The Nonesuch

“Good God! I should have said that the boy holds her in contempt and dislike!”

“Mrs Underwood thinks they will learn to love one another.”

“Foolish beyond permission! Isn’t he dangling after the pretty redhead?”

“Yes, and I should think they will make a match of it one day,” she agreed. “Which would be a very good thing, for they suit wonderfully. And once Tiffany has left Staples, which will be next year, when her aunt Burford is pledged to bring her out, Mrs Underhill will very soon become reconciled. In the meantime, I do believe it to be my duty to do my possible to keep Tiffany quite—quite unattached!” She smiled kindly upon him, and added: “So I am very grateful to you for your assistance, Sir Waldo!”

“Even though—if the little minx has made up her mind to many a Marquis!—it must be thought superfluous!”

“Oh, no! We can’t foretell what might happen, you know. Tiffany is only a precocious child, and although she may indulge dreams of grandeur she doesn’t scheme.Would you care to say that she won’t take just enough fancy to Lord Lindeth to imagine herself in love? I promise you I wouldn’t! He is very good-looking, you know, besides having such engaging manners! Indeed, I am more than half in love with him myself!”

“Now, that I utterly forbid!” he declared.

She laughed. “I should rather think you might! I must be several years his senior. But in all seriousness, sir, a marriage between him and Tiffany would not do!”

“I am well aware of it.”

“Even if her birth matched his!” she said earnestly. “It must seem shocking in me to say such a thing of her, but I feel it would be quite wicked of me not to put you on your guard!”

“You believe it to be necessary?”

“I don’t know. I’ve seen how she can bring people round her thumb, and how charming she can be, when she chooses. But she hasn’t a particle of that sweetness of disposition which is in your cousin, and nothing but misery could be the outcome of a marriage between them!”

“Let me assure you, ma’am, since you seem to think I might succumb to her wiles, that my taste runs to females of quite another complexion!”

“I am glad of it,” she said, thinking, however, that he might well be courting more danger than he was yet aware of.

“That’s the kindest thing you have yet said to me,” he murmured.

She glanced at him, a puzzled expression in her eyes. They met his, and saw that they were quizzically smiling; and the suspicion flashed into her mind that he was trying to beguile her into flirtation. It was swiftly succeeded by the startling realization that she could very easily be so beguiled. That would never do, of course; so she said lightly: “I should be sorry to see anyone in Tiffany’s toils. Which puts me in mind of something I had to say to you! Tell me, Sir Waldo, what do you think of this proposed expedition to Knaresborough?”

“Too far, and the weather too sultry,” he replied, tacitly accepting her rebuff. He thought she sighed faintly, and said: “Do you wish for it, then?”

“I own I should like to go, if it were possible. Your cousin’s description of the Dripping Well made me long to see it. Tiffany, too. No sooner had Lord Lindeth told us of the wild, ragged rocks, and the cavern which was once the lair of bandits than she became mad after it!”

He smiled. “Mysteries of Udolpho?”

“Naturally! And I must own that it sounds most romantic. Isn’t it odd that it should be Lord Lindeth, a stranger to the district, who should have told us about it?”

“Oh, no! Natives are never enraptured by their surroundings. Over great familiarity,you know, genders despite.”

“Very true. I wish it were not too far to make an expedition eligible. I had not thought it about sixteen miles.”

“Which would mean a ride of thirty-two miles.”

“Nothing of the sort! Two rides of sixteen miles, with a long rest between for repose and refreshment! That’s a very different matter.”

“Out again, Miss Trent! Refreshment, certainly; but instead of reposing yourself you would spend your time clambering up rocky crags, and exploring caverns. Why don’t you go by carriage, if go you must?”

“Because nothing would prevail upon Tiffany to sit beside me in a carriage, driving sedately along the road when she might be on horseback, enjoying a canter over the moor. To be honest with you, I should think it sadly flat myself! Do you picture us being quite knocked up? I know my own powers, and as for Tiffany, she is the most indefatigable girl imaginable. However, it is very hot, so I’ll say no more.”

“You may say no more, but if the Beautiful Baggage is indeed mad after it there will be not the least need for you to do so, will there?”

She choked, but replied awfully: “Sir Waldo, you go too far! Besides, you have only to drop a word in your cousin’s ear to make him cry off, which will end the matter.”

“My dear Miss Trent, if it would give you pleasure to go I withdraw my objection. In fact, I’ll accompany you.”