Page 19 of The Society Catch
‘Yes, ma’am,’ Joanna said meekly. The letter was hard to compose. In the end she managed a few lines to say how sorry she was, and that she was quite safe and that Mrs Gedding was very kind. But it was more than she was capable of to apologise for running away before Lord Clifton called to make his offer.
Her hostess was bustling about with lists when she broughther the note. When it was sealed with the others, and the groom dispatched, she asked politely if there was anything she could do to help.
‘It won’t do you any good to sit and brood will it, my dear? No, I did not think it would. But you must not exert yourself too much yet.’ Mrs Gedding thought for a while then said, ‘I know,pot pourri. Come along.’
She took Joanna into the back garden and gave her a basket and a pair of scissors.
‘Oh, how beautiful.’
The garden was a mass of roses, of old fashioned flowers, of weeping trees and winding paths scythed through the grass. The scent was magical and almost took her breath away.
‘I love it,’ said Mrs Gedding simply. ‘It has taken me twenty years to make it look as though it just happened by accident. Not many people appreciate it.’
‘It is Sleeping Beauty’s garden,’ Joanna declared. ‘Is there a turret hidden in the midst of it?’
‘No, but that is an excellent idea. I must ask Mr Gedding to have one built as a summer house. The sun has dried the dew off the roses, so if you will be so good as to start picking heads from the ones that are just open, they will be perfect for drying.’
Joanna spent an idyllic morning exploring the garden. The maid brought out a chair and a rug and some larger baskets and she wandered up and down the paths, snipping rose heads into her basket, smelling the other scented bushes, thinking about the perfect place to position Sleeping Beauty’s turret. Occasionally she would tip her basket into the bigger one by the chair and sit and rest for a little.
Mrs Gedding brought out some lemonade and they talked of their families and the contrast between village and town life, then her hostess went back inside and Joanna sat, surrounded by her baskets brimming with roses and finally let herself thinkabout the previous day.
She probed her memory like someone exploring a sore tooth, very cautiously, wincing as she realised just how careless and gullible she had been and what dreadful danger she had escaped. Giles’s words of praise were balm to her self-esteem, but her conscience continued to prick her when she thought of her parents’ anxiety.
And how, of all the miracles, had it been Giles who had found her? On the thought he appeared from the back door carrying a chair and a folding table, the maid with a loaded tray behind him.
‘Joanna.’
Her heart gave a sudden, hard, thud and she found that all she could do was to smile back at him.
Chapter Nine
‘Mrs Gedding thought we might like to picnic out here. The Squire has come back to arrange for a clerk to assist us this afternoon. There is so much paper we are unearthing that we are going to have to get it listed and ordered before we can start to make sense of it all, let alone mount a court case.’ He set down the chair and unfolded the table. ‘May I sit down?’
‘Yes of course, I am sorry, my wits are gone wandering.’ He looked exactly as she remembered him from London. This morning she had been half afraid that it was all a delusion and it wasn’t the real Giles. Now, sitting beside him, watching the dappled shade from the tree cast patterns over his dark blond hair and returning the smile that crinkled the corners of his grey eyes, she knew he was real and a ridiculous, hopeless wave of love swept over her.
‘Giles…Colonel Gregory…’
‘Giles will do very well, Joanna.’ He leaned forward and poured two glasses of lemonade. ‘How are you today?’
‘Much better than I deserve,’ she replied ruefully. ‘I cannot thank you enough. I was praying for a miracle, and there you were. But I do not understand how you came to find me.’
‘Your father is laid up with gout and your mama hurried round to the Tasborough’s Town house in a fine state of alarm, as you might expect, hoping that Alex would be there. But of course, she had not stopped to think about Hebe’s condition. Fortunately I was staying and I knew Alex would not want to leave his wife, so I offered to hunt you down. You gave me a fair run for my money.’ He lifted a plate and offered it to her. ‘Ham? Bread and butter? Or I think that is a slice of raised pie.’
‘Ham and bread please.’ Joanna cut up her food, thinking over what Giles had said. ‘Hebe is well?’
‘Oh perfectly, but she doesn’t rest as much as she should, and I put the idea into Alex’s head that she is expecting twins, so you can imagine the state he is in. I should imagine he and your mama between them are exercising Hebe’s powers to calm and reassure to the utmost.’
Joanna digested this information, decided she could not possibly ask why Giles thought Hebe was expecting twins and said, ‘How lucky you were still in London. I thought I heard someone say you had gone to see your father. Is the General well?’
Giles shrugged and Joanna saw a shadow in his eyes, although he kept his voice light when he said, ‘Not entirely. He does too much, will not admit he is not in the best of health and drives my mother distracted.’
‘But you came back to Town despite that?’ Joanna bit her lip, wondering if she had overstepped the mark and was being intrusively curious, but Giles did not appear to find her question impertinent.
‘We had a blazing row and he disinherited me,’ he said with a smile which did not reach his eyes.
‘Giles. How dreadful.’ Joanna’s bread and butter dropped to the plate unheeded as she stared at him. ‘But why on earth?’
‘I told him I intend to sell out. Oh, and there is the question of my marriage of course.’
