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"I see. Is that how he became your legal adviser?"
"It was quite the other way around. His mother was actually a distant co
A tall footman flung open the drawing room doors.
The gentlemen were waiting. Carlton, looking indeed very handsome in evening clothes, rose to greet them. Maria
Sipping her own wine, Maria
Maria
"Some of those charming ballads you do so nicely. I feel a slight headache; your music always relieves me."
Maria
"Ah, here is one of my favorites," he said, turning over the sheet music. "Do play it for me. I will turn the pages."
The selection was a Chopin polonaise; and Maria
"But he knows where I am – with whom I am staying!"
"You little fool, that is your surest protection. No man in England would dare attack any dependent of the Duchess's. She has co
"I wish you would not use that word," Maria
"How interesting that you should feel that way."
The piece was coming to a ragged but resounding conclusion. There was very little time. Maria
"I have not been looking," Carlton replied calmly.
"Then do so!" She did not dare look up from the music, she was playing badly enough with its aid; but she felt his reaction of haughty rejection. "If you do not," she continued rapidly, "I will speak to Her Grace about it. I owe that woman more than my life, and I have been inexcusably remiss in repaying her. She may be ill, she may be dead -"
"Calm yourself," Carlton said harshly. "I will do as you ask if only to prevent what you threaten."
Maria
"Good gracious," the Duchess said gently. "What a strange sort of music that is! Give us something quieter, my dear."
Maria
"Duchess, I will play until my fingers drop off if it pleases you. But – forgive me – I am somewhat disturbed in my mind. What is it that you want of me this evening? Surely I can better assist you if I am prepared."
Even as she finished speaking she was afraid she had gone too far. But the Duchess did not appear to be angry.
"You have every right to ask," she said. "Please don't blame me, Maria
"And mine," Carlton added. "I too felt that if you insist on proceeding with the performance tonight, Miss Ransom should have no chance to prepare herself for it."
Maria
She tried to think of something profoundly cutting and sarcastic to say, but of course did not succeed. The Duchess said worriedly, "My dear child, I never doubted you. This was not my idea, I was forced into it by that ridiculous Clarabelle Morton. For years she has cherished the absurd notion that she was David's closest friend. She pursued him and bothered him mercilessly when he was in London."
"And," said the lawyer, "she entertained him lavishly when he first arrived. There was a certain gold cigar case, I remember, and a set of diamond studs…"
"He returned those," the Duchess said quickly.
"After you had given him -"
"Enough," the doctor said, with the authoritative ma
"You told me yourself that Maria
"It is not her health that concerns me."
"Well, I assure you, mine will suffer more from being thwarted than from anything. Come now, Horace, don't be an old bear. They will be here at any moment -"
"Too late, they are here," Carlton intoned dramatically, as the door burst open. In Lady Morton's usual impetuous ma
The two other visitors, who were some distance behind, were among those Maria
Lady Morton refused her hostess's offer of refreshment. "No sense in wasting time. We all know what we have come for, so let us get to it at once." The blank white eye and its more mobile companion aimed themselves in Maria
"But her hair," Miss Ditherson exclaimed.
"And her eyes," Lord Ronald whispered.
"Common as dirt," Lady Morton shouted. "You've been taken in again, Honoria; if you had consulted me I could have warned you. But that is just like you; you don't look stubborn, but you are stubborn, and no one knows that better than I. How many times have I -"