Page 48 of The Book of Lost Stories
Pug must have slipped from her grasp, for he walked up and licked her face, before settling himself down next to her in a fidgety sort of way, like an old gentleman uncertain if he wished to sit on so dirty a surface. Alys was very certain that she did not, yet she seemed to have lost the power to rise to her feet.
The carriage had not stopped, or even slackened speed, and now vanished, leaving only a slatternly maid as audience to her mishap. She was standing some yards away regarding Alys with her mouth open, but as a smart curricle drew up she scurried away, as if she might be blamed for the incident.
Alys flinched, but it was merely Lord Rayven. He leaped down, tossing the reins to his groom and, stooping over her,demanded urgently, ‘Miss Weston? Are you hurt? I had no very clear view of what happened, for I was just turning the corner, but I did not think you were struck.’
Alys looked up … and it seemed alongway up … to his concerned eyes.
‘Come,’ he said, ‘can you stand? We must get you indoors again. I cannot think how you come to be out here alone in the first place.’
‘Too autocratic …’ she murmured, hauled to her feet and dizzily leaning on his arm. Then she pulled herself together and stood erect, smoothing down a gown that was beyond repair and straightening her bonnet. ‘I was taking Pug for a turn up and down the square, as I do every morning before I go out.’
‘You should not do so.’ He retrieved the end of Pug’s lead and handed it to her.
‘For fear of an accident?’
‘Does it not strike you as odd that a carriage should almost hit the only pedestrian in the street at this time of the morning and then drive on without stopping?’
‘There was a maid … but she is gone. And I suppose the driver was so aghast at the result of his lapse of attention to the road that he was afraid to turn back. But thank you for your assistance, Lord Rayven.’
‘It is as well that I was early,’ he said cryptically, then added, ‘I do not suppose you still mean to go out today?’
She looked at him in surprise. ‘I do not see why not. I must change my dress, of course, but that will not take me more than a very few minutes, and then I wish to see Westminster Abbey. Nell says the effigies in one of the chapels arehorrid.’
‘I suppose they are, but we need not look at them.’
‘Not look at them? Why, had I known about them earlier, I would have already visited the Abbey! But you cannot wish to see sights that must be commonplace to you and I will be perfectly safe there, surely, so that—’
‘I will await you,’ he said firmly, and he was very surprised when she did indeed run out again in little more than ten minutes, still tying the pink ribbons of her bonnet and a little hampered in that task by the ominously fat guidebook under her arm.
Lord Rayven’s horses were fresh and lively, but it was a relief to see how well he handled the reins: indeed, it made her realize in comparison how very poor her cousin Nat’s skills in that direction were. She stole a look at her companion’s hawk-nosed and arresting, if not precisely handsome, face, and thought he looked as if he was wishing himself elsewhere.
‘How quiet the Town is so early. It is quite my favourite time of day. But I am sorry to dragyoufrom your bed, for it seems to me that fashionable folk are out half the night and asleep most of the day.’
Mr Rivers, she had noticed, very often did not come home at all, for his candle was still on the hall table when she went out in the mornings. But she supposed Nell was only too glad not to have his company these days.
‘You forget I was a soldier, Miss Weston, and so have not managed to attain the habit of sleeping late. I find my head very clear for transacting business first thing, and then often ride in the park before breakfast.’
‘Then I am sorry to divert you from your usual habits, although it is quite your own fault for insisting. I cannot imagine why you do so.’
‘Why, I hope to make some amends for so grossly mistakingyour character in Harrogate, by rendering you this small service,’ he said lightly.
‘Then are you not afraid that people will think it very odd behaviour in you, should it become known that you are driving me about every morning in this fashion?’
She saw by some slight change in his expression that she had hit the nail on the head, and he was regretting his impulsive offer, for fear that she – and the world – should take his attentions to mean a warmer interest in her than he felt.
‘Should anyone mention the matter, I would advise you to say that I do so at the particular request of your grandfather,’ he suggested, ‘and I will do the same.’
‘Oh, it does not matter to me what people assume, for since I have no intention of marrying I do not fear that your actions will put off potential suitors. In fact, I will probably tell anyone vulgar enough to mention the matter that I cordially dislike you and that you inflicted your company on me without any encouragement whatsoever.’
‘Thank you, Miss Weston,’ he said, rather tight-lipped.
‘You are very welcome, sir. I would not for the world cause any pang of jealousy in the bosoms of those numerous eligible young ladies who are, I am convinced, hoping that you will cast the handkerchief in their direction.’
Since choosing a suitable bride had been his intention this season, he felt unreasonably annoyed, and piqued.
‘It seems we understand each other,’ he said shortly, and then said no more until they reached their destination.
Alys was pleased with Westminster Abbey, which so early in the day had a gloomy air of importance, as if it knew many secrets she did not, which she supposed it might well do.
