

Lord Franston eyed him malevolently. “Obviously no more than you have over your intended, you young gudgeon. Retract the announcement. You can insert it again when Alonna has agreed and it will appear merely a lover’s quarrel. The ton will lap it up, slap me if they won’t.”

“I will appear a fool!”

“And so you are, for inserting the announcement in the first place without receiving my daughter’s permission."

“Do you think she would actually have the retraction printed herself in such a way as to cast a bad light on me?” Vallert demanded.

“Couldn’t say. Don’t know her very well, you see. Spent most of her time the last few years in the country.”

“I shall not print a retraction,” Vallert asserted hotly. “I intend to marry your daughter!”

The older man regarded him thoughtfully. “I cannot see why you wish to marry a young woman who doesn’t want you, but I wash my hands of the matter. You will no doubt find out in time if she meant what she said. My own guess, for what it’s worth, is that she did. She has but a year before her majority and I imagine her sister will be willing to house her until then. I cannot force her to marry you. You’d be smart to cut your losses.”

Vallert stalked out without another word, leaving Lord Franston to mutter about ill-mannered young puppies to a nonexistent audience. Alonna’s father had the uneasy feeling that he had not handled the entire matter as he ought, but he had no ambition to involve himself further. Let Margaret take his daughter off his hands; as far as he was concerned it was almost as good as marrying her off.

Chapter Nine

Diana awoke the next morning with a heavy heart. George was the person she loved most in the whole world and she ached for his disappointment. In all the years they had talked together as contemporaries (and he had treated her as such for the last ten years), he had never before spoken of any woman as being someone he desired to marry; and he had led an active social life in London from the time he first went there at twenty, when she was only eight. In those days, their parents already dead, he had provided her with a kindly governess and frequently stayed at the Park for long periods of time. All those years he had met young women daily at his home and in town, and never once had he mentioned one he wanted to marry.

It might be, she thought, that he had decided it was time to marry and had chosen the best of those available, but she thought not. He had spoken with real warmth about this Alonna Sanfield, had even thought of asking Diana to come to London to meet her. Even though he had appeared to question the choice of such a young and inexperienced woman, she knew that he had already decided to try his luck. How frustrating not even to have a chance, to be so close and lose her without ever knowing if she would have had him.

Diana drew herself up abruptly. George had left her with a responsibility and that was the only thing she could do for him now—make sure that Lord Alma was kept occupied and reasonably happy. She was determined to do that one small thing for her brother. Perhaps even now George was headed for the Park, as Mrs. Lewis had suggested. She sighed and rose from her bed to dress for the morning.

Alma had joined them the previous evening for dinner and several games of three-handed whist. He did not come to breakfast but met Diana in the hall shortly after she left Mrs. Lewis in the small parlor.

“Shall we have our race now?” he asked cheerfully.

“Yes, but you will want to practice with the horses tandem first. I have to speak with the housekeeper, but I will join you at the stables in half an hour, if that’s agreeable.”

When she joined him there, the grooms were ready to harness the horses to her own phaeton. George had presented it to her on her birthday almost a year ago. “Have you marked out a course?” she asked Alma.

“We have a marker there beyond the gate for the start and finish. Twice around the south field. Is that satisfactory?”

“Perfectly. How do the horses handle in tandem with the chariot?”

“A trifle sticky, but I think I’m getting the knack of it.”

“Good. Do you wish to make a wager on the race? George always does.”

“What sort of wager?”

“When we were young we did it for chores and errands, now we wager fantastic amounts of money— imaginary, of course.”

Alma could not offhand think of any ridiculous bet to make, though an absurd idea popped into his mind to be immediately discarded. “What do you say to a guinea?”

“You’re on."

The grooms held their horses at the starting line until Jenkins gave the signal to start. Diana took an immediate lead because Alma was having trouble controlling his horses. The path was wide enough for the two vehicles side by side, but Diana maintained a full length ahead of Alma the first time around the south field. When they were halfway around the second time he began to gain on her, accustomed now to the speed and the movement of the chariot. As they came past the field and onto the stretch toward the stables his chariot wheel sank briefly into a hole which threw him slightly off balance. In his effort to maintain his stance his pressure on the reins caused the horses to swerve just enough to throw the chariot wheel against that of the phaeton.

Diana had given herself up to the excitement of the race and was taken completely unawares by the light blow to her wheel. The phaeton tipped slightly and she was pitched out onto the grassy bank like a discarded container. George’s words came back to her in a flash, ‘Release the reins immediately if you are thrown,’ and she did so. The breath was knocked out of her but her landing was no more disastrous than any of the falls she had taken as a child.

Such an enormous consequence to the light touching of wheels surprised Alma, but he cursed himself for a fool and drew in his horses ruthlessly. The woman was as light as a feather to fly off like that! He left the grooms starting toward them to cope with the phaeton and the chariot and raced back to his hostess.

By the time he reached her, Diana was sitting up and Alma, white with fear, stopped abruptly in front of her and gasped, “Are you all right? Dear God, I’m sorry, Diana. I tried to recover my balance. Are you hurt?”

“No, I don’t think so. Just a little dazed.” She held out her hand for him to help her up and he grasped it firmly to pull her to her feet, all the while looking for signs of an injury. Aware of his concern, Diana scolded, “Don’t be so solicitous. There is nothing the matter with me.”