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‘And did you make it your business to acquaint yourself with all Lucy’s remote cousins?’ she retorted.
‘It was unnecessary. I knew her to be your niece, and that was enough! In plain words, I don’t wish for the connection, and shall do what I may to put an end to it. Don’t under-rate me! you’ll find I can do a great deal!’
‘Do rid your mind of the notion that the connection is any more welcome to me than it is to you!’ begged Miss Tresilian. ‘Nothing could be more repugnant to me than an alliance with any member of your family!’
‘So I should suppose – since you made it plain enough when you jilted me!’
‘If you mean by that that I terminated an unfortunate engagement which you were regretting quite as much as I –’
‘I didn’t come here to discuss ancient history!’ he interrupted roughly.
‘Well, if you came merely to inform me that you don’t wish your precious cousin to marry Lucy you’ve wasted your time!’ she countered.
‘Ah!’ instantly responded his lordship. ‘So you do support them, do you? I might have known it!’
She was about to repudiate this suggestion when it occurred to her that to do so would scarcely be in accordance with her promise to help her niece. It cost her a severe struggle, but she managed to summon up a smile, and to say with creditable composure: ‘Come! It won’t serve for us to rip up at each other, Iver. We may regret this business, but a twelve-year-old quarrel between us doesn’t constitute a bar to these children’s marriage.’
‘Have you told your niece?’
‘No – any more than you, I collect, have told your cousin! Much good would that do! They would say, and rightly, that it was no concern of theirs!’
‘Well, I won’t have it!’ he announced.
‘Now, don’t fly into a pelter!’ she begged. ‘Our differences apart, what is there to be said against the match? Nothing, I dare say, could be more suitable!’ She hesitated, and then added, with a little difficulty: ‘How odiously selfish we should be if we were to let them break their hearts only because we once quarrelled!’
His lips curled disdainfully. ‘Hearts are not so easily broken!’
‘No one knows that better than I
!’ she retorted.
‘We need not, then, discuss such an absurdity.’
Realizing, too late, the infelicity of her retort, she tried to recover lost ground. ‘Neither of us is in a position to judge what may be the sufferings of two people who truly love one another! Lucy’s character is unlike mine: her affection is not easily won, and is by far more tenacious than mine.’
‘It could hardly be less!’ he interpolated. ‘Spare me any more moving speeches! She is young enough to recover from her disappointment, and will no doubt transfer her affections soon enough to some other, and, I trust, equally eligible suitor!’
Stung, she retaliated: ‘She might well do that!’
‘Oh, play off no airs for my edification!’ he said angrily. ‘You won’t hoax me into believing that you are not well aware that my cousin is one of the biggest prizes in the Matrimonial Mart! A feather in any girl’s cap!’
Rising hastily to her feet, she said: ‘If I have anything to say to it, he won’t be a feather in Lucy’s cap, and that, my lord, you may depend on!’
‘Thank you!’ he replied. ‘You have given me the assurance I sought, and I have nothing further to do here than to take my leave of you! Your obedient servant, ma’am!’
‘Lucy,’ said Miss Tresilian, with determined calm, ‘if your pride doesn’t revolt at the imputation of having snared a rich matrimonial prize, mine does! I am not asking you to put all thought of Arthur out of your head: I am merely saying that until he is in every respect his own master, and you have come of age, I will neither countenance his visits to this house, nor allow you to go where there is the least likelihood of your meeting him.’
The youngest Miss Tresilian said, with a brave attempt to speak lightly: ‘Dearest, do you mean to lock me up? I must meet him at all the ton parties, and at Almack’s too!’
‘I know it,’ said her aunt. ‘And you know I don’t mean to lock you up! I have a much better scheme in mind, and one which I think you must like. Indeed, I know you will, for you have always wished to visit foreign countries, only, of course, while that dreadful Bonaparte was at large it was impossible. Now, however –’
‘Oh, no, no!’ Lucy cried. ‘I don’t care a straw for anything Lord Iver may think! He has no power to forbid my marriage to Arthur, and if he is so spiteful as to cut off Arthur’s allowance we shall contrive to live tolerably comfortably on my inheritance. And no one will think ill of Arthur for doing so, because the instant he is five-and-twenty he may pay me back every groat, if he feels he ought! All we need is Papa’s consent – which is to say yours, my dear aunt!’
‘And you won’t get it!’ said Miss Tresilian, with unusual asperity. ‘Dear child, consider! How can you expect me to behave so improperly as to support a marriage which the person most nearly concerned with Arthur’s affairs has expressly forbidden?’ She saw that her words had struck home, and lost no time in representing to Lucy all the advantages of her scheme. She was listened to in silence, but had the satisfaction, when she had talked herself out of arguments, of being caught into a warm embrace, and tightly hugged.
‘You are the best and kindest of aunts!’ Lucy declared. ‘I do understand what you must feel – indeed, I do! Never would I ask you to do what you think wrong! I had not reflected how impossible it must be for you! Forgive me!’
Much heartened, Miss Tresilian recommended her not to be a goose, and wondered how speedily she could put her plans into execution, and what her exacting elder sister would say when she learned that she meant, instead of returning to her home in Camden Place, to embark on an extended foreign tour.
