youngest daughter, who kept house for him. Within a very few minutes of having his hand warmly grasped, and a likeness traced in his countenance to his grandfather, Adam felt at home, and by the time he had spent an evening in his host’s company he found himself able not only to ask for advice but to take Mr Coke far more deeply into his confidence than he would previously have believed to be possible.
The problems besetting him in the Lincolnshire fens were not precisely those which had confronted Mr Coke in Norfolk, but Mr Coke’s knowledge was not confined to the conditions of his own county. He gave Adam wise counsel, conducted him over his own experimental farm, and patiently instructed him in the intricacies of successful agriculture. When Adam left Holkham, he carried with him, besides a sheaf of notes, a head crammed with so much information that he felt slightly dazed. It would take time to assimilate all he had learnt: meanwhile, one fact only stood out clearly: to restore his acres to prosperity would entail the expenditure of far more money than he could hope to raise.
He reached London late one evening, and in a conscience-stricken mood, having overstayed what he felt to have been his leave of absence by a full week. He found Jenny in the drawing-room, at work on one of her chair- covers, and paused on the threshold with such an expression of apprehensive guilt on his face that she burst out laughing, and exclaimed: “Oh, you look just like a naughty little boy found out in mischief! How can you be so absurd?”
He laughed too, but said, as he came across the room to bend over her and kiss her cheek: “Well, that’s precisely what I feel I am! I beg your pardon, Jenny: it was infamous of me! Didn’t I promise I’d come home to go with you to some party or another?”
“Yes, but I told you it was of no consequence: I went with Lady Oversley.”
“You are a great deal too forgiving. An agreeable party?”
“Yes, very. Naldi sang, and I met an old acquaintance there — a girl that was at school with me, and is married now to a Mr Usselby.” Her eyes narrowed in amusement. “I couldn’t but laugh inside myself! I’ve never clapped eyes on her since she left Miss Satterleigh’s, but you’d hardly believe how enchanted she was to meet me again, now that I’m Lady Lynton!”
“What an odious female! I hope you gave her a set-down?”
“Oh, no! Why should I? I’m sure it wasn’t to be wondered at,” she responded. Her eyelids lifted as the butler came in, bearing the massive silver tea-tray. This was set down on a table before her, and, having satisfied herself that a plate of freshly-made macaroons stood upon it, she nodded dismissal, and began to make the tea.
“How comfortable this is!” Adam remarked, sinking into a chair. “I thought you must have had tea more than an hour ago, and had quite made up my mind to it that I should get none — for I shouldn’t have dared to ask for it, after my abominable perfidy!”
“Well, what a notion to take into your head!” she said. “As though you might not have tea whenever you chose to call for it in your own house! Oh, you’re joking me, are you? I have a very good mind to hide the macaroons from you!”
“Not my favourite macaroons as well?” he exclaimed. “Jenny, that’s coals of fire! What made you think I should arrive tonight? Or is it just a lucky chance?”
She did not tell him that she had given orders for macaroons to be made every day, but only smiled, handing him the plate, and asked him if his business at Fontley had prospered.
“Well, not entirely, perhaps — but never mind that! I went on to Holkham, you know. I wished you had been with me: you’d have liked it, I think. They are the kindest people. Just Mr Coke, and his daughter: a very unaffected, intelligent girl. I was charged with all sorts of civil messages for you, and pledged myself to take you there for the Holkham Clippings, in August. Ah! I’ve had no tea like this since I left town! You don’t know how often I’ve yearned for it!
“Oh, dear me, no!” she responded. “I have been going about a great deal, I promise you. besides receiving more morning-callers than I looked for.” She paused, longing for the courage to ask him what had been engaging his time at Fontley. He enquired, instead, who had been her morning-callers. Her countenance betrayed neither hurt nor chagrin; tacitly accepting his reserve, she began to enumerate her visitors, adding one or two caustic comments which made him laugh.
He was glad to discover from her account of her activities that she seemed to be finding her feet in society. She had attended several parties, visited an exhibition, driven in the Park with one of her new acquaintances, and had even ventured to invite the Adversanes to go with her to the Opera, though not without misgiving. “But Brough told me they don’t rent a box, and it seemed a shame ours should be standing empty, when it was
“I expect she was very much obliged to you. It comes as news to me, however, that we rent a box at the Opera House. What do we pay for it? Or don’t we?”
Her colour rushed up; she cast him a wary glance, faltering: “Papa thought — It was a present for me, because he knows I’m fond of music. I’m sorry!”
“Why should you be? It’s I who owe you an apology: I ought to have attended to the matter — but I expect your box would be rather above my touch! I believe one is obliged to pay four hundred guineas for a quite inferior box, which I feel sure yours is not.”
She was silent, her face wearing a wooden look which he had come to recognize as a sign of discomfiture. His own colour rose; ashamed of having allowed his temper to ride him, he said penitently: “Now I
It was a moment before she could recover her balance, but she managed to do it, and to respond, with a little chuckle: “Well, I went with Mrs Usselby to a lecture by the Memory Man!”
“The
“Memory Man — I’ve forgotten his name, but he is all the crack, I promise you! He teaches one how to remember everything, by supposing rooms with compartments — fifty to each room! Someone said he had reached the seventeenth room, but a Mr Frampton, who came up after the lecture to talk to Mrs Usselby, said he would wager he would be in a puzzle if he were asked to say what was in the forty-seventh compartment! I don’t think there’s anything more to tell you — except about the Peace Celebrations. There’s a great deal of what your Aunt Nassington calls
He came to her rescue, anxious to make amends for his previous ill-humour. “Yes, to be sure I do. You were so kind as to invite Lydia to town to see all the lions go in procession to be fed. I think you said your father could procure a window for us. Has he done so? Lydia will be thrown into transports!”
“Well, she is!” Jenny disclosed, thankful to have cleared this fence, and speaking in a far more relaxed tone. “If only your mama will consent to let her come to us! I had a letter from Lydia yesterday. It seems they are pretty well established in the new house, so that there’s no reason why Lydia can’t be spared for a few weeks — particularly as she says your mama has met an old acquaintance with whom she is so excessively pleased that she talks of inviting her to stay in Camden Place, to bear her company. Apparently, she is living in straitened circumstances, and — and — ”
“Toadeats Mama?” he interpolated.
“Well, that’s what Lydia says,” Jenny admitted. “In fact, she says Mrs Papworth is a Mrs Quarley-Bix — but that I don’t at all believe.”
“Good God, I hope not! So Lydia comes to us?”
“I do hope she may, but she says that Lady Lynton has certain scruples — not liking the notion of Lydia’s travelling without a proper escort, and not being able to spare Miss Poolstock to go with her.”
“I’d give much to read Lydia’s account of this!” he commented.
