Read Online A Regency Charade by Elizabeth Mansfield - Free Book Online

alarm. She almost flew across the room, grasped both his arms and shook him. “No, no ! You don’t under stand . You must tell him to come in! Please ! Tell him to come in at once !” she cried eagerly.
    Mr. Hornbeck was not comforted by her excitement. “But … ye see, ma’am, he said he didn’t wish … er … I mean …”
    “Nonsense. This is his home ! He must …! Oh, my God , Prissy will be beside herself! I must go up and tell her at once! Please, Mr. Hornbeck, do as I ask. Tell him to come in.”
    Hornbeck eyed her doubtfully. “He wouldn’t thank me for it, ma’am. He expressly said—”
    Lady Vickers dropped her hold on him and stared at the man’s face in dismay. “Are you trying to tell me he doesn’t intend even to see her? Is he still so foolishly adamant that …?” Her face suddenly paled in anger. “Do you mean to stand there and tell me that he’s cruel enough to sit outside this very door at this moment while you inform us that he prefers to stay at a hotel ?”
    “No, ma’am. That’s not quite the way it is. He’s out there, all right, but he’s a trifle … er … well-to-live. Not in a condition to say a word to anyone, if ye take my meanin’.”
    “What?” Lady Vickers raised her brows. “Are you saying that my son-in-law is drunk ?”
    “As a lord, as the sayin’ goes. Hasn’t he ever shot the cat before?”
    “If by that dreadful expression you mean to ask if I’ve ever seen him drunk, I must certainly have not ! Of course, since we haven’t laid eyes on him in six years, I’m sure I couldn’t say what he’s been doing of late.”
    “What? Six years ?”
    “Yes.” Lady Vickers sighed and cocked a suspicious eyebrow at Hornbeck. “Didn’t he tell you?”
    Hornbeck, dumbfounded, shook his head. “No. I thought … Ye said ‘we.’ Are ye tellin’ me his wife hasn’t seen him neither?”
    “No, she hasn’t.”
    “Do you mean … that spat they had … it took place six years ago ?”
    She gaped at him. “ Spat ? Is that what he called it?”
    “No, now ye mention it.” Mr. Hornbeck’s bristly eyebrows came together worriedly. “I shouldn’t have assumed … I’m the devil’s own fool, I am. I should never have interfered in matters I know nothin’ of. I think, ma’am, it would be best if I took him off now, if ye don’t mind.”
    “Are you mad ?” she cried. “Of course I mind! My daughter’s been half out of her head , waiting …! Bring him in at once !”
    Hornbeck scratched his head. “But … he’s … overcome, ye might say. Out cold, ye see.”
    “All the more reason to bring him in. Tell Craymore, the butler, to see to it. The footmen can assist him, if they’re needed.”
    “They’ll be needed,” Hornbeck said with a rueful, surrendering sigh. He turned to do as he was asked, while Lady Vickers ran up the stairs. The elderly fellow was smitten with remorse. Had he, in his ignorance, done the Captain a backhanded turn?
    As the butler and his assistants ran out to the carriage, Hornbeck paced about the entryway agitatedly. Suddenly, the sound of running steps on the stairs caught his attention. He looked up to see a girl flying down toward him. One glance was enough to convince him that this was the lady he’d come to see. He had only a second in which to catch a glimpse of her (he had an immediate impression of a pale, oval face, fair hair piled carelessly on top of her head, a girlish figure under a rather faded rose-colored dress held up in front to permit her to run, and slim ankles flashing prettily from below the gown as she sped down the stairs) before she loomed up before him, her eyes wide with terror. “What did Mama mean , bring him in? Is he wounded ?” she asked breathlessly.
    “No, no, my lady,” Hornbeck hastened to assure her. “Nothin’ wrong with the lad that a night’s sleep won’t cure.” He smiled at the girl, suddenly reassured and free of his feeling of guilt. Any man who’d object to coming