'Charles, for goodness' sake come here and tell Harriet what a goose she is!'
'Oh!' gasped the afflicted lady. 'He must not know!'
'Fiddle!' said Judith. 'If the tale is all over town, as you say it is, he will know soon enough. Charles, Harriet has taken a notion into her head that Perry has fallen in love with Lady Barbara, and has been seen pining with her in the suburbs. Now, is there one word of truth in it?'
'I hope he has not fallen in love with her, but it is quite true that they dined together in the suburbs,' replied the Colonel. He set his nephew down, and sent him back to his nurse with a friendly pat. 'Off with you, monkey! I am afraid you must blame me, Lady Taverner: it was entirely my fault.'
'Oh no, no!'
'On the contrary, it is oh yes, yes!' he said, smiling.,' The case was, that Bab took a fancy into her head to dine by the roadside at one of those cafes outside the Porte de Namur. I could not escort her, and so Perry became my deputy. That is the whole truth in nutshell.'
'I knew there must be some very ordinary explanation,' exclaimed Judith. 'Now, Harriet, you can be satisfied, I hope. If Charles sees no harm I am sure you need not.'
But Harriet was far from being satisfied. If the affa:had been innocent, why had Perry kept it a secret?
'What! did he forget to tell you?' said the Colonz:. exchanging a startled glance with his sister-in-law,'Stupid young rascal! I advise you to take him severely to task: he's a great deal too forgetful!'
It would not do. Harriet dried her tears, but a score of incidents had been recalled to her mind, and she could not convince herself that Peregrine had not from the outset been attracted by Barbara's wiles. The Colonel's presence made it impossible for her to say that it was all Barbara's fault, which she was sure it was, and so she was silent, allowing Judith to talk, but too busy with her own thoughts to lend more than half an ear to all the sensible things that were being said o her.
She presently went away, leaving Judith and Audley to look at one another in some consternation.
'My dear Charles, nothing could be more unfortunate!' Judith said, with a rueful laugh. 'I acquit Lady Barbara of wishing to enslave poor Perry, but am afraid there may be a grain of truth in Harriet suspicions. It has sometimes seemed to me that Perry was a trifle smitten with Lady Barbara.'
'Yes, I think he is,' admitted the Colonel. 'But really, Judith, I believe it to be Harriet's own fault!'
'Oh, undoubtedly, and so I have told her! It all arose out of that wretched expedition to Hougoumont! I wish I had not meddled!'
He looked at her with arrested expression in his eyes. he asked. 'What occurred at Hougoumont to give rise to this piece of nonsense?'
The colour rushed into her face. Vexed with herself for having allowed such unguarded words to escape her, she said: 'Oh, nothing, nothing! It was only that Hiarriet took a dislike to Lady Barbara!'
' Indeed! Why should she do that?'
She found herself unable to meet his gaze with composure, and turned away on the pretext of shaking the sofa cushions. 'Oh! You know what a country mouse Harriet is! She has not been in the way of meeting fashionable people, and is easily shocked. Lady Barbara was in one of her capricious moods, and I daresay that may have set Harriet against her.'
'You may as well tell me the truth, Judith. Did Bab's caprice lead her to flirt with Perry, or what?'
'No, certainly not. Perry was with us the whole time,' she said involuntarily.
'Perry was with you! Where, then, was Bab?'
'She was with us too, of course. But Harriet and I drove in a barouche, the others rode. I only meant that Perry rode beside us, while Lady Barbara and the Count were not unnaturally tempted to leave the road for the Forest. I am sure they were not to be blamed for that: I should have liked to have done so myself.'
'I see,' he replied.
An uncomfortable silence fell; the Colonel was looking abstractedly out of the window, one hand fiddling with the blindcord. Judith felt herself impelled to say presently: 'There was nothing more, I assure you. Do not be imagining anything foolish!'
He turned and smiled at her. 'My dear Judith, you are looking quite anxious! There is really not the least cause, I promise you. As for this affair of Perry's, I shall speak to Bab.'
'Don't if you had rather not!' she said. 'I daresay this all nonsense.'
'The scandal, if there is one, had better be scotched. however.'
But Barbara, when she heard of Harriet's suspicions. exclaimed indignantly: 'Oh, that's a great deal too bad: Of all the injustices in this wicked world! I treated him as I treat Harry - I did really, Charles!'
'I don't doubt it,' he said. 'The truth is, I suspect. that you were much more enchanting than you knew. Is Perry in danger of losing his heart to you, do you think?'
'I think he might be made to lose it,' she replied candidly. 'But what a fool his wife must be!'
'I believe she is in a delicate situation just at present.'
'Oh, poor creature! Very well, I will make everything right with her. Then she may be comfortable again.'
The occasion offered itself that same day. Walking in the Park with a party of friends, Barbara saw Lady Taverner approaching with her sister-in-law. She left her friends, and went forward to meet Harriet, holding a frilled parasol in one hand and extending the other in a friendly fashion. 'I have been wanting to meet you, Lady Taverner,' she said, with one of her swift smiles.
'I believe there is a nonsensical story current, and though I have no doubt of your laughing at it, I daresay it may have vexed you a little.'
The hand was ignored. Lady Taverner turned scarlet and, with a glance of contempt, whisked round on her hwwl and walked away.
Judith, sensible of the generosity that had prompted Barbara to approach Harriet, stood rooted to the ground in dismay. What could possess Harriet to behave with such rudeness? The folly of it passed her comprehension; she could only gaze after her in amazement. The path was full of people; twenty or thirty pairs of eyes must have witnessed the snub. She said in a deeply mortified voice: 'I beg your pardon! my sister-in-law is not quite herself. I do not know what she could be thinking of!'
She glanced at Barbara, and was not surprised to see her green eyes as hard as two bits of glass. A little colour had stolen into her cheeks; her lips were just parted over her clenched teeth. If ever anyone was in a rage she was in one now, thought Judith. She looked ripe for murder, and really one could not blame her.
'That,' said Barbara, 'was neither wise nor wellbred Lady Taverner. Convey my compliments to her, if you please, and inform her that I shall endeavour not to disappoint her very evident expectations.'
'She is extremely foolish, and I beg you will not notice her rudeness!' said Judith. 'No one regards what you so rightly call the nonsensical story which current.'
'How simple of you to think so! The story must now be implicitly believed. By tomorrow I shall be credited with a sin I haven't committed, which touches my pride, you know. I always give the scandalmongers food for their gossip.'
'To give them food in this case would be to behave-as foolishly as my sister-in-law,' said Judith, trying to speak pleasantly.
'Oh, I have my reputation to consider!' Barbara retorted. 'I make trouble wherever I go: haven't you been told so?'
'I have tried not to believe it.'
'A mistake! I am quite as black as I am painted. I assure you. But I am keeping you from Lady Taverner. Go after her - and don't forget my message!'
Chapter Fourteen
Judith did not go after her sister-in-law. She had very little hope of inducing Harriet to apologise, nor, upon reflection, did she feel inclined to make the attempt. She could not think Barbara blameless in the affair. However well she might have behaved in extending an olive branch, the original fault was one for which Judith could find little excuse. If Barbara wanted to dine in the suburbs (which, in itself, was a foolish whim) she might as well have
