April Lady by Georgette Heyer Read Free Book Online Page B

Allandale quite out of his stride. His carefully composed speech of explanation had to be abandoned, and he could not immediately decide what to say in its stead.
    "Pray be seated, Mr. Allandale!" invited his host, himself strolling towards a chair.
    Mr. Allandale hesitated. On the whole, he preferred to remain on his feet, but it was difficult to do so while the Earl sat at his ease, one leg, cased in an elegant Hessian boot, thrown over the other, and one hand even now raising his quizzing-glass to his eye. Mr. Allandale sat down, and cleared his throat. "I shall be brief," he stated. "It cannot, I fancy, be unknown to your lordship that I have been so fortunate as to engage the interest of Lady Letitia Merion."
    A flicker of amusement crossed the Earl's eyes. "I understand that the violence of your mutual feelings is such as must melt all but the hardest of hearts. Mine, I am informed, is of marble."
    Colouring, Mr. Allandale replied: "I am aware, my lord, that the affection I bear Lady Letitia must appear to you in the light of an encroaching fancy."
    "Oh, no!" said Cardross. "I am really not as high in the instep as you seem to think. I don't deny that I should prefer her to make what passes in the world for a good match, but, I assure you, if your affections stand the test of time you won't find me ill-disposed towards you."
    This very reasonable speech added nothing to Mr. Allandale's comfort. He said heavily: "I'm obliged to you, sir. I might remind you that the attachment between us was formed more than a year ago, and has but been strengthened by the passage of time, but I shall not do so."
    "As we see," murmured Cardross dryly.
    "The force of your objection is fully felt by me," continued Mr. Allandale, embarking on one of his rehearsed periods. "It might well be thought that Lady Letitia is as yet too young to be permitted to follow the dictates of her heart. Moreover, no one is more conscious than I that in so doing she would be held, in vulgar parlance, to have thrown herself away."
    "Yes, well, do let us talk in vulgar parlance!" begged Cardross. "Not to wrap the matter up in clean linen my sister is a foolish chit with a turn for the high-romantical; and you, my dear sir, are not very much wiser! Her fortune apart —and you need not tell me that you wish her fortune at Jericho, because I acquit you of hanging out for a rich wife—I can conceive of few more unsuitable partners for a man in your position. You have your career before you: I wish you very well, and in proof of this can only advise you not to saddle yourself with an extravagant and shatterbrained little puss for a wife!"
    Considerably taken-aback by this forthright speech, Mr. Allandale could think of nothing better to say than: "Am I to understand, then, that you refuse your consent to our betrothal, sir?"
    "For the present, most certainly you are!" returned the Earl. "You look to be a man of sense, so you will not, I hope, accuse me of cruelty. I have not said, nor shall I, that I will never give my consent; I don't even say that you must wait until Letty comes of age. But do, I beg of you, consider my position in this! Can you feel that I should honourably have fulfilled my charge if I allowed a chit who has not yet reached her eighteenth year to tie herself up in matrimony to a young man in your circumstances?"
    "No," said Mr. Allandale bleakly.
    The Earl was conscious of an impulse to retract, even to bestow his blessing on the lovers. He quelled it, saying cheerfully: "Of course you cannot! But if, in a couple of years' time, you are both still of the same mind, and you come to me again with this proposal, I must be hardhearted indeed to refuse my consent."
    "I do not anticipate being in England in a couple of years' time," said Mr. Allandale, more bleakly still. "It was my intention to have explained to your lordship at the outset that I was emboldened to come to you today by the circumstance of my having been appointed to a very