Charity Girl Part 3

"Steane," she replied. "Papa is Wilfred Steane, and I am Cherry Steane."

"Well, you have a very pretty name, Miss Steane!" he said, smiling down at her. "But-Steane? Are you related to old-to Lord Nettlecombe?"

"Yes, he's my grandfather," she said. "Are you acquainted with him, sir?"

"No, I haven't that honour," he replied rather dryly. "I have, however, met your Uncle Jonas, and as I've been credibly informed that he closely resembles his father I am strongly of the opinion, my child, that you are better off with your aunt than you would be with your grandfather! But why should we waste our time talking about either of them? You have told me your name, but it occurs to me that you don't know mine! It is-"

"Oh, I know who you are!" she said. "You are Lord Desford! I knew that when I saw you waltzing with Lucasta. That's why I was looking through the bannisters: you can see this end of the drawing-room from here, you know. I saw you first when you came down the country dance, but I couldn't be positive it was you until I caught a glimpse of you waltzing with Lucasta."

"And then you were positive?" he said, in some amus.e.m.e.nt. "Why?"

"Oh, because I heard Aunt Bugle tell Lucasta she might waltz if you invited her to!" she replied blithely. Then her expression changed swiftly, as some faint sound in the shadows behind her came to her ears, and the wary, frightened look returned to her face. She whispered: "I mustn't stay! That was a board creaking! Please, oh, please go away, and pray take care no one sees you going down the stairs!"

She was gone on the words, as noiseless as a ghost; and the Viscount, having a.s.sured himself that the coast was clear, walked calmly down the stairs, and went back into the ballroom.

CHAPTER 4.

Seizing on the excuse offered by her daughter's fear of being driven back to Hazelfield through a thunderstorm, Lady Emborough carried her party off immediately after supper. Lady Bugle was regretful, but since she was even more frightened of lightning than was Emma she fully sympathized with her alarms, and made no effort to delay the departure, prophesying, when she heard that a storm was brewing, that a great many others would also leave early: certainly all those faced with a drive of more than half-an-hour.

The Redgraves took up Edward and Gilbert in their carriage, and Desford occupied the fourth seat in the Emborough landaulet, sitting beside his uncle, and confronting Lady Emborough and Miss Montsale.

For the first few minutes the ladies discussed the ball, but presently Miss Montsale said that although she had been prepared to find that Miss Bugle fell short of the enthusiastic descriptions furnished by Ned and Gil she had no sooner set eyes on her than she felt that they had underrated her beauty rather than exaggerated it. "Such great, sparkling eyes!" she said. "Such a lovely complexion, and such glorious hair! Oh, I thought she was one of the most beautiful creatures I've ever seen! Did not you, Lord Desford?"

He was not, like his uncle, drowsing, but he was obviously abstracted, and she had to repeat her question to recall him from whatever thoughts were occupying his mind. He said: "I beg pardon! I wasn't attending! Miss Bugle? Oh, yes, undoubtedly! A dazzling piece of nature!"

"And not just in the common style!"

"By no means!"

"What do you think, Desford? Will she take?" asked Lady Emborough.

"Lord, yes!"

"Well, I hope she will. I don't like her mother above half, but I do sincerely pity her, for it's no laughing matter to have five daughters to establish creditably when one hasn't a large enough fortune to grease the wheels," she said bluntly. "There's one that ought to be brought out next Season, and so she would be if old Lady Bugle hadn't chosen to die at the most inconvenient time she could! Lucasta might have been engaged by now, which would have made it possible for the next one-I can't remember her name! they all have the most outlandish names!-to have been allowed to try her wings at that little affair tonight, and to have been brought out during the Little Season, this autumn. Not what one would choose, of course, but what's to be done, when the girl is turned seventeen already, and her elder sister has scarcely been seen yet, much less turned-off? And before that unfortunate woman has time to make a recover she'll have the third girl ready for her come-out!"

"Tell me, ma'am!" interposed Desford. "What do you know about Lady Bugle's niece? Have you met her?"

"Why, have you met her?" she asked, considerably surprised.

"Yes, I met her tonight," he answered. "But pray don't divulge that to her aunt! She was peeping through the bannisters to watch as much as she could see of the dancing, and I happened to catch sight of her. I thought her one of the children at first, but discovered that she is-all but a few weeks!-as old as her cousin Lucasta. A pretty child, with big, scared eyes, a tangle of brown hair, and a deplorably outmoded and ill-fitting gown."

Lady Emborough tried hard to see his face, but it was too dark inside the carriage for her to distinguish more than its outlines. She said: "Yes, I think I have seen her once. I must own, it astonishes me to learn that she is as old as Lucasta, for-like you!-I thought her a schoolroom miss!

