A Lady Never Tells(66)
“The weather?” Mary raised an eyebrow at the woman. “We are supposed to talk of nothing but the table, the weather, and everyone’s health?”
The older woman turned a disapproving eye on Mary, but before she could speak, Rose jumped in. “It sounds a trifle dull.”
“Better to sound dull than to appear forward or inappropriate.” Miss Dalrymple pursed her mouth primly.
“But, surely, Miss Dalrymple,” Royce said, casting a glinting look in Mary’s direction, “there must be some occasion when an intelligent conversation is warranted.”
Miss Dalrymple’s dour face broke into an almost coy smile. “Now, Sir Royce, everyone knows that in order to keep up an intelligent conversation with a gentleman, a girl need only follow his lead.”
The Bascombes all gazed at their chaperone blankly. Finally Camellia asked, “You mean, let him do all the talking?”
“Oh, no, you must offer a few words of pleasant agreement now and then in order to convey that you are listening.”
“Well, if that isn’t the stupidest thing I ever heard!”
Camellia exclaimed.
Miss Dalrymple’s brows drew together ominously, but before she could say anything, Sir Royce turned to her with not even a quiver of expression to betray that he had heard Camellia’s words and said, “I believe I once met a gentleman named Dalrymple in Exeter. Are you by any chance related to him? Gerald Dalrymple, I believe his name was. A banker.”
“Oh, my, no. I come from a long line of clergymen and scholars, Sir Royce.” Miss Dalrymple practically preened under Royce’s attention. “My father held a living at Warnham, near the Shelley estate. Poor man—such a trial of a son.”
Mary finished her food rapidly and shot Rose a significant look, nodding toward the door. Rose stood up from the table as Mary did. “Pray excuse us. Rose and I want to take a walk before we get back on the road.”
“Wait for us,” Camellia cried, and she and Lily crammed a last bite in their mouths, then jumped up to follow their sisters.
Miss Dalrymple looked as if she would protest, but with a glance at Sir Royce, she smiled instead and settled down to finish the meal with him. The sisters hurried down the hall and out the rear entrance of the inn, tying on their bonnets as they went. Behind the inn a narrow path led off toward the right, and Mary started along it, her sisters trailing after her.
“That woman will drive me mad!” Camellia ground her teeth in frustration.
“Perhaps it will not be as bad once we are at Willowmere. Here we are stuck with her every second, but there, surely, we will be able to escape now and then,” Rose reasoned.
“I’m not sure one could escape her long or often enough to make it bearable,” Mary grumbled. “Lord, what a tyrant that woman is. If we have to behave exactly as she wishes, I fear we will never manage to be ladylike.”#p#分页标题#e#
“Thank heaven we have Sir Royce with us.” Lily giggled. “Have you seen how she looks at him? He is quite clever at drawing her ire away.”
The girls continued to chatter as they walked. Mary, however, was uncharacteristically silent. Something was wrong, she thought. She had an odd, uneasy feeling, a vaguely vulnerable sensation across her back. She stopped, glancing around her. There was no one in sight, either in the garden or along the path. Her gaze went to the inn. She could see no one at any window. Yet she felt as if someone was watching her.
She glanced to her right, where a copse of trees lay a little distance ahead. It was dark among the trees. If someone was there, it would be difficult to see them. She wondered if she was being foolish, letting her imagination run away with her because of the odd incident at the Tower yesterday.
“Mary? What’s wrong?” Rose turned to look at her.
“Oh—nothing, really. I felt … I don’t know … odd.” The other girls had stopped, too, and they looked puzzled. Mary had not told the others what had happened the day before. It seemed pointless to worry them, especially when she was not sure she’d actually seen their stepfather. She gave them a faint smile and shook her head. “Just a mood. Come, we’d best get back to the inn. They’ll be wanting to leave, I imagine, and we don’t want Miss Dalrymple lecturing us on being tardy.”
“All right.” Rose frowned, but refrained from pointing out that they had been gone only minutes.
The girls began to walk back to the inn. Mary remained alert to any sign of movement around them. She saw nothing, but she could not keep from casting an encompassing glance behind her as she went through the door. As she turned back, Rose shot her an inquiring look. Mary replied with a faint shrug and a grimace.