instruct me in proper behavior. Mr. Dorsey, I recollect, was your wife's cousin. If you have a quarrel with him, you can scarce expect that I will make it mine.'
It had been a short, sharp exchange conducted in lowered voices. It shocked and upset Lily, who felt that she had been the cause of the unexpected quarrel. It also helped quench her own indignation over the Duke of Portfrey's presuming to speak and act on her behalf.
'Lily,' Neville said, extending his arm for hers, 'the sets are forming. Shall we join one?'
For a few moments she had forgotten him. But the sets were indeed forming, and she had agreed to spend all of half an hour in his company. It was not an enticing thought. The prospect of half an hour with him when there must be a whole lifetime and a whole eternity beyond it without him was a mortal agony to her.
She raised her hand, hoping it was not trembling quite noticeably, and set it, as she had been taught to do, on the cuff of his black evening coat. She felt his strength and his warmth. She smelled his familiar cologne. And she well-nigh forgot her surroundings and lost her awareness that this was the moment for which the gathered members of the
A moment later she was horrified both by the wave of forgetfulness and by her own weakness. A month had passed, a month of hard work and fun. A month of living and preparing herself to live an independent and productive life. She had set a whole month between herself and him. A mighty bulwark, she had thought. But one sight of him, one touch, and everything had come crashing down again. The pain, she was sure, was worse than it had ever been.
She took her place in the line of ladies facing the line of gentlemen. She smiled—and he smiled back at her.
***
Elizabeth was still tight-lipped. She was looking about her for some friend whom she might join. The Duke of Portfrey gazed at her coldly.
'Take my arm,' he commanded. 'We will go to the refreshment room.'
'I have just come from there,' she said. 'And I do not answer to that tone, your grace.'
He sighed audibly. 'Elizabeth,' he said, 'will you please accompany me to the refreshment room? It will be quieter there. Experience has taught me that a quarrel that is not resolved in the immediate aftermath of a heated moment is likely never to be resolved.'
'Perhaps,' she said, 'it would be as well if this one never were.'
'Do you mean that?' he asked her, the coldness all gone from his voice.
She looked at him—a long, measuring look—and then took his arm.
'Do you know Dorsey well?' he asked her as they walked.
'Scarcely at all,' she admitted. 'I do not believe we exchanged more than a dozen words at Newbury this spring. I was surprised when he applied to me for a formal introduction to Lily since he had seen her there. But it was hardly an unusual request this evening, and I knew of no reason to decline his request. Is there one?'
'He forced his attentions on Frances—my wife,' he said. 'Unwelcome attentions even after he knew that they were so. Is that reason enough?'
'Oh, heavens!' she exclaimed. 'Oh, I am so sorry, Lyndon. I will not excuse him by saying that it was all of twenty or more years ago and he must have been young and headstrong. To you the offense must seem very fresh.'
'He was desperate to marry her,' he said. 'Apart from the title, everything of Onslow's is unentailed, including Nuttall Grange. He had willed it all to Frances. When she would not accept Dorsey, he tried to—to force her into matrimony. It was one reason for our rushing into a secret marriage the day before I was to leave for the Netherlands with my regiment. There was the family feud, which made it difficult for us to marry openly. We both thought that when I returned we would be better able to persuade both families that our attachment had been of a long enough duration that it must be accepted. We were young—though both of age—and foolish. But at least the fact of our marriage could have been her trump card against Dorsey's insistence.'
He had never before spoken of his wife, Elizabeth thought as they entered the refreshment room, which was deserted apart from a couple of servants who were doing something at a sideboard, their backs to the room. She had never liked to ask about his marriage.
'I can understand,' she said, 'why you dislike him so. He may, of course, have changed in twenty years, and there can certainly be nothing about Lily to attract his greed. But I will discourage any future attempt he may make to extend his acquaintance with her.'
'Thank you,' he said. 'Keep her from him, Elizabeth.'
She frowned suddenly and regarded him closely, her head tipped to one side. She did not care for the feelings she was experiencing. Jealousy? 'What is your particular interest in Lily?' she asked him.
He did not answer in words. He did what he had never done before despite a close acquaintance of several years. He leaned toward her and kissed her fiercely on the lips.
'This must be the supper dance,' he said, 'the reason this room is so empty. Shall we go early to the dining room?'
Elizabeth fought to set her thoughts into working order as she took his arm. She felt, she thought with self- mockery, like a young girl fresh from the schoolroom who had just experienced her first kiss—all breathless and weak-kneed and eager for more. And hopelessly in love, of course. She was usually well disciplined enough to disguise that fact even from herself.
***
It was a slow and stately country dance in which they engaged. Since the patterns had them several times dancing about each other or joining hands, there were opportunities for some conversation. But Neville availed himself of none of them, and Lily for her part made no attempt to talk to him, though she smiled all the time they danced. Short snatches of conversation could deal with only trivial topics. Besides, any conversation under such circumstances might have been overheard. They danced in silence.
He knew they were watched. He knew that every look and gesture, every touch and word would be noted and commented upon tomorrow in many drawing rooms and that significance would be read into every detail. He found that he did not care.
She danced lightly and gracefully. She held herself proudly and elegantly. She looked as if she had always