A poor little dab of a girl, isn't she? Well, she's the daughter of Lady Bugle's only sister, who ran off with that ne'er-do-well son of old Nettlecombe's. Before your time, but I remember what a scandal it was!

Lady Bugle was obliged to take this girl under her roof-oh, a little over a year ago! I forget the rights of it, but I know that I thought it very charitable of her to have done so, when she told me about it."

"Oh, was that how it was?" he said, in an indifferent tone.

"Charitable?" said Miss Montsale. "Why, yes-if the charity was not used as a cloak to cover more mercenary aims!"

"Good G.o.d, Mary, what in the world do you mean?" demanded Lady Emborough.

"Oh, nothing, dear ma'am, against Lady Bugle! How could I, when I never met her before tonight? But I have so often seen-as I am persuaded you too must have seen!-the-the indigent female who has been received into the household of one of her more affluent relations, as an act of charity, and has been turned into a drudge!"

"And has been expected to be grateful for it!" struck in the Viscount.

"If," said Lady Emborough awfully, "these remarks refer to my cousin Cordelia's position at Hazelfield-"

"Oh, no, no, no!" Miss Montsale a.s.sured her laughingly. "Of course they don't! Lord Desford, could anyone suppose Miss Pembury to be a downtrodden drudge?"

"Certainly not!" he responded promptly. "No one, that is to say, who had been privileged to hear her giving handsome setdowns to my aunt!

But you are very right, Miss Montsale: I too have seen just what you have described, and I suspect that the child I met tonight may be an example of that sort of charity."

No more was said, for by this time the carriage had drawn up before the imposing portals of Hazelfield House. The ladies were handed down from it; Lord Emborough was roused by his nephew from his gentle slumber; and his sons, springing down from the Redgrave carriage, which drew up a minute later, were indignantly calling upon their pusillanimous sister to own that the storm was still miles distant, and that it had been a great shame to have dragged them away from the ball when (according to them) it had scarcely begun.

Lord Emborough, on entering his house, presented all the appearance of a gentleman no more than half awake, but when he walked into my lady's bedchamber, an hour later, he had emerged from his drowsy mists, and so obviously wished to engage her in private conversation that she dismissed her abigail, who was in the act of fitting a nightcap over her iron-grey locks, and said, as this excellent female curtsied herself out of the room: "Now we can be comfortable, and talk about the party-which I have for long thought to be the best thing about parties, even the finest of 'em! Which the lord knows this wasn't! An insipid evening, wasn't it?"

"It was indeed," he agreed, disposing himself in a cus.h.i.+oned chair, and yawning. "I have never known, my love, why my old friend-as good a man as ever stepped when we were up at Oxford together!-should have chosen to marry-I won't say a smatterer, but a mere miss, which was what we all thought her!"

"Well," said Lady Emborough tolerantly, "I do not say that she is a woman of the first consideration, but it must be acknowledged that she has been a good wife to Sir Thomas, and is an excellent mother. And even you, Emborough, must also acknowledge that Sir Thomas's sense is not superior!"

"No," he agreed, with a melancholy sigh. He then fell silent, but said, after a few moments, somewhat acidly: "I am excessively glad, my dear, that I have never been fortified by the spectacle of my wife throwing a daughter at the head of an eligible parti in what I can only describe as a positively shocking way!"

"Certainly not!" responded his lady, with unruffled calm. "I hope I have too much rumgumption to do anything so bird-witted. But it must be remembered, my lord, that I have not been cursed with an improvident husband, and five daughters! I promise you, I do most sincerely feel for Lady Bugle, little though I may like her, and perfectly sympathize with her anxiety to achieve a good match for Lucasta as soon as may be possible."

He directed a worried look at her. "Did it seem to you that Desford was strongly attracted to that girl, my love?"

"Not in the least," she replied unhesitatingly.

"Well, I hope you may be right," he said. "It seemed to me that he treated her with very flattering distinction! And it wouldn't do, you know!"

"Of course it wouldn't do, and he knows that as well as we do! Lord, my dear sir, can you suppose that a personable man of birth and fortune who has been on the town for years, and has had I don't know how many girls on the catch for him, don't recognize a lure in no more than the shake of a lambstail? If the mother's odious toadying didn't disgust him, you may depend upon it the coming manners Lucasta a.s.sumed did!"

"One would have thought so, but he appeared to me to be quite blatantly flirting with her!"

"To be sure he was!" said her ladys.h.i.+p. "But in my judgment he was very much more interested in Lucasta's little cousin!"

