“That doesn’t surprise me at all!” he replied. “If I were forced to endure more than five minutes of her vapid gibble-gabbling there would be nothing for it but to cut my throat! Or hers,” he added, apparently giving this alternative his consideration. “No, I think not: the jury, not having been acquainted with her, would probably find me guilty of murder. What shocking injustices are perpetrated in the name of the law! How the case of your cousin brings that home to one! She ought, of course, to have been strangled at birth, but I daresay her parents were wanting in foresight.”

This drew a positive peal of laughter out of Miss Wychwood. She turned her head towards him, her eyes brimful of merriment, and said: “Oh, how often I have felt the same! She is the most tactless, tedious bore imaginable! When I left Twynham, my brother prevailed on me to employ her as my companion, to lend me countenance, and I have seldom ceased to wonder at myself for having been so want-witted as to have agreed to do it! How horrid I am to say so! Poor Maria! she means so well!”

“Worse you could not say of her! Why don’t you send her packing?”

She sighed and shook her head. “I own, I am often tempted to do so, but I am afraid it isn’t possible. Her father, according to what Geoffrey tells me, was sadly improvident, and left her very ill provided for, poor thing. So I couldn’t turn her off, could I?”

“You might pension her off,” he suggested.

“And have Geoffrey plaguing my life out to hire another in her place? No, I thank you!”

“Does he do that? Do you permit him to plague you?”

“I can’t prevent him! I don’t permit him to dictate to me—which is why we are so frequently at outs! He is older than I am, you see, and nothing will ever disabuse his mind of its belief that I am a green and headstrong little sister whom it is his duty to guide, admonish, and protect! Which is, I acknowledge, very admirable, but as vexatious as it is misjudged, and seldom fails to send me up into the boughs!”

“Ah! I thought there was more to his descent on you than his little boy’s toothache! He came, in fact, to warn you to have nothing to say to me, didn’t he? Does he suspect me of having designs on your virtue? Shall I tell him that his suspicion is groundless?”

“No, certainly not!” she said emphatically. “I am very well able to deal with Geoffrey myself. Ah, there are the children! Indulge me with a race to overtake them, Mr Carleton! I have been pining these many weeks for a good gallop!”

“Very well, but ‘ware rabbit holes.”

“Pooh!” she threw at him, over her shoulder, as the mare lengthened her stride.

She had the start of him, but he overtook her, and they reached the two winning posts neck and neck, and were greeted, by Lucilla with applause, and by Ninian with mock reproach, for having, he said, set Lucilla such a bad example.

“Don’t you mean a good example?” enquired Mr Carleton.

“No, sir, I don’t, for how the deuce am I to stop her galloping hell-for-leather when she has seen Miss Wychwood doing it?”

“As though you could ever stop me if I choose to gallop!” said Lucilla scornfully. “You couldn’t catch me!”

“Oh, couldn’t I? If I had my Blue Devil between my legs we’d soon see that!”

“Blue Devil would never come within lengths of my Lovely Lady! Oh, sir, that is the name I’ve given her! I thought at first that I would call her Carleton’s Choice, but Ninian said he didn’t think you would care for that!”

“Then I am very much obliged to him! I should not have cared for it!”

“Well, I meant it as a compliment!” said Lucilla, slightly aggrieved.

“Good God!” he said.

Ninian chuckled, and said: “I told you so! I don’t like Lovely Lady either: a sickly name to give a horse! But at least it’s better than the other!”

“Shall we ride on to visit the Saxon fortifications, or would you prefer to remain here abusing one another?” intervened Miss Wychwood.

Thus called to order the combatants hastily begged pardon, and the whole party moved forward.

Chapter 10

It was considerably past noon when Miss Wychwood re-entered her house, and there were unmistakable signs that her uninvited guests had arrived, and were partaking of a late nuncheon in the breakfast parlour. James was halfway up the stairs, lugging, with the assistance of one of the maids, a large trunk; the page-boy was collecting as many of the smaller articles of luggage as he could conveniently carry; Lady Wychwood’s abigail was sharply admonishing him, and warning James to be careful not to let the trunk fall; and Limbury had just come out of the parlour with a tray. He was looking somewhat harassed, as well he might, for the hall was littered with portmanteaux, valises, and bandboxes, amongst which he was forced to pick his way. At sight of his mistress, he looked even more harassed, and begged her to excuse the disorder, in a voice which gave her to understand that it was no fault of his that the luggage was still in the hall. “The coach in which it was packed, ma’am, arrived barely a quarter of an hour ago, and since Nurse wanted something out of one of the trunks, and insisted on searching for it immediately, and was unable to recall in which of the trunks she had packed it, we have been, as you might say, slightly impeded.” He added, in an expressionless tone: “It happened to be in one of the valises, ma’am.”

