be the right moment.”
“I daresay your natural delicacy makes you too shy, Mr. Montague,” replied Caitlin kindly. “You lack the necessary forcefulness that would make such Philistines attend to you.”
Mr. Montague seemed much struck. “There is a great deal in what you say, Miss Campbell,” he announced gravely. “I don’t know when I’ve met a woman with a better understanding! Between the two of us, do you think we might bring Serena to a sense of—”
“Oh, hush, Ned, for pity’s sake!” cried Serena, between laughter and exasperation. “It is past three o’clock, and you know we were to start back to London by three-thirty. We shall have to turn round.”
But no sooner had they turned than they perceived Lord Kilverton waving to them from the edge of another wooded area to the south. When they joined him he announced he had left the others resting in the shade and come to fetch the energetic threesome back to the rest of the party. Serena and Mr. Montague had begun a mock argument on the rival merits of elms and beeches, so Lord Kilverton and Miss Campbell fell into step together. This caused Caitlin’s heart to beat uncomfortably fast, but as he seemed a trifle preoccupied she plucked up her courage and reminded herself of her earlier determination to treat him just as she would anyone else, thus demonstrating her complete indifference to his company. Time to begin.
She tilted her head up, regarding him from under the brim of her chip-straw hat. He was gazing abstractedly ahead with a slight crease between his brows. “I haven’t thanked you, Lord Kilverton, for including me in your delightful driving party,” she began politely.
He immediately came back from wherever his thoughts had taken him, and looked down into the face turned up to his. Amusement lit his eyes. “You forget, Miss Campbell, that I did not include you in my party.”
Nonplussed, she returned her attention to the path and sought in vain for a suitable reply. “I beg your pardon!” she said stiffly.
“Oh, no need!” he replied kindly. “It is Serena who owes me the apology.” Indignation rose in her, and she did not trust her voice. This allowed him to blandly continue.
“Do you admire Richmond Park, Miss Campbell?”
“Yes!” she replied shortly, in a suffocated voice. “I have enjoyed myself very much—until now!”
His shoulders shook. “I wonder why it gives me such pleasure to goad you?” he mused.
“Perhaps it is your overbearing disposition, Lord Kilverton! Or a natural meanness of spirit that leads you to take pleasure in others’ discomfiture.”
“No, I don’t think so,” he replied, with unimpaired calm. “For I do not generally take pleasure in others’ discomfiture. It is only
your
discomfiture, Miss Campbell, that I find so irresistible.”
At this, all her resolve vanished, and with it her composure. Impossible to behave with indifference! Impossible to pretend their first meeting never happened! Her eyes flashed and her voice shook.
“As you hardly know me, Lord Kilverton, I can only ascribe your intolerable manners, and the disgusting familiarity of your language, to a desire to rub my nose in an incident I wish with all my heart could be forgotten. Such unhandsome conduct does you no credit, believe me! A gentleman would never take such advantage of a lady unless he held her in the greatest contempt imaginable. But I have done nothing to earn your contempt! The liberties you took with me were—as you must know!—taken without my consent. I did not encourage you! I did not assist you! I did not welcome your advances! It is grossly unfair for you to—to
leer
at me in this insufferable fashion. To shame me, and press your advantage, when every advantage you have you took from me by force!” Her voice broke, and she angrily dashed tears from her eyes. “But it does not signify talking, after all.”
She would have walked away from him at this, but he caught her arm and
“I daresay your natural delicacy makes you too shy, Mr. Montague,” replied Caitlin kindly. “You lack the necessary forcefulness that would make such Philistines attend to you.”
Mr. Montague seemed much struck. “There is a great deal in what you say, Miss Campbell,” he announced gravely. “I don’t know when I’ve met a woman with a better understanding! Between the two of us, do you think we might bring Serena to a sense of—”
“Oh, hush, Ned, for pity’s sake!” cried Serena, between laughter and exasperation. “It is past three o’clock, and you know we were to start back to London by three-thirty. We shall have to turn round.”
But no sooner had they turned than they perceived Lord Kilverton waving to them from the edge of another wooded area to the south. When they joined him he announced he had left the others resting in the shade and come to fetch the energetic threesome back to the rest of the party. Serena and Mr. Montague had begun a mock argument on the rival merits of elms and beeches, so Lord Kilverton and Miss Campbell fell into step together. This caused Caitlin’s heart to beat uncomfortably fast, but as he seemed a trifle preoccupied she plucked up her courage and reminded herself of her earlier determination to treat him just as she would anyone else, thus demonstrating her complete indifference to his company. Time to begin.
She tilted her head up, regarding him from under the brim of her chip-straw hat. He was gazing abstractedly ahead with a slight crease between his brows. “I haven’t thanked you, Lord Kilverton, for including me in your delightful driving party,” she began politely.
He immediately came back from wherever his thoughts had taken him, and looked down into the face turned up to his. Amusement lit his eyes. “You forget, Miss Campbell, that I did not include you in my party.”
Nonplussed, she returned her attention to the path and sought in vain for a suitable reply. “I beg your pardon!” she said stiffly.
“Oh, no need!” he replied kindly. “It is Serena who owes me the apology.” Indignation rose in her, and she did not trust her voice. This allowed him to blandly continue.
“Do you admire Richmond Park, Miss Campbell?”
“Yes!” she replied shortly, in a suffocated voice. “I have enjoyed myself very much—until now!”
His shoulders shook. “I wonder why it gives me such pleasure to goad you?” he mused.
“Perhaps it is your overbearing disposition, Lord Kilverton! Or a natural meanness of spirit that leads you to take pleasure in others’ discomfiture.”
“No, I don’t think so,” he replied, with unimpaired calm. “For I do not generally take pleasure in others’ discomfiture. It is only
your
discomfiture, Miss Campbell, that I find so irresistible.”
At this, all her resolve vanished, and with it her composure. Impossible to behave with indifference! Impossible to pretend their first meeting never happened! Her eyes flashed and her voice shook.
“As you hardly know me, Lord Kilverton, I can only ascribe your intolerable manners, and the disgusting familiarity of your language, to a desire to rub my nose in an incident I wish with all my heart could be forgotten. Such unhandsome conduct does you no credit, believe me! A gentleman would never take such advantage of a lady unless he held her in the greatest contempt imaginable. But I have done nothing to earn your contempt! The liberties you took with me were—as you must know!—taken without my consent. I did not encourage you! I did not assist you! I did not welcome your advances! It is grossly unfair for you to—to
leer
at me in this insufferable fashion. To shame me, and press your advantage, when every advantage you have you took from me by force!” Her voice broke, and she angrily dashed tears from her eyes. “But it does not signify talking, after all.”
She would have walked away from him at this, but he caught her arm and
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