propositioning him. And right in front of me
! I scowled.
Reeve caught my eye and suddenly grinned, his temper miraculously restored. “Thank you, Mrs. Wethersby, but I will get something for myself,” he said, and went off to fill up his plate with chicken and ham and beef and cold pigeon pie, which he washed down with five glasses of champagne.
He sat solid as a rock in his saddle the whole way home. I suppose one of the results of too much drinking is that after a while one begins to get used to it.
Our visit to Hampton Court the following day was more pleasant than the trip to Richmond Park had been. We went by boat up the Thames, and as we shared our boat with Mr. Miles and his sister, who was a very pleasant, well-mannered girl, I enjoyed the trip upriver very much. Then, once we reached our destination and joined up with the rest of our party, Reeve and I were able to get rid of them by the simple expedient of losing ourselves in the famous Hampton Court maze. We found a bench where we sat for several hours in the pleasantly warm sun and chatted about a dozen or so things that interested us, among them the crying need for parliamentary reform; the injustice of the Corn Laws; and the unfortunate performance of Lord Liverpool as Prime Minister.
One of Reeve’s secrets was that he was far more interested in politics than anyone would ever suspect. However, he refused to grace the House of Lords with his presence for the same reason that he rarely came home to Ambersley for more than a few days at a time.
He would never feel himself to be truly Lord Cambridge until he had control of his heritage.
We left London for our visit to Sussex on the last day of June. Mama and I rode in Reeve’s town chaise with another chaise following us filled with our baggage and Susan, whom Reeve had brought to attend Mama and me.
“Two maids might be excessive in an establishment like Bernard’s,” he had said, ”but you will look positively shabby if you do not have someone to take care of your clothes.”
“But how much money do you have left from your winnings, Reeve?’ Mama had said worriedly. “Are you certain that you can afford this?”
“Yes,” Reeve had said uncompromisingly. He gave Mama a look of mock severity. ”You will make
me
look shabby if you are unattended, and surely you do not want that“
As Mama never knew how to deal with anyone when they stood up to her, she had immediately ceased to argue. I had enough sense to realize that Reeve would know more about what was expected in such a situation than I did, and so I didn’t argue with him at all. Consequently, Susan rode in the following coach along with Reeve’s valet, Hummond, both of them keeping watch over the baggage.
Reeve, lucky man, was riding. I looked longingly out the window of the chaise at his tall, long-legged figure and thought for about the thousandth time in my life that he really did have the most wonderful seat on a horse. He was always right over his mount’s center of balance, which made all his horses’ gaits so much better than they would be if they were impeded by someone leaning forward on their shoulders or backward on their loins (as was the case with ninety-nine percent of the English riders that I saw).
Reeve had always been the model I strove to emulate. His kind of balance was more difficult to attain in a sidesaddle, where one had the use of only one leg, but most of the time I thought I at least came close to it.
“I do hope this party goes off quietly,” Mama said.
I heard the nervousness she was trying to hide. Poor Mama. She did not like conflict, and I was certain she was not looking forward to the next few weeks.
“The very fact that there will be other people in the house besides Lord Bradford and Reeve will help to keep things civilized, Mama,” I said.
She perked up a little. “That is true.”
“I wonder who else will be there?” I said. ”Reeve told me that we could expect to see Lord
! I scowled.
Reeve caught my eye and suddenly grinned, his temper miraculously restored. “Thank you, Mrs. Wethersby, but I will get something for myself,” he said, and went off to fill up his plate with chicken and ham and beef and cold pigeon pie, which he washed down with five glasses of champagne.
He sat solid as a rock in his saddle the whole way home. I suppose one of the results of too much drinking is that after a while one begins to get used to it.
Our visit to Hampton Court the following day was more pleasant than the trip to Richmond Park had been. We went by boat up the Thames, and as we shared our boat with Mr. Miles and his sister, who was a very pleasant, well-mannered girl, I enjoyed the trip upriver very much. Then, once we reached our destination and joined up with the rest of our party, Reeve and I were able to get rid of them by the simple expedient of losing ourselves in the famous Hampton Court maze. We found a bench where we sat for several hours in the pleasantly warm sun and chatted about a dozen or so things that interested us, among them the crying need for parliamentary reform; the injustice of the Corn Laws; and the unfortunate performance of Lord Liverpool as Prime Minister.
One of Reeve’s secrets was that he was far more interested in politics than anyone would ever suspect. However, he refused to grace the House of Lords with his presence for the same reason that he rarely came home to Ambersley for more than a few days at a time.
He would never feel himself to be truly Lord Cambridge until he had control of his heritage.
We left London for our visit to Sussex on the last day of June. Mama and I rode in Reeve’s town chaise with another chaise following us filled with our baggage and Susan, whom Reeve had brought to attend Mama and me.
“Two maids might be excessive in an establishment like Bernard’s,” he had said, ”but you will look positively shabby if you do not have someone to take care of your clothes.”
“But how much money do you have left from your winnings, Reeve?’ Mama had said worriedly. “Are you certain that you can afford this?”
“Yes,” Reeve had said uncompromisingly. He gave Mama a look of mock severity. ”You will make
me
look shabby if you are unattended, and surely you do not want that“
As Mama never knew how to deal with anyone when they stood up to her, she had immediately ceased to argue. I had enough sense to realize that Reeve would know more about what was expected in such a situation than I did, and so I didn’t argue with him at all. Consequently, Susan rode in the following coach along with Reeve’s valet, Hummond, both of them keeping watch over the baggage.
Reeve, lucky man, was riding. I looked longingly out the window of the chaise at his tall, long-legged figure and thought for about the thousandth time in my life that he really did have the most wonderful seat on a horse. He was always right over his mount’s center of balance, which made all his horses’ gaits so much better than they would be if they were impeded by someone leaning forward on their shoulders or backward on their loins (as was the case with ninety-nine percent of the English riders that I saw).
Reeve had always been the model I strove to emulate. His kind of balance was more difficult to attain in a sidesaddle, where one had the use of only one leg, but most of the time I thought I at least came close to it.
“I do hope this party goes off quietly,” Mama said.
I heard the nervousness she was trying to hide. Poor Mama. She did not like conflict, and I was certain she was not looking forward to the next few weeks.
“The very fact that there will be other people in the house besides Lord Bradford and Reeve will help to keep things civilized, Mama,” I said.
She perked up a little. “That is true.”
“I wonder who else will be there?” I said. ”Reeve told me that we could expect to see Lord
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