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‘What, here?’ he demanded.
‘In the parlour, talking to Amanda. He has come to see you!’
‘Now we are in the basket!’ said Sir Gareth, accepting the situation with maddening calm. ‘Has he seen you?’
‘Yes, of course he has, and of course he knew I wasn’t Mrs Wetherby! I was ready to sink, for I could think of nothing to say, and Amanda made a fatal mistake! Gareth, how can you lie there laughing?’
‘My dear, I can’t help but laugh when you burst in upon me looking perfectly demented, and with that ridiculous cap over one eye! I do wish you will throw it away!’
‘This is no moment to be discussing my cap!’ she scolded. ‘Amanda told him I was your other sister!’
‘Now, that is not worthy of Amanda,’ he said, shaking his head. ‘He won’t swallow it. She must think of something better.’
‘I don’t see how she can! And, depend upon it, Hildebrand will come in, having no notion that he’s very deaf, just to make matters worse!’
‘Oh, is Hildebrand deaf?’ he asked, interested.
‘Yes – that is, no, you know very well he isn’t! Oh, dear, I ought to have said I was a Wetherby! What’s to be done now? One thing I am determined on! I won’t meet him again! What shall you tell him?’
‘I can’t imagine,’ he said frankly. ‘It will depend on what Amanda may have told him.’
‘You may be obliged to tell the truth.’
‘I may, but I shall do my best to avoid the necessity.’
‘Yes, pray do! It is such a very complicated story, and I daresay it would quite exhaust you to have to explain it all to him.’
His lips quivered, but he replied gravely: ‘And then we might discover that he hadn’t believed a word of it.’
‘Yes, very true! Good God, he is coming!’ she cried, springing out of her chair. ‘I can’t and I won’t face him! I should be bound to ruin everything by saying something bird-witted – you must know I should!’
‘Yes, but I own I should dearly love to hear you!’ Sir Gareth said, his eyes warm with amusement.
‘How can you be so unfeeling? Where can I hide?’ she said, looking wildly round.
‘Slip away to your own room until he has gone!’ he advised.
‘I can’t! The stairs are directly opposite this door! Oh, heavens, Gareth, only listen to him! How dreadful if he were to expire on the stairs! Though it would be a great stroke of good fortune for us, of course. But one cannot wish it to happen – unless, perhaps, it would be a merciful release for him, poor man! I shall have to get behind the curtain. For heaven’s sake, Gareth, think of something to say that will satisfy him!’
The little bedchamber did not boast a wardrobe, but a chintz curtain had been hung across one corner of the room. To Sir Gareth’s deep delight, Lady Hester plunged behind it, amongst his coats, just as Chicklade, who had aided the footman to push and haul Mr Vinehall up the narrow stairs, opened the door, and announced the visitor.
Sir Gareth composed his countenance admirably, and greeted his father’s old friend with every proper expression of gratitude and pleasure. It was some moments before Mr Vinehall, deposited in a chair beside the bed, could recover his breath. His exertions had turned the red in his cheeks to purple, but this gradually abated. He waved his solicitous attendants out of the room, and said: ‘Gary! Well, by Jupiter! It must be a dozen years since I saw you last! How are you, my dear boy? Not in a good point, I hear. How came you to break your arm? Lord, I should have recognized you anywhere!’ He barely gave Sir Gareth time to answer suitably before he was off again, dropping his voice confidentially, and saying: ‘I’m glad I don’t find that young lady with you, for I shouldn’t know what to say to her, upon my word I should not! I wouldn’t have put her out of countenance for the world, as I hope you know!’
‘I am quite sure you would not, sir,’ said Sir Gareth, feeling his way.
‘Ay, but it was not a very gallant way to behave, and I could see she was put out. Well, no wonder, for there was I blundering along, and Trixie’s girl tells me she is devilish sensitive!’
‘She has a great deal of sensibility,’ admitted Sir Gareth cautiously.
‘Ay, I daresay, and there I was, bringing home the evils of her situation to her, like a regular blubberhead! I should have known how it was as soon as that pretty chit said she was your other sister, but it never so much as crossed my mind. As soon as she was gone, Trixie’s girl told me, and, I give you my word, Gary, I was never more thunderstruck in my life! God bless my soul, I should have said your dear father was the last man on earth – why, even when he was cutting a dash in his salad days I never knew him to be in the petticoat line! Ay, and I was as well acquainted with him as any man. I declare I can’t get over it! You acknowledge her, I see?’
‘Quite – quite privately!’ said Sir Gareth, o
nly the faintest tremor in his voice.
‘Ay, very proper,’ nodded Mr Vinehall. ‘Was your mother aware of her existence?’
‘Happily, no!’
