As soon as they had left the house, Léonie, dancing along beside Rupert with little excited steps, looked up at him with her confiding smile.
‘I have thought of a plan,’ she announced. ‘Suddenly it came to me! Will you please fight me with a sword?’
‘Will I do what?’ ejaculated Rupert, stopping short.
She stamped an impatient foot.
‘Fight with swords! Fence!’
‘Thunder an’ turf, what next? Ay, I’ll fence with you, rogue.’
‘Thank you very much! You see, Monseigneur began to teach me, but then he went away, and Madam Field does not fence at all. I asked her.’
‘You should ask Anthony Merivale to teach you, my dear. Justin’s good, I’ll admit, but Anthony nearly worsted him once.’
‘Aha! I knew there was a mystery! Tell me, did Monseigneur intrigue himself with miladi Jennifer?’
‘Ran off with her in Anthony’s teeth, my dear!’
‘Vraiment? She would not like that, I think.’
‘Lord no! But what woman would?’
‘I should not mind,’ said Léonie calmly. ‘But Lady Merivale – ah, that is another thing! Was she married then?’
‘Devil a bit. Justin’s not often in an affair with a married woman. He wanted to marry her.’
‘It would not have done,’ she said wisely. ‘She would have wearied him. Milor’ then came to the rescue?’
‘Ay, and tried to fight Justin à outrance. Marling stopped it. Never was there such a scene! They don’t speak now, y’know. Damned awkward, seeing that we’ve known Merivale since we were children. Marling don’t love Justin overmuch either.’
‘Oh!’ Léonie was scornful. ‘He is a kind man, that one, but of a dullness!’
‘Ay, but ’tis enough to make a man sober to be wedded to Fanny, I can tell you.’
‘I think your family is very strange,’ she remarked. ‘Ev
eryone in it hates everyone else. Oh no, Lady Fanny sometimes loves Monseigneur!’
‘Well, you see, we’d a spitfire for mother,’ Rupert explained. ‘And the old Duke was no saint, the Lord knows! ’Tis no wonder we grew up like snarling dogs.’
They had arrived at the stables, where Rupert’s horse had been taken. He spoke to one of the grooms, hailing him good-naturedly, and went to inspect the few horses that were there. By the time they returned to the house he and Léonie might have known one another for years. Rupert was delighted with his brother’s ward, and had already decided to remain some time at Merivale. A girl who was as outspoken as a boy, and who evidently did not expect him to make love to her was something quite new to Rupert. A month ago he had danced attendance on Mistress Julia Falkner; he was weary of the pastime, and had determined to eschew feminine company. But Léonie, with her friendliness and her quaint ways, would be a pleasant amusement, he thought. She was very young, too, and his loves had hitherto been older than himself. He promised himself a few week’s gaiety unspoiled by any fear that he would be entrapped into marriage.
He came again next day, and was informed by the lackey who admitted him that Léonie awaited him in the picture-gallery. Thither went he, and found her wandering round in coat and breeches, inspecting his ancestors.
‘By Gad!’ he exclaimed. ‘You – you rogue!’
She turned quickly, and laid a finger on her lips.
‘Where is madame?’
‘Cousin Harriet? I’ve not seen her. Léonie, you should always wear those clothes. They suit you, ’pon my soul they do!’
‘I think so too,’ she sighed. ‘But if you tell madame she will be agitated, and she will say that it is unmaidenly. I brought the foils up.’
‘Oh, we’re to fence, are we, Amazon?’
‘You said you would!’