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.Are you over your dudgeon?“What do you mean?” He was startled.“You came into the room looking like a thundercloud.Your face is very expressive, you know; at least I find it so.I daresay no one else noticed.”“I hope not.I must confess to having been in something of a temper, but I am now, as you put it, over my dudgeon.Pray tell me, since you read me so easily, is my face sufficiently calm for me to go and make my excuses to Lady Amelia? Bernard is a trifle weary, I believe, though he will not admit it.”“What a useful friend the captain is!” She regarded him with an understanding twinkle.“Yes, you look perfectly unruffled.Good night, my lord.”“Good night, Miss Caxton.” He bowed, smiling down at her.“I shall take care to school my features in your presence in future.”“But it’s your eyes, my lord,” she murmured to his retreating back.“I defy you to hide their message.”Bernard was quite willing to leave.“It is not that I am tired,” he said as they drove homeward, “but any performance must be anticlimactic after Miss Anne’s singing.She has a glorious voice, has she not?”“I am no judge, and I fear I was in no case to listen.”“No, I saw that.What put you in such a pelter? Mr.Thorncrest was not helpful, I take it.”“To put it mildly! He laughed at my notion that anything less than decades of work might atone for my abysmal ignorance.You saw that I was in the boughs? Am I then so transparent?”“I’ve known you for years, Chris.I expect you appeared your usual imperturbable self to anyone else.”“On the contrary, Miss Caxton told me I looked like a thundercloud.”Bernard laughed.“Did she, indeed! That’s plain speaking to an officer and an earl.”“I don’t believe my rank impresses her in the least, any more than it does Mr.Thorncrest.”“What did you say to him?”“I traded insult for insult like a schoolboy.That’s one house we’ll not be invited to again.”“I shouldn’t count on it.It’s my belief Lady Amelia rules the roast and unlike Miss Caxton she is very much aware of your rank.”“Much good it does me being an earl,” said his lordship gloomily.“I’d a sight rather be back in the army.”“Many men in your position live in town and wring every penny out of their estates to support them in style.”“I couldn’t do that.There are too many people dependent upon me.”“Your wretched sense of duty.”“I shall have to marry a fortune.”“An excellent solution.And is it not fortunate that Miss Grove possesses one?”“Yes, if I must do it, but I’ve no desire to be leg-shackled to anyone just yet.I shall put off the dreadful moment as long as I can.”* * * *A less amicable atmosphere prevailed in the closed carriage that followed the curricle along the lane towards Down Stanton half an hour later.“What did you mean by enticing the earl to your side, Rowena?” snapped Millicent.“It is most unbecoming in you to put yourself forward in such a manner in public, I vow.”“Would you prefer that she meet him in private?” Anne sprang to the defence, unsnubbed by her mother, who was snoring gently in the opposite corner.“For heaven’s sake, Anne, there is not the least chance of that.” Rowena could not help feeling that her younger cousin’s efforts on her behalf were as likely to throw fuel on the flames as to douse them.“Lord Farleigh sat beside me because that was the only seat available at the back of the room.He is too much the gentleman to create a stir in the middle of a performance by moving to the front.He had gone out to talk to Mr.Thorncrest, you know.”“No, I did not know! I suppose you pried his business out of him in your underhanded way.”“I saw them leave together and presumed that they had conversed.” She spoke with some asperity.“For all I know, they sat in silence staring at each other for a quarter hour [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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