Page 42 of The Book of Lost Stories
‘I do not need guidance. Think me strange if you will, but I believe I must decline your kind offer,’ she said with resolution.
‘I am not used to being gainsaid, and I am your grandfather, your nearest male relative: I could have you constrained, should I wish it.’
She rose to her feet. ‘You abandoned any such rights along with your daughter. And these threats do not impress me, for you would have nothing to gain but opprobrium if you behaved in such a tyrannical manner! I do not think we have any more to say to each other and, once I have disposed of my London property and purchased another in the North, you will see and hear from me no more.’
‘A property?’ he snapped, pouncing on the information she had not meant to let drop.
‘I have a small house in Town, which is let,’ Alys said reluctantly.
His eyes narrowed. ‘I am very sure your father did not have any property. There seems to be much you are holding back.’
‘Perhaps, but I see no reason to tell you all my personal affairs. They are not your concern.’
‘But now the season is starting, you are bound to meet Lavinia and Bella, not to mention my heir, Nathaniel Hartwood, who is a friend of George Rivers.’
‘I suppose I will.’
‘Indeed you will. In fact, I will tell Lavinia to call on you.’
‘As you wish, sir.’
‘Pull that bell rope,’ he ordered, and when the servant answered, he summoned his family to meet her.
Mrs Lavinia Hartwood was plump, fair and foolishly amiable. ‘Only fancy,’ she said when the introductions were made, ‘we had no notion of your existence until yesterday. Imagine our surprise.’
‘Not, I hope, an unpleasant one,’ Alys said. However, she thought she detected some resentment in the look Miss Arabella Hartwood directed at her when she had entered the room.
‘La, how tall you are, Miss Weston,’ exclaimed Bella, who was a youthful version of her mama, her prettiness marred only by a faintly rabbity look about the teeth and nose. She had all the airs of a beauty, but Alys supposed if you had a wealthy childless uncle who clearly doted on you, you could think yourself as beautiful as you pleased.
‘I do not think I am so very many inches above the common height, Miss Hartwood. Perhaps it is that you are so verysmall.’
‘You girls need not stand on civility, I suppose, for you may call each other cousin,’ Mr Hartwood said. ‘Lavinia, Alys is staying with the Rivers – you are to send them cards for Bella’s ball.’
Lavinia blinked. ‘Of course, Titus, if you wish it.’
‘What fun, Uncle Titus, to have a new cousin!’ Bella cried, clapping her hands together girlishly, although another sharp sideways look at Alys belied the words.
They all sat down together, but after a few minutes of laborious conversation about how she liked London and what she had found to amuse her so early in the season, Alys began wondering whether she might make her escape.
Then the door opened and any such desire left her, for in walked the most handsome man she had ever seen. Herheart seemed to skip about in her breast when her eyes met his smiling cerulean blue ones … But after blinking a few times, she regained her senses enough to recognize him as the golden youth of Harrogate grown up, the mirror image of so many of her heroes: in fact, her handsome cousin, Nathaniel Hartwood. His guinea-gold curls were brushed into a modish style, his snowy cravat fell like a crisply frozen waterfall and the exquisite fit of his coat and pantaloons proclaimed him a very pink of theton.
‘You must excuse me, sir,’ he said to Mr Hartwood. ‘I called to see my mother and sister, but when I heard who was above-stairs, I could not resist making the acquaintance of my cousin, if I may call her that, for second cousins at least we must be.’
‘You might as well meet her now as later, I suppose,’ Titus Hartwood said, ‘for she is making a stay in Town.’
‘I am certainly more than happy to do so.’ His eyes sparkled delightfully as he took her hand in his, and smiled with such charm that Alys felt oddly breathless.
‘She’s staying with the Rivers for the season,’ Titus Hartwood said. ‘George Rivers is a friend of yours, is he not?’
‘That is so, and had I already been in Town I would have had the pleasure of meeting you that much the sooner, Cousin. But you must allow me to call on you tomorrow and make up for lost time.’
‘I am sure Mrs Rivers will be happy to see you, sir.’
Seeing that Mr Hartwood was suddenly looking tired, leaning back in his chair with his eyes closed, she rose to go. His hooded eyes snapped open again. ‘You will come to see me on Wednesday,’ he said, more in demand than request.
Her chin went up. ‘Should my kind hostess not have anyprevious engagements she wishes me to attend with her, then I will do so.’
Nat suggested that she should send Mrs Rivers’ carriage away and instead take a turn in the park with him and Bella before going home.
