But when she arrived, looking pretty and excited, he knew he was not brave enough to disappoint her.
From a distance she waved at him and he waved back, keeping his eyes fixed on the approaching carriage.
It was becoming impossible to do anything except what this forceful girl wanted, and that was more alarming than anything else that had happened to him.
As she ran towards him he could only hold out his hands and say,
"It is so good to see you. I hope I didn't send the carriage too early, but I was eager to resume our talk."
'And eager to see you,' he thought.
"Come to meet my mother," he proposed. "And we will look around afterwards."
He noticed that her clothes, although good, were rather severe. Her coat was plain and on her head she wore a straw boater. Beneath her coat she had on a skirt and a garment that might have been a blouse, but which looked more like a man's shirt with a tie.
He knew some women dressed in this mannish fashion and had always thought it highly unsuitable. But on her it was delightful.
As he led her across the hall, he realised that she was looking around her with increasing dismay.
"I warned you," he murmured.
"It is very bad," she agreed. "But are we faint hearted?"
"Well, yes, I think we might be," he admitted.
"Nonsense! We are not faint-hearted! We are determined! We are resolute! We do not admit the possibility of defeat."
"I don't think I could go as far as that."
"Never mind. You will."
After a few more steps she said,
"Your Grace –"
"John," he said desperately. "If one more person calls me 'Your Grace', I'll jump out of a high window." "John, who are those people staring at me?"
"Where?"
He followed her gaze up the stairs and was just in time to see several faces vanish.
"Those are my uncle's friends," he said, grinning. "There are the twins, Imelda and Sonia, Jeremiah who cooks like an angel and Pharaoh who tries to keep the sky in place."
"Who – ?"
"I will explain later," he mumbled hastily. "We have nearly reached Mama's room. Please tell her nothing of what we discussed yesterday, because I haven't mentioned it to her yet."
"Oh, good!" she said with an enthusiasm that filled him with alarm. "Because since yesterday I have thought of several ways to improve my plan."
Then, having done what she could to set his mind at rest, she slipped her hand in his arm and accompanied him into Lady Evelyn's room.
CHAPTER FOUR
John saw that his mother was dressed in a gown that he had seen two years earlier, but which she wore with such style that she looked most elegant. Nobody would gave guessed that she had to be thrifty, he thought with admiration.
She greeted Gina charmingly and looked her over without being too obvious about it.
"My dear girl," she said. "John has told me all about you."
John wished he could hide.
"Indeed, ma'am, I hope he has not," Gina answered earnestly.
"Really? Why?"
"Well, would you like to think that any gentleman knew all about you?" Gina asked with a twinkle.
Lady Evelyn made a sudden, alert movement.
"You are quite right," she said. "It would be intolerable. My own dear husband never knew all about me until the day he died, I am happy to say."
One of the twins glided into the room with a tea tray, set it down and began to pour.
"John says you are a school marm," declared Lady Evelyn.
"No, Mama, I didn't exactly –"
"Then he really doesn't know all about me," Gina said with a chuckle. "I only told him that I was interested in becoming a teacher because I have nothing to do. I did not actually say that I was one."
"I see. He must have misunderstood, probably through fear and dread."
"Fear and dread?" Gina enquired.
"My son, Miss Wilton, is the old-fashioned kind of man who regards a well educated woman with horror."
John covered his eyes.
"Are you well educated?" Lady Evelyn asked.
"I am afraid I am, your Ladyship," Gina said apologetically. "My mother was a vicar's daughter and her Papa taught her Greek and Latin, as well as mathematics, logic, French, Italian and literature, all of which she passed on to me.
"I did go to school for a short time, but Mama was not satisfied with the education they provided. It was footling stuff, history in pictures and so forth. We were taught to name flowers and write sickly verse, but not to analyse a sentence.
"So Mama took me away. At the end of his life Grandpapa came to live with us and after that I learned from him."
"You have studied Greek and Latin?" Lady Evelyn asked in an awed whisper.
"And philosophy, history and science," Gina finished with a triumphant air of tidying up ends.
"But my dear girl, have you never learned the art of hiding all this academic achievement, for fear of frightening suitors away?"
"I have no intention of hiding it," Gina proclaimed proudly. "If a man is so feeble that my education scares him, then he is not the man for me. I would abominate such a man. I would crush him beneath my heel and tell him to be gone, lest I smite him!"
"Well done, Miss Wilton," exclaimed Lady Evelyn at once. "I admire your spirit. Though I must warn you that most men are such poor-spirited creatures that if you crush all the feeble ones, there will be none left."
"But would we be any worse off without them, ma'am?" Gina asked mischievously.
"Indeed we would not," said Lady Evelyn.
"Shall I go away?" John asked politely. "It is quite clear that my presence is not required."
His mother regarded him over the rim of her spectacles.
"John dear, are you still here? To be honest, I thought you had already gone away."
"I am willing to depart if my presence annoys you, Mama."
"Oh, no, my dear. I am sure we can find a use for you."
"I am prepared to conduct Miss Wilton around the castle whenever she wishes," he said.
