There was no opportunity for more. The horses had been led up, and Sir Thomas was waiting to say good-bye. Miss Morville was handed into the saddle, and the party set off, the Viscount enlivening the way with a great deal of droll conversation, in a manner that would not have led anyone to suppose that he had been engaged in a violent quarrel not an hour earlier.
Upon their arrival at Stanyon, the gentlemen chose to ride on to the stables. Miss Morville dismounted at the foot of the terrace steps, and went quickly up them. She learned from Abney that his lordship was in the library, and went there immediately.
He was engaged in filling a two-colour gold snuff-box, ornamented with grisaille enamel paintings, with some of his special sort, but when he saw who had entered the room he rose at once, and set the jar aside. One glance at Miss Morville’s face made him say: ‘Is anything amiss, ma’am?’
She let the long skirt of her riding-dress fall, and began to strip off her gloves, saying with a slight smile: ‘You perceive so much more than one might imagine, my lord, that it is almost disconcerting.’
‘Do I? But what has happened to cause you concern? Sit down!’
She obeyed, but said: ‘Well, I don’t know that I am greatly concerned, but there is something amiss, and I believe you are the proper person to be told of it.’ She then, in the baldest of terms, recounted to him the story Marianne had poured out to her. ‘I should perhaps not have set much store by it had it not been for what Theo told me later. Marianne was greatly agitated, but that, I think, was largely because she has no brothers, and is consequently unaccustomed to scenes of violence.’
‘Unlike Miss Morville?’
‘Dear me, yes! In fact, I think it a pity that Marianne did not run away at once, for then, you know, they might have had what Jack calls a regular set-to, and I have little doubt they would have enjoyed it excessively, and parted the better friends. At least,’ she added thoughtfully, ‘it is what I should expect of most men, but I own Martin is a little different.’
‘That he tried to force a quarrel on to Lucy I can believe, but that Lucy should let him do it certainly surprises me.’
‘I do not know, of course, what gentlemen consider to be insupportable provocation, but I imagine Martin might offer such provocation?’
‘With enthusiasm,’ he agreed. ‘The devil fly away with that boy!’
‘He is very troublesome. But, although you may not like me to say this, I feel that he has not been quite properly treated. He did receive – and Marianne is fully conscious of it – a degree of encouragement which makes him not altogether to be blamed for his intemperate behaviour.’
‘Oh, I know it! If she were not so innocent, one might call her an arrant flirt.’
‘I am sure she had never the least intention of causing unhappiness.’
‘No, the mischief lay in his being too young to rate her pretty smiles at their true worth, and in her being too young to recognize that Martin was no man for her playful arts. What a stupid business it is! Are you expecting me to settle it?’
‘Certainly I am. If you do not, I shall be obliged to lay an information. Should it be to a magistrate?’
He laughed. ‘I hope we may not have to go to quite such a length
as that! Will you leave it in my hands, and trust me to do what I can?’
‘Yes, willingly,’ she replied, rising, and picking up the train of her dress. ‘Theo said that he should speak to Martin, but I should not be surprised if you were found to have more influence than he has ever had. At all events, your word must carry weight with Lord Ulverston.’
She then left him, and he returned to his task of filling his snuff-box. It was very soon accomplished, and he had just restored the jar to a cupboard when Ulverston strolled in.
The Viscount instantly picked up the gold snuff-box from the table, and inspected it. ‘That’s pretty!’ he remarked. ‘Where did you find it, Ger?’
‘Rue St Honoré – Louis XV. Not really suitable for day-wear, of course.’
‘Oh, at old Ducroix’s? I bought one from him – genuine Barrière, with lapis panels.’
‘I know you did. He showed it to me, but I thought the marble-enamel displeasing. How did you find them all at Whissenhurst?’
‘Oh, in high gig! Lady Bolderwood is full of schemes for their party next week. The devil of it is that I find I can’t stay to attend it.’
‘No, so I apprehend,’ replied the Earl. ‘You have received a letter which summons you to town, haven’t you?’
Ulverston laid the snuff-box down, and raised a rueful pair of eyes to the Earl’s face. ‘So you know all about it, do you? Has Martin been with you?’
‘No, Miss Morville. I should warn you that she is ready to inform against you to the nearest magistrate, Lucy.’
‘Meddlesome female!’
‘Not at all. She is a woman of remarkable good-sense. What nonsense is this, Lucy?’