‘Don’t apologise,’ he said. ‘You did very well for a beginner. I regret receiving you like this. I hoped you’d sleep later. Will you be ready to set forward at noon?’
‘No, I fear I shall not,’ she answered. ‘We will stay where we are for to-day.’ She picked up a pillow from the floor, and arranged it carefully under Vidal’s injured arm. ‘Is that more comfortable, sir?’
‘Perfectly, I thank you. But whether you are ready, or not, we start for Paris today.’
She smiled lovingly at him. ‘It’s my turn to play the tyrant, sir. You will stay in bed.’
‘You are mistaken; I shall do no such thing.’
He sounded cross; she wanted to take his face between her hands and kiss away his ill-humour. ‘No, sir, I am not mistaken.’
‘May I ask, ma’am, how you propose to keep me a-bed?’
‘Why yes, I have only to remove your clothes,’ Miss Challoner pointed out.
‘Very wifely,’ he commented.
She winced a little at that, but said without a tremor: ‘I have sent your man for a surgeon. Pray do not blame him.’
‘The devil you have!’ said his lordship. ‘I’m not dying, you know.’
‘Certainly not,’ replied Miss Challoner. ‘But you drank a great deal too much wine yesterday, and I have little doubt it is that that has made you feverish, and maybe inflamed the wound. I think you should be blooded.’
My lord regarded her speechlessly. She drew a chair up and sat down. ‘Do you feel well enough to talk with me for a few minutes, sir?’
‘Of course I am well enough to talk with you. What do you want to talk about?’
‘My future, if you please.’
He looked frowningly at her. ‘That’s my affair, ma’am.’
She shook her head. ‘It is kind in you, my lord, but I do not aspire to be your wife. I have thought very deeply, and I believe I know what will be best for me to do. May I tell you what I have decided?’
He said with a flash of humour: ‘There seems to be a vast deal of decision about you this morning, my dear. Tell me, by all means.’
She folded her hands in her lap; it occurred to him that she was a very restful woman. ‘What you said last night, my lord, was true; I cannot return to my home. You must not think that this will grieve me overmuch. I have never been very happy there. So I have formed a plan for my future which I believe to be tolerably sensible. If you will take me to Paris I shall be grateful for your escort. Once I am there it is my intention to seek a post in a genteel family as governess. I thought, perhaps, you would be able to put me in the way of it, since I suppose you have a large acquaintance in Paris.’
His lordship broke in at this point. ‘My good child, are you proposing that I should recommend you to some respectable matron?’
‘Couldn’t you?’ asked Miss Challoner anxiously.
‘I could, of course, but – Lord, I’d give a monkey to see the matron’s face!’
‘Oh!’ said Miss Challoner. ‘I see. It was stupid of me not to think of that.’ She relapsed into profound thought. ‘Well, if I cannot find anyone to recommend me as a governess, I think I shall become a milliner,’ she announced.
He stretched out his right hand, and clasped both of hers in it. He was no longer laughing. ‘I don’t often suffer from remorse, Mary, but you are fast teaching me. Come, can’t you stomach me as a husband?’
‘Even if I could, my lord, do you think I would steal you from my sister? It was not for that I took her place.’
‘Steal me be damned!’ said his lordship rudely. ‘I’d never the smallest notion of marrying Sophia.’
‘Nevertheless, sir, I could not do it. The very thought of marriage is absurd. You do not care for me nor I for you, and my estate is too far removed from yours.’
‘What is your estate?’ he asked. ‘Who was your father?’
‘Does it matter?’ she said.
‘Not a whit, but you puzzle me. You did not get your breeding on the distaff side.’