Джорджетт Хейер - April Lady

“Well—”

“It appears to me, my dear sir, that you are as wax in my sister’s hands! It is a reflection which fills me with deep misgiving. I know Letty to be as headstrong as she is bird-witted, and what she may next bully or bewitch you into doing there is no saying—though I might hazard a guess!”

“If you mean, sir, that I might be tempted to elope with Lady Letitia you may be easy!” returned Mr. Allandale, reddening. “Even if I were not a man of honour, my circumstances must forbid me to embark on anything of a clandestine nature.” He drew a breath, and continued with a little difficulty: “You were kind enough, my lord, to acquit me of hanging out (as you phrased it) for a rich wife. That is true, for, in fact, I had not, until I met Lady Letitia, any thought of marriage at all. My widowed parent, though possessed of a respectable jointure, is quite unable to support the expense of educating my younger brothers and sisters without my assistance; and until they are established creditably I must not—indeed, I cannot!—marry a female who has no fortune of her own. Just a genteel fortune, to match my own. I never contemplated marriage to a great heiress—and, to own the truth, it is not what I like! However, I daresay it may be possible to form some kind of a trust which would ensure that I should not benefit by anything more than a reasonable amount.”

“The matter is not of pressing importance,” said the Earl. “Until she reaches the age of five-and-twenty my sister’s fortune is in my hands, and her allowance is at my discretion. If I chose to do it, I could cut off every penny of it.”

“I cannot believe, sir, that you would be guilty of such inhumanity!” said Mr. Allandale, in a voice of strong censure.

“There would be no inhumanity,” replied Cardross coolly. “Letty would merely be obliged to continue living in my house, and her dress-bills would be paid by me. I may add that I already pay quite a number of them. I am afraid you would find her very expensive, for she never has a feather to fly with, you know.”

“I am aware that she has not been taught habits of economy,” said Mr. Allandale stiffly. “Indeed, she has told me so herself, and has regretted it. She is very willing to learn, and I hope to teach her to manage better.”

“Yes, in my more optimistic moments I too indulge that hope,” agreed Cardross. “Go and take up this appointment of yours, and I’ll engage to do my best to instill some small knowledge of economy into her head while you are away. Who knows? You may return to find her quite prudent!”

Mr. Allandale rose, and walked over to the window. He said, staring out of it: “I do not imagine that it will be of any use to return. Not, of course, that I contemplate passing the rest of my life in Brazil, but—” He stopped, and cleared his throat. “I cannot flatter myself that I shall find her still unattached. So much sought-after—and by men of far greater address than will ever be mine—separated from me for a prolonged period, and by such a distance—No, it would be too much to expect of her! She will wed another.”

“The same fate may as easily overtake you, my dear sir,” remarked the Earl.

“No,” said Mr. Allandale baldly. He added, after a pause: “My feeling is unalterable. I am not subject to fits of gallantry, sir. I had even believed myself to be proof against—But from the moment when I first saw your sister, I knew myself lost! I struggled against it, for the unsuitability of the match was as plain to me as it is to you. It was to no avail. I shall never marry any other lady.”

“Ah!” murmured the Earl, looking amused. “I remember that I said much the same thing myself—a good many years ago. She was ravishingly beautiful—at least, I know I thought so, though, to own the truth, I can now only vaguely recall her face to my mind.”

“I am happy to afford your lordship entertainment!” said Mr. Allandale, in rather less measured accents.

“No, you are not,” replied Cardross, rising. “You would like to plant me a facer, and I’m sure I don’t wonder at it. Nothing is more exasperating than to be obliged to listen to advice based on experience which is necessarily wider than your own—particularly when you have an uneasy suspicion that it may be good!”

“I have no suspicion,” instantly retorted Mr. Allandale. “I venture to think that my nature is more tenacious than your lordship’s!”

“In that case,” said Cardross, with unimpaired good-humor, “I shall expect to see you again upon your return from Rio de Janeiro. In the meantime, accept my best wishes for your success in that salubrious locality!”

“Do you forbid me to hold further communication with Lady Letitia, sir?” demanded Mr. Allandale, somewhat reluctantly taking the hand that was being held out to him.

“My dear sir, do let me assure you that I am neither so gothic nor so cork-brained! I daresay you will meet Letty at any number of parties. As for clandestine meetings, I am persuaded that your sense of propriety must be safeguard enough.”

“Anything of a clandestine nature is repugnant to me,” stated Mr. Allandale. “I can only beg of you, sir, to consider well before you blight, perhaps for ever, the happiness of two persons, one of whom is—or should be—dear to you! I reject—indeed, I scorn!—your suggestions of inconstancy, but too well do I know the arts that are employed in the world of fashion to detach from an unworthy object the affections of such as Lady Letitia! All is sacrificed to pride and consequence! If I were in more affluent circumstances, I believe no considerations of propriety could avail to prevent me—But it serves no purpose to continue talking!”

“None whatsoever,” agreed Cardross, leading the way to the door. “It might even lead me to take you in dislike, and that, you know, would be fatal to your chances!”

Any scheme of intercepting her lover on his way out of the house which Letty might have cherished was frustrated by the Earl’s escorting him to the front-door, and seeing him safely off the premises. He strolled back to the library; and, after hesitating for a moment or two at the head of the stairs, from which post of vantage she had watched Mr. Allandale’s departure, Letty ran lightly down, and herself entered the library.

Cardross was engaged in mending a pen, but he looked up, and, when he saw his half-sister backed against the door, an urgent question in her speaking eyes, abandoned this task. A laugh quivered in his voice as he said: “Letty, you goose! Did you really think that I should succumb to that unfortunate young man’s oratory? Do forgive me! but surely he is a very dull dog?”

“I don’t care for that,” she said, swallowing a sob. “He is not dull to me. I love him!”

“You must do so indeed! I should have supposed him to be the last man to take your fancy, too.”

“Well, he is not, and even if you are my guardian I won’t submit to having my husband chosen for me by you!”

“Certainly not. It’s plain I should make a poor hand at it.”

Hope gleamed in her eyes; she moved towards him, and laid a coaxing hand on his arm. “ Dear Giles, if you please, may I marry him?”

He gave the hand a pat, but said: “Why, yes, Letty, when you are older.”

“But, Giles, you don’t understand! He is going away to Brazil!”

“So he informed me.”

“Are you thinking that perhaps it might not suit me to live there? I believe the climate is perfectly healthy!”

“Salubrious,” he interpolated.

“Yes, and in any event I am never ill! You may ask my aunt if it’s not so!”

“I am sure it is. Don’t let us fall into another exhausting argument! I have already endured a great deal of eloquence today, but it would take much more than eloquence to make me consent to your marriage to an indigent young man who proposes to take you to the other end of the world before you are eighteen, or have been out a year.”