The abigail took up the tale, bobbing a curtsy, and saying that she was sure she was excessively sorry that Miss should have come home to find her house in such a pickle, which would not have happened if the second-coachman had not fallen so far behind on the road, and if Nurse had not been so foolish as to have packed at the bottom of a trunk what one would have supposed she must have known she would need on the journey.

“Well, never mind,” said Miss Wychwood. “Are Sir Geoffrey and her ladyship eating a nuncheon, Limbury?”

Lucilla, who was looking at the impedimenta in round-eyed astonishment, whispered: “Good gracious, ma’am! What an extraordinary amount of baggage for just a few days! One would think they had come to spend months with you!”

“They probably have,” replied Miss Wychwood bitterly. “Run up and change your dress, my love! I must greet my sister-in-law, I suppose, before I do the same.”

“I will bring a fresh pot of tea for you directly, Miss Annis. Would you care for a baked egg, or a bowl of soup?”

“No, nothing, thank you: I’m not hungry!”

Limbury bowed, set his tray down on one of the trunks, and opened the door for Miss Wychwood to pass into the parlour.

Her brother, his wife, and Miss Farlow were seated at the table, but they all rose, and Amabel tottered towards her, and almost fell into her arms, saying faintly: “Oh, Annis, dearest one, how glad I am to see you at last! How good you are to me! You cannot imagine how much I have longed for you through this dreadfully agitating time! I can’t describe to you what I have been through! Now I can be comfortable again!”

“Of course you can!” said Annis, returning her fond embrace, and gently pushing her back to her chair. “Sit down, and tell me how Tom is!”

Lady Wychwood shuddered. “Oh, my poor, precious little son! He was so brave through it all, even though he was screaming with pain most of the night! Nothing eased it until I ventured to give him a few drops of laudanum, in a teaspoon, which did send him to sleep for a very little while, but, alas, not for long, and I dared not give him any more, for I am convinced it is unwise to dose children with laudanum. And this morning the pain was so much worse that if the trunks had not been packed, and the horses harnessed, I think I must have gone against Geoffrey’s wishes, and taken the poor little love to Melling after all!”

Miss Wychwood cast a satirical glance at her brother. He was obviously discomposed, but he returned the glance with a defiant glare, and said, in minatory accents: “You forget, my love, that it was you who wished Westcott to see Tom!”

“Oh, I am persuaded you were right, dear Lady Wychwood!” exclaimed Miss Farlow, for once in her life stepping opportunely into an awkward breach. “My dear father always said that it was a false economy to consult any but the best medical practitioners in such cases! I daresay this Melling you speak of would have bungled the extraction, but once Westcott had coaxed dear little Tom to open his mouth he whisked the tooth out in the shake of a lamb’s tail!”

“Well, that’s good news, at all events!” said Miss Wychwood. “I collect he is now relieved of his pain, for I heard no screams of anguish when I entered the house.”

“He is asleep,” said Lady Wychwood, sinking her voice as though she feared to disturb the rest of her son, tucked into a crib three floors above her. She directed a wan smile at Miss Farlow, and said: “Cousin Maria sang lullabies to him until he dropped off. I don’t think I can ever be grateful enough to her for all she has done this morning! She even accompanied us to Westcott’s, and was of the greatest support to me through the ordeal. She had the strength of mind to hold Tom’s hands down at the Fatal Moment, which I could not bring myself to do!”

“But where was Geoffrey at the Fatal Moment?” enquired Annis, in seeming bewilderment.

Lady Wychwood began to explain that Geoffrey had been unable to go to the dentist because he had a business engagement in the town, but he broke in on this, well-aware that his loving sister was not one to be so easily bamboozled. “No use trying to come crab over Annis, my love!” he said, laughing. “She’s far too needle-witted! Well, you are right, Annis, and I don’t mind owning that I cut my stick when I saw what a state Tom had worked himself into, kicking, and screaming, and saying he wouldn’t have his tooth drawn! Well, what could I do in such a situation, I ask you?”