April Lady

‘You? Oh, no! I

must see him alone.’

‘Well, it’s my belief the thing will come off a dashed sight better if you do,’ he said frankly. ‘It ain’t that I mind seeing him, because now the dibs are in tune again there’s no reason why I should, but for one thing I’m pledged to Corny, and for another Cardross won’t like it if you take me along, like a dashed bodyguard! That’s the way to get his back up at the very start. Besides, you don’t need a bodyguard. I don’t say he isn’t going to be devilish angry, because it stands to reason he’s bound to be, but you needn’t be afraid he won’t come round. He will – and all the quicker if I’m not there! He don’t love me, but he loves you all right and tight!’

She said nothing; and after a moment he held out the banknotes to her again. ‘Take ’em! No need to mention the mantua-maker’s bill to him, unless you choose. You may put the whole on to me: I had three centuries from you, and I’ve now paid ’em back. I daresay that will surprise him more than if you told him I’d prigged his damned heirloom!’

At these biting words, she flung her arms round his neck, vehemently asserting that no one could ever believe such a thing of him, and again begging him to forgive her.

‘Yes, very well, but you needn’t think I’m pleased with you, for I’m not!’ responded Dysart, disengaging himself from her embrace. ‘It’s not a bit of use hanging round my neck, and playing off your cajolery: I’m not Cardross! And mind this! the next time you run into trouble, don’t you come to me to drag you out of it!’

‘No,’ Nell said meekly.

‘I’ll be off now,’ he announced. ‘No getting into high fidgets, Nell!’

She shook her head.

‘And no turning short about either!’ he warned her.

‘No, I promise you I mean to tell Cardross as soon as he returns.’

‘Well, see you do!’ he said, relenting sufficiently to bestow a brief hug upon her. ‘I suppose I ought to stay to bring you up to scratch, but I haven’t seen Corny yet, and I must. Besides, it’s his birthday, and we mean to make a batch of it.’

With that he went off, leaving her to solitude and her melancholy thoughts. She roused herself presently from these to send Sutton to pay Madame Lavalle’s bill, and thought, as she gave the bank-notes into her dresser’s hand, how happy it would have made her, only four days earlier, to have been able to do this. She could still be thankful that she would not now be obliged to lay the debt before Cardross, but that seemed a very small alleviation of the ills that beset her. The sight of her dresser brought one of these most forcibly to her mind. It would be necessary to tell Sutton that the necklace was not in the hands of Cardross’s jeweller, but indeed lost; and how to account for her own prevarication was a problem to which she could discover no answer. Letty might pour out her troubles to her maid; to Nell it was unthinkable that she should admit Sutton into her confidence.

The thought of Letty made her ask Sutton suddenly where she was. The dresser replied that she believed her to have gone with Martha to Owen’s in Bond Street, to purchase fresh ribbons for the gown she meant to wear at Almack’s that evening. She availed herself of the opportunity to enquire of Nell which gown she herself wished laid out in readiness; but Nell, who had forgotten the engagement, exclaimed: ‘Almack’s! Oh, no! I cannot go there tonight!’

Sutton merely said: ‘Very well, my lady,’ and went away. Letty (if she had indeed arranged to meet her lover at the Assembly Rooms) would scarcely be so acquiescent.

As the day drew towards five o’clock Nell began to feel a little sick. Her spirits had been getting steadily lower for some time, and were not improved by the prospect beyond the window. The day had been dull, and the sky had now become so overcast that the drawing-room, which should have been full of sunshine, had put on a mournful twilight air. It even seemed to be a little chilly, but perhaps that was only her fancy.

Cardross came in shortly after five, but when Nell, bracing herself to face the ordeal in store, went downstairs, it was only to learn from the porter that his lordship was engaged with someone who had called to see him on a matter of business. Knowing that Cardross was dining out that evening, and feeling that her courage would be entirely dissipated if she were forced to remain on the rack for many more hours, she said: ‘It is very vexatious, for I particularly wish to speak with his lordship before he goes out again. Who is it who must come to see him on business at such an hour? Not Mr Kent, surely?’

‘No, my lady. It’s a Mr Catworth. He called this morning, and seeing as he said his business was private, which he wouldn’t disclose to Mr Kent, nor anyone, I told him it was no manner of use for him to wait, because his lordship wasn’t expected till five. And back he came, my lady, but I would have put him in the office if I’d known your ladyship was wishful to see my lord. Because my lord give his orders when he come in just now that when Sir John Somerby calls he’s to be taken to the library straight, my lady.’

‘And he may arrive at any moment, I daresay!’ Nell exclaimed. ‘George, if he should do so before this person who is now with his lordship has gone away, show him into the saloon, if you please, and desire him to wait! And – inform his lordship that I wish to see him before he goes to Sir John!’

‘Yes, my lady: never fear!’ said George, in a reassuring tone that gave her clearly to understand that he had by this time realized that there was something unusual afoot. ‘I’ll tip the – I’ll drop a word in Farley’s ear, my lady!’

She thanked him, flushing a little, and retreated again to the drawing-room, there to pass another miserable half-hour, wondering how much longer the obstructive Mr Catworth meant to linger, and why providence, so falsely called merciful, had not seen fit to remove her from the world when, at the age of five, she had contracted scarlet fever. And yet, when, looking down from the window, she saw a neat individual descending the front steps, and knew that Cardross was at last at liberty, she at once wished that she might be granted just a few more minutes in which to recruit her forces.

But if the dreaded interview were not to be postponed until the morrow there was all too little time left to her; so she went quickly downstairs before a craven panic could wholly master her.

George, his foot on the bottom stair, drew back, saying that he had been on the point of coming to tell her that his lordship was now alone, and ready to receive her. He went before her to hold open the door into the library. He would have liked to have said something encouraging to her, because she looked so young and so scared, and put him in mind of his daughter, but that, of course, was impossible. It was as plain as a pikestaff she was in trouble, poor little thing: it was to be hoped his lordship would let her down easy, but he wasn’t looking any too amiable.

He was looking very far from amiable. The instant she had crossed the threshold Nell knew that she had chosen her moment badly. He was standing beside his desk, his countenance very set, and he neither smiled nor moved forward to meet her. She had never before seen so sombre an expression in his eyes; her own eyes dilated a little in sudden alarm; she said involuntarily: ‘Oh, what is it?’

It was a moment or two before he spoke, and then he said in a very level tone: ‘I understand you particularly wish to speak to me. I am expecting a visit from Somerby, however, so unless the matter is of immediate importance it would be better, perhaps, if this interview were postponed until the morning.’

The cold formality of this speech struck her to the heart; she was only just able to say: ‘It is of – most immediate importance! I must, I must tell you at once!’

‘Very well. What is it?’

It was not encouraging, but she could not draw back. She said: ‘The necklace – the Cardross necklace! It has gone!’

She thought he stiffened, but he did not speak. Frightened and perplexed, she stammered: ‘You don’t – I think you cannot have understood me!’

‘Oh, yes! I understood you!’ he said grimly.