lightly into the curricle.
'I can believe it, but I think myself very well-placed,' replied his brother, swinging himself into the saddle. 'That is a nice hack of yours, Miss Morville, and I fancy you have light hands. Do you hunt at all?'
She could not but be pleased with the good-breeding which not only kept him at her side, but prevented his emulating Martin's example in trying to ride as close to the curricle as possible. He continued to converse with her like a man satisfied with his company; and upon finding an open farm gate, suggested that they should leave the lane for the refreshment of a canter through the fields. The crops, which were so far forward that year as to have put an early end to the hunting season, made it necessary for them to skirt the fields rather than to cross them, but they enjoyed an agreeable ride, and reached Stanyon some time before the rest of their party. The Earl hoped that the exertion would not have made Miss Morville too tired to stand up for every dance that evening, a civility which amused her, since she meant to spend the afternoon, not, as he seemed to suppose, in recruiting her energies for the night's festivity, but in attending to all the details attaching to the entertainment of a large number of guests with which her hostess was a great deal too indolent to concern herself. Neither she nor the late Earl had been fond of entertaining, and since the marriage of their daughter no ball had been held at Stanyon. The housekeeper and the steward were thrown into a fluster by so rare an event, and although they enjoyed all the consequence of being called upon to provide for the accommodation of the ducal party from Belvoir, besides catering for the refreshment of some twenty persons at dinner, and forty more at supper, they were unaccustomed to such grand doings, and depended on Miss Morville, in default of their mistress, to advise on the number of rout-cakes it would be proper to bake; the propriety of serving tea and coffee at supper, as well as lemonade and champagne; and what apartments ought to be allotted to the several guests who were to spend the night at Stanyon. Then there were the musicians to be thought of: where they should be lodged, and whose duty it was to wait upon them; the arrangement of the flowers to superintend; the number of card-tables to be set up in the Italian Saloon to be decided on; and sufficient chairs to be disposed about the ballroom for those either desirous of watching the dancing, or unfortunate enough to have no partners.
The Earl, finding Miss Morville in conference with Abney, was a little conscience-stricken. 'My dear ma'am, had I dreamed that all the labour of the ball was to fall upon you I would not have suggested we should give a ball at all! I should think you must bear me a considerable grudge!'
'No, indeed! I am happy to be of service, and this sort of contriving, you know, is exactly what I like.'
'You do it very well,' he said, looking about him at the flowers, and at the clean packs of cards laid ready on the several tables. 'You remember all the details which I am very sure I must have forgotten.'
'Very likely you might,' she agreed. 'Now, if you will excuse me, I must leave you. Lady St. Erth received an express from your sister this morning, informing her that she and Lord Grampound would be pleased to come to the party, and I find she has not told Mrs. Marple of it. I daresay her ladyship would wish to be given her former apartments, and we had arranged, you know, to put the Ashbournes in them.'
'Louisa coming!' he exclaimed. 'Good God, what folly! Who can have invited her to undertake a journey of eighty miles for a ball of no particular consequence?'
'I don't think anyone invited her,' replied Miss Morville, 'but I expect Lady St. Erth may have mentioned that a ball was to be held here. That, if you will not mind my saying so, would be enough to bring her.'
'More than enough! She is the most tiresome, inquisitive woman of my acquaintance, I believe!'
'Her understanding is not powerful,' said Miss Morville, 'nor are her manners such as must universally please, but she is
'I am very much obliged to her! This is something indeed!' he said sardonically.
She smiled, but would say no more; and upon the housekeeper's looking into the room, went away to confer with her on the necessary alteration in the bedchambers.
CHAPTER 9
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None of the guests was expected to arrive at the Castle before five o'clock, at which hour it was thought that those who had been invited to stay the night at Stanyon might be looked for; but at a little after three Miss Morville, who happened to be in one of the saloons which overlooked the main entrance-drive, saw to her dismay that two large travelling-coaches were drawing up below the terrace. A stockily-built gentleman, just dismounted from his horse, chanced to look round, and Miss Morville recognized, with a sinking heart, the commonplace features of Lord Grampound. The servants were letting down the steps of the two coaches, and in another instant Miss Morville's worst fears were realized: Lord and Lady Grampound had brought their interesting offspring with them to Stanyon.
The reason was soon explained. As soon as all the bustle of greeting the visitors had abated, Lady Grampound, a young woman in her twenty-sixth year who already showed promise of closely resembling her mother, disclosed that the entire party was on its way to visit old Lady Grampound in Derbyshire. 'She has been wanting for ever to see the children, you know, Mama, and since I was determined to come to your ball, it seemed an excellent scheme to bring them, for it is all on our way, or very little out of it, I am sure.'
The Dowager was perfectly ready to accept her daughter's geography, nor could she conceive that two dear little boys of four and three years old could be the smallest trouble to her. In this she spoke nothing but the truth, for she made no attempt to arrange for their accommodation, and when they became too noisy for her comfort their nurses removed them from her vicinity. Their mother said complacently that she did not know when she had seen them in such high spirits. 'It is coming to Stanyon which has occasioned it. I am sure if Harry has asked me once when we are to set forward on the journey he has asked me a hundred times. I knew St. Erth would be happy to see them: I told Grampound we need not scruple to bring them with us.'
The Earl, admirably concealing his transports, asked his half-sister how long they were to have the pleasure of entertaining her at Stanyon. She replied regretfully that she would be obliged to continue her journey upon the following day. Everyone but the Dowager began to look more cheerful, but a damper was cast on the spirits of one of the company when her ladyship added: 'It is a vast pity, to be sure, and poor little Harry screamed for an hour at least when I told him we should not remain at Stanyon above a night. Dear little fellow! he has never forgot his Uncle Martin's kindness in taking him up before him on his horse, and riding with him round the Park, and now Johnny is wild for the treat too! However, I assured them they should have the indulgence of a ride with their uncle tomorrow morning, and, indeed, I do not know how I should contrive to tear them away unless this was granted them!'
Their fond Uncle Martin looked anything but gratified, but managed to control his feelings until he found himself out of earshot of his sister. He then declared that if Louisa imagined that he meant to waste his time in amusing her children she would find herself very much mistaken.
'Good God, Martin, are you mad?' demanded Gervase. 'You will take those brats for rides as soon as they have swallowed their breakfasts, if Theo and I have to tie you to the saddle! Did you not hear Louisa say that she could not tear them from us until they had been granted this indulgence?'
Martin grinned, but said with considerable aplomb that he thought the boys would prefer to ride upon Cloud's back.
'Nothing,' said Gervase instantly, 'would afford me greater delight than to set them up before me on Cloud, but the melancholy truth is that though he is in general perfectly docile, he cannot abide the sight of small boys. I do not know how it is, but—'
'No, nor anyone else!' interrupted Martin indignantly. 'You are the most complete hand!'
'I am, and I give you fair warning that you will leave Stanyon tomorrow, never to return, unless you oblige your nephews in this small matter!'
An expression of deep cunning entered Martin's eyes; he said in a conspiratorial tone: 'I say, Gervase, could we not prevail upon
'The very thing!' exclaimed Gervase. 'For anything we know, he dotes upon young children!'
'Who does?' enquired the subject of this plot, entering the room in time to overhear this observation. He laughed, when the stratagem was disclosed to him, and said that nothing but their kind Uncle Martin would satisfy the boys. 'And since Martin was so foolish as to set up such a precedent it is only right that he should bear the consequences,' he added. 'Do either of you know where Drusilla is to be found? Some arrangements must be made for the boys' supper, and I believe she is the best person to employ in approaching the head-cook.'