"Good G.o.d!" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed Emborough. "Do you mean that scamp's child?- Wilfred Steane's daughter?"

His wife burst out laughing, for the look of dismay on his face was comical. "Yes, but there's no need for you to be on the fidgets, I promise you! Recollect that Desford leaves us tomorrow! It is in the highest degree unlikely that he will ever see the girl again; and for my part I wouldn't wager a groat on the chance that he won't have forgotten all about her by the time he reaches London!"

If this was a somewhat exaggerated statement, it is probable that had not Chance intervened Miss Cherry Steane would not have lived for long in the Viscount's memory. But Chance did intervene, and on the very next day.

Since Hazelfield was situated within a few miles of Alton, and he was bound for London, he did not take leave of his hosts until he had consumed a leisurely breakfast. The threatened storm had burst (according to Emma's account) directly over the house in the small hours, but after a violent downpour the weather had cleared, and the Viscount set out on his journey with every expectation of covering the distance in bright sunlight, and of reaching his destination in excellent time to change his dress, and to stroll from his house in Arlington Street to White's Club, where he meant to dine.

At Alton, he joined the post-road to Southampton, and was soon driving through Farnharn. It was when he was a few miles beyond this town that Fate took a hand in his affairs.

A female figure, wearing a round bonnet and a gray cloak, plodding ahead, with a slightly dilapidated portmanteau in her grasp, did not attract his attention, but just as his horses drew abreast of her she turned her head, looking up at him, and disclosed the child-like countenance of Miss Cherry Steane. Considerably startled, he uttered an exclamation, and reined in his horses.

"Why, what's amiss, my lord?" demanded Stebbing, even more startled.

The Viscount, slewing round to obtain a second view of Miss Steane, found that the fleeting glance he had cast down at her as his curricle swept past had not deceived him: Miss Steane it most certainly was. He thrust the reins into Stebbing's hands, saying briefly: "Hold 'em! I know that lady!" He then jumped lightly down on to the road, and strode back to meet Miss Steane.

She greeted him with frank delight, and said, in a voice of pa.s.sionate thanksgiving: "I thought it was you, sir! Oh, I am so glad! If you are going to London, would you-would you be so very kind as to take me up in your carriage?"

He took the portmanteau from her, and set it down. "What, to London? Why?"

"I've run away," she explained, with a confiding smile.

"That, my child, is obvious!" he said. "But it won't do, you know! How could I possibly aid and abet you to leave the protection of your aunt?"

Her face fell ludicrously; it seemed for a moment that she was going to burst into tears, but she overcame the impulse, swallowing resolutely, and saying in a prim, forlorn little voice: "C-couldn't you, sir? I beg your pardon I I thought-I thought-But it's of no consequence!"

"Will you tell me why you have run away?" he suggested gently.

"I couldn't bear it! You don't know!" she said, in a stifled tone.

"No, but I wish you will tell me. I think something must have happened since we talked together last night Did someone hear you, and tell your aunt?" She nodded, biting her lips. "And she perhaps gave you a scold?"

"Oh, yes! But that's not it! I don't care for mere scolds, but she said such things-and Lucasta too-and all in front of Corinna-and Corinna told the others-" Her voice failed on a sob, and she was quite unable to continue.

He waited until she had in some degree recovered her composure. He thought he had seldom seen a more pathetic picture. Not only was her countenance woebegone, but her shoes and the hem of the duffle cloak which she wore were sadly muddied; several strands of her unruly hair had escaped from the confinement of the round, schoolgirl's bonnet, and strayed across her flushed features; and beads of sweat glistened on her forehead. She looked to be hot, tired, and despairing. For the first of these three ills the duffle cloak was certainly responsible; for the second it was no wonder that she should be tired if she had trudged all the way from her home, carrying a c.u.mbrous portmanteau; but the despair was not to be accounted for so easily: nothing she had said to him on the previous evening had prepared him to find her flying from the security of the only home she seemed to have.

She succeeded in mastering her agitation, and even managed to summon up a gallant, if unconvincing, smile. "I beg your pardon!" she uttered. "It was only because you look so kind, sir, and-and talked to me last night- But it was wrong of me to ask you to take me up in your carriage. Pray don't regard it! My-my affairs are not your concern, and I shall do very well by myself!"

He ignored the hand she was resolutely holding out to him, but picked up her portmanteau, and said: "We cannot stand talking in the road! I don't promise to take you to London, but at least I'll take you to Farnborough! As I remember, there is a tolerable inn there, where I can produce some refreshment for you, and where we can continue this conversation at our ease. Come along!"

