right, of course, to censure either your conduct, or Mrs Amber's!"
"No," he said.
Her eyes flew to his in astonishment, a startled question in them, for she was quite taken aback by this uncompromising monosyllable.
"No right at all," he said, explaining himself.
For a perilous moment, she hovered on the brink of losing her temper, but her ever-ready sense of the absurd came to her rescue, and instead of yielding to the impulse to come to points with him she broke into sudden laughter, and said: "How unhandsome of you to have given me such a set-down, when I had already begged your pardon!"
"How unjust of you to accuse me of giving you a set-down when all I did was to agree with you!" he retorted.
"It is to be hoped," said Miss Wychwood, with strong feeling, "that we are not destined to see very much more of each other, Mr Carleton! You arouse in me an almost overmastering desire to give you the finest trimming you have ever had in your life!"
Her laughter was reflected in his eyes. "Oh, no, you would be very unwise to do that!" he said. "Recollect that I am famous for my incivility! I should instantly give you your own again, and since I am an ill-mannered man and you are a well-bred woman of consequence you would be bound to come off the worse from any such encounter."
"That I can believe! Nevertheless, sir, I am determined to do what lies within my power to bring you to a sense of your obligations towards that unfortunate child. For fobbing her off on to Mrs Amber, when she was still a child, there may have been some excuse, but she is not a child now, and—"
"Permit me to correct you, ma'am!" he interrupted. "I should undoubtedly have fobbed her off on to Mrs Amber if she had been left to my sole guardianship, but it so happens that I had no choice in the matter! My brother appointed Amber to share the guardianship with me; and it was the expressed wish of his wife that, in the event of her death, her sister should have charge of Lucilla!"
"I see," she said, digesting this. "But did you also delegate your authority over Lucilla's future? Were you willing to see her coerced into a distasteful marriage?"
"No, of course not!" he replied irritably. "But as marriage doesn't come into the question I fail to see—"
"But it does!" she exclaimed, considerably astonished. "That is why she ran away from Chartley! Surely you must have known what was intended? I had supposed you to be a party to the arrangement!"
He stared at her from under frowning brows. "What arrangement?" he demanded.
"Good gracious!" she uttered. "Then she never told you! Oh, how—how unprincipled of her! It makes me more than ever convinced that I did the right thing when I kept Lucilla with me!"
"Very gratifying for you, ma'am! Pray gratify me by telling me what the devil you are talking about!"
"I have every intention of telling you, so you have no need to bite off my nose!" she snapped. "For goodness' sake, sit down! I can't think why we are standing about in this absurd way!"
"Oh, can't you? Did you expect me to sit down before you invited me to do so? You do think me a ramshackle fellow, don't you?"
"No, I don't! I don't know anything about you!" she said crossly.
"Except that I am famed for my incivility."
She was obliged to laugh, and to say, with engaging honesty, as she sat down: "I am afraid it is I who have been uncivil. Pray, will you not be seated, Mr Carleton?"
"Thank you!" he responded politely, and chose a chair opposite to hers. "And now will you be kind enough to tell me what is the meaning of this farrago of nonsense about Lucilla?"
"It isn't nonsense—though I own anyone could be pardoned for thinking so! I collect that you don't know why Mrs Amber took her on a visit to Chartley Place?"
"I didn't know she had taken her there, until I received a blotched and impassioned letter from her, written from Chartley. As for the reason, I don't think she divulged it. It seemed to me a perfectly natural thing: Lucilla's own
"No," he said.
Her eyes flew to his in astonishment, a startled question in them, for she was quite taken aback by this uncompromising monosyllable.
"No right at all," he said, explaining himself.
For a perilous moment, she hovered on the brink of losing her temper, but her ever-ready sense of the absurd came to her rescue, and instead of yielding to the impulse to come to points with him she broke into sudden laughter, and said: "How unhandsome of you to have given me such a set-down, when I had already begged your pardon!"
"How unjust of you to accuse me of giving you a set-down when all I did was to agree with you!" he retorted.
"It is to be hoped," said Miss Wychwood, with strong feeling, "that we are not destined to see very much more of each other, Mr Carleton! You arouse in me an almost overmastering desire to give you the finest trimming you have ever had in your life!"
Her laughter was reflected in his eyes. "Oh, no, you would be very unwise to do that!" he said. "Recollect that I am famous for my incivility! I should instantly give you your own again, and since I am an ill-mannered man and you are a well-bred woman of consequence you would be bound to come off the worse from any such encounter."
"That I can believe! Nevertheless, sir, I am determined to do what lies within my power to bring you to a sense of your obligations towards that unfortunate child. For fobbing her off on to Mrs Amber, when she was still a child, there may have been some excuse, but she is not a child now, and—"
"Permit me to correct you, ma'am!" he interrupted. "I should undoubtedly have fobbed her off on to Mrs Amber if she had been left to my sole guardianship, but it so happens that I had no choice in the matter! My brother appointed Amber to share the guardianship with me; and it was the expressed wish of his wife that, in the event of her death, her sister should have charge of Lucilla!"
"I see," she said, digesting this. "But did you also delegate your authority over Lucilla's future? Were you willing to see her coerced into a distasteful marriage?"
"No, of course not!" he replied irritably. "But as marriage doesn't come into the question I fail to see—"
"But it does!" she exclaimed, considerably astonished. "That is why she ran away from Chartley! Surely you must have known what was intended? I had supposed you to be a party to the arrangement!"
He stared at her from under frowning brows. "What arrangement?" he demanded.
"Good gracious!" she uttered. "Then she never told you! Oh, how—how unprincipled of her! It makes me more than ever convinced that I did the right thing when I kept Lucilla with me!"
"Very gratifying for you, ma'am! Pray gratify me by telling me what the devil you are talking about!"
"I have every intention of telling you, so you have no need to bite off my nose!" she snapped. "For goodness' sake, sit down! I can't think why we are standing about in this absurd way!"
"Oh, can't you? Did you expect me to sit down before you invited me to do so? You do think me a ramshackle fellow, don't you?"
"No, I don't! I don't know anything about you!" she said crossly.
"Except that I am famed for my incivility."
She was obliged to laugh, and to say, with engaging honesty, as she sat down: "I am afraid it is I who have been uncivil. Pray, will you not be seated, Mr Carleton?"
"Thank you!" he responded politely, and chose a chair opposite to hers. "And now will you be kind enough to tell me what is the meaning of this farrago of nonsense about Lucilla?"
"It isn't nonsense—though I own anyone could be pardoned for thinking so! I collect that you don't know why Mrs Amber took her on a visit to Chartley Place?"
"I didn't know she had taken her there, until I received a blotched and impassioned letter from her, written from Chartley. As for the reason, I don't think she divulged it. It seemed to me a perfectly natural thing: Lucilla's own
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