Still She Wished for Company by Margaret Irwin

Author:Margaret Irwin
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Still She Wished For Company
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Published: 2011-03-24T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter XII

Juliana sat at the top of the staircase and peered through the banisters down into the hall below. She had gone up to her room more than an hour ago and had dismissed Molly after her hair had been taken down and her stiff dress exchanged for a loose wrap. She had not altered her refusal to go down to the library that night but she thought it would be as well to be ready in case she should alter it.

Lucian had said nothing more to her about it. He had never reproached her nor even laughed at her for her sudden decision, nor had he urged her to revoke it, though he had plenty of opportunity to do so, for they had ridden some way together that afternoon. He had suggested they should all ride over to the Hilburys for dinner, and Vesey, who knew that his Cousin Sophia was quite as likely to be at the Hilburys as at her own home, was nothing loth. George, too, wished to ask Mr. Hilbury about the new roan he had bought as a brood mare, and Aunt Emily was always glad of “a little excursion.”

It was on the ride that Juliana, finding herself some way ahead with Lucian, had told him about the extraordinary events of that day on which she had found the papers under the trees in the park. She also told him, as nearly word for word as she could, what she had read on those papers so unfortunately lost.

He did not seem much disappointed at the loss of the paper— in fact he remarked that it was probably inevitable, though she could not make him say what he meant by this. He made little further comment and was peculiarly thoughtful. She missed the eager interest he had shown before, an interest that had seemed to give him the satisfaction of a personal triumph, and asked if he found the recital tedious. He replied gravely that he could never find tedium in a recital that paid so high a tribute to her parts and to his industry—an answer she found as incomprehensible as the glance that accompanied it.

When they arrived at the Hilburys, however, he was at his gayest and most delightful. Vesey told George that the fellow behaved like a mountebank, but that may have been because Sophia laughed at his conversation rather too often.

“Oh, my love!” she exclaimed to Juliana, “I declare Lord Chidleigh is the most infinitely agreeable, diverting man I have ever met! What a world of difference it makes—a little travel, and le bel air, and a je ne sais quoi! I vow I cannot look at a man who has never travelled.”

Juliana regarded her cousin anxiously. It would be dreadful if Sophia really liked Lucian better than Vesey, particularly as there was no chance that Lucian would ever care seriously for her—a gushing, affected chit, always so ready with the last new words. Then it struck her that she was thinking very unkindly of her cousin; she supposed it was only on poor Vesey’s account.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.