April Lady

‘I probably shall. What, in fact, did Letty do to bring this scold down upon me?’

‘Nothing at all! That is to say, nothing to make a piece of work about! You know how it is with her, when she is in high gig! She allows her vivacity to carry her beyond the line of what is pleasing, but she is so young that it is only people like Lady Chudleigh who don’t know that it is all done in innocence.’

‘And want of upbringing,’ he said, with a sigh. ‘I can blame no one but myself for that. You didn’t, in sober truth, let her wear an improper gown, did you?’

‘No – oh, no!’ she replied guiltily. ‘Not – not improper precisely! I own it was not just the thing for a girl of her age, but – well, she won’t wear it again, so pray don’t mention it to her, Cardross!’

‘If it made her look like a class of female which my aunt prefers not to particularize, she most assuredly won’t wear it again!’ he returned.

‘Nothing of the sort! Lady Chudleigh knows very well that such gowns are worn by women of the first consequence. Do, pray, let the matter rest! To scold Letty will only set up her back – and it was my fault, after all.’

‘I don’t mean to scold either of you, but I must own, Nell, that I could wish you had put your foot down,’ he said, looking displeased.

‘Perhaps I should have done so,’ she replied, in a mortified tone. ‘I am very sorry!’

‘Yes – well, never mind! I don’t doubt that it is very hard for you to check Letty’s starts. And while we are speaking of the masquerade, what, in heaven’s name, is this extraordinary story I have been hearing about Dysart’s holding you up on the road to Chiswick?’

‘Oh, good God, Lady Chudleigh knows nothing of that, surely?’ she exclaimed, rather aghast.

‘No, I had it from your coachman. According to him, your carriage was stopped by Dysart and two companions, all of them disguised as highwaymen. It seems quite incredible, even in Dysart, but I can hardly suppose that Jeffrey would entertain me with a Canterbury story. Do you mind explaining the matter to me?’

She had forgotten that her servants would be very likely to tell him of Dysart’s strange exploit, and for an ignoble moment wished that she had had the forethought to have bought their silence. She was instantly ashamed of herself, and said, her colour rising: ‘Oh, it was one of Dy’s mad-brained hoaxes, and a great deal too bad of him! I must own that I hoped it wouldn’t come to your ears.’

‘That, Nell, is patent!’ he said.

‘Yes – I mean, I knew you would be vexed! There was no harm in it – it all arose out of a – a stupid wager – but of course it was a most improper thing to do, and so I told him.’

‘All arose out of a wager?’ he repeated incredulously. ‘With which of his associates did Dysart see fit to make you the subject of a wager?’

‘N-not with any of them!’ she stammered, frightened by the look on his face.

‘Then what the devil do you mean?’ he demanded.

‘It was with me!’ she said, improvising desperately. ‘We – we were talking about masquerades, and I said it was nonsense to suppose that one wouldn’t recognize somebody one knew well just because they wore a mask. Dy – Dy said that he would prove me wrong, and – and that was how it was! Only I did recognize him, so I won the wager.’

‘Gratifying! Did you also recognize his companions?’

‘No – that is, it was only Mr Fancot!’ she said imploringly. ‘Oh, and Joe, of course – Dy’s groom! But he doesn’t signify, because he has always been with us, ever since I can remember! Pray, Cardross, don’t be vexed with Dy!’

‘Vexed with him! I am very much more than vexed with him! To be giving you such a fright for the sake of a prank I should find it hard to pardon in a schoolboy goes beyond anything of which I believed him to be capable!’ he said wrathfully.

‘I wasn’t frightened!’ she assured him. ‘Only a very little, at all events!’

‘Oh?’ he said grimly. ‘What, then, made you scream?’

Her eyes sparkled with indignation. ‘I did not scream! I would scorn to do anything so paltry! It was Letty who screamed.’

‘How chicken-hearted of her, to be sure!’ he said sardonically.

‘Well, that’s what I thought,’ she said candidly.

‘Are you quite blinded by your doting fondness for Dysart?’ he demanded. ‘He is fortunate to possess a sister who can find excuses for his every folly, his every extravagance, and for such larks as this latest exploit! I am aware – I have for long been aware! – that he holds a place in your affections that is second to none, but take care what you are about! Encourage him to think he may turn to you in any extremity! smile upon kick-ups unworthy of a freshman! You will not smile when the high spirits you now regard with such indulgence carry him beyond the line of what even his cronies will pardon!’

She shrank a little from the harshness in his voice, but she was quick to recognize the note of jealousy in it. She heard it with a leap of the heart, and it took from his words all power of wounding. Instead of flying to Dysart’s defence, she said merely: ‘Indeed I didn’t smile upon such a prank! It was very bad – quite unbecoming! But it is unjust in you, Cardross, to say that his wildness will lead him into doing anything wicked! You dislike him very much, but that is going too far!’

‘No, I don’t dislike him,’ he replied, in a more moderate tone. ‘On the contrary! I like him well enough to wish to be of real service to him. You think me unjust, but you may believe that I know what I am saying when I tell you that his present way of life is ruinous.’

She said, in swift alarm: ‘Oh, pray, pray don’t thrust him into the army!’