ill-judged revenge it would be, though, my dear, to single out a young girl and make her the object of expectations that he has no intention of satisfying. Is he such a paltry fellow? I have only just met him, but he does not appear so to me.”
“Yes—no!” Cressida said, obliged to swallow the indignation that had prompted her first reply and give Rossiter his due. “He is not ordinarily devious, I believe. But this—” She stopped speaking suddenly, seeing that Rossiter, once more shaking off the importunities of Lady Dalingridge, who had again attempted to seize upon him as he had been relinquished by Lady Constance, was purposefully approaching. “Oh, good heavens! Here he comes! What now?” she said quickly. “Leonard, if he means to ask me to go down to supper with him, I am already engaged to you—do you understand?”
Lord Langmere said gallantly that it would please him above all things to take her down to supper, as it was for the purpose of asking her to allow him that pleasure that he had just approached her; and then Rossiter was upon them.
“Well, Cressy?” he said in a quizzing tone, regarding her slightly flushed and highly unwelcoming countenance. “I knew I was engaging in a forlorn hope, but just how forlorn it is I can see by your face, before I have so much as made my request. You are firmly determined, I gather, to eat with me no more than you will dance with me.”
Cressida, assuming an air of indifference, shrugged and glanced at Langmere.
“As I daresay you have already guessed, I am engaged to Lord Langmere for supper,” she said pointedly. “And may I particularly request,” she added on a sudden unworthy impulse, which she would certainly have quelled if it had not been for the unwonted perturbation that had brought the colour to her face when she had seen Rossiter approaching her, “that you do not ask Miss Chenevix to go down with you? She is in a way under my charge at present, as she is living under my roof, and I may tell you that I consider you have already drawn quite enough undesirable notice upon her by asking her to stand up with you twice this evening.”
“Do you, by God!” Cressida’s eyes, which had been purposely fixed upon her fan—a pretty thing of frosted crape on ivory sticks—flew up, startled, to his dark face. A slight flush of anger had risen in it, and as she stared at him he continued harshly, “You are responsible for your own actions and inclinations, my girl, but when you try to make yourself responsible for mine as well, let me tell you that you have gone your length! I shall neither be guided by you nor make myself accountable to you in what I do. If Miss Chenevix’s guardians choose to consider me an unsuitable person for her to know, I shall take the matter up with them; but what you have to do with it—beyond a wish to meddle in what is none of your affair—escapes my understanding!”
And he turned and strode off without another word. Lord Langmere, who had been a somewhat uncomfortable auditor to this exchange, was moved at this point to say fair-mindedly but rather unwisely to Cressida, “Really, my dear, he was quite in the right, you know. The matter rests in Lady Con’s hands, and I am sure she has said everything that is necessary.
“Oh, of course—being a man, you take his part!” flashed Cressida still more unworthily, and, clasping the fragile ivory sticks of her fan so tightly that she felt some of them break between her fingers, she too walked quickly away.
Naturally, being aware that she had acted badly, she was very gay indeed with her next partner, one of the German princelings whom Addison had despised, flirting with him in such a dashing manner that Addison began to speculate seriously on whether his suggestion that she might become a Prinzessin had really taken root in her mind, and causing several of the more proper dowagers present to remark to one another that
“Yes—no!” Cressida said, obliged to swallow the indignation that had prompted her first reply and give Rossiter his due. “He is not ordinarily devious, I believe. But this—” She stopped speaking suddenly, seeing that Rossiter, once more shaking off the importunities of Lady Dalingridge, who had again attempted to seize upon him as he had been relinquished by Lady Constance, was purposefully approaching. “Oh, good heavens! Here he comes! What now?” she said quickly. “Leonard, if he means to ask me to go down to supper with him, I am already engaged to you—do you understand?”
Lord Langmere said gallantly that it would please him above all things to take her down to supper, as it was for the purpose of asking her to allow him that pleasure that he had just approached her; and then Rossiter was upon them.
“Well, Cressy?” he said in a quizzing tone, regarding her slightly flushed and highly unwelcoming countenance. “I knew I was engaging in a forlorn hope, but just how forlorn it is I can see by your face, before I have so much as made my request. You are firmly determined, I gather, to eat with me no more than you will dance with me.”
Cressida, assuming an air of indifference, shrugged and glanced at Langmere.
“As I daresay you have already guessed, I am engaged to Lord Langmere for supper,” she said pointedly. “And may I particularly request,” she added on a sudden unworthy impulse, which she would certainly have quelled if it had not been for the unwonted perturbation that had brought the colour to her face when she had seen Rossiter approaching her, “that you do not ask Miss Chenevix to go down with you? She is in a way under my charge at present, as she is living under my roof, and I may tell you that I consider you have already drawn quite enough undesirable notice upon her by asking her to stand up with you twice this evening.”
“Do you, by God!” Cressida’s eyes, which had been purposely fixed upon her fan—a pretty thing of frosted crape on ivory sticks—flew up, startled, to his dark face. A slight flush of anger had risen in it, and as she stared at him he continued harshly, “You are responsible for your own actions and inclinations, my girl, but when you try to make yourself responsible for mine as well, let me tell you that you have gone your length! I shall neither be guided by you nor make myself accountable to you in what I do. If Miss Chenevix’s guardians choose to consider me an unsuitable person for her to know, I shall take the matter up with them; but what you have to do with it—beyond a wish to meddle in what is none of your affair—escapes my understanding!”
And he turned and strode off without another word. Lord Langmere, who had been a somewhat uncomfortable auditor to this exchange, was moved at this point to say fair-mindedly but rather unwisely to Cressida, “Really, my dear, he was quite in the right, you know. The matter rests in Lady Con’s hands, and I am sure she has said everything that is necessary.
“Oh, of course—being a man, you take his part!” flashed Cressida still more unworthily, and, clasping the fragile ivory sticks of her fan so tightly that she felt some of them break between her fingers, she too walked quickly away.
Naturally, being aware that she had acted badly, she was very gay indeed with her next partner, one of the German princelings whom Addison had despised, flirting with him in such a dashing manner that Addison began to speculate seriously on whether his suggestion that she might become a Prinzessin had really taken root in her mind, and causing several of the more proper dowagers present to remark to one another that
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