An Infamous Army (Alastair-Audley Tetralogy 4)

‘Very di

sagreeable for you,’ said Judith. ‘I am glad Charles was at hand to be of assistance.’

‘He was so very kind! But I am afraid you must have been wondering what had become of him. Was it very wrong of me to let him have supper with us?’

Judith started. ‘So that was where he was! To be sure, I could not see him at any of the tables, but there was such a crowd I might easily miss him. I make no doubt he had a much more agreeable time of it with you.’

‘We had a very cosy party,’ replied Miss Devenish, ‘if only my aunt had not found the heat so oppressive! Colonel Audley has such pleasant, open manners that he makes one feel one has known him all one’s life.’

Lady Worth agreed to it, and had the satisfaction, during their drive home, of hearing Colonel Audley comment favourably on Miss Devenish. ‘A very charming, unaffected girl,’ he said.

‘I am glad you were able to be of service to her.’

‘Pinning up her lace? No very great matter,’ replied the Colonel.

‘I understood she had a disagreeable adventure: some young man (she would not tell me his name) was ungentlemanly enough to force his attentions upon her, surely?’

‘Oh, I had nothing to do with that!’ said the Colonel. ‘He was probably in his cups, and meant no serious harm.’

‘She is unfortunately situated in having an aunt too indolent to chaperon her as she should, and an uncle whose birth and manners cannot add to her consequence. The fact of her being an heiress makes her very generally sought after!

‘An enviable position!’ said the Colonel.

‘Ah, you do not know! But I was an heiress myself, and I can tell you it was sometimes a very unenviable position.’

Worth said, with a note of amusement in his voice: ‘My position was certainly so, but that you experienced anything but the most profound enjoyment comes as news to me.’

She was betrayed into a laugh, but said: ‘Well, perhaps I did enjoy teasing you at least, but recollect that I was never a shy creature like Lucy.’

‘I recollect that perfectly,’ said the Earl.

‘Is Miss Devenish shy? I did not find her so,’ said the Colonel. ‘Shy girls are the devil, for they won’t talk, and have such a habit of blushing that one is for ever thinking one has said something shocking. I found Miss Devenish perfectly conversable.’

Judith was satisfied. The Colonel, though ready to discuss the fête, had apparently forgotten Barbara Childe’s existence. Not one word of admiration for her crossed his lips; her name was not mentioned.

‘Julian, what a mercy! I don’t believe he can have liked her after all!’ confided her ladyship later, in the privacy of her own bedroom. ‘Indeed, I might have trusted to his excellent good sense. Did you notice that he did not once speak of her?’

‘I did,’ replied the Earl somewhat grimly.

‘Well?’

He looked at her, smiling, and took her chin in his hand. ‘You are an ever-constant source of delight to me, my love. Did you know?’ he said, kissing her.

Judith returned this embrace with great readiness, but asked: ‘Why? Have I said something silly?’

‘Very silly,’ Worth assured her tenderly.

‘How horrid you are! Tell me at once!’

‘My adorable simpleton, Charles induced no less a personage than the Prince of Orange to present him to the most striking woman in the room, seized not one but two waltzes which I have not the least doubt were bespoken days ago by less fortunate suitors, and comes away at the end of the evening with apparently not one word to say of a lady whom even you will admit to be of quite extraordinary beauty.’

‘Oh!’ she said. ‘Is that a bad sign, do you think?’

‘The worst!’ he answered.

She was shaken, but said stoutly: ‘Well, I don’t believe it. Charles has great good sense. I am perfectly at ease.’

Had she been privileged to observe Colonel Audley’s actions not very many hours later her faith in his good sense might have suffered a shock. The Colonel’s staff training had made him expert in obtaining desired information, and he had not wasted his time at the fête. While his sister-in-law still lay sleeping, he was up, and in the Earl’s stables. Seven o’clock saw him cantering gently down the Allée Verte, beyond the walls of the town, mounted on a blood mare reserved for his brother’s exclusive use.