He was afraid that his mother had taken against Gina, and her behaviour was meant as an unmistakable warning that such a clever female would not suit him.
This struck him as unreasonable. It was not Gina's fault that she was clever. Unscrupulous persons had indoctrinated her while she was too young to protest. It was unjust to hold it against her and he would inform his mother so at the first available opportunity.
But it seemed that the opportunity would not be quick in coming. Gina declared that she would much rather stay and talk to Lady Evelyn than to see around the castle just now, so John wandered away feeling unwanted.
His footsteps took him into the grounds and he realised with a certain melancholy that the beautiful weather was showing the castle at its best. Just standing here, you could hardly tell how shabby it was inside.
He found Pharaoh sitting under a tree with a sketchbook, making a charcoal sketch of the castle.
"But that's excellent!"
"I have a certain facility," the old man agreed. "I dabble. I pass the time." He sighed as though labouring under some great tragedy.
John moved on, strolling in the direction of the great gate that formed the entrance. And there he stopped, gaping at something he saw.
A carriage was rumbling through the gate. It was occupied by a young and very pretty girl who stood up and waved as soon as she saw him.
Behind her was a fourgon piled high with baggage, most of which, he saw with a groan, looked brand new.
"Johnnneeee!" called the girl, still waving madly.
John ground his teeth. He hated to be called Johnny.
As the carriage came to a halt she jumped down and came flying towards him, to hurl her arms about his neck.
"Johnny! Johnny. My darling brother!" she squealed.
"Hallo, Drusilla," he said, trying not to stagger under the impact. "My, how you have cha
nged. I wouldn't have recognised you."
"I am different, aren't I?" she squawked. "Much, much more grown up."
She jumped back and twirled round again and again, so that her new clothes were displayed to best advantage.
John tried not to think about what they must have cost.
No doubt the bills would reach him soon.
And to them would be added the bills for this carriage, and the fourgon and the men who were unloading the mountain of bags and looking at him expectantly.
"Bring them inside," he said curtly and walked into the castle, followed by a small procession.
"You had better take them right up to my room," Drusilla ordered airily.
John was about to protest when he realised that the shortage of servants in the castle made this an impractical idea. But he groaned at the thought of the extra tip this would involve.
"I am afraid that there is no room prepared for you," he said, leading the way upstairs.
In fact, since Drusilla had never lived in the castle there was no room set aside as hers. Finding one would involve an extensive search to find something that was not in too bad a state.
He stopped hastily on the landing.
"You can leave the bags here," he said, reaching into his pocket for a coin.
But to his surprise the men waved his money away.
"Thank you, sir, but we've already been paid. Good day to you, sir."
Dumbfounded, John watched as they walked downstairs and out through the front door.
"Are you in the Royal Apartment now that you're the Duke?" Drusilla wanted to know.
"Yes," he groaned.
"Come on, show me."
She grabbed his hand and began to drag him toward the Royal Apartment. As he had expected she was not impressed.
"You need to have it redecorated," she said decisively.
"Never mind that. What are you doing home, Drusilla? You should be at Finishing School. Heaven knows it costs me enough, so you should at least stay until the end of term."
"Pooh, what does it matter what things cost?" she asked blithely. "I came home because Finishing School had nothing more to teach me."
"I think they still have a great deal to teach you, including manners and decorum."
"Silly! That's not what Finishing School is for."
"Really?"
"Yes, really. It's for teaching you how to snare a rich husband."
"They didn't knock the vulgarity out of you, I see."
"Well, it's true. They talk about giving you 'finish' and 'polish' as though you were a piece of furniture. They brag about the 'accomplishments' they teach you, like French and music, and dancing. But the whole point is to find a rich husband and everyone knows it, although nobody says it."
John wished he could think of a reply, but he had a horrible feeling that it was true.
"The real accomplishment," Drusilla rattled on, "is knowing how to spend your husband's money with taste and elegance."
"Taste and elegance?" he echoed with brotherly scepticism. "You?"
"I have extremely sophisticated tastes in jewellery and clothes," she assured him. "I like only the best."
"And if that was enough to find you a rich husband all my cares would be over," John declared. "Unfortunately men with money can take their pick and the ability to be extravagant is not enough to attract them."
Drusilla giggled.
"That is what you think, brother dear."
"What are you talking about?"
"I told you I didn't need Finishing School any more, because it was just to help me bag a rich husband. Well, I have got one for myself. So I came home."
"You what?" he gasped.
"I've got a rich husband. So I'll soon be off your hands. Won't that be a relief to you?"
John's head was spinning.
"Drusilla," he managed to say at last, "you are seventeen years old."
"I know that."
"But what you don't seem to know is the way to behave. You don't want the world to call you an incorrigible flirt, do you?"
"It doesn't matter once I am married. They can say what they like."
"I see. And what about your husband's feelings?"
"Oh, I'll keep him sweet. He is madly in love with me, so that's all right."
"And what about you? Are you in love with him?"
"Oh, Johnny, darling! He's got fifty thousand pounds a year. Of course I am in love with him."
