The Nonesuch

She laughed. “The mischief is that I don’t! My conscience pricks me very often, I promise you, for Charlotte has neither inclination nor aptitude; and Tiffany will do no more than commit to memory the words of an Italian song. I’ve convinced her that some skill on the pianoforte is an indispensable accomplishment for a lady with social ambitions; but nothing will prevail upon her to play the harp. She complains that it breaks her nails, and says that it is better to have pretty nails than to be able to perform upon the harp.”

“I still maintain that you earn your hire, ma’am!”

He was thinking of this interchange when she joined him on the terrace, saying: “Quite abominable!” He was well aware by this time that her position was far more that of guardian than governess; and as he believed that she had too much intelligence not to have realized what was the end to which his dealings with Tiffany were directed be lived in daily expectation of being called to book. It seemed to him that Mrs Underhill viewed Julian’s infatuation with complaisance. Far from demurring at his frequent visits she had begged them both to treat Staples as their own, standing upon no ceremony. “For very uncomfortable it must be at Broom Hall, with builders working there, and plaster-dust in everything, as well I know it is!” she had said. “So take your pot-luck with us, Sir Waldo, whenever you fancy, and be sure you’ll be very welcome!”

He said now, leading Miss Trent to one of the rustic seats on the terrace: “Very true! But do you think it will do your ravishing charge any harm to receive a few set-downs?”

“Oh, no!” she replied calmly. “I fear it won’t do her any good either—but that, after all, is not your object, is it?”

He checked her, as she was about to sit down, saying: “One moment! You will have the sun in your eyes: I’ll turn the seat a little.”

She let him do so, but said, smiling faintly: “Trying to change the subject, sir?”

“No, no! Just sparring for wind, ma’am!”

“I imagine that to be some horrid boxing cant,” she observed, seating herself. “I trust, however, that you don’t think me such a ninny as to be blind to what is yourobject?”

He sat down beside her. “No, I don’t,” he confessed. “I’ll own to you that I’ve been torn between the hope that you did know, and the dread of having a peal rung over me!”

If she blushed it was so slightly that he was unaware of it. She replied, ignoring the first part of his sentence: “Oh, I don’t mean to scold!”

“Now you have surprised me!” he remarked.

“I suppose, under certain circumstances I might scold,” she said thoughtfully. “But my situation is rather difficult. The thing is, you see, that Mrs Underhill doesn’t wish Tiffany to marry your cousin any more than you do.”

“In that case, it is a little astonishing that she should encourage Julian to run tame here,” he said sceptically.

“I daresay it may seem so to you, not knowing Tiffany as well as I—we—do. I can assure you that if her mind is set on anything the least hint of opposition is enough to goad her into going her length, however outrageous that may be. And in general it is outrageous,” she added candidly. “You will allow that an à suivie flirtation, conducted in my presence, or her aunt’s, is by far less dangerous than clandestine meetings would be. For one thing, it is not so romantic; and, for another, such meetings would of necessity be infrequent, as well as brief, and that, you know, would preclude her becoming bored with Lord Lindeth.”

He could not help smiling at her matter-of-factness, but he said: “Yes, I will allow that, ma’am. I will even concede that the girl might prevail upon Lindeth to meet her in such a way. But when you talk of her becoming bored with him I think you are wide of the mark. I daresay she may be—but Lindeth would be a big prize for her to win.”

She wrinkled her brow. “Well, it is very natural that you should think that, but she doesn’t. She means to marry a Marquis.”

“Means to—Which Marquis?”

“Any Marquis,” Ancilla replied.

“Of all the absurdities—!”

“I don’t know that. When you consider that besides beauty she is possessed of a handsome fortune you must surely own that a brilliant match is by no means impossible. In any event, I beg you won’t depress that one of her pretensions! I have suggested to her that to form a connection with a mere baron—and before she is even out!—would be perfectly bird-witted!”

He regarded her in some amusement. “Have you, indeed? What a very odd sort of governess you are, ma’am!”

“Yes, and you can’t imagine what a worry I have been in, trying to decide what I ought to do in this troublesome situation,” she said seriously. “I think I am right to scotch the affair, if I can; for while, on the one hand, the Burfords might welcome the match, on the other, Mrs Underhill would not, and Tiffany is too young to be contracted to anyone.”

“Why wouldn’t Mrs Underhill welcome the match?”

“Because she wants Tiffany to marry her cousin, of course.”