The Convenient Marriage (10 page)

However, the business was settled in the end by a letter from Mr Heron. Mr Heron had got his Captaincy, and was to go into the West Country in the further execution of his duties. He desired to make Elizabeth his wife without any more delay, and proposed an immediate wedding.

Elizabeth would have liked to be married quietly at Winwood, but her Mama, having no notion of allowing her triumph in getting two daughters respectably married within three months to pass unnoticed, arose tottering from her couch and announced that never should it be said that she had Failed in her Duty towards her loved ones.

The wedding was naturally not so brilliant an affair as Horatia's, but it passed off very well, and if the bride appeared pale she was allowed to be in great beauty for all that. The bridegroom looked extremely handsome in his Regimentals, and the ceremony was graced by the presence of the Earl and Countess of Rule, the Countess wearing for the occasion a gown that made every other lady blink with envy.

Elizabeth, in all the bustle of hurried preparation, had had few opportunities of being private with Horatia, and on the only occasion when she found herself alone with her sister she had realized with a sinking heart that Horatia was on her guard against too intimate a conversation. She could only hope to have more opportunity later in the year, when Horatia promised to come to Bath, which watering-place Captain Heron was to make his headquarters.

Chapter Six

Well, if you wish to know what I think,' said Lady Louisa stringently - 'though I make not the smallest doubt that you don't - you're a fool, Rule!'

The Earl, who was still glancing over some papers brought to him by Mr Gisborne a few moments before his sister's arrival, said absently: 'I know. But you must not let it distress you, my dear.'

'What,' demanded her ladyship, disregarding this flippancy, 'are those papers? You need not put yourself to the trouble of telling me. I know the look of a bill, trust me!'

The Earl put them into his pocket. 'If only more people understood me so well!' he sighed. 'And respected my - er -constitutional dislike of answering questions.'

'The chit will ruin you,' said his sister. 'And you do nothing - nothing to avert calamity!'

'Believe me,' said Rule, 'I hope to have enough energy to avert that particular calamity, Louisa.'

'I wish I may see it!' she replied. 'I like Horry. Yes, I do like her, and I did from the start, but if you'd one grain of sense, Marcus, you would take a stick and beat her!'

'But think how fatiguing!' objected the Earl.

She looked scornfully across at him. 'I wanted her to lead you a dance,' she said candidly. 'I thought it would be very good for you. But I never dreamed she would make herself the talk of the town while you stood by and watched.'

'You see, I hardly ever dance,' Rule excused himself.

Lady Louisa might have replied with some asperity had not a light footstep sounded at that moment in the hall, and the door opened to admit Horatia herself.

She was dressed for the street, but carried her hat in her hand, as though she had just taken it off. She threw it on to a chair, and dutifully embraced her sister-in-law. 'I am sorry I was out, L-Louisa. I have been to see M-mama. She is feeling very low, because of having l-lost Lizzie. And Sir P-Peter Mason, whom she quite thought was g-going to offer for Charlotte because he doesn't like L-levity in a Female, is promised to Miss Lupton after all. M-Marcus, do you think Arnold might like to m-marry Charlotte?'

'For heaven's sake, Horry,' cried Lady Louisa with foreboding, 'don't ask him!'

Horatia's straight brows drew together. 'N-no, of course not. But I m-might throw them together, I think.'

'Not, I beg of you,' said his lordship, 'in this house.'

The grey eyes surveyed him questioningly. 'N-not if you would rather I didn't,' said Horatia obligingly. 'I am not set on it, you understand.'

'I am so glad,' said his lordship. 'Consider the blow to my self-esteem if Charlotte were to accept Arnold's, hand in marriage.'

Horatia twinkled. 'Well, you n-need not put yourself about, sir, for Charlotte says she is going to D-dedicate her Life to M-mama. Oh, are you going already, Louisa?'

Lady Louisa had risen, drawing her scarf round her shoulders. 'My dear, I have been here this age. I came only for a word with Marcus.'

Horatia stiffened slightly. 'I see,' she said. 'It was a p-pity I came in, perhaps.'

'Horry, you're a silly child,' said Lady Louisa, tapping her cheek. 'I have been telling Rule he should beat you. I doubt he is too lazy.'

Horatia swept a polite curtsy, and closed her lips firmly together.

The Earl escorted his sister out of the room, and across the hall. 'You are not always very wise, are you, Louisa?' he said.

'I never was,' she answered ruefully.

Having seen his sister into her carriage the Earl returned rather thoughtfully to the library. Horatia, swinging her hat defiantly, was already crossing the hall towards the stairs, but she paused as Rule spoke to her. 'Do you think you could spare me a moment of your time, Horry?'

The scowl still lingered on her brow. 'I'm g-going to luncheon with Lady M-Mallory,' she informed him.

'It is not yet time for luncheon,' he replied.

'No, but I have to change my g-gown.'

'That is naturally important,' agreed the Earl.

'Well, it is,' she insisted.

The Earl held the door into the library open. Up went Horatia's chin. 'I m-may as well tell you, my lord, that I'm feeling c-cross, and when I'm cross I don't talk to p-people.'

Across the wide stretch of hall the Earl's eyes met and held hers. 'Horry,' he said pleasantly, 'you know how much I dislike exertion. Don't put me to the trouble of fetching you.'

The chin came down a little, and the smouldering eyes showed a certain speculative interest. 'C-carry me, do you m-mean? I wonder if you would?'

The gravity of Rule's expression was dispelled by a slight look of amusement. 'And I wonder whether you really think that I would not?' he said.

A door at the end of the hall, leading to the servants' quarters, opened, and a footman came out. Horatia shot a triumphant glance at the Earl, set one foot on the bottom stair, hesitated, and then swung round and walked back into the library.

The Earl closed the door. 'You play fair, Horry, at all events,' he remarked.

'Of c-course,' said Horatia, seating herself on the arm of a chair and once more tossing her ill-used hat aside. 'I did not m-mean to be disobliging, but when you talk me over with your sister it makes me f-furious.'

'Are you not rather leaping to conclusions?' suggested Rule.

'Well, anyway, she said she had been't-telling you that you ought to beat me,' said Horatia, kicking her heel against the chair-leg.

'She is full of good advice,' agreed his lordship. 'But I haven't beaten you yet, Horry, in spite of it.'

Slightly mollified, the bride remarked: 'No, b-but I think when she says things about m-me you might defend m-me, sir.'

'You see, Horry,' said his lordship with a certain deliberation, 'you make that rather difficult.'

There was an uncomfortable pause. Horatia flushed to the roots of her hair, and said, stammering painfully: 'I'm's-sorry. I d-don't m-mean to behave outrageously. W-what have I done n-now?'

'Oh, nothing really very desperate, my dear,' Rule said non-committally. 'But do you think you could refrain from introducing a wild animal into Polite Circles?'

A giggle, hastily choked, escaped her. 'I was afraid you'd hear about that,' she confessed. 'B-but it was quite an accident, I assure you, and - and very diverting.'

'I haven't the least doubt of that,' Rule replied.