Read Online Lady of Quality by Georgette Heyer - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Georgette Heyer
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my own home!"
"Oh, well done, Ninian!" exclaimed Lucilla enthusiastically clasping his arm, and squeezing it. "I never dreamed you were so full of pluck!"
He coloured, but said: "I don't think it was well done of me. I ought not to have spoken so to my father. I'm sorry for it, but I meant what I said, and I'm dashed well not going to crawl back until he is sorry too! Even if I starve in a ditch!"
"Oh, pray don't think of doing such a thing!" said Miss Farlow, who had been listening open-mouthed to this recital. "So embarrassing for dear Miss Wychwood, for people would be bound to say she should have rescued you! Not that I think you would be allowed to die in a ditch in Bath—at least, I never heard of anyone doing so, because they are so strict about keeping the streets clean and tidy, and destitute persons are cared for at the Stranger's Friend Society: a most excellent institution, I believe, but I cannot think that your worthy parents would wish you to become an inmate there, however vexed they may be with you!"
This made Lucilla giggle, but Miss Wychwood, preserving her countenance, said: "Very true! You must hold it as a weapon in reserve, Ninian, to use only if your father threatens to cast you off entirely. In the meantime, I suggest that you put up at the Pelican. It is in Walcot Street, and I'm told its charges are very reasonable. It isn't a fashionable hotel, but I believe it is comfortable, and provides its guests with a good, plain ordinary. And if it should be too plain for you, you can always dine here!" She added, with a lurking twinkle in her eyes: "I've never dined there, but of course I have visited it, to see the room Dr Johnson slept in!"
"Oh!" said Ninian, all at sea. "Yes—of course! Dr Johnson! Exactly so! Was he—was he a friend of yours, ma'am? Or—or one of your relations, perhaps?"
Lucilla gave a crow of laughter. "Stupid! He was the dixionary- man, and he died years and years ago—didn't he, ma'am?"
"Oh, a writing cove!" said Ninian, in disparaging accents. "Come to think of it, I have heard of him—but I'm not bookish, ma'am!"
"But surely, dear Mr Elmore, they must have used his Dixionary at your school?" said Miss Farlow.
"Ah, that would be it!" nodded Ninian. "I daresay I must have seen the name on the back of some book or other, which accounts for my having had the notion that I recognized it!"
"If recognition you could call it!" murmured Miss Wychwood. "Never mind, Ninian! We can't all of us be bookish, can we?"
"Well, I don't scruple to say that I never had the least turn for scholarship," Ninian somewhat unnecessarily disclosed. He added a handsome rider to this statement, saying, with a beaming smile: "And I promise you, ma'am, no one would ever suspect you of being bookish!"
Overwhelmed by this tribute, Miss Wychwood uttered in a shaken voice: "How kind of you, Ninian, to say so!"
"It's very true," said Lucilla, adding her mite. "No one could think she was bookish, but she reads prodigiously, and even keeps books in her bedchamber!"
"How can you be so treacherous, Lucilla, as to betray me?" demanded Miss Wychwood tragically.
"Only to Ninian!" Lucilla said, regarding her rather anxiously. "Of course I wouldn't dream of telling anyone else, but he won't say a word about it, will you, Ninian?"
"No, never!" he responded promptly.
Miss Wychwood shook a mournful head. "If only I may not have sunk myself beneath reproach in your eyes!"
They made such haste to reassure her that her suppressed laughter escaped her, and she said: "You absurd babies! Oh, don't look so astonished, or you will send me into fresh whoops! I know you can't think why, and if I were to explain it to you you would believe me to be all about in my head! Tell me, Ninian, did you give my letter to Mrs Amber?"
"No, because she was too ill to receive me, but my mother gave it to her." He hesitated, and then said, with a deprecatory grin: "She—she wasn't well enough to write to you, but she did charge
"Oh, well done, Ninian!" exclaimed Lucilla enthusiastically clasping his arm, and squeezing it. "I never dreamed you were so full of pluck!"
He coloured, but said: "I don't think it was well done of me. I ought not to have spoken so to my father. I'm sorry for it, but I meant what I said, and I'm dashed well not going to crawl back until he is sorry too! Even if I starve in a ditch!"
"Oh, pray don't think of doing such a thing!" said Miss Farlow, who had been listening open-mouthed to this recital. "So embarrassing for dear Miss Wychwood, for people would be bound to say she should have rescued you! Not that I think you would be allowed to die in a ditch in Bath—at least, I never heard of anyone doing so, because they are so strict about keeping the streets clean and tidy, and destitute persons are cared for at the Stranger's Friend Society: a most excellent institution, I believe, but I cannot think that your worthy parents would wish you to become an inmate there, however vexed they may be with you!"
This made Lucilla giggle, but Miss Wychwood, preserving her countenance, said: "Very true! You must hold it as a weapon in reserve, Ninian, to use only if your father threatens to cast you off entirely. In the meantime, I suggest that you put up at the Pelican. It is in Walcot Street, and I'm told its charges are very reasonable. It isn't a fashionable hotel, but I believe it is comfortable, and provides its guests with a good, plain ordinary. And if it should be too plain for you, you can always dine here!" She added, with a lurking twinkle in her eyes: "I've never dined there, but of course I have visited it, to see the room Dr Johnson slept in!"
"Oh!" said Ninian, all at sea. "Yes—of course! Dr Johnson! Exactly so! Was he—was he a friend of yours, ma'am? Or—or one of your relations, perhaps?"
Lucilla gave a crow of laughter. "Stupid! He was the dixionary- man, and he died years and years ago—didn't he, ma'am?"
"Oh, a writing cove!" said Ninian, in disparaging accents. "Come to think of it, I have heard of him—but I'm not bookish, ma'am!"
"But surely, dear Mr Elmore, they must have used his Dixionary at your school?" said Miss Farlow.
"Ah, that would be it!" nodded Ninian. "I daresay I must have seen the name on the back of some book or other, which accounts for my having had the notion that I recognized it!"
"If recognition you could call it!" murmured Miss Wychwood. "Never mind, Ninian! We can't all of us be bookish, can we?"
"Well, I don't scruple to say that I never had the least turn for scholarship," Ninian somewhat unnecessarily disclosed. He added a handsome rider to this statement, saying, with a beaming smile: "And I promise you, ma'am, no one would ever suspect you of being bookish!"
Overwhelmed by this tribute, Miss Wychwood uttered in a shaken voice: "How kind of you, Ninian, to say so!"
"It's very true," said Lucilla, adding her mite. "No one could think she was bookish, but she reads prodigiously, and even keeps books in her bedchamber!"
"How can you be so treacherous, Lucilla, as to betray me?" demanded Miss Wychwood tragically.
"Only to Ninian!" Lucilla said, regarding her rather anxiously. "Of course I wouldn't dream of telling anyone else, but he won't say a word about it, will you, Ninian?"
"No, never!" he responded promptly.
Miss Wychwood shook a mournful head. "If only I may not have sunk myself beneath reproach in your eyes!"
They made such haste to reassure her that her suppressed laughter escaped her, and she said: "You absurd babies! Oh, don't look so astonished, or you will send me into fresh whoops! I know you can't think why, and if I were to explain it to you you would believe me to be all about in my head! Tell me, Ninian, did you give my letter to Mrs Amber?"
"No, because she was too ill to receive me, but my mother gave it to her." He hesitated, and then said, with a deprecatory grin: "She—she wasn't well enough to write to you, but she did charge
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