Page 52 of The Book of Lost Stories
‘Why, none, for I am paying an early call on an acquaintance and then afterwards I mean to see Miss Grimshaw, who is staying with relatives in Cheapside.’
‘Very well. Until the day after tomorrow then,’ he said, handing her down from the carriage with the rare but delightful smile that most women would have found near irresistible, but that caused Alys to look at him mistrustfully.
‘And pray remember me kindly to Miss Grimshaw,’ he added.
‘I am sure she is unlikely ever to forget you,’ she said tartly. ‘She was quite horrified when she learned of our excursions.’
But the thought crossed her mind like a shadow that she was fast running out of sights to see … unless she began to revisit them all, of course.
20
Gentlemen Callers
‘I am no longer the heiress you might have thought me, Simon – no rich prize. Even my betrothed has spurned me for another.’
‘I care naught for that. Come with me. My home is far away and of a humbler kind, yet you would be mistress of all and my honoured wife.’
Ravish’d by Cruel FatebyORLANDO BROWNE
‘Well, Letty,’ Alys said, kissing her cheek, ‘it is good to find you alone, for it seems to me that you are so often in company with Mr Puncheon that I suspect him of dangling after you.’
‘Really, Alys, dangling after me!’ Miss Grimshaw exclaimed, blushing.
‘You look so handsome in that lavender gown and new cap that it would not be at all surprising. But I did not come to put you to the blush, rather to have a good coze and catch upwith the news. You will never guess who I have been to visit this morning.’
‘Pray, do tell me, Alys.’
‘Mrs Radcliffe! I wrote asking her if she would allow me to call on her, and she kindly said I might.’
‘And what is she like?’
‘A lady of middle years, kindly, serious and very earnest, not at all how I had imagined her. She warned me not to overstep the boundaries of taste and propriety in my novels. I believe she rather repents of having written hers, for I am sure the author ofThe Mysteries of Udolphocannot always have been so veryworthy.’
‘I do not know how it is in the least, since you arequiteunworldly, my dear, but the tone of some passages in your books is decidedly warm,’ ventured Miss Grimshaw, looking troubled.
‘I do not suppose I would sell so well if they were not. And if they are due to my letting my imagination stray into areas where a maiden lady’s should not go, then so be it. But what of you? You look very well. Are you enjoying your holiday?’
A shadow crossed her companion’s face. ‘Yes, indeed … my nephew and his family have made me very welcome. I am quite at home here.’
‘But it is not your own home, is it? Is that what troubles you? But do not worry, for Thomas is already getting particulars of houses for us in York, as I told you, so that very soon we will be settled there together and you may be easy again.’
‘Oh, yes, how … how nice that will be, to be sure. Only … although your mind was set against marriage, don’t you think you might, after all, reconsider? From what I hear, both LordRayven and your cousin Mr Nathaniel Hartwood are very attentive to you.’
Alys laughed. ‘You have been listening to gossip! Lord Rayven’s attentions were motivated by a desire to tease me at first, I am convinced, but now he is a little piqued by my indifference. And as to my cousin Nat, well, I was quite bowled over with him – did you ever see such a handsome man? – but it did not last more than a day or two. I do not like the way he treats animals, which is always a sure sign of character, is it not?’
‘Animals, dearest Alys?’
‘Yes, last time he came to call he kicked poor Pug out of the way when he thought no one observed him, simply for drooling over his hessians.’
‘Gentlemen can be very particular about their boots, I have heard. Champagne in the blacking even, which seems a sad extravagance.’
‘Perhaps, but also he treats his horses roughly, and does not speak to his groom in a way that you or I would speak to a servant … I don’t know, it is all little things that make me feel that his character does not live up to his appearance.’
‘Perhaps some other gentleman, then?’
‘Dear Letty, do not worry that I mean to marry and abandon our plan of setting up home together, for I am still set on staying unwed and rely on you to lend me propriety and keep me company.’
‘You are very kind,’ said Miss Grimshaw, the ready tears starting to her eyes. ‘You are right that I would not want to live as a pensioner here for ever, even though my nephew and his family have made me more than welcome. But again, I would not in the least hold you back from making a happy marriage, should you find one worthy of your love.’
