Sir Lucius carried on to his club with a certain spring in his step, which forced Mr Disley to almost trot along to keep up with the long strides. When he arrived, a trifle damp, he cheerfully announced to Lord Foxton, who hoped he would not catch cold, that the rain was in fact very refreshing.
Lady Rendlesham had been busy. Upon reflection, she had decided not to warn Lord Easby of his rival directly, thinking he would put it down to mere spite on her part.150Far more enjoyable would be to stand back and watch him discover it through the web of rumour, the first threads of which she set humming during several morning calls that took up her afternoon, enabling her to return to her house in eager anticipation of the results.
The rumour was easy to start by simply giving the truth of what she had seen and heard but with a particular emphasis. After all, Sir Lucius Radstock had been in the jeweller’s, and Mr Rundell himself had been overheard to say that the item, clearly of family significance, would be ready shortly in as good a condition as when presented to the first bride for whom it had been purchased. It needed but the additional information, supplied sotto voce, that Sir Lucius had appeared in a very good humour and had purchased, significantly, another item of ladies’ jewellery, to intimate that he was clearly about to make some lady an offer, and that he had every expectation of being accepted.
Rumour, like flame, had tongues that spread quickly, and by the evening’s end there were a number of ladies who could be said to have looked with interest to see if Sir Lucius Radstock was singling out any young lady in particular, and some had clearly already come to the correct conclusion that Miss Ashling might be the object of his gallantry. However, they were disappointed if they had hoped to see them together that evening, since Sir Lucius was engaged with the Duke of Grafton and several other members of the Jockey Club, and was not present at Mrs Goodison-Thorpe’s party.
Elizabeth was conscious of being observed, but at a loss151to think of any possible reason, until old Lady Killingholme placed a gnarled hand upon her arm and fixed her beady eye upon her.
‘’Bout time too, I say, my dear. Don’t be missish and say you need time to think, for gentlemen do not, whatever some ninnies may say, like to be kept dangling.’
‘Ma’am? You mistake, surely.’ Elizabeth frowned in perplexity. ‘If you are intimating that I am about to be made an offer, I can only assure you that I am entirely unaware of it. I think, perhaps, you might have heard something concerning my cousin, who is, confusingly, also Miss Ashling, though I would hasten to add that I do not think—’
‘I may be old, but I am not senile, my girl, and I know the difference between you and Maria Chalford’s chit. I can also vouch that the girl would not be the sort to trap Lucius Radstock. Never saw him as much as glance at a child of her stamp.’
Elizabeth felt the room reel about her.
‘I repeat, ma’am, I am unaware of any,’ and she stressed the ‘any’, ‘gentleman with an intention of making me an offer.’
‘Well, I don’t know about that. Seems to me to be a whole parcel of ’em keen to fix their interest with you. None of them a patch on Lucius Radstock, however more elevated their titles. I knew his father, a good, fair man.’ The old lady’s eyes twinkled for a moment and her mouth pursed in a myriad of lines. ‘Not half as well as I knew his grandfather, mind you, before he was wed. He was one of the bucks who came to watch me dress.’
152Elizabeth was momentarily diverted from her shock. ‘Dress, ma’am? Goodness.’
‘Oh yes, mind you we did not go about in the flimsy rags you have clinging to you today. We had petticoats and panniers and stiff brocades and … Once the underdress was on, it was permitted for gentlemen to see the toilette, hair powdering and rouge and …’ She sighed reminiscently, then jerked herself back to the present. ‘But that was nigh on forty years ago. What I am saying is you are a lucky chit.’
‘I am sure Sir Lucius has no intention—’
‘Rubbish. Why else have bride jewels refurbished or buy a ring, and go about looking like the cat that got the cream?’
The rumour had already begun to take on a life of its own.
Elizabeth felt sick. Was that the reason he had been so engaging today? She had felt happy in his company, but was his happiness based upon the arrogant assumption that all he had to do was make her an offer and she would fall upon his manly bosom in relief and say yes? Indignation rose in her. What cause had she given him to believe such a thing?
Lady Killingholme watched her as her eyes grew angry, and spoke more gently.
