106. Love's Dream in Peril (9 page)

She just could not ask the questions that filled her mind. Had he seen his friend? Was Digby well? What was he doing? Was he paying attention to other young women?

Lord Ranulph expression was serious and formal as he gazed at her.

“I trust your stay in London has been a happy one so far?” he said after a long pause.

“Yes, thank you, sir. Very much so. My uncle has been very kind.”

“I look forward to the pleasure of dancing with you, I hope, at some of the balls that are coming up, over the next few weeks. Perhaps even at Lady Ireton’s?”

“Lady Ireton?”

Adella had not attended a ball yet and she did not want her first to be hosted by the woman who had laughed at her so unkindly yesterday in Hyde Park.

“Yes! She has reserved the ballroom at the Royal Hotel. A more fitting setting for you than a humble Oxford teashop, if I may be so bold,” Lord Ranulph was saying.

Adella’s heart gave a little skip.

“That was a very happy afternoon,” she sighed. “I have fond memories of that teashop.”

And then she could no longer hold back,

“Lord Ranulph, have you heard from your friend, Mr. Dryden? How is he?”

A cloud seemed to pass over Lord Ranulph’s face and his eyes flicked away from her face and focused on the empty grate of the fireplace.

“I have no idea,” he replied.

A chill struck Adella’s heart.

“But I thought – you were such good friends.”

“Our student days are over, Miss May. Mr. Dryden has suffered a misfortune and he has returned to his family. But he seems to have forgotten his former friend entirely. I have heard nothing from the rogue.”

Adella felt quite weak from the disappointment that engulfed her. She had so hoped she might hear something.

But it seemed that Digby had been as thoughtless and forgetful to his friend as he had been towards her.

“I did not come here to speak of Mr. Dryden,” Lord Ranulph said. “Miss May, I wondered if you might be driving in Hyde Park again this afternoon?”

Adella shook her head.

“I could not bear it – it really is not pleasant to have people make fun of my dear ponies.”

“You are depriving me of the very great pleasure of your company. And, while some might find your ponies amusing, I think they are utterly charming.”

Adella did not know what to say to this. It was an odd feeling to have Lord Ranulph’s dark eyes fixed so intently on her face.

“I am most disappointed,” he now murmured.

He was making her feel quite ill at ease and Adella did not know what to do, except apologise politely.

“Then may I call on you again?”

Much to her relief, he was rising to his feet.

“Of course,” Adella said, as she rose and he caught her hand in his, raising it to his lips for a long moment.

It was an impulsive gesture and she was so shocked that she almost lost her balance and had to catch hold of the arm of the sofa.

But Lord Ranulph was already backing towards the door. He looked suddenly awkward, as if he was not used to kissing young lady’s hands.

“
Au revoir
,” he muttered. “Till we meet again.”

Adella, her heart beating fast, rang the bell-pull, so that the footman would come to show him out.

‘I am not at all used to dealing with these young gentlemen,’ she thought. ‘What is one to do with them?’

One moment Lord Ranulph was very formal, polite and courteous and the next he was kissing her hand!

If only Jane was here, to talk to and to puzzle over what had just happened.

But she was far away and it seemed like a very long time since she had waved goodbye to her at Oxford.

“Darling Jane, I shall write and tell you all about it!” Adella whispered and she heard the sound of the front door closing as Lord Ranulph left the house.

All along the banks of the River Isis, the dangling branches of the weeping willow trees stirred in the breeze, bringing a sensation of freshness to the baking heat of the afternoon.

Jane had chosen a lovely spot for a picnic with the summer boarders from Mottram’s School.

“Margaret, will you help the others to unpack all the food?” Jane smiled at the tall girl who was the oldest of the pupils.

Margaret nodded and set to work at once.

“Thank you so much, Miss Hartley, for bringing us here!” she enthused.

The girls chatted and laughed as they stretched out a large white cloth on the grass.

It was a good moment for Jane slip away and read the letter that had arrived this morning from London with Adella’s familiar handwriting on the envelope.

