Address they use
(More like abuse)
To bring passion to the roil.
Is it to wed
Or merely bed
This gallantry so royal?
She a store
Of sweetness pure
He a drudge to toil.
‘Tis his mistake if her he’d take:
She’d boil him well in oil!
“It is wretched, and highly improper,” he accused her, a smile lurking at the corners of his mouth.
“It is not so easy to find words that end in oil,” she defended herself. “I was rather pleased with it myself.”
“Then you must lack all taste in poetry.”
“Yes, another area in which I am sadly remiss. I shall have to study it. Have you some books to recommend to me?”
“Several,” he replied dampeningly. “I take it this means you are not overset and may reconsider your decision to return to the Park.”
“No, I am ready to go home. I will have to return here several weeks before the wedding in any case, and that will be sufficient time in London for me.”
“You won’t mind being alone at the Park when all your friends are here?”
“No, how should I? There is the Dower House to work on ... and my Christmas play,” she said, grinning.
“I hope you do not intend to write it in verse.”
She laughed. “Oh, Alma, I shall miss you. There is no one like you for dampening my pretensions.”
He was strongly tempted to hug her, but he had no intention of attempting another explanation to her brother. “I shall see you on your return, Diana,” he said gruffly. “Does George send you in his carriage?”
“He says he will go with me, though I told him there was no need. He thought to take a few days setting everything to rights for bringing Alonna home.”
“Tell George I have Crusader matched against Chanticleer Wednesday week if he should care to come over to Newmarket from the Park. I shall be staying there for a few days.”
“Could not I come as well?”
Alma flushed slightly. “Certainly, if it would interest you. Barrymore intends to ride his own horse, but I would rather have a jockey on Crusader.”
“Is it a costly match?”
“Four hundred guineas.” Alma smoothed out a wrinkle in his coat sleeve.
Diana’s eyes widened in surprise. “Is that customary?”
“With Barrymore it is minimum, I assure you. He had rather it had been five hundred, but I would not go so high in spite of my confidence in Crusader.” Alma unconsciously slipped her verse into his pocket, and she did not notice. “When do you leave for the Park?”
“In the morning.”
“I will take leave of you now then. Have a pleasant journey.” He took her hand and kissed it lightly.
When Alma left, Diana sat down at the harpsichord once more and played for an hour. Before leaving the room she looked about for the poem but was not disturbed when she did not find it. After all, it had been a joke for Alma and he had read it, so there was no further use for it.
Alma came upon it when he was at Fanny’s and left it in his pocket since he was far too occupied at the time to think of returning it. Later he reread it with a grin and placed it in his desk, at the same time hoping that Diana would not accompany her brother if he came to Newmarket, as Alma intended to take Fanny with him when he went.
* * * *
Diana and George arrived at the Park the next evening and discussed the refurbishing of Alonna’s suite of rooms. He tried once again to convince Diana to stay in the house rather than move into the Dower House but was unsuccessful. For a few days he occupied himself with matters at the Park, spending a good deal of time riding and fencing with Diana. Although Diana had told him of Alma’s projected race, George was eager to return to London and did not stay long enough at the Park to attend.
Work on the Dower House was proceeding well and Diana took time from supervising it to enjoy herself, but she felt an unusual lack of interest in her customary activities. Several days after George’s departure she was on her archery range when she heard hoofbeats. She unnocked her arrow, since she had no desire for a repeat of her prior performance. The rider approaching her had his back to the late afternoon sun and she could not see his face, but she felt a certain excitement mount in her when she thought that perhaps Alma had decided to stop by the Park on his return from Newmarket.
The rider called her name as he came closer and she could begin to see him better. “H—Harry?” she stuttered.
“Yes,” he replied as he dismounted and strode to where she stood frozen. “I hope I see you well?”
“Very, thank you. And you?”
He made no attempt to take her hand, which she hesitantly offered. “No, I must speak with you first, Diana.”
“Let me put away my equipment and we can sit in the garden,” she suggested nervously. He took the bow and arrows from her and put them in the shed before following her to the stables. He was dressed in the uniform of the 10th Light Dragoons, a captain.
When he had left his horse with Josh, and Rogue had been freed, they seated themselves on a stone bench in the garden and he studied her carefully. “You look very little older than you did five years ago.”
“It is because I am small,” she replied inanely.
“Diana, I have no right to ask your forgiveness for what happened that day. For a long time afterwards I was so caught up in my hatred for your brother, the way he treated me, that I was not able to see what I had done. My father bought me a commission in the army shortly thereafter and, well, I have grown up a lot since then, I hope. I can never express to you how deeply sorry I am for my behavior.”
The embarrassment that Diana had felt on seeing him again had begun to diminish. “It is long forgotten, Harry. You must not continue to chastise yourself.”
He moved restlessly on the bench, his hands brought up to run through his straight blond hair. “I have read my aunt’s letters these five years with more than ordinary interest. When time went by and you did not marry, a beautiful young woman such as yourself, I began to fear that I had damaged your reputation beyond repair.”
