Read Online The Foundling by Georgette Heyer - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Georgette Heyer
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oblige me, Caroline, by writing out in your fairest hand, and without blots, fifty times, Whoso keepeth his mouth and his tongue, keepeth his heart from troubles. " She waited for a moment to be sure that her pupil dared not venture on any retort, and then followed Lady Harriet out of the room, and down one pair of stairs to a bedchamber at the back of the house.
Here, the abigail who was folding her young mistress's dresses in silver paper, betrayed by her air of barely suppressed excitement that the rumour that was already running through the house had reached her ears. She greeted the governess with a gasp, and an involuntary question: "Oh, miss, is it true?"
Miss Abinger ignored this impertinence, and trod over to the dressing-table, before which Harriet had seated herself. "You have crushed your gown a trifle, my dear but it will not do to keep your mama waiting, and we must hope that she will not notice it. Let me take that comb!"
Harriet permitted her to remove it from her singularly nerveless grasp. "Oh, Abby, you do not think—?"
"I think your mama will not like it if you do not bestir yourself, Lady Harriet," replied the governess calmly.
Harriet said, in a helpless way: "No," and submitted to having her hair combed and tidied. She then rose, and with trembling knees followed her preceptress downstairs to Lady Ampleforth's dressing-room.
Her ladyship cast one comprehensive glance over her daughter, and exclaimed in exasperated accents: "Exactly so! Your old plain muslin, and I daresay everything packed up already! Well, it will not do! Miss Abinger, oblige me by seeing to it that Lady Harriet changes her dress immediately! The cambric muslin with the double scallop work at the bottom is what she should be wearing, or if that is not readily procurable, the new sprig gown, with the sleeves drawn at the top with coloured ribbons! My Jove, Sale is below, with your papa. You will allow mama to be the first to felicitate you upon the very flattering offer that has been made you!"
"Gilly!" Harriet uttered, in a voice so suspended by surprise as to be barely audible. "Oh, no! surely you must be mistaken, ma'am!"
A look of annoyance seemed to sharpen Lady Ampleforth's features. "There is no occasion that I know of for these die-away airs, Harriet!" she said. "You are very well aware of your papa's and my intentions for you!"
"Oh, yes! But I had not supposed—he has never been particular in his attentions—Mama, I did not think Gilly loved me!"
"I can only conclude, Harriet," said Lady Ampleforth, with a condemnatory glance at Miss Abinger, "that you have been taking novels out of some circulating-library, which is a thing I have never permitted."
"Oh, no, Mama!" Harriet faltered.
"Then I am at a loss to understand where you can have learnt such trumpery notions, and I beg you will not make a figure of yourself by mentioning them again! Sale has expressed himself very properly to your papa, and if he and I are satisfied you have surely nothing to cavil at! He is waiting to address you himself. I trust you know your duty well enough to make it unnecessary for me to tell you in what terms you must answer him."
"Oh, Mama, pray—!"
"Harriet, what is this nonsense?" demanded her ladyship irately. "I will allow it to be a most inconvenient time for Sale to be declaring himself, but so it is always! Men have not the least common-sense! But if you mean to tell me that you hold him in aversion—"
"Oh, no; no!"
"Precisely so! You should be grateful to your papa and to me for having permitted you to become pretty well acquainted with Sale, instead of presenting him to you a complete stranger, as might very often happen in my young days, let me assure you! I did not look for this missishness in you, and I can tell you that it is not at all becoming. You have been a little taken by surprise, and that is forgiveable: I was quite thunderstruck myself. But you will have time to compose your mind while you change your
Here, the abigail who was folding her young mistress's dresses in silver paper, betrayed by her air of barely suppressed excitement that the rumour that was already running through the house had reached her ears. She greeted the governess with a gasp, and an involuntary question: "Oh, miss, is it true?"
Miss Abinger ignored this impertinence, and trod over to the dressing-table, before which Harriet had seated herself. "You have crushed your gown a trifle, my dear but it will not do to keep your mama waiting, and we must hope that she will not notice it. Let me take that comb!"
Harriet permitted her to remove it from her singularly nerveless grasp. "Oh, Abby, you do not think—?"
"I think your mama will not like it if you do not bestir yourself, Lady Harriet," replied the governess calmly.
Harriet said, in a helpless way: "No," and submitted to having her hair combed and tidied. She then rose, and with trembling knees followed her preceptress downstairs to Lady Ampleforth's dressing-room.
Her ladyship cast one comprehensive glance over her daughter, and exclaimed in exasperated accents: "Exactly so! Your old plain muslin, and I daresay everything packed up already! Well, it will not do! Miss Abinger, oblige me by seeing to it that Lady Harriet changes her dress immediately! The cambric muslin with the double scallop work at the bottom is what she should be wearing, or if that is not readily procurable, the new sprig gown, with the sleeves drawn at the top with coloured ribbons! My Jove, Sale is below, with your papa. You will allow mama to be the first to felicitate you upon the very flattering offer that has been made you!"
"Gilly!" Harriet uttered, in a voice so suspended by surprise as to be barely audible. "Oh, no! surely you must be mistaken, ma'am!"
A look of annoyance seemed to sharpen Lady Ampleforth's features. "There is no occasion that I know of for these die-away airs, Harriet!" she said. "You are very well aware of your papa's and my intentions for you!"
"Oh, yes! But I had not supposed—he has never been particular in his attentions—Mama, I did not think Gilly loved me!"
"I can only conclude, Harriet," said Lady Ampleforth, with a condemnatory glance at Miss Abinger, "that you have been taking novels out of some circulating-library, which is a thing I have never permitted."
"Oh, no, Mama!" Harriet faltered.
"Then I am at a loss to understand where you can have learnt such trumpery notions, and I beg you will not make a figure of yourself by mentioning them again! Sale has expressed himself very properly to your papa, and if he and I are satisfied you have surely nothing to cavil at! He is waiting to address you himself. I trust you know your duty well enough to make it unnecessary for me to tell you in what terms you must answer him."
"Oh, Mama, pray—!"
"Harriet, what is this nonsense?" demanded her ladyship irately. "I will allow it to be a most inconvenient time for Sale to be declaring himself, but so it is always! Men have not the least common-sense! But if you mean to tell me that you hold him in aversion—"
"Oh, no; no!"
"Precisely so! You should be grateful to your papa and to me for having permitted you to become pretty well acquainted with Sale, instead of presenting him to you a complete stranger, as might very often happen in my young days, let me assure you! I did not look for this missishness in you, and I can tell you that it is not at all becoming. You have been a little taken by surprise, and that is forgiveable: I was quite thunderstruck myself. But you will have time to compose your mind while you change your
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