John gulped. Fifty thousand pounds a year! Was there so much money in the world?
Then his brotherly protectiveness asserted itself.
"Who is this man, Dru?"
She winced.
"Please, Johnny! Not 'Dru'. It's so common."
"I will call you Drusilla if you will stop calling me Johnny. You know I hate it."
"All right, it's a bargain. Dear, dear Johnny!"
"Drusilla, you must tell me something about this man. I need to know more than his bank balance."
"You need to know? I am the one who will be marrying him."
"If I give my consent. I am, after all, the Head of the Family."
The effect of this pronouncement was disconcerting. His sister threw back her head and positively shrieked with laughter.
"Oh, Johnny, you are so funny!"
"I don't mean to be."
"But it is funny! You, Head of the Family! It's a positive scream."
"Well, if you want my consent to this marriage, let me advise you not to scream too loudly," he asserted, feeling distinctly huffy. Surely a Duke was entitled to some respect from his younger sister?
"Tell me who he is," he insisted. "Do I know him?"
"I shouldn't think so. He's a grocer."
"A grocer? Have you taken leave of your senses?"
"But a grocer with fifty thousand a year."
"How can he have? My poor girl, he has been spinning yarns to turn your head –"
"Oh, Johnny dear, don't be so silly. He doesn't go around on a bicycle, delivering fruit. He has other people to do that for him. He owns hundreds of grocer's shops."
"How old is he?"
"About forty-five, fifty, I'm not sure."
"A middle-aged tradesman!"
"A very rich tradesman," she corrected him.
"I don't care how rich he is, you cannot marry him."
"You know nothing about him," she cried.
"On the contrary, I think I know exactly what he is like. He has probably got a red face, a pot belly and huge side whiskers. If I am so misguided as to meet him he'll clap me on the back and call me Squire!"
"Does that really matter?"
It did matter for more reasons than John could have explained. With Drusilla he did not even try. Another thought had occurred to him.
"I know what it is," he said. "You are sacrificing yourself for the family."
"What?"
"Knowing the dire straits I find myself in you have found a rich man to help the situation, but my dear sister, your duty to your family doesn't extend to –"
At this point he gave up. Drusilla was looking at him blankly and it was clear she had not understood a word he said. The word 'duty' was especially confusing to this spoilt child.
"You are not marrying a grocer just because he has money," he said flatly.
"Then find me someone else with money," she snapped, the sunshine disappearing from her face. "Do you think I want to be trapped in this old barn all my life just because you can't give me a dowry?"
She burst into violent tears.
At once John put his arms about her.
"Don't cry. I'll find a way to make it all right."
If only he knew how, he thought.
"You are home now," he said, "so let's just enjoy being reunited. There's someone I want you to meet, but first let's go and find Mama. She will be so happy to see you."
Drusilla sniffed and wiped her eyes.
"All right, but I haven't changed my mind. I am going to marry Arthur."
&nb
sp; "Arthur?"
"Arthur Scuggins."
He gave an inward groan. He might have known that the grocer would have a name like Arthur Scuggins.
"You simply cannot go through life with a name like Scuggins," he said. "Think of it, Dru. You couldn't –"
She stamped her foot.
"Don't call me that. I will do what I like. I won't be poor, I won't!"
"Well, I certainly agree that you need a husband with a large income," he sighed. "It took my breath away to see the extravagant way you travelled home. That carriage alone must have cost a fortune to hire. However did you pay for it?"
"I didn't. It's Arthur's."
"What?"
"And the fourgon. And the men."
"You travelled home at this man's expense? Have you no sense of propriety?"
"No, I don't think I have. What does it matter since I am going to marry him?"
John opened his mouth and then closed it again. There was little he could say or do about this situation without compromising his sister.
One issue was clear.
Like it or not, he would have to meet this man and pay him. Next he would have to ask a lot of questions and be prepared for answers that he did not like.
"Let's go down and find Mama," he insisted.
On the landing they discovered that some of Drusilla's bags had been moved, and one of the twins was supervising the removal of the rest by a middle aged man.
"Thank you, er –"
"Imelda," she said, taking pity on him. "I am taking them to the blue room, Your Grace. It is being made ready now."
"Thank you," he said with fervour, grateful for someone who understood his problems.
Downstairs he took Drusilla to find their mother, who was still deep in conversation with Gina. As soon as they entered, Lady Evelyn rose to her feet and held out her arms to her daughter in welcome.
While they were hugging each other and exclaiming, John took the chance to draw Gina aside.
"They will want to be alone for a while," he muttered. "I am sorry to have left you alone with my mother. Did she make life very difficult for you?"
"No, she was very nice. Why should you think she was unkind?"
"I didn't exactly mean unkind," he said hastily. "It's just that sometimes Mama gets an idea into her head and she forgets everything else."
Gina's baffled look warned him to stop there. He could hardly tell her that his mother was afraid that he meant to marry her and had been trying to warn him off. Nor could he say that nothing was further from his thoughts than marrying a bluestocking, lovely though she was.
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