She hung back, searching his face with her wide, scared eyes. "You won't compel me to return to Maplewood, will you?"

"No, I won't do that. What right have I to compel you to do anything?

Though it is undoubtedly what I ought to do!"

She seemed to be satisfied with this reply, for she said no more, but went obediently beside him to where his curricle stood. The expression on Stebbing's face when he realized that his master was going to hand into the curricle a Young Person whose unattended state and dowdy raiment clearly denoted that she was not a female of consequence spoke volumes; but he relinquished the reins to the Viscount, without a word, and climbed up into the groom's seat between the springs.

Miss Steane, sinking back against the squabs, uttered a sigh of relief.

"Oh, how comfortable this is!" she said thankfully.

"Have you trudged all the way from Maplewood?"

"No, no! I was so fortunate as to have been given a lift to Froyle, in a tax-cart, so I have only been obliged to walk for six or seven miles, and I shouldn't regard that in the least if I weren't burdened with this portmanteau. And I must own I wish my pelisse wasn't quite worn out, so that I might have worn it instead of this dreadful cloak."

"It is certainly not the thing for such a warm day," he agreed.

"No, but I thought I should wear it, in case it comes on to rain, or I felt chilly when the sun goes down."

"When the sun goes down-! You absurd child, you are surely not meaning to continue walking till night-fall?"

"No-at least-Well, I thought I should have been able to travel on the stage-coach, but-but when it reached Alton it was cram-full, and of course I hadn't booked a seat, so I wasn't on the way-bill, and the guard wouldn't take me up. And even if there had been room I found that I hadn't quite enough money to pay for the fare. But I daresay I shall be able to get a lift on a carrier's wagon: they will often take people up, you know, and for no more than a s.h.i.+lling or two. And if I don't I shall go on for as long as I can, and then find a lodging for the night in some respectable farmhouse."

The Viscount's reflections on the sort of reception she was likely to meet at a respectable farmhouse he kept to himself, merely asking her where she proposed to lodge when she did reach London.

"I am going to my grandfather," she replied, a hint of defiance in her voice.

"Indeed! May I ask if he knows it?"

"Well-well, not yet!" she confessed.

He drew an audible breath, and said rather grimly: "Yes, well, we will postpone further discussion until we get to Farnborough, when I must hope to be able to convince you that this scheme of yours won't do, my child!"

"You won't convince me!" she said, betraying signs of agitation. "Oh, pray don't try, sir! It is the only thing I can do! You don't understand!"

"Then you shall explain it to me," he said cheerfully.

She said no more, but groped in the folds of her cloak for the pocket which held her handkerchief. He was afraid that she was going to cry, and suffered a moment's dismay. He was not chicken-hearted, but he found himself quite unable to face with equanimity the prospect of driving a lady in floods of tears along a busy post-road. However, she bravely suppressed all but one small sob, and did no more than blow her nose. He was moved to say, for her encouragement: "Good girl!" glancing down at her as he spoke, and smiling.

Of necessity it was a very brief glance, but as he turned his head back again to watch the road he caught a glimpse of the wavering, would-be valiant smile which answered his, and it wrung his heart.

In a few minutes Farnborough was reached, and he had drawn up in front of the s.h.i.+p. Not many persons patronized this small post-house, so the landlord, who came out to welcome a recognizable member of the Quality, was saddened, but not surprised, when the Viscount, handing Miss Steane into his care, told him that they had stopped only to bait.

"Anyone in the coffee-room?" he asked.

"No, sir, no one-not at the moment! But if your honour would wish to partake of refreshment in the private parlour-"

"No, the coffee-room will do very well. Some lemonade for the lady, and cold meat-cakes-fruit-whatever you have! And a tankard of beer for myself, if you please!" He looked down at Miss Steane, and said: "Go in, my dear: I'll be with you in a moment."

He watched her enter the inn, and turned to issue a few instructions to Stebbing, standing at the wheelers' heads. Stebbing received these with a wooden: "Very good, my lord," but the Viscount had taken barely two steps towards the door into the inn before his feelings overcame him, and he said, explosively: "My lord!"

"Well?" said the Viscount, over his shoulder.

"It ain't my place to speak," said Stebbing, with careful restraint, "but being as I've known your lords.h.i.+p ever since you was a little lad, which I taught to ride your first pony-ah, and pulled you out of sc.r.a.pes! and being that-"

"You needn't go on!" interrupted Desford, quizzing him. "I know just what you are trying to say! I must take care I don't fall into yet another sc.r.a.pe, mustn't I?"

"Yes, my lord, and I hope you will-though it don't look to me, the way things is shaping, that you will!"