She walked a few paces away from the others and sat under one of the shady willow trees to open the letter.

“
Dearest Jane
,

How are you? Are the girls behaving themselves? I loved your last letter with the story about their midnight feast
!
It reminds me of some of our escapades, when we were little
.
They are lucky, Jane, that it was you who caught them and not old Mottram
. ”

It was almost as if she could hear Adella’s voice. Jane sighed with pleasure and her eyes skimmed eagerly down the page. There was a long story about a visit to a dressmaker and Adella had added detailed descriptions of the lovely gowns that resulted from the shopping spree.

Jane was sure that her friend must be one of the loveliest and best-dressed girls in London, but when would she ever be able to see her in her new finery?

She turned over the letter to read what Adella had written on the other side.

“
My first ball gown should be ready in a few days. It will be white with pale gold ribbons and tiny pink roses sewn all over the flounces. How I shall dance in it, I do not know as the skirt is quite tight, as is the fashion in London
.

If only you were here, Jane, we could practise a waltz or two
.
I dare not ask Uncle Edgar. He says he has not danced for ten years and claims to have two left feet and I can believe it
!”

Jane smiled, as from Adella’s previous letters, she gathered that Uncle Edgar, although very generous with his money, was not quite the kindly old gentleman they had both pictured before Adella left.

But his reserve and his occasional bouts of rudeness did not seem to have dampened Adella’s spirits at all.

She began to read the next paragraph and her heart skipped a beat.

“
You will not believe this, but guess who has been calling on me since I last wrote to you
?
Lord Ranulph Fowles
!
I met him a few days ago while out driving in the Park. He was riding that tall black horse of his. Do you remember him, Jane
?”

How could she possibly forget him?

Jane had tried so hard to put Lord Ranulph’s strong handsome face from her mind, but his look of disdainful astonishment when he met her in the street, shepherding the schoolgirls along, was imprinted on her heart for ever.

“
I am not quite sure what to make of him, Jane. He is so serious and I really don’t know what to say to him. I try to make polite conversation and then he leaps to his feet and kisses my hand in the most alarming way and says he has to leave
.

I wish Uncle Edgar was more sociable as then he would join us and I should not feel so awkward. But I expect his Lordship will soon grow tired of my very dull company, I hope, and stop calling.

Jane, what are you doing at this very moment? I miss you so much. Write soon, I love your letters.

Your most affectionate friend.

Adella
.”

“Miss Hartley! I am pouring out the lemonade? Would you like some?” Margaret was calling.

“Yes, I should like that very much,” Jane forced a smile on to her face.

The way Adella described Lord Ranulph brought him back to her vividly. He did seem awkward and that was just how he had been with her in the teashop. But then surely that was just shyness?

Jane shook herself and rose to her feet. She must put him right out of her mind.

Now that her gown had come, Adella would soon be going to her first ball. No doubt Lord Ranulph would be there too and he would ask her to dance with him.

‘I must, must not think about him anymore,’ Jane whispered to herself, as she folded up the letter. ‘But it will be so hard, when every time Adella writes to me, I see his name.’

She went over to the picnic tablecloth and accepted a glass of homemade lemonade and its cool refreshing taste was very pleasant in the heat of the afternoon.

And the girls were so excited and happy to be away from the school.

Jane set her mind to organising games for them to play after they had eaten and in a little while the pain in her heart began to lessen.

‘I can do it. I
will
not let myself think about him,’ she told herself.

*

Uncle Edgar was peering at a pile of cards through the little glasses on the end of his nose. He asked Adella to join him after breakfast in the study to go through all the invitations she had received over the last few days.

“What about this?” he asked, pulling out one of the largest cards, grandly printed in gold lettering and signed with an extravagant swooping signature.

Lady Ireton

At Home

Friday, 18th August

At the Royal Hotel (Ballroom Entrance)

RSVP Ireton House, Mayfair Dancing 10.30

He passed it to Adella and her heart gave a little jump as she remembered the sharp-faced woman who had laughed at Sugar and Spice.

