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A variety of emotions showed themselves in Peter Brown’s face: an eager gleam, a look of relief, quick suspicion, uncertainty. He blurted out:
‘Why do you ask me?’
The Earl raised his brows which had the effect of making Mr Brown blush fierily and stammer an almost inaudible apology. A serving-man came in just then to spread a cloth over the table, and until he withdrew the conversation had to be suspended. The Earl continued to sip his sherry, and when the man left the room remarked, with all his habitual languor, that he did not suppose they would be kept waiting long for their dinner.
Peter Brown fidgeted unhappily in the window, sustained a further remark from his host, this time on the excellence of the buttered crab for which the house was famed, and wheeled round to face the Earl.
‘I did apologize!’ he protested: ‘I did not mean to be uncivil!’
In came the serving-man again, followed by another, carrying dishes. The Earl put down his glass and smiled at Peter Brown.
‘Come and try the crab,’ he said kindly.
As soon as the first course had been cleared away, and the second placed upon the table, the Earl dismissed both serving-men and said:
‘Now that we have settled that little matter of how you are to reach Bath are you going to tell me your story, are you not?’
Peter Brown agreed to it, but without much alacrity, and for a few moments was too intent on wrestling with a refractory wing of capon to embark on his tale. However, after a short pause he said somewhat haltingly:
‘Well, it is – it is, I think you would say – a – a very romantic history.’
‘How delightful!’ said his lordship. ‘Pray, continue!’
‘I am going to the rescue of a young lady,’ announced Mr Brown.
‘You hold me entirely spellbound,’ said his lordship.
‘I dare say you don’t believe me,’ said Mr Brown bitterly. ‘And I dare say you have never so much as heard of an unfortunate female being constrained against her will to marry an odious old man with nothing but his fortune to recommend him!’
‘Is that the sad fate from which you are to rescue the young lady who resides at Bath?’ enquired the earl.
‘Yes,’ said Mr Brown. ‘It is. She is being persecuted by her relatives, and in particular by a brother who – but it does not signify talking of him. He is the head of the family, and of course – I expect you know about mortgages, Mr – I mean, Lord Reveley?’
‘I have heard of them,’ agreed the Earl gravely.
‘Well, that is the matter in a nutshell,’ said Mr Brown, pushing his plate away and sighing faintly. ‘The female I allude to – I shall call her Miss X, if you please –’
‘By all means,’ bowed the Earl.
‘Miss X, then, is not unmindful of what is due to the family, but she cannot bring herself to marry the creature who has offered for her. There is nothing for it but flight, shocking as this may seem to you.’
‘Dreadful!’ said his lordship, shaking his head. ‘She is, of course, kept under lock and key, and fed, I have no doubt, on bread and water?’
‘No,’ admitted Mr Brown, ‘but they threatened to!’
This somewhat elliptical remark, delivered as it was in a tone of strong indignation, made the Earl veil his eyes swiftly for a moment before replying. When he did speak it was with the utmost gravity. He said:
‘The thought of Miss X’s plight is most affecting. I had not supposed that in these days such coercion could be possible.’
Mr Brown’s hand, lying on the table, clenched suddenly. He said:
‘It is possible, my lord. Impoverished though Miss X’s family may be its name is a proud one, and there are plenty of rich men of inferior birth who are ready to pay vast sums in the return for the privilege of marrying into the aristocracy. I assure you.’
‘Well yes,’ agreed the Earl, ‘but some degree of affection is generally necessary to induce even a creature such as you have described to pay a very vast sum for a well-born bride.’
‘Oh!’ said Mr Brown, a smile hovering at the corners of his mouth. ‘I am well aware of that! I must tell you that Miss X is young, and extremely beautiful.’
‘A reigning toast?’ suggested his lordship.
