An Infamous Army (Alastair-Audley Tetralogy 4)

‘You are right!’ she said, in a low, furious voice. ‘This quarrel will not keep!’

He led her out of the ballroom and across the hall to a small parlour. There was no one in it, but the candles had been lit in the wall-sconces. The Colonel shut the door, and remained with his back to it, watching Barbara with a grave look in his eyes.

She went with long, hasty steps to the table in the centre of the room, and there faced him. When she spoke it was plain that she was making an effort to control her voice. ‘I desire to understand you. Did you think I had fallen in love with that youth?’

‘Of course not. It was he who fell in love with you.’

She made a contemptuous gesture. ‘An affair of great moment, that!’

‘It was an affair of very great moment to him, and to his wife.’

‘What are either of them to you?’

‘Not very much, perhaps. That does not signify. I wouldn’t let you come between any husband and his wife.’

‘Unfortunate! It is one of my pastimes!’

He was silent, his mouth shut hard, his arms folded across his chest. She said angrily: ‘You have made me ridiculous! You dared—you dared to bundle Peregrine out of the country without a word to me! Do you wish me to confess myself in the wrong? Very well, I behaved after the fashion of my family, badly! But not so badly that it was necessary to set the Channel between Peregrine and my charms! As though I would not have given him up at a word from you!’

‘You are unreasonable,’ he replied. ‘Was there not a word from me? I seem to remember that you promised to set all to rights. I trusted you, but you broke your word to me. Is it for you to reproach me now? You took Perry from his wife out of spite. That makes me feel sick, do you know? If I thought that you knew what unhappiness—but you didn’t! It was mischief—thoughtlessness! But, Bab, you cannot undo that kind of mischief merely by growing cool towards the poor devil you’ve made to fall in love with you! To see you, to hear your voice, is enough to keep that passion alive! The only course for Peregrine to follow was to go away.’

Her lip curled. ‘This is decidedly in the tragic manner! Well! It is at least comforting to know that the scandal Peregrine’s flight will create will be of your making. But I have an odd liking for creating my own scandals. You will agree that I am sufficiently adept to require no assistance.’

He moved away from the door, and came towards her. ‘My God, where are we drifting? Is that the sum of your ambition, to create a scandal?’

‘Oh, certainly! Did I not inform you of it, two months ago?’

‘You don’t mean what you say. Don’t try to make me angry too! This wretched business is over. There is no need to discuss it, believe me!’

‘You know very well that there is. You have given me a taste of high-handedness which I don’t care for. I dare say you would like me to cry meekly on your shoulder, and promise not to offend again.’

‘I would like to believe that you had a heart!’

‘Oh, I have, and bestow little bits of it here and there in a most generous fashion.’

‘Was I the recipient of one of those little bits?’

She grew white, and said abruptly: ‘There has been enough of this. I warned you—did I not?—that you were making a mistake when you chose to invest me with all the virtues. Let me advise you to try your fortune with Miss Devenish. She would make you an admirable wife. You might be as possessive as you pleased, and she would love you for it. You can no longer persist in thinking me a suitable bride!’

‘Every word you say seems designed to convince me that you are not!’

‘Capital!’ She did not speak quite steadily, but the smile still curled her lips. ‘The truth is, my dear Charles, that we have both of us been fools. I at least should have known better, for I had the advantage of you in having been married before. I admit that I was a little carried away. But I am bored now, confoundedly bored!’

‘I envy you!’ he said harshly. ‘Boredom seems a little thing compared with what I have had to suffer at your hands!’

‘Your mistake! Boredom is the most damnable of all sufferings!’

‘No! The most damnable suffering is to have your faith in one you love slowly killed. But what should you know of that? You don’t deal in love!’

‘On the contrary, I deal in it most artistically!’

‘I have another word for it,’ he said.

‘The devil you have! There, it is off at last! You may have perceived that I have been tugging at your ring for the last ten minutes. It should, of course, have been cast at your feet some time ago, but the confounded thing was always too tight. Take it!’

He looked at her for a moment, then held out his hand without a word. She dropped the ring into it, turned sharply on her heel, and went out of the room.

It was some time before the Colonel followed her, but he went back into the ballroom presently, and sought out Miss Devenish. ‘Forgive me!’ he said. ‘I have kept you waiting.’