“I don’t think so, Uncle Edgar. It’s very soon, just a few days away. I am not sure that I – ”

“Your gown is ready, Adella. There is no reason to delay. The ballroom at the
Royal Hotel
is one of the finest in London, so I am told.”

“Please, I would rather not go, Uncle Edgar.”

“Nonsense! Of course you must attend this ball.”

“But, I really don’t want to. Not this one.”

Adella was saved from having to explain herself further by the tinkling sound of the doorbell.

Uncle Edgar pushed his glasses back up onto the bridge of his nose and looked at Adella.

“Would you go to the door, please?”

She was a little surprised at this request. Normally the butler would answer the bell.

From outside she could hear the sound of voices and horses’ hooves and then a loud neigh. It sounded as if someone rather important had arrived.

“Go on!” Uncle Edgar urged, impatiently as the bell rang again.

Adella hurried to the front door.

Lord Ranulph was standing on the step.

“Miss May, would you care to accompany me for a drive?” he asked.

“But – ”

Adella was very surprised. Surely he knew that she did not want to take Sugar and Spice out in the landau again and expose them to more mockery on Rotten Row.

“Go along,” Uncle Edgar said, following her into the hall. “Don’t keep him waiting.”

Lord Ranulph stepped aside so that Adella could join him on the step.

In front of the steps stood two gleaming golden chestnut horses held by a liveried coachman.

They were undoubtedly the most beautiful elegant creatures Adella had ever seen and she could not help a little gasp of surprise and delight.

“Do you like them?” Lord Ranulph asked.

“Yes, yes I do! But why are they here?”

He smiled at her.

“They are Hanoverians. The finest carriage horses in the world. I think they will go rather nicely with your landau, don’t you?”

The horses tossed their noble heads and then one of them pawed impatiently at the road.

Adella could not imagine anything so perfect as to drive through the streets of London and through the Park behind such glorious creatures.

Lord Ranulph’s eyes were fixed on her face and she realised that he was waiting for her to say something.

“I – they are – beautiful” she stammered. “Are they yours?”

He shook his head.

“No. They are
yours
!”

“I could not possibly accept such a gift – ” Adella blushed with confusion.

Lord Ranulph smiled.

“Please, Miss May, there is no need to protest.”

“But I cannot accept them – it is too much.”

“I have discussed the matter with your uncle. The horses are as much his gift as mine, for he has contributed to their purchase.”

“What do you – mean?”

“I told him how much I regretted that you did not visit Rotten Row any more in your landau and advised him that perhaps, much as you loved them, your ponies were a little small and slow for driving. And so I offered to go to Tattersalls and choose a more suitable pair for you.”

“But I – ”

“Come and make their acquaintance.”

Lord Ranulph caught her hand and drew her after him down the steps.

Jim had come up from the Mews. He took the reins from the other groom and then gazed at the horses’ elegant faces with great admiration.

“’Ere, miss!” he said and offered Adella a handful of sugar lumps.

At once the horses turned towards her, sniffing at her hands with their velvet noses.

She gave them the sugar and stroked their glossy satin necks.

“See – they are your friends, now,” Lord Ranulph said. “I think they would very much like to take you for a spin in the Park. What do you say?”

And before Adella could compose herself enough to reply, he had given orders to Jim to harness the horses to the landau.

The Hanoverians trotted so swiftly on Rotten Row that the breeze from them ruffled Adella’s curls.

It was a wonderful sensation to go so fast, to feel so free again, even though she could not quite forget that Lord Ranulph was beside her.

There was always something a little awkward about his presence that made it difficult for her to relax.

For a while he was silent, watching her delight in his gift of the horses and then he spoke,

“I cannot wait for next Friday.”

“What do you mean? What is next Friday?”

“Lady Ireton’s ball. When I shall have the pleasure of my first dance with you.”

“I am not going,” Adella told him.

She flinched inwardly as she remembered how the arrogant woman had flicked her whip at Sugar and Spice and the haughty mocking look she had given them as she made her witty remarks about the circus.