‘My dear, I am an old woman, so I can give you advice. Sometimes a man don’t see that his intentions have been understood, and acts hasty. Don’t cut up rough with him for it, and don’t put him off until you are sure you do not care for the idea. Many a good marriage has been based on far less than the namby-pamby languishing that girls153call love nowadays. Men of his ilk do not make pretty speeches, but words are just words when all is said and done. He’s a real man, not like that milksop poet who has been dangling after you.’
‘Mr Escott,’ replied Elizabeth, through almost clenched teeth, ‘is only interested in me in as much as he finds me inspirational to his poetry, ma’am.’
‘Nodcock. His mother is a die-away female full of silly notions. You take my advice and think hard before you refuse a good man, and one whose interest in you is far more red-blooded than a milksop who thinks you his poetic muse.’
Elizabeth blushed, and nodded rather mechanically, but was a prey to so many conflicting emotions that no further response was forthcoming.
154
CHAPTER TWELVE
Amelia noticed howdistraiteher cousin appeared. Her friend Julia, with an acute ear for gossip, had been swift to tell her what was being whispered, and, with the afternoon uppermost in her mind, she wondered why Elizabeth seemed not in alt, but confused. Sir Lucius, whilst clearly not an unattractive man, was rather too dry and complicated for her taste, but she thought, even in her novice womanhood, that he and her cousin seemed made for each other. There was some indefinable spark between them, though had she mentioned it, Elizabeth would no doubt have laughed and said it was a spark that led tooutbursts of wrath.
Such a thought was in Elizabeth’s mind. That she was finding herself inexplicably drawn to the man was, reluctantly, undeniable, but that it existed at all made him untrustworthy. Men let one down, but could she say that if he was about to offer for her? Would not everyone say this was proof to the contrary? The voice of experience told155her to be wary. A man might still break one’s heart even if he slipped a wedding band upon one’s finger, but even as she told herself this she knew Lucius Radstock was not a man likely to betray a wife. So why was she filled not with delight, but rather a burning sense of indignation? She tried to be objective about this at least, and discovered that it was the shame of having absolutely no inkling of his intentions, and yet him being apparently so confident that all he had to do was ask and she would fall into his hand like a ripe plum. Well, if you picked fruit too early it would be tart, and if Sir Lucius did propose that would be what he would discover.
Yet Lady Killingholme’s words had been sensible. What if she rejected the man and then realised over time that it might have worked? No man would ask twice, she was sure. The answer might be to put off any declaration until such time as she might know her own mind. This would mean damping down those instincts that wanted accord with him, and giving free rein to her inclination for verbal jousting, which both irritated her and yet had a frisson to it. At this moment being annoyed with him was easy, so she had little doubt that holding him off would not be difficult. The old lady had also, with the lack of embarrassment common to the aged, talked of him as ‘red-blooded’. As she took to her bed that evening Elizabeth was prey to wicked thoughts of what it might be like to be kissed by Sir Lucius Radstock. She blushed, and hid her head under the bedclothes in the same manner she had as a child hiding from monsters. However, this was not a monster but a temptation, and since it inhabited her head, the covers gave no protection.
156It was with a combination of trepidation, excitement and intentionally fanned flames of outrage that Elizabeth took to the saddle the next morning. The mare, sensing her ill ease, was equally fractious, and diverted her thoughts for the first ten minutes or so of her ride, choosing to be spooked by such previously ignored things as the cry of a pie vendor in the street, a lady opening her parasol and a pigeon. She coped with this wilfulness in a manner that, had he seen it, would have drawn Sir Lucius’s admiration. However, by the time that he approached her, most of the mare’s jitters had been worked off. He greeted her with a friendly ease that simultaneously gave her a warm glow of pleasure and an equally warm glow, smouldering, of affront.
‘Good morning, Sir Lucius.’
‘The weather has not beaten us a second time, Miss Ashling, I am glad to say. The mare looks very fresh this morning.’ He was admiring the picture she made, the soft grey and deep red of her habit complementing the deeper greys of the horse. They made a fine pair.
