much the gentleman, and
herself, looking as if she had been dunked in a well and then
dragged through a hedge backwards. The sodden Horatio added nothing
to their consequence.
The day’s heroine was slightly deflated but
unrepentant. “We saved a poor animal from an undeserved, cruel
death. I think we were justified. Besides, Mr. Brummell liked it,
and you yourself say he is the last word on what is proper. At
least I think he liked it,” she ended lamely as a vein in the side
of the Duke’s neck began to throb wildly.
“That’s precisely the problem, madam, you
don’t think. You act. Eons later, perhaps, if the Gods are kind,
you think. And there is no ‘we’ about it, madam,” Avanoll pointed
out. “I freely give you all praise—and all blame. It never entered
your head, I suppose, to apprise me of what you had seen and let me
order Leo to effect the rescue? Oh, no,” he sneered, “rational
thought comes no more easily to you than to any other female.”
He turned to glare at her, nearly letting go
of the reins, so intense was his anger. “Dash it, woman, if it
weren’t for my timely intervention with that faradiddle about
Englishmen and dumb animals, Beau’s equally quick perception of
what I was about, and a mellow crowd, you may as well have strutted
stark naked down Bond Street for all the blasted fool you made of
yourself today. As it is now your name will be a byword in every
club from White’s to the Daffy, an occurrence not exactly sought
after by well-bred young ladies, might I point out. But then... oh,
forget it.”
“But, then, I am not a well-bred young lady.
That was what you were going to say, wasn’t it?” Tansy dared
him.
Leo made a sound in his throat and endeavored
to make himself invisible as the glaring duo in front of him
appeared about to come to cuffs.
Luckily, Avanoll House was just ahead, and
further arguments were pushed aside in the pair’s haste to get
inside and rid themselves of their sodden clothes.
The Duke hopped lightly down from his seat,
and whether or not he would have assisted his cousin was not to be
guessed at for she had climbed down by herself—and was already
standing rock-still on the flagway, waiting for him to enter the
house before her.
Dunstan never blinked at the odd sight that
greeted him as he made his way to the foyer, although his private
thoughts would have proved interesting. His grace was already
stripping off his mud-stained driving gloves, the ones with the
hole in the left thumb, while Miss Tamerlane stood to one side, an
ominous puddle forming about her feet and a smelly lump of fur in
her arms.
“Dunstan,” imparted his grace in awful tones,
“I will not be dining at home this evening after all. I feel it,
er, safer for all concerned to remove my person from the bosom of
my family for a space, until the combination of an orderly,
well-run establishment and the company of emotionally stable
companions such as I may find at my Club convince me the whole
world has not run mad.”
Having delivered himself of this crushing
set-down he turned on his heel, planning to ascend to his rooms,
but he was forestalled by Dunstan’s placid reminder that he had
invited guests to dine at Avanoll this same evening.
The Duke dismissed this bit of news with a
wave of his hand, some faint bit of humor entering his cold eyes.
“Oh, that was all a hum, Dunny. I only said it to give our new
housekeeper a showcase for her talent, a chance to strut out her
expertise and instruct us all in the proper way to handle a
domestic crisis, so to speak.”
This blatant insult was enough to rouse Tansy
from her brown study, the sarcastic remarks touching off a chord of
memory. “One moment, please, before you slosh off, your grace. Just
what, sir—if I, a mere employee, may make so bold as to ask you to
enlarge upon just one of the many pearls of wisdom that dribbled
off your tongue a bit earlier—is the premier disaster in The
History of the World
herself, looking as if she had been dunked in a well and then
dragged through a hedge backwards. The sodden Horatio added nothing
to their consequence.
The day’s heroine was slightly deflated but
unrepentant. “We saved a poor animal from an undeserved, cruel
death. I think we were justified. Besides, Mr. Brummell liked it,
and you yourself say he is the last word on what is proper. At
least I think he liked it,” she ended lamely as a vein in the side
of the Duke’s neck began to throb wildly.
“That’s precisely the problem, madam, you
don’t think. You act. Eons later, perhaps, if the Gods are kind,
you think. And there is no ‘we’ about it, madam,” Avanoll pointed
out. “I freely give you all praise—and all blame. It never entered
your head, I suppose, to apprise me of what you had seen and let me
order Leo to effect the rescue? Oh, no,” he sneered, “rational
thought comes no more easily to you than to any other female.”
He turned to glare at her, nearly letting go
of the reins, so intense was his anger. “Dash it, woman, if it
weren’t for my timely intervention with that faradiddle about
Englishmen and dumb animals, Beau’s equally quick perception of
what I was about, and a mellow crowd, you may as well have strutted
stark naked down Bond Street for all the blasted fool you made of
yourself today. As it is now your name will be a byword in every
club from White’s to the Daffy, an occurrence not exactly sought
after by well-bred young ladies, might I point out. But then... oh,
forget it.”
“But, then, I am not a well-bred young lady.
That was what you were going to say, wasn’t it?” Tansy dared
him.
Leo made a sound in his throat and endeavored
to make himself invisible as the glaring duo in front of him
appeared about to come to cuffs.
Luckily, Avanoll House was just ahead, and
further arguments were pushed aside in the pair’s haste to get
inside and rid themselves of their sodden clothes.
The Duke hopped lightly down from his seat,
and whether or not he would have assisted his cousin was not to be
guessed at for she had climbed down by herself—and was already
standing rock-still on the flagway, waiting for him to enter the
house before her.
Dunstan never blinked at the odd sight that
greeted him as he made his way to the foyer, although his private
thoughts would have proved interesting. His grace was already
stripping off his mud-stained driving gloves, the ones with the
hole in the left thumb, while Miss Tamerlane stood to one side, an
ominous puddle forming about her feet and a smelly lump of fur in
her arms.
“Dunstan,” imparted his grace in awful tones,
“I will not be dining at home this evening after all. I feel it,
er, safer for all concerned to remove my person from the bosom of
my family for a space, until the combination of an orderly,
well-run establishment and the company of emotionally stable
companions such as I may find at my Club convince me the whole
world has not run mad.”
Having delivered himself of this crushing
set-down he turned on his heel, planning to ascend to his rooms,
but he was forestalled by Dunstan’s placid reminder that he had
invited guests to dine at Avanoll this same evening.
The Duke dismissed this bit of news with a
wave of his hand, some faint bit of humor entering his cold eyes.
“Oh, that was all a hum, Dunny. I only said it to give our new
housekeeper a showcase for her talent, a chance to strut out her
expertise and instruct us all in the proper way to handle a
domestic crisis, so to speak.”
This blatant insult was enough to rouse Tansy
from her brown study, the sarcastic remarks touching off a chord of
memory. “One moment, please, before you slosh off, your grace. Just
what, sir—if I, a mere employee, may make so bold as to ask you to
enlarge upon just one of the many pearls of wisdom that dribbled
off your tongue a bit earlier—is the premier disaster in The
History of the World
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