“No such thing! No one but George ever knew of that day, I assure you..” She spoke firmly in an effort to erase the torment from his intent gray eyes.
“You relieve my mind,” he sighed. “I would like to speak with your brother, if I might, to offer him the apology that is due him.”
“George is not at home right now. He is in London with his fiancée, but there is no need to speak with him. Even at the time he took your age into account, as I recall,” she said softly. “Are you staying with Mrs. Lewis?”
“Yes, for a short time. She told me she had stayed with you at the Park recently for several weeks.”
“Yes, a friend of George’s was here, and I had to have a chaperone. Now that is one thing I do hold against you, Harry,” she laughed. “I had to have a chaperone for three years after that incident.”
He regarded her gravely and retorted, “You would have had one in any case, I believe. If memory serves, your brother had gone to London to scout one out for you.”
“Your memory is too faithful,” she admitted. “Will you have tea with me?”
“I do not think I should.”
Her eyes danced with amusement. “Can you still not be trusted?”
Harry responded with a crooked grin. “Certainly I can, Miss Savile, but your brother might not approve.”
“I am three-and-twenty now, and in charge of my own life. George is to be married shortly, and I shall live in the Dower House.”
“Have you no wish to marry?” he asked gently.
Diana’s face clouded momentarily, and she replied after a while, “I really cannot say.”
“Surely you have suitors,” he prodded.
“Oh, yes, several of them, but I cannot seem to like any one of them well enough to marry him,” she remarked sadly.
/> Harry followed her into the small parlor where she rang for tea. It occurred to him that perhaps she felt that she had given him her heart those many years ago, as she had very nearly given him her body, and that she was unable to do so again.
Diana broke into his reverie. “Have you wed, Harry?”
“No, a soldier’s life is not much to offer a woman. I am being considered for a post in the Foreign Office now, however, and may begin to lead a more settled life if I am offered it.”
“Would you like such a post?” she asked curiously.
“Very much. My older brother is there and he enjoys his work.”
They discussed the events in their lives since last they met, and Diana found him grown into a serious, level-headed man with easy address and polished manners. When he suggested that they might ride together the next day, she easily accepted with no fear of ungentlemanly conduct.
Diana thought it wisest to write to her brother and inform him of Harry’s arrival in the neighborhood, and to assure him of the rectitude of her former would-be lover. At the same time she wrote Alma, thanking him for the poetry books he had sent and confiding that she was not, after all, without companionship in the country.
Then she shrugged off the feeling of loneliness which had begun to creep over her of late, much to her confusion, and devoted herself to her work on the Dower House and her daily rides and drives with Harry. She introduced him to the chariot and he found it a challenge. He was more than a little amused by her explanation of its coming into being, for she grew to feel comfortable enough with him to explain the archery accident, if not the surgery.
It did not escape Harry’s notice that she spoke of Alma frequently, what they had done together, how she had tried to amuse him. He sensed the ambivalence of her feelings; and, as he came to know her again, he wondered if he were wise to remain in Linton. Harry was finding that the enchanting girl of eighteen had become a woman of uncommon beauty and delightful fascination.
Chapter Eighteen
“I cannot like it, Alonna,” George confessed to his fiancée when he arrived at her father’s home after receiving the letter from Diana. “I do not doubt that Harry Lewis is become a respectable young man in the years since I met him, if Diana says he has. She is not often faulty in her judgment of people.”
Alonna looked up from the letter he had given her to read. “Then what troubles you, George?”
“When Diana met this fellow some five years ago she fell in love with him and very nearly damaged her reputation irretrievably.” He did not wish to go into the details of the scene he had come upon, even with the woman he loved, but he wanted her to see the situation as he did. “I was very rough on the young man and ordered him away from her. Lord, Alonna, she was young, but old enough to know better.”
“She had no mother’s guidance, George.”
“I know, and her governess, Miss Parston, had recently left her, so that she was at the time without anyone to lay a restraining hand on her. When I arrived I was very heavy-handed about the matter. I forbade Diana to see him again, which I really had to do; but do you not see that the very nature of their parting left her suspended? She had no time to bid him farewell, no chance to hear from him that he regretted his behavior, if indeed he did.”
“Yes, I can see that would be very unsatisfactory.”
“And now he arrives penitent, a handsome young man who is matured into a worthy fellow. It is not that I fear he will seduce her, but that she will mistake her own feelings for him, having been thwarted so long ago. I really should go to the Park. She is alone there.”
“But, George, our. engagement ball is tomorrow night,” Alonna said wistfully.
“Yes, love, I know, and that is why I am chafing so. I cannot go to her, and I cannot without reason order her to town.”
They were interrupted at this point by the butler announcing Lord Alma, who was following at his heels and entered before Alonna had a chance to agree to have him admitted. Alma was waving a letter and appeared disturbed.
“George, have you heard from your sister?” he demanded.
“Yes, this morning.”
