'W-well you can't!' said Abby, rocked off her balance.
'I know I can't – not here and now, at all events!'
'Ever! ' she uttered, furiously aware of flaming cheeks.
'Oh, that is quite another matter! Do you care to wager a small sum on the chance?'
Making a desperate recovery, she said: 'No! I never bet on certainties!'
He laughed. 'You know, you are a darling!' he said, completing her confusion.
'Well, what you are is a – a –'
'Hedge-bird?' he suggested helpfully, as she stopped, at a loss for words opprobrious enough to describe him. 'Gullcatcher? Bermondsey boy? Rudesby? Queer Nabs?'
She broke into laughter, and threw at him over her shoulder, as she went before him into the tea-room: 'All of those – and worse! In a word, infamous! Mrs Grayshott! How do you do? And – which I know you will think more important! – How does your invalid do?'
She sat down beside Mrs Grayshott as she spoke, wholly withdrawing her attention from the infamous Mr Calverleigh, who lounged away to procure her a cup of tea. Mrs Grayshott said: 'My invalid is not as stout as I could wish, nor as docile! Dr Wilkinson has seen him, however, and assures me that I have no need to fear that any permanent damage has been done to his health. He recommends a course of hot baths, which, he tells me and, indeed, I know from my own experience – do much to restore a debilitated frame. Abby, my dear, you must let me compliment you on t
his new way you have of dressing your hair! You look delightfully – and have set a new fashion in Bath, if I am any judge of the matter! Yes, I know you only care for compliments on Fanny's appearance, so not another word will I say in your praise! I imagine you have had a surfeit of compliments already – if not from Mr Dunston, who appeared to me to be quite moonstruck, certainly from
Mr Calverleigh!'
'Not at all!' replied Abby. 'Mr Calverleigh thinks me a candle in the sunshine of three veritable diamonds present tonight! Four, including Fanny!'
'Does he, indeed?' replied Mrs Grayshott, a good deal amused. 'I suspect he is what Oliver calls a complete hand ! You know, my dear, I must own that I am glad to see you on such good terms with him, for it has been very much on my conscience that I almost forced him upon you, which, as I hope you know, I never meant to do!'
'Oh, I know you didn't, ma'am! I wish you won't give it another thought. Sooner or later I must have met him, you know.'
'And you like him? I was afraid that his free-and-easy manners might offend you.'
'On the contrary! They amuse me. He is certainly an original!'
Mrs Grayshott smiled, but said rather wistfully: 'Why, yes! But not only that! He is so very kind ! He makes light of the ser vices he rendered Oliver throughout that weary voyage, but I've heard the truth from Oliver himself. But for Mr Calverleigh's unremitting care I don't think that my poor boy would have survived, for he tells me that he suffered a recrudescence of that horrible fever within two days of having been carried aboard! It was Mr Calverleigh, rather than the ship's surgeon, who preserved his life, his long residence in India having made him far more familiar with the disorder than any ship's surgeon could be! I must be eternally obliged to him!' Her voice shook; she overcame the little surge of emotion, and said, with an effort at liveliness: 'And, as though he had not done enough for me, what must he do but procure tickets for this concert tonight, and positively bully me into accompanying him! Something I must have said gave him the notion that I should very much like to hear Neroli, and I think it particularly kind in him to have given me the opportunity to do so, because I am afraid he is not himself a music-lover.'
Having very good reason to suppose that Mr Calverleigh's kindness sprang from pure self-interest, Abby was hard put to it to hold her tongue. It was perhaps fortunate that he rejoined them at this moment, thus putting an end to any further discussion of his character. She accepted the tea he had brought, with a word of thanks and a charming smile, but could not resist the impulse to ask him if he was not ravished by Neroli's voice.
He replied promptly: 'Not entirely. A little too much vibrato, don't you agree?'
'Ah, I perceive that you are an expert!' said Abby, controlling a quivering lip. 'You must enlighten my ignorance, sir! What does that mean, if you please?'
'Well, my Latin is pretty rusty, but I should think it means to tremble,' he said coolly. 'She does, too, like a blancmanger. And much the same shape as one,' he added thoughtfully.
'Oh, you dreadful creature!' protested Mrs Grayshott, bubbling over. 'I didn't mean that, when I said I thought she had rather too much vibrato! You know I didn't!'
'I thought she had too much of everything,' he said frankly.
Mrs Grayshott cried shame upon him; but Abby, caught in the act of sipping her tea, choked.
When he presently restored her to her own party, she was spared the necessity of introducing him to Mrs Faversham by that lady's greeting him by name, and with a gracious smile: Lady Weaverham had already performed that office, in the Pump Room that morning.
Mr Faversham said, taking his seat beside Abby: 'So that's young Calverleigh's uncle!' He looked critically after Mr Calverleigh's tall, retreating figure. 'Got the look of a care-for nobody, but I like him better than his nephew: too insinuating by half, that young man!'
'You don't like him, sir?'
'No, I can't say I do,' he replied bluntly. 'Fact of the matter is I set no store by these young sprigs of fashion! My wife calls me an old fogey: daresay you will too, for the ladies all seem to have run wild over him! Haven't met him yet, have you?'
'No, that pleasure hasn't been granted me,' she said, in a dry tone.