The Constant Heart by Mary Balogh

Author:Mary Balogh [Balogh, Mary]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Class Ebook Editions, Ltd.
Published: 2017-07-29T18:30:00+00:00

On the ride home, Harriet immediately singled out Julian for attention. It seemed very obvious to Rebecca that she was deliberately ignoring Christopher, trying to prompt him into jealousy, perhaps? The rest of the party rode in a close group. Rebecca stayed as close as she could to Ellen, terrified that she might become paired off in an undesirable way. However, it was Mr. Carver who finally drew her attention.

“I was disappointed not to see you this morning, Miss Shaw,” he said. “Went to the school with Sinclair only t’find the vicar there. Meant t’impress you, and you weren’t there.” He laughed.

“I am so sorry, sir,” Rebecca said, smiling, “but I notice that you have managed to tell me about it, at any rate, so that I might still be impressed.”

He shook with laughter. “Saw through my ruse, did you, ma’am?” he said at last. “Must say I didn’t feel comfortable at all. Disliked school enough when I had to go as a pupil. Had a deuced time getting Sinclair away, though.”

“Really?” Rebecca said, making a poor job of keeping the sarcasm from her voice.

“Sat down next to that young fellow with the eyeglasses to help him read,” Mr. Carver said, “and seemed t’forget all about me and the vicar and our luncheon.”

“He might have saved himself the trouble,” Rebecca said. “Cyril is an extremely shy boy. He probably blinked and stammered and fidgeted until he had convinced Mr. Sinclair that he was an idiot.”

“On the contrary,” Mr. Carver said. “The lad was smiling and talking in no time, and then had his head into the book until I thought it would never come out. He was making progress too, by all accounts. Even that pokerfaced vicar admitted it. Oh, pardon me, ma’am—most indelicate.” Mr. Carver started to cough and turned away his head.

“Did I hear my name?” Christopher asked, easing back on his horse’s reins to allow the two stragglers to catch up to him and his two sisters.

“Was telling Miss Shaw about that lad with eyeglasses that you helped this morning, Sinclair,” Mr. Carver explained.

Christopher smiled. “I merely sat and listened to him,” he said. “It is Miss Shaw who has done all the hard work.”

Rebecca did not reply. She was trying to maneuver her horse forward so that she would be riding with Ellen and Primrose, but Mr. Carver had the same idea and executed it before she could do so. To her dismay, she found herself riding alongside Christopher, a little way behind the others.

“Did you know that you have a willing slave in that boy?” Christopher asked.

“Cyril?” she said. “I am fond of him. But really one must not exaggerate what I have done for either him or the other boys.”

“I think he would not even be at the school if it were not for you, Becky,” he said.

“Oh, nonsense,” she said. “I believe I helped Philip to see what Cyril’s problem was, but it was Philip himself who decided to buy the eyeglasses and who took the boy to Wraxby in order to purchase them.

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.