‘Oh no, I’m sure it’s not! But it doesn’t signify, only that I thought you would like to know that I rather fancy George to be a little épris in that direction.’
‘I hope he will not give her a heartache!’
‘I expect he will, however. The odd thing is that she is not at all the sort of young woman he had been in the habit of deceiving.’ She added thoughtfully: ‘One comfort is that he is more likely to make a fool of her than she of him.’
‘Really, Bab!’ he protested.
‘Now, don’t be shocked! It would never do for George to marry her. He won’t, of course. He depends too much upon my grandfather, and wouldn’t dare. She may be perfectly ladylike, but her connection with that horrid little Cit of an uncle makes her quite ineligible. My grandfather was himself held to have married beneath him, but that does not make him indulgent towards any mésalliance we might wish to make! He is pleased, by the way, with my engagement. I have had letters from him and my grandmother by today’s post. You never told me you had written to him, Charles!’
‘Of course I wrote to him. Have we his blessing?’
‘Decidedly! You are unexceptionable. He did not suppose me to have so much good sense. My grandmother, who is quite the most delightful creature imaginable, writes that she is in doubt of her felicitations being still acceptable by the time they reach me. You observe, Charles, you have broken all records!’ She gathered up the reins, and signed to her tiger to jump up behind. ‘There seems to be nothing to stay for: I shall go. Who is invited to this dinner of Uxbridge’s?’
‘All commanding cavalry officers, and of course the foreign visitors.’
‘Ah, a horrid male party! You will enjoy it excessively, I daresay, get abominably foxed, and come reeling back to Brussels with the dawn.’
‘Well! You have drawn no rose-coloured picture of my character, at all events! There can be no disillusionment for you to fear!’
‘No, none for me,’ she said.
He saw that she was ready to give her horses the office to start, but detained her. ‘Do you mean to drive alone? Is not Harry with you?’
‘Certainly I mean to drive alone. Harry is not here.’
‘Don’t tell me there are no young gentlemen eager for the chance to escort you?’
‘I have sometimes a strong liking for my own company,’ she replied. ‘But as for being alone, pray observe Matthew, my tiger.’
‘Let someone ride back with you, Bab.’
‘Are you afraid I may be molested by the brutal soldiery? I don’t fear it!’
‘You might well meet with unpleasantness. Is not Vidal here?’
‘Yes, driving with Gussie. You will not expect me to curb my horses to keep pace with a sober barouche. I shall spring ’em, you know.’
He stepped back. She said saucily: ‘Retiring again, Charles? You’re the wisest man of my acquaintance. Goodbye! Don’t be anxious: I am a famous whip.’
She began to make her way out of the ranks of carriages; the Colonel mounted his horse again, and rode off to his brother’s curricle. He saluted Judith, but without attending to what she had to say of the review, addressed Worth. ‘Julian, be a good fellow, will you, and follow Bab? She’s alone, and I don’t care for her to be driving all the distance without an escort. You need not so proclaim yourself, by the way, but I should be glad if you would keep her in sight.’
‘Certainly,’ said Worth.
‘Thank you: I knew I might depend on you.’
He raised two fingers to his hat, and rode off. Judith said: ‘Well, if she’s alone it must be for the first time. Poor Charles! I daresay she has done it simply to vex him.’
‘Very possibly,’ Worth agreed. ‘There is a bad streak in the Alastairs.’
‘Yes. Lord George, in particular, is not at all the thing. I am so disturbed to see him making Lucy the object of his attentions! It was most marked last night: he danced with her three times.’
‘She did not appear to mind.’
‘You are wrong: I saw her look distressed when he came up to her the third time. She is not the girl to have her head turned by a handsome Life Guardsman.’
‘She is singular, then,’ he said in his driest tone.
Thirteen