A Lady Never Tells(99)

“It’s not, of course.” He set his wineglass down sharply. “I was simply concerned about your safety. I would have thought you would be, too.”

Mary’s amazement was mirrored in her sisters’ stunned expressions around the table. “I beg your pardon. I fail to see how it is in any way unsafe to visit Lady Sabrina.”

He let out a grunt of humorless laughter. “Yes, you would.” He cast a glance around the table and sighed. “The devil take it.” He stood up, tossing his napkin aside. “I must ask you ladies to excuse me. I find that I am in no humor for company tonight.”#p#分页标题#e#

Royce started toward the door, then turned. “I would ask, though, that you inform me next time you decide to take a jaunt away from Willowmere.”

He walked out the door, leaving the other occupants of the room staring after him.

“Well!” Camellia lifted her eyebrows. “I wonder what’s bothering him.”

“It is not our place to question Sir Royce’s behavior,” Miss Dalrymple began sententiously, and Camellia rolled her eyes at Mary. “However, I imagine that it begins to grate on a young gentleman to be idling away his time in the country, looking after a set of girls.”

“If he finds it so boring, why doesn’t he leave?” Mary snapped.

Miss Dalrymple drew in a horrified breath. “He could not do that. A gentleman would not leave you four unprotected. He feels duty-bound to wait until the earl or Mr. Fitzhugh arrives.”

“We aren’t children. We don’t need someone watching over us all the time.” Mary glanced around at her sisters. “We managed to take care of ourselves well enough until now.”

Miss Dalrymple sighed. “It is precisely that sort of remark that I fear will make it hard for any of you to make a suitable match.”

“Maybe we aren’t interested in ‘suitable’ matches.” Camellia scowled.

“Hardly surprising. However, it is your duty to the earl.” Satisfied that she had ended that particular rebellion, their teacher turned her attention to the pastry tray.

Mary, seeing the fire that sparked in Camellia’s eye, kicked her under the table.

“Ow!” Camellia shot her an aggrieved look, but she subsided, and they finished the meal in silence.

The next morning Miss Dalrymple sent a note that she was feeling indisposed, much to the Bascombe sisters’ relief.

“I hope she is not feeling too ill.” Rose glanced at Mary guiltily. “But I cannot say I’m sorry to be free of her for a day.”

Camellia was less sympathetic. “She probably wouldn’t be sick if she hadn’t had the fish, ham, and roast beef last night, not to mention three pastries and two jellies.”

“The question is, what are we going to do with our free day?” Lily asked.

They spent the morning in the attic, and by the time they sat down to a luncheon of cold meats and cheeses, they had found two more trunks filled with Flora’s things and had them brought down to the sitting room. After lunch, however, Camellia declared that they should go exploring.

“I could show you the maze,” Mary volunteered. She had told Royce she would not take them there, but at the moment she did not feel particularly inclined to follow his edicts. “Though I fear we would get lost there by ourselves.”

Camellia grimaced. “Somewhere farther than the lower garden.” She leaned against the window frame, staring out disconsolately. “I know! What about that little lake?”

“The tarn?”

“Yes, the one beyond the gardens. It would be a nice walk, and there’s some sort of little house down there.”

“A summerhouse.” Mary nodded. “I saw it, too.” She went to the window to look across at the small dark lake and the round folly that stood beside it.

“We could have a picnic,” Lily suggested. “We could get Cook to put those little tea cakes in a basket, and we could have tea by the lake.”

“What about Sir Royce?” Rose stood up. “He wants us to tell him if we leave.”

“Don’t tell me you’ve decided we can’t get on by ourselves, too,” Camellia said in disgust.#p#分页标题#e#

“No, of course not. But—”

“But nothing,” Mary interjected. “If we tell him, he’ll insist on going along or sending some grooms or something, and it will spoil the whole thing.”

“I suppose.” Rose, too, looked out the window a little wistfully. “But what about that man at the inn?”

“I doubt that he is still hanging about.”