something after they walked away from us, or when he was presenting Stephen. Did you answer him?”
“I told him I was the third sister,” Vanessa said. “And he commented that he had not been informed that one of us had been married. Then he changed the subject and asked me about Hedley.”
“How peculiar indeed,” Katherine said.
“I wonder,” Vanessa said, “what Viscount Lyngate is doing in Throckbridge—if he is not just innocently passing through, that is. But he told Papa-in-law that he has business here. How did he know there were three Huxtable sisters? And why would that fact be of any interest whatsoever to him?”
“Idle curiosity, I daresay,” Margaret said. “Whatever does Stephen do to split the seams of every pillowcase I put on his bed?” She picked up another and tackled it with her needle and thread.
“Perhaps it was not idle curiosity,” Katherine said, jumping suddenly to her feet, her eyes fixed beyond the parlor window. “He is coming here now. They both are.” Her voice had risen to something resembling a squeak.
Margaret hastily set aside her mending and Vanessa turned her head sharply to look out the window and see that indeed Viscount Lyngate and Mr. Bowen were coming through the garden gate and proceeding up the path to the front door. Her father-in-law must have had an uncharacteristically short visit with them.
“I say!” They could hear Stephen clattering down the stairs, calling as he came, obviously glad of any excuse to escape from his books for a while. “Meg? We have visitors coming. Ah, are you here too, Nessie? I daresay the viscount was smitten with your charms last evening and has come to offer for you. I shall question him very sternly about his ability to support you before I give my consent.” He grinned and winked at her.
“Oh, dear,” Katherine said as a knock sounded at the door, “whatever does one say to a viscount ?”
The two gentlemen had come here to Throckbridge, Vanessa realized suddenly in some shock, because of them . They were the business the viscount had spoken of. He had known of them before he came here, though he had not been informed that one of them had been married. What a strange and intriguing mystery this was! She was very glad she had come here this morning.
They waited for Mrs. Thrush to open the front door. And then they waited for the parlor door to open, as if they were presenting a silent tableau on a stage. After what was only a few moments but felt like several minutes, it opened and the two gentlemen were announced.
It was the viscount who entered first this time.
There was no concession to the country in his appearance this morning, Vanessa was quick to see. He wore a calf-length heavy greatcoat, which must have sported a dozen capes, a tall beaver hat, which he had already removed, tan leather gloves, which he was in the process of removing, and supple black leather boots, which must have cost a fortune. He looked larger, more imposing, more forbidding—and ten times more gorgeous—than he had appeared last evening as he glanced around the small parlor before bowing to Margaret. He was also frowning, as though this were a visit he did not relish. He looked far from joking and flirting this morning.
Why had he come here? Why on earth?
“Miss Huxtable,” he said. He turned to them each in turn. “Mrs. Dew? Miss Katherine? Huxtable?”
Mr. Bowen bowed to them all, smiling genially.
“Ladies? Huxtable?” he said.
Vanessa told herself quite deliberately, as she had the evening before, that she was not going to be awed by a fashionable greatcoat and costly boots and a title. Or by a darkly handsome, finely chiseled, frowning face. Gracious heavens, her father-in-law was not a nobody. He was a baronet!
She felt awed nonetheless. Viscount Lyngate looked quite out of place in Meg’s humble, not-quite-shabby parlor. He made it look many times smaller than usual. He seemed to have sucked half
“I told him I was the third sister,” Vanessa said. “And he commented that he had not been informed that one of us had been married. Then he changed the subject and asked me about Hedley.”
“How peculiar indeed,” Katherine said.
“I wonder,” Vanessa said, “what Viscount Lyngate is doing in Throckbridge—if he is not just innocently passing through, that is. But he told Papa-in-law that he has business here. How did he know there were three Huxtable sisters? And why would that fact be of any interest whatsoever to him?”
“Idle curiosity, I daresay,” Margaret said. “Whatever does Stephen do to split the seams of every pillowcase I put on his bed?” She picked up another and tackled it with her needle and thread.
“Perhaps it was not idle curiosity,” Katherine said, jumping suddenly to her feet, her eyes fixed beyond the parlor window. “He is coming here now. They both are.” Her voice had risen to something resembling a squeak.
Margaret hastily set aside her mending and Vanessa turned her head sharply to look out the window and see that indeed Viscount Lyngate and Mr. Bowen were coming through the garden gate and proceeding up the path to the front door. Her father-in-law must have had an uncharacteristically short visit with them.
“I say!” They could hear Stephen clattering down the stairs, calling as he came, obviously glad of any excuse to escape from his books for a while. “Meg? We have visitors coming. Ah, are you here too, Nessie? I daresay the viscount was smitten with your charms last evening and has come to offer for you. I shall question him very sternly about his ability to support you before I give my consent.” He grinned and winked at her.
“Oh, dear,” Katherine said as a knock sounded at the door, “whatever does one say to a viscount ?”
The two gentlemen had come here to Throckbridge, Vanessa realized suddenly in some shock, because of them . They were the business the viscount had spoken of. He had known of them before he came here, though he had not been informed that one of them had been married. What a strange and intriguing mystery this was! She was very glad she had come here this morning.
They waited for Mrs. Thrush to open the front door. And then they waited for the parlor door to open, as if they were presenting a silent tableau on a stage. After what was only a few moments but felt like several minutes, it opened and the two gentlemen were announced.
It was the viscount who entered first this time.
There was no concession to the country in his appearance this morning, Vanessa was quick to see. He wore a calf-length heavy greatcoat, which must have sported a dozen capes, a tall beaver hat, which he had already removed, tan leather gloves, which he was in the process of removing, and supple black leather boots, which must have cost a fortune. He looked larger, more imposing, more forbidding—and ten times more gorgeous—than he had appeared last evening as he glanced around the small parlor before bowing to Margaret. He was also frowning, as though this were a visit he did not relish. He looked far from joking and flirting this morning.
Why had he come here? Why on earth?
“Miss Huxtable,” he said. He turned to them each in turn. “Mrs. Dew? Miss Katherine? Huxtable?”
Mr. Bowen bowed to them all, smiling genially.
“Ladies? Huxtable?” he said.
Vanessa told herself quite deliberately, as she had the evening before, that she was not going to be awed by a fashionable greatcoat and costly boots and a title. Or by a darkly handsome, finely chiseled, frowning face. Gracious heavens, her father-in-law was not a nobody. He was a baronet!
She felt awed nonetheless. Viscount Lyngate looked quite out of place in Meg’s humble, not-quite-shabby parlor. He made it look many times smaller than usual. He seemed to have sucked half
Similar Books
