A Civil Contract by Georgette Heyer Read Free Book Online

her eyes imploringly towards Adam. She read the answer in his face, and burst into tears.
    ‘Julia! Oh, don’t, my darling, don’t!’ he begged.
    She sank into a chair, burying her face in her hands, her slender form convulsed by deep sobs. Fortunately, since neither her father nor her brother showed the smallest ability to contend with such a situation, Lady Oversley at that moment came into the room.
    A very pretty woman, plumper than her daughter, but with the same large blue eyes, and sensitive mouth, she exclaimed distressfully, and hurried forward. ‘Oh, dear, oh, dear! No, no, my love! Adam, dear boy! Oh, you poor children! There, there, Julia! Now, hush, my dearest! You mustn’t cry so: you will make yourself quite ill, and think how painful for poor Adam! Oh, dear, I had no notion you had come in from your ride! Oversley, how could you? You must have been perfectly brutal to her!’
    ‘If it is brutal to tell her that she can’t live in a thatched cottage, rearing hens and pigs, I have certainly been brutal, and Adam too!’ retorted Oversley, with some acerbity.
    Lady Oversley, having removed Julia’s hat, had clasped her in her arms, and was tenderly wiping the tears from her face, but she looked up at this, and exclaimed: ‘Live in a cottage? Oh, no, dearest, you would be very ill-advised to do that! Particularly a thatched one, for I believe thatch harbours rats, though nothing, of course, is more picturesque, and I perfectly understand why you should have a fancy for it! But you would find it sadly uncomfortable: it wouldn’t do for you at all, or for Adam either, I daresay, for you have both of you been accustomed to live in such a very different style. And as for hens, I would not on any account rear such dispiriting birds! You know how it is whenever an extra number of eggs is needed in the kitchen: the hen-woman is never able to supply them, and always says it’s because the creatures are broody. Yes, and then they make sad noises, which you, my love, with your exquisite sensibility, would find quite insupportable. And pigs,’ concluded her ladyship, with a shudder, ‘have a most unpleasant odour!’
    Julia, tearing herself out of that soft embrace, started to her feet, dashing a hand across her eyes. Addressing herself to Adam, standing rigid behind a chair, his hands gripping its back, she said in a voice choked by sobs: ‘I could have borne any privation – any discomfort! Remember it!’ She laughed hysterically, and hurried to the door. Looking back, as she opened it, she added: ‘ My courage did not fail! Remember that too!’
    ‘Well, of all the shabby things to have said!’ ejaculated Mr Oversley, as the door slammed behind his sister.
    ‘Hush, Charlie!’ commanded his mama. She went to Adam, and warmly embraced him. ‘Dear boy, you have done just as you ought – just as we knew you would! My heart aches for you! But don’t despair! I am persuaded you will come about! Recollect what the poet says! I’m not sure which poet, but very likely it was Shakespeare, because it generally is, though why I can’t imagine!’
    With these obscure but encouraging words she departed, pausing only to recommend Mr Oversley to follow her example. Only too thankful to escape from this painful scene, Mr Oversley took leave of Adam. When he had gone, Adam said: ‘I think, sir, that I’ll take myself off too.’
    ‘Yes, in a minute!’ Oversley said. ‘Adam – what you said to Julia – Fontley – You are not serious? Things are not as bad as that ?’
    ‘I was quite serious, sir.’
    ‘Good God! But you must have ten or twelve thousand acres of good land!’
    ‘Yes, sir. Much of it encumbered, and all of it so neglected that the rent-roll has dwindled to little more than a thousand pounds a year. It could be ten times as much if I had the means –’ He stopped. ‘Well, I haven’t the means, and I can only hope that someone more fortunately circumstanced will perceive how easily farms