The Reckoning by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles

Author:Cynthia Harrod-Eagles [Harrod-Eagles, Cynthia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Aristocracy (Social Class) - England, Historical, Family, General, Romance, Fantasy, Sagas, Great Britain - History - 1800-1837, Historical Fiction, Fiction, Domestic fiction
ISBN: 9780751500585
Publisher: Warner
Published: 1993-05-31T23:00:00+00:00

*

Sophie thought Mr Henry Droylsden, brother of Agnes's husband, was the most pleasant of the young men she had met, apart from Mr Farraline. He was good-natured, quieter and more thoughtful than his peers, and had read a great deal more. This was perhaps partly because he was slightly lame, relic of a childhood disease which had laid him up for several years when other boys were playing cricket and falling out of trees.

When Sophie joined him and Agnes in Agnes's smart new barouche, he greeted her with a friendly smile, and took the pull-down seat facing her, fixing his eyes on her face with quiet intensity as Agnes plunged instantly into full flow.

‘What a love of a hat! Sophie dear, you do manage to look so very striking with so little in the way of decoration! I wish I had your knack. It would take me ten feathers and a dozen spangled ribbons to make my head as interesting as yours. Now tell us at once, has Fred put the question? Harry says he was saying last night he meant to do it today, and Percy's groom told my maid that he'd seen Fred go out on horseback early this morning, so it must have been something important because normally he never gets up before noon, does he, Harry?'

‘Not unless there's an earthquake,' Henry said in his droll way. 'That's why he don't hunt, you know – foxes have a frightful habit of leaping out of bed at dawn.'

‘So did he call, dearest Sophie? And what did he say? I depend on you to tell me everything, because Prudence is far too discreet, and will only tell me to mind my own business, which is nonsense, because it is my business if my own brother proposes to my best friend. So tell, please – every detail.'

‘I don't know if I ought –' Sophie began, upon which Henry gave a shout, and Agnes clapped her hands together in glee.

‘He did call, then! You were right, Hal!'

‘No, he didn't call,' Sophie said. 'He sent a letter –’

Again she was interrupted, this time by laughter. 'A letter? Oh the dull dog!' Henry crowed.

‘No, really! Oh Sophie, I ought to apologise for the honour of my family! But what did it say? Have you it with you? Oh I die to read it! I'll bet Mama wrote most of it for him, though.' Her smile was replaced suddenly with a look of anxiety. 'You did refuse him?'

‘Yes, I did.'

‘Thank God!' Agnes said, fanning herself with exaggerated relief. 'Much as I long to have you as a sister – but as to that, you know there's more than one way to skin a mule. What do you say, now, to Harry?’

Sophie met Mr Henry Droylsden's eyes involuntarily, and then lowered hers with a deep blush. 'Please, Agnes,' she began in a muted protest.

‘Annie, you go too far,' Henry put in sternly.

But Agnes was irrepressible. 'No, but seriously! Now, Harry, do be quiet, and let me put your case for you, because you know I'll do it better than you.

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