Read Sally James for Free Online
Authors: A Clandestine Affair
stiffly.
Mary bade them farewell, and Mr Knowle contrived to say to her in a low voice that he would come again in the morning when he hoped to obtain a word with her in private on a very important matter. Abstractedly she smiled at him, and then gave her hand to Sir Ingram, who bowed elegantly over it.
“My thanks for your hospitality, Miss Wyndham. Do not allow my cousin to make a nuisance of herself. I will deal with her if she is naughty.”
They were gone, and Mr Wyndham, incurious as to why his son had unexpectedly arrived home with these unknown guests, murmured that he had some ideas to write down before he had forgot them, and drifted towards his study. Mary then firmly sent Teresa to bed, saying she looked fagged to death, and when Matthew would also have retired, compelled him inexorably back into the parlour.
“Damn bird, dandy, dandy, dandy,” the parrot greeted them, his covering greatcoat having disappeared with Sir Ingram.
“Oh, can’t we find a cover for the wretched bird?” Matthew exclaimed in disgust.
Mary searched for a piece of cloth, and threw it over the cage.
“I wonder who the dandy is?” she asked with a laugh. “Not Sir Ingram, surely?”
“Rodney Morris, I should think,” Matthew returned shortly. “Mary, what am I to do?”
“First I must know who Rodney Morris is,” she protested, laughing.
“Oh, just some fellow who’s for ever hanging about Teresa’s mama. I expect Ingram has described him as a dandy and the bird has picked it up. But that’s not important!”
“No, but I was intrigued. It was just one more part of this whole mad escapade. Matthew, how could you do such a thing? Not just elope, which is bad enough and like to give rise to scandal, but to do it in such a mutton headed way, with no money, and making it perfectly plain where you would be!”
“There was no other option,” Matthew insisted. “He does treat Teresa in a most abominable way, and she begged me to save her. If you had seen her, Mary, prostrated with fear, you could not have left her to his vengeance! As for money, she said she had plenty. How was I to know she would spend it? But she’s so innocent like that, she needs caring for.”
“Are you the right man to do it?” Mary asked bluntly. “She’s seventeen, and you are only a little older at twenty-one. Can you make each other happy?”
“We love each other,” he said simply.
“That may be, but she is wealthy and we are not. You know what people will say. While I maintain that the Wyndhams are fit to marry anyone, would it be a wise marriage? They do not seem to be our sort, for I understand they move in the highest society. Might not Teresa resent it, later, if she feels she has married beneath her?”
“She is not so mean spirited! And we are as good as the Leighs. Why, Sir Ingram’s father was papa’s friend at Oxford. And Teresa’s father made his money in trade with the Indies. He was not well born, but her mama was permitted to marry him!”
“You are young. Do consider it well,” Mary replied, and then fondly kissed him
goodnight.
Chapter 3
Early the next morning Mary was busy in the garden gathering peas, and wondering how she could help Teresa. She had completely forgotten that she ought to be preparing for a visit from Mr Knowle, as she went over and over the information Teresa and Matthew had poured out to her the previous day and tried to reconcile it with the largely favourable impression Sir Ingram had made on her. He could be hard, she thought, and most likely had been on his best behaviour while her guest, but would he really beat Teresa, and even make attempts on her life as she maintained he had done, and as Teresa was so terrified he would do again because of her defiance? She envisaged him attacking a trusting friend in some dark alleyway, beating him to death, merely to prevent approaches being made to his cousin, and could not believe her imaginings.
Did he wish to marry Teresa, as
Mary bade them farewell, and Mr Knowle contrived to say to her in a low voice that he would come again in the morning when he hoped to obtain a word with her in private on a very important matter. Abstractedly she smiled at him, and then gave her hand to Sir Ingram, who bowed elegantly over it.
“My thanks for your hospitality, Miss Wyndham. Do not allow my cousin to make a nuisance of herself. I will deal with her if she is naughty.”
They were gone, and Mr Wyndham, incurious as to why his son had unexpectedly arrived home with these unknown guests, murmured that he had some ideas to write down before he had forgot them, and drifted towards his study. Mary then firmly sent Teresa to bed, saying she looked fagged to death, and when Matthew would also have retired, compelled him inexorably back into the parlour.
“Damn bird, dandy, dandy, dandy,” the parrot greeted them, his covering greatcoat having disappeared with Sir Ingram.
“Oh, can’t we find a cover for the wretched bird?” Matthew exclaimed in disgust.
Mary searched for a piece of cloth, and threw it over the cage.
“I wonder who the dandy is?” she asked with a laugh. “Not Sir Ingram, surely?”
“Rodney Morris, I should think,” Matthew returned shortly. “Mary, what am I to do?”
“First I must know who Rodney Morris is,” she protested, laughing.
“Oh, just some fellow who’s for ever hanging about Teresa’s mama. I expect Ingram has described him as a dandy and the bird has picked it up. But that’s not important!”
“No, but I was intrigued. It was just one more part of this whole mad escapade. Matthew, how could you do such a thing? Not just elope, which is bad enough and like to give rise to scandal, but to do it in such a mutton headed way, with no money, and making it perfectly plain where you would be!”
“There was no other option,” Matthew insisted. “He does treat Teresa in a most abominable way, and she begged me to save her. If you had seen her, Mary, prostrated with fear, you could not have left her to his vengeance! As for money, she said she had plenty. How was I to know she would spend it? But she’s so innocent like that, she needs caring for.”
“Are you the right man to do it?” Mary asked bluntly. “She’s seventeen, and you are only a little older at twenty-one. Can you make each other happy?”
“We love each other,” he said simply.
“That may be, but she is wealthy and we are not. You know what people will say. While I maintain that the Wyndhams are fit to marry anyone, would it be a wise marriage? They do not seem to be our sort, for I understand they move in the highest society. Might not Teresa resent it, later, if she feels she has married beneath her?”
“She is not so mean spirited! And we are as good as the Leighs. Why, Sir Ingram’s father was papa’s friend at Oxford. And Teresa’s father made his money in trade with the Indies. He was not well born, but her mama was permitted to marry him!”
“You are young. Do consider it well,” Mary replied, and then fondly kissed him
goodnight.
Chapter 3
Early the next morning Mary was busy in the garden gathering peas, and wondering how she could help Teresa. She had completely forgotten that she ought to be preparing for a visit from Mr Knowle, as she went over and over the information Teresa and Matthew had poured out to her the previous day and tried to reconcile it with the largely favourable impression Sir Ingram had made on her. He could be hard, she thought, and most likely had been on his best behaviour while her guest, but would he really beat Teresa, and even make attempts on her life as she maintained he had done, and as Teresa was so terrified he would do again because of her defiance? She envisaged him attacking a trusting friend in some dark alleyway, beating him to death, merely to prevent approaches being made to his cousin, and could not believe her imaginings.
Did he wish to marry Teresa, as
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