The Masqueraders

‘You are,’ Sir Anthony said, ‘a curious mixture. You’d no suspicion of it?’

She laughed. ‘None, sir, upon my word.’

‘A babe in our midst,’ he remarked thoughtfully. ‘And yet – not a babe.’

‘I told you, sir, that I have been about the world a little.’

‘It may be that. Was all this junketting about by yourself, I wonder?’

She was being cross-examined. One must step warily. ‘There was usually a friend with me,’ she answered indifferently.

‘You must have spent a prodigious time touring Europe,’ he said pensively.

‘I don’t know why you should think so, sir. I made the Grand Tour.’

‘You must have made it a very extended one to have seen so much,’ Sir Anthony pointed out gently.

‘You forget, sir, a great part of my life was spent abroad with my parents.’

‘Ah, to be sure!’ he nodded. ‘No doubt many of your experiences were gained then.’

‘Yes, Sir Anthony.’

There was a slight pause. The gentleman was looking straight between his horse’s ears. ‘What a very tender age at which to have seen so much!’ he remarked blandly.

The mare bounded forward under a spur incautiously driven home. ‘Sir,’ said Prudence, ‘for some reason I don’t guess you seem to hold me in suspicion.’ It was a daring move, but she could see no other.

Up went the straight brows, in sleepy surprise. ‘Not at all, my dear boy. Why should I?’

‘I have no notion, sir.’

They rode on in silence for a little while. ‘Shall we have the pleasure of seeing your respected father in town?’ inquired the tiresome gentleman.

‘I believe not, sir.’

‘Why, I am sorry,’ said Sir Anthony. ‘I confess I have an ambition to meet the begetter of so worldly wise a youth.’

‘No doubt my father would surprise you, sir,’ said Prudence, with truth. ‘It’s a remarkable old gentleman.’

‘No doubt he would,’ agreed Fanshawe. ‘I find that life is full of surprises.’

For a moment grey eyes met grey. ‘The sudden appearance of the lost Viscount, for instance,’ said Prudence lightly.

‘Precisely. And the no less sudden appearance of the Pretender not so long back.’

So that was the gist of the matter, was it? Prudence drew in her breath.

The lazy voice continued. ‘And – when one thinks of it – the sudden appearance of the Merriots.’

‘Oh, that! Sudden to you, I make no doubt, but believe me it was not sudden to us. My sister was in a fever of anticipation for weeks before.’

The danger point seemed to be past. Sir Anthony preserved a thoughtful silence.

‘You did not go down to your house at Wych End after all, sir,’ remarked Prudence at length.

‘No, little man. I changed my mind since your company was denied me.’

She flushed, and looked up frankly. ‘I wonder that you should so greatly desire my company, Sir Anthony.’