“So have I, and I do not like the sound of it,” he asserted.
“Whatever is my sister doing writing to you?” George asked mildly.
“I sent her some books and she wrote to thank me.”
“I cannot see anything in that to upset you.”
Alma regarded him belligerently. “You are deliberately misunderstanding me, George.”
“Yes,” George sighed. “You are disturbed because she mentioned an old acquaintance arrived in the neighborhood, are you not?”
“Are not you?” he shot back.
“Somewhat,” George temporized. “Diana writes that Lewis has become a perfectly respectable young man.”
“She is there alone, George.”
“I am aware of it.”
“Well, are you going to go to her?”
“You forget that my engagement ball is tomorrow night, Ellis. I cannot go.”
“Then you must have her come to you,” Alma retorted stubbornly, his black brows drawn thunderously low.
“I cannot think Diana would like that.”
“Are you going to do nothing?” Alma asked coldly.
“I cannot see that it is any concern of yours, Ellis, but if it will relieve your mind I intend to go to the Park the day after the ball.”
“Her virtue must wait on your pleasure, of course,” Alma said sardonically.
“Understand this, Ellis, I am not concerned for her virtue. Diana is quite capable of maintaining it herself, as you well know.”
Alma flushed and cast a glance at Alonna, who had sat silently through the whole exchange. He attempted to keep his voice calm as he said, “I beg to differ with you. Have you not considered that it was this same young man who introduced her to...” He rubbed a distracted hand over his face. “Lord, George, she is the most curious little thing, and there is something very intriguing about a first love.”
“I know,” George replied patiently. “That is why I will go in a few days, but I do not think you need to worry about Diana, Ellis. She is very sensible.”
Alma nodded, unconvinced. It was not George who had held that passionate little bundle of flesh in his arms. Alma could not bear to think of her in another man’s embrace. He rose to take his leave. “Forgive me for barging in on you. I will see you both tomorrow night, no doubt.”
When he had left, Alonna turned to George with a smile. “I didn’t know he was in love with her.”
“He does not know it yet himself,” George sighed, “though he is beginning to understand, I think.”
“And Diana? Does she love him?”
“Yes, I believe so, but she is almost as bad. They had such a difficult time while he was injured that they find it hard to acknowledge the truth of it.”
“They would do well together.”
“Yes, if they ever get it sorted out,” George grumbled.
* * * *
Alma went directly to his house and ordered his traveling carriage. He wrote a note to Fanny while his valet packed for him. If George would not do something about the situation, Alma had no intention of letting matters rest. There was an inn in Linton where he could stay, since it would be impossible to stay at the Park. He could be there that very evening.
In actuality it did not turn out to be so simple. First there was the problem of the off leader going lame and a very slow journey to the next posting inn in Woodford Wells. Then near Loughton an overturned cart across the road delayed Alma almost an hour. He had a meal at the Black Lion in Bishop’s Stortford, was stopped by an inefficient and unsuccessful highwayman short of Quendon and eventually gave up and spent the night at The Horns in Newport, leaving instructions to be called early. In the morning things went more smoothly and he arrived at the Park at a reasonable hour, an innate caution making him bypass the archery range on his way to the stables. Jenkins was more than a little
surprised to see him but made no comment, merely indicating that he believed Miss Diana was in the garden with Mr. Lewis, who had just arrived. When Alma rounded the house and came upon them he stopped dead.
Harry had just burst upon Diana where she was reading poetry on the stone bench and announced that he had been appointed to the post in the Foreign Office. She was delighted for him and thought nothing of it when he jubilantly swung her in a circle and hugged her. “I am so happy for you,” she beamed, as she allowed him to continue the grasp he had taken on her hands.
“It is especially important to me because I...”
“Diana,” Alma said grimly from his spot at the corner of the house.
Her eyes darted to him at the sound of his voice. “Good God, Alma, what are you doing here?”
Although it should have occurred to Alma that he would have to answer this particular question when he arrived, it had not. Instead of answering her he said indignantly, “Obviously it is a good thing that I have come.”
“A good thing for whom?” she retorted, the color mounting in her cheeks. Harry released her hands.
Alma had progressed until he stood before them. “George could not come until tomorrow because of his engagement ball.”
“There is no need for George to come at all!” she protested. “What is the matter with the two of you? Harry, this is Lord Alma, a friend of my brother’s. Alma, Harry Lewis.” The two men bowed stiffly, and Diana continued coldly, “You have not answered my question, Alma.”
“I shall discuss it with you in private, Diana.”
“Then you may wait in the house. I was speaking with Mr. Lewis when you interrupted us.” Her eyes flashed angrily at him, and he glared at her in return.
Harry began gravely, “I assure you, Lord Alma, that there was no impropriety in...”
“There is no need for you to explain to him, Harry. It is none of his concern,” Diana asserted hotly.
The three stood eyeing each other uncertainly. Diana was the first to regain her composure. “If you will wait for me inside, Alma, I shall be with you in a few minutes. Please.”
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