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This ruse succeeded. ‘What was it?’ Amanda demanded, much interested.
‘Why, I said that you were a great heiress, and had eloped with the dancing-master, who wanted to marry you for the sake of your fortune.’
‘Did you indeed say that?’ Amanda asked, awed.
‘Yes – brazenly!’
‘Well, it doesn’t make your conduct any better, and I am very angry with you, but I must say I do think it was a splendid story!’ Amanda said, rather enviously. ‘Particularly the bit about the dancing-master!’
‘Yes, I liked that bit, too,’ owned Sir Gareth. ‘Did you really eat enough raspberries to make you sick?’
‘Well, I ate a great many raspberries, but I wasn’t sick. That was only pretending, because I couldn’t think of any other way to be rid of that horrid old man. I wonder what became of him?’
‘An evil fate. After searching for you in a wood until he was exhausted, he got a tremendous scold from Mrs Sheet, and then, to crown his day, the perch of his carriage broke, and he was obliged to walk a mile in tight boots to the nearest inn.’
She gave a giggle, but said: ‘Have you seen him, then?’
‘I have.’
‘What happened?’ she asked, filled with pleasurable anticipation.
‘He told me where he had lost you, and I drove back to Bythorne immediately.’
‘Is that all?’ she said, disappointed. ‘I quite thought that you would have challenged him to a duel!’
‘Yes, I know it was very poor-spirited of me,’ he agreed, ‘but really I think he has perhaps been punished enough. I fancy he can’t have enjoyed the drive in your company.’
‘No, and I didn’t enjoy it either!’ said Amanda. ‘He tried to make love to me!’
‘I should forget about him, if I were you, for he is certainly not worth remembering. But it is not wise, my child, to let strangers make off with you, however old and respectable they may seem to you.’
‘Well!’ she cried, ‘when you have been forcing me to go with you ever since I met you, which I wish I never had, because although you are quite old, it is very plain to me that you are not in the least respectable, but, on the contrary, a deceiving person, and quite as odious as Mr Theale!’
He laughed. ‘A home thrust, Amanda!’ he acknowledged. ‘But at least I am not as fat as Mr Theale, however odious!’
‘No,’ she conceded, ‘but you took much worse advantage of me!’
‘Did I indeed?’
‘Yes, you did! For when you told Mrs Ninfield those lies about me, you made it seem as though they were true, and then, when you did tell the truth, you made it sound like a lie! It was – it was the shabbiest trick to play on me!’
He was amused, but he said: ‘I know it was. Indeed, most unhandsome of me, and I do most sincerely feel for you. It must be very disagreeable to be paid back in your own coin. And the dreadful thing is that I believe it is rapidly becoming a habit with me. I have already thought of another very truthful-sounding lie to tell about you, if you insist on denying that you are my ward.’
‘I think you are abominable!’ she said hotly. ‘And if you do not instantly tell me where we are going I shall jump out of your horrid carriage, and very likely break my leg! Then you will be sorry!’
‘Well, of course, it might be a little tiresome to be obliged to convey you to London with your leg in a splint, but on the other hand you wouldn’t be able to run away from me again, would you?’
‘London?’ she ejaculated, ignoring the rest.
‘Yes, London. We are going to spend the night at Kimbolton, however.’
‘No! No! I won’t go with you!’
He caught the note of panic, and said at once: ‘I am taking you to my sister’s house, so don’t be a goose, Amanda!’
The panic subsided, but she reiterated her determination not to go with him, and was not in the least reconciled to her fate when he told her that she would meet his nephews and nieces there. She had a tolerably clear picture of all that would happen. Mrs Wetherby would treat her as though she were a naughty child; she would be relegated to the schoolroom, where the governess would have orders never to let her out of her sight; Sir Gareth would discover her name from Neil; and she would be taken ignominiously home, having failed either to achieve her object, or to prove to her grandfather that she was an eminently grown-up and capable woman.
The blackest depression descended upon her spirits. Sir Gareth was not going to give her the smallest opportunity to escape from him a second time; and even if he did,
