Read The Romance for Free Online Page A

inform Miss Trumble that he was not at home. But he had gone to great pains to ingratiate himself with the servants and tenants and so decided it would be politic to receive her.
    He smiled graciously at the elderly governess when she was ushered in, but was a little taken aback at the modishness of her gown and the grandeur of her manner.
    ‘You are most gracious to receive me, sir,’ said Miss Trumble. ‘Lady Beverley left a red-and-goldwool shawl the last time she was here and wondered if it had been found.’
    Perry pulled the green-and-gold embroidered bell-pull and told a footman who promptly answered its summons to bring in tea and cakes and then question the staff about the whereabouts of the shawl.
    Perry had always made a point of listening to servants’ gossip and so he had heard all about the ambitions of the Beverleys. He could not blame them for such ambitions, for sometimes he felt he could cheerfully kill to make Mannerling his own. In all his selfish life, he had never known a love like this. Before dinner, he would stroll about the lawns and smoke a cigar and drink in the great enfolding peace of the place.
    ‘Perhaps you can help me, Miss Trumble,’ he said, after the tea-tray had been brought in.
    ‘I will be glad to help you in any way I can,’ said Miss Trumble, thinking what a sensible and reliable young man he was.
    ‘I have been thinking,’ said Perry, ‘that it is about time I got to know some of the local county. What do you suggest? A fête? A ball? Start off with a turtle supper?’
    Miss Trumble concealed her surprise. Then she said tentatively, ‘I will be glad to supply you with the names of your neighbours, those that are suitable. Are you acting on behalf of Lord Saint Clair?’
    ‘I doubt if we shall be seeing him,’ he saidsmoothly. ‘Earl Durbridge, my uncle, has put me in charge. I plan to be here for some time.’
    ‘Indeed, sir. Then, if you will supply me with pen and paper, I will make you out a list.’
    He ushered her over to a writing-desk by the window, opened the lid, and stood behind her when she sat down at it, rubbing his hands. ‘Now, I want you, Miss…?’
    ‘Trumble.’
    ‘Trumble. I want you to put opposite each name a thumbnail sketch, and some idea of rank. People without titles can be of the first stare, you know.’
    ‘I know,’ said Miss Trumble, beginning to write.
    ‘What is it, Henry?’ she heard him ask, and then a footman replying, ‘This express has just come for you, sir. And, sir, no one has found such a shawl as Miss Trumble says that Lady Beverley left.’
    ‘Oh, give it here. Keep on writing, Miss Tremble.’
    ‘Trumble.’
    She heard him crackle open the seal. Then she heard him draw in his breath in a sharp hiss. She swung round in her chair and looked up at him. His face was a mask of baffled fury.
    ‘Not bad news, I trust?’ she asked.
    ‘What, no! None of your business. Be off with you. I have matters to attend to here.’
    Miss Trumble rose and curtsied.
    The footman held open the double doors ofthe saloon and then closed them behind her. Miss Trumble paused on the landing, making a great business of pulling on her gloves in case any servant should see her.
    ‘I shall be leaving tomorrow,’ she heard Perry say in a thin voice. ‘You are to make Mannerling ready for Lord Saint Clair.’
    ‘When does he arrive, sir?’
    ‘In a mere week’s time, with guests, and one of them is his intended bride, Belinda Beverley.’
    ‘Very good, sir.’
    ‘That’s one of those damned Beverleys who have always been plotting and scheming to get this place back.’ Perry promptly forgot that only a short time ago he had been in sympathy with the Beverleys’ ambitions. ‘Demme, that was the Beverley governess that was just here. And I entertained her! Pah! I’ll scotch their schemes.’
    ‘Very good, sir.’
    ‘And don’t you go blabbing any of this in the servants’ hall, mind.’
    ‘No, sir, I am the soul of