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Authors: Georgette Heyer
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herself out of the room, she said: "Well, Ampleforth? What is it?"
"I have Sale downstairs," he said. "He has been with me this past half-hour."
"Sale!" she exclaimed, her eyes narrowing,
"My love, he has made me an offer for Harriet's hand. He expressed himself with the greatest propriety: I think you would have been pleased to have heard him."
"I was beginning to think he meant to cry off!" she said, in the outspoken way which always made her lord wince. "So he has offered at last! He could not have chosen a more awkward moment! The drawing-room is under holland covers already, and it is quite out of the question for us to be asking him to dine. We have only the under-cook here."
"Upon my word, I had thought you would have been glad of the news!" said his lordship, quite astonished.
"Pray do not talk to me in that foolish manner, Ampleforth! You know very well that I am excessively glad of it, but why he might not have made his offer at a more seasonable time I have not the remotest conjecture. We should have held a dress-party, and the announcement should have been made at it. People will think it a shabbily contrived business!"
"You forget, ma'am," rather feebly suggested his lordship, "that we are still in black gloves. It will not be thought wonderful that we do not—"
"Cousin Albinia, and I know not how many times removed, besides having been as mad as Bedlam for years! I assure you I should not have regarded that! However, it is of no use to repine! The thing is that Sale has been brought up to scratch, and heaven knows I must be thankful for that, for I don't scruple to tell you, my lord, that I have been fearing Harriet was to be obliged to wear the willow. Where have you put him?"
"He is in my book-room. I said I must first speak with you."
"Very well, I will come directly. I daresay Harriet dressed all by guess this morning, for we are in such an uproar, with half the servants already gone to Ampleforth!" said the lady, tugging vigorously at the bell-pull. "Do not be loitering here, my lord, I do beg of you, but go back to Sale, and say Harriet will come down presently. Oh, is it you, Mrs. Royston? No, I did not precisely wish for you, but it doesn't signify! Be good enough to desire Lady Harriet and Miss Abinger to wait on me here directly! Pray, what do you stay for, Ampleforth? Go down to Sale at once, and entertain him until I come!"
The Lady Harriet was discovered to be in the schoolroom, helping to keep her younger sisters amused while the nurse busied herself with the packing of their many trunks. At a table in the window, the governess, Miss Abinger, was endeavouring to instruct two stout lads in frilled shirts and nankeen pantaloons in the use of the globes. When Lady Ampleforth's message was delivered by the panting housekeeper, Harriet jumped up from the floor, where she had been sitting, and instinctively put her hands to smooth her soft brown curls. "Mama wants me?" she said in a scared voice. "Oh, what is it, Royston dear?"
The housekeeper beamed at her knowingly. "Ah, that is for her ladyship to tell you, my lady! But what would you say to a lovely young gentleman's being closeted with your papa?"
Lady Harriet's large blue eyes dilated; she said faintly: "Oh, no!"
Miss Abinger, a sensible-looking woman in the late thirties, rose from her seat, saying in a commonplace tone: "Lady Harriet will come to her ladyship directly. You will do well to tidy your hair, my dear. Come into your bed-chamber and let me draw a comb through it. You know your mama likes you to be neat in your appearance,"
"Harry, don't be gone for ever!" begged Lady Maria, a buxom twelve-year-old. "Ten to one it is only one of Mama's fusses!"
"Oh, hush, love!" Harriet whispered.
"Good gracious, Harry!" exclaimed Lady Caroline, who at sixteen bade fair to resemble her mother very nearly, "you don't suppose it is Sale, do you?"
Harriet, blushing furiously, ran out of the room. Miss Abinger said severely: "You will
"I have Sale downstairs," he said. "He has been with me this past half-hour."
"Sale!" she exclaimed, her eyes narrowing,
"My love, he has made me an offer for Harriet's hand. He expressed himself with the greatest propriety: I think you would have been pleased to have heard him."
"I was beginning to think he meant to cry off!" she said, in the outspoken way which always made her lord wince. "So he has offered at last! He could not have chosen a more awkward moment! The drawing-room is under holland covers already, and it is quite out of the question for us to be asking him to dine. We have only the under-cook here."
"Upon my word, I had thought you would have been glad of the news!" said his lordship, quite astonished.
"Pray do not talk to me in that foolish manner, Ampleforth! You know very well that I am excessively glad of it, but why he might not have made his offer at a more seasonable time I have not the remotest conjecture. We should have held a dress-party, and the announcement should have been made at it. People will think it a shabbily contrived business!"
"You forget, ma'am," rather feebly suggested his lordship, "that we are still in black gloves. It will not be thought wonderful that we do not—"
"Cousin Albinia, and I know not how many times removed, besides having been as mad as Bedlam for years! I assure you I should not have regarded that! However, it is of no use to repine! The thing is that Sale has been brought up to scratch, and heaven knows I must be thankful for that, for I don't scruple to tell you, my lord, that I have been fearing Harriet was to be obliged to wear the willow. Where have you put him?"
"He is in my book-room. I said I must first speak with you."
"Very well, I will come directly. I daresay Harriet dressed all by guess this morning, for we are in such an uproar, with half the servants already gone to Ampleforth!" said the lady, tugging vigorously at the bell-pull. "Do not be loitering here, my lord, I do beg of you, but go back to Sale, and say Harriet will come down presently. Oh, is it you, Mrs. Royston? No, I did not precisely wish for you, but it doesn't signify! Be good enough to desire Lady Harriet and Miss Abinger to wait on me here directly! Pray, what do you stay for, Ampleforth? Go down to Sale at once, and entertain him until I come!"
The Lady Harriet was discovered to be in the schoolroom, helping to keep her younger sisters amused while the nurse busied herself with the packing of their many trunks. At a table in the window, the governess, Miss Abinger, was endeavouring to instruct two stout lads in frilled shirts and nankeen pantaloons in the use of the globes. When Lady Ampleforth's message was delivered by the panting housekeeper, Harriet jumped up from the floor, where she had been sitting, and instinctively put her hands to smooth her soft brown curls. "Mama wants me?" she said in a scared voice. "Oh, what is it, Royston dear?"
The housekeeper beamed at her knowingly. "Ah, that is for her ladyship to tell you, my lady! But what would you say to a lovely young gentleman's being closeted with your papa?"
Lady Harriet's large blue eyes dilated; she said faintly: "Oh, no!"
Miss Abinger, a sensible-looking woman in the late thirties, rose from her seat, saying in a commonplace tone: "Lady Harriet will come to her ladyship directly. You will do well to tidy your hair, my dear. Come into your bed-chamber and let me draw a comb through it. You know your mama likes you to be neat in your appearance,"
"Harry, don't be gone for ever!" begged Lady Maria, a buxom twelve-year-old. "Ten to one it is only one of Mama's fusses!"
"Oh, hush, love!" Harriet whispered.
"Good gracious, Harry!" exclaimed Lady Caroline, who at sixteen bade fair to resemble her mother very nearly, "you don't suppose it is Sale, do you?"
Harriet, blushing furiously, ran out of the room. Miss Abinger said severely: "You will
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