Babe by Joan Smith

now.”
    “As to that, everyone is accustomed to oddness from Barbara,” Agnes said wearily. “Perhaps it is for the best, Larry . . .”
    “No, please! You must do something,” Barbara implored, with a desperate glance to Clivedon.
    “I suppose even Barbara will recover from one broken engagement,” Clivedon said, then strode from the room to write up three retractions.
    Angela trailed after him. “I am sorry if I did something you dislike, Larry. I meant it for the best.”
    “No doubt,” he said curtly over his shoulder as his pen scratched quickly across the sheet.
    “If there is anything I can do to lend a hand in the predicament . . .”
    “No, I wouldn’t want you lending any more hands.”
    “You may be sure I will not cut her. I shall behave as though nothing has happened. Mama will dislike it, but I shan’t cut her only for this.”
    “Generous of you, considering it is yourself who put her in this fix.”
    “The announcement didn’t come from me initially. I would just make sure she doesn’t intend to slip off behind your back and marry him before I took that note around to the papers. You will look extremely foolish if that were to happen.”
    “Thank you for the suggestion. I shall bear it in mind.”
    “With a girl like that, you know . . .”
    “Don’t you have some calls to make now, Lady Angela?”
    “Yes, I must run along. Sorry if I caused any bother.”
    “Not at all,” he said, on a note of heavy sarcasm, and she left.
    “I’ll be back shortly,” Clivedon said to his sister before leaving. “With luck I’ll get the retraction instead of another announcement into the afternoon papers. If anyone calls, admit them and explain that this announcement did not come from us.”
    “I can’t believe Angela would take so much on herself. But she meant well, of course.”
    “Very likely. It saves me the nuisance of pelting down to Burrells’ to give Gentz a thrashing at least. I shall be on hand to smooth things over this afternoon.”
    “So unpleasant. I hadn’t thought having Barbara would be quiet, but I didn’t expect so much activity so soon.”
    “You should have!” he replied, and laughed. “We both should have. But really I think the worst is over, with Gentz out of the way. She is not completely lost to all sense of propriety, you know. We had a little talk this morning about men and morals. And Fannie—the trollop.”
    “Her going to apologize to Lady Graham was better than I expected of her. I wouldn’t have had the bottom for it myself.”
    “Whatever else one may say of Babe, I never heard her accused of a lack of pluck. We’ll squeak through, old girl.” He tapped her chin with his letters, and left, smiling, which struck Lady Withers as an insensitive attitude to adopt to all their troubles.
     
    Chapter Ten
     
    It was a tight squeak, but over a few days the rumors of Lady Barbara’s engagement were dead. She did not hide her head at home, but went on very proper excursions with either her chaperone or her guardian, sometimes both. With such companions, the engagement was no more than mentioned. It was only Fannie’s old friends who teased her about it. “You sly rascal, Babe,” they would roast her, “giving Gentz his congé. Some other fellow in your eye, eh?” But her old friends were finding access to her less easy. She was “out” when they called at Cavendish Square, and they were not met at the dignified do’s she attended in the evenings. It was only in the park or at the theater that they accosted her. Lady Angela made good her threat and came to honor Lady Barbara with another spin in the park.
    “Get that creature out of here,” was Clivedon’s order, and she was not allowed into the saloon. Barbara was relieved to be rid of the girl, but she noticed too that Clivedon could be remarkably ruthless when he took someone in dislike.
    “She didn’t mean any harm,” Barbara offered.
    “You are generous. Excessively so,” he told