The Pretty Horse-Breakers by Barbara Cartland

Author:Barbara Cartland
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781782133643
Publisher: Barbara Cartland EBooks ltd
Published: 2013-05-28T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seven

Adrian stood staring at Candida for a moment.

Then the expression on his face changed and with a smile he came from the window saying,

“My apologies, I did not realise. I thought you were – ”

“Adrian!” Lord Manville interrupted in a voice of thunder and then added in a quieter tone, “Candida, may I introduce my somewhat eccentric Ward, Mr. Adrian Rushton? Adrian – Miss Candida Walcott.”

Adrian bowed, Candida curtseyed and then there was a moment of embarrassing silence until Lord Manville, moving towards the mantelpiece, said,

“Perhaps, Adrian, you would care to explain to me why you have been rusticated from Oxford.”

“I was caught climbing in at two o’clock in the morning,” Adrian answered.

“Careless of you to be caught,” Lord Manville said good-humouredly. “I only hope the party justified it or should I say the lady?”

“You should say neither,” Adrian replied in a somewhat sulky voice. “I had been alone.”

“Alone!” Lord Manville ejaculated. “And what in Heaven’s name could you have been doing at two o’clock in the morning?”

Adrian did not answer and his Lordship continued,

“Well, where had you been?”

“I was in the churchyard, if you must know,” Adrian replied.

His Guardian stared at him incredulously.

“You never fail to surprise me, Adrian,” he remarked at length. “However, we can discuss it on another occasion. Now, I shall be obliged if you will entertain Miss Walcott. I know that my agent is waiting to see me and at least half a dozen people will be insisting that I give them my full attention after so long an absence. I expect you young people will have a great deal to say to each other.”

Lord Manville went from the room while he was still speaking.

Candida stood a little shyly in the centre of the room, her pale pink dress and elegant bonnet making her appear even younger than she was.

Adrian, however, was not looking at her. He was staring at the door through which his Guardian had disappeared and said in an exasperated tone,

“There! Is that not just like him? If I had said that I was at some drunken party, had beaten up the Beadles or smashed half the windows in the College, he would have been delighted! Or if I had told him what he really wanted to hear, that I had been with some – ”

He suddenly seemed to realise who he was speaking to. The words died on his lips and he turned petulantly towards the desk, covering over the paper he had been working on as if he thought Candida would read what he had written.

“It may seem rather impertinent of me,” Candida said in her soft voice, “but I am curious to know why you were in the churchyard.”

“Do you really want to know?” Adrian asked somewhat aggressively. “Very well then, I will tell you. I was writing a poem.”

He did not wait for Candida’s reply, but continued in the same hostile voice,

“Now laugh! You will think that a really despicable foolish thing to be doing, when I might have been dangling after some flashy female or proving myself to be a drunken fop.

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.