assemblies and so on. It achieves the same thing, really, only just by a slightly different method.”
“That’s fine for you, but it is not what I agreed to help you with.”
She turned a wrathful face toward him. “Are you saying you would help me destroy my reputation, but you would not help me bring my parents back together? That is just what I might have expected from you, Revel. An enterprise must have a tinge of debauchery for you to be interested.”
“The idea was never to destroy your reputation! It was all to be done privately, to worry your mother.”
“Mama is worried enough. My aim now is to bring Papa home a reformed man.”
“You might as well try to carry water in a sieve. A leopard of Marchant’s age does not change his spots.”
“Nor does one of your age, it seems. And furthermore, this bonnet is nothing like the one I wore yesterday,”she added angrily. “Yesterday’s bonnet did not have pink feathers.”
Revel fell into a fit of the sulks and stared out the window. “I take it you want to go on the strut on Milsom Street?’
“Not at all. I won’t disgrace you by being seen with me.”
“No one would be foolish enough to take it for a romance.”
“They might believe that at thirty you had begun to develop some common sense,”she snipped.
“No, no, you have already assured me leopards do not change their spots.”He pulled the drawstring and asked John Groom to direct the carriage to Milsom Street.
They dismounted, and Revel offered Tess his arm.
“Would you like to look at the bonnets?”he asked, trying to establish civil relations.
“I have just bought a new bonnet, even if some people don’t appreciate it. It is freezing cold. Let us go to the library.”
“The library!”he exclaimed. Libraries were for little old ladies, for retired clerics and vegetarians.
“You do know how to read, I suppose?”
“Only in English, French, Latin, and Greek. My Italian is a little rusty.”
“You need not worry that the library shelves of Bath will hold a surfeit of Italian books.”
They entered, and Tess strolled along, checking out the novels while Revel walked determinedly to the section of foreign books and took out Boccaccio’s Decameron in the original, to show Tess there was at least one Italian book there.
Her fit of ill-humor evaporated when she found a new novel by Walter Scott, and they soon went back to Milsom Street, with Revel carrying the books.
“Shall we have a cup of tea at the Pump Room?”he suggested. “Not tea with cakes and sandwiches, but just a cup of tea to warm us?”
Revel admitted to himself, if not to Tess, that he had been behaving badly. He realized that he had enjoyed the little game of playing her suitor. It was unusual to be with a young lady who treated him so offhandedly. His flirts more usually hung on his every utterance. By helping her bring her parents together, however, he could still continue seeing her without the fear of raising marital expectations.
“About getting your parents together,”he said. “It would be helpful if your father knew your mama was seeing Cousin James tonight.”
She peered up from her cup. “Yes, but how will he find out? It is a private party.”
“Someone would have to tell him.”
“Mama does not let us call on him.”She looked hopefully to Revel. “He is staying at the Pelican.”
“Are you suggesting I—”
“Oh, no! No, indeed. It is just that there is no one else, Revel.”She peered at him expectantly. “And it would be so very helpful if he could know about it.”
“To drop in out of the blue and just announce my aunt is holding a party and he is not invited? Well, it would look odd. In fact, it would look demmed provocative.”
“Yes, you must be more subtle than that,”she agreed.
“I have not said I would go!”
“Oh, I thought when you spoke of the subtlety required, you were planning how to approach him. I am sure you could do it in a manner that did not
“That’s fine for you, but it is not what I agreed to help you with.”
She turned a wrathful face toward him. “Are you saying you would help me destroy my reputation, but you would not help me bring my parents back together? That is just what I might have expected from you, Revel. An enterprise must have a tinge of debauchery for you to be interested.”
“The idea was never to destroy your reputation! It was all to be done privately, to worry your mother.”
“Mama is worried enough. My aim now is to bring Papa home a reformed man.”
“You might as well try to carry water in a sieve. A leopard of Marchant’s age does not change his spots.”
“Nor does one of your age, it seems. And furthermore, this bonnet is nothing like the one I wore yesterday,”she added angrily. “Yesterday’s bonnet did not have pink feathers.”
Revel fell into a fit of the sulks and stared out the window. “I take it you want to go on the strut on Milsom Street?’
“Not at all. I won’t disgrace you by being seen with me.”
“No one would be foolish enough to take it for a romance.”
“They might believe that at thirty you had begun to develop some common sense,”she snipped.
“No, no, you have already assured me leopards do not change their spots.”He pulled the drawstring and asked John Groom to direct the carriage to Milsom Street.
They dismounted, and Revel offered Tess his arm.
“Would you like to look at the bonnets?”he asked, trying to establish civil relations.
“I have just bought a new bonnet, even if some people don’t appreciate it. It is freezing cold. Let us go to the library.”
“The library!”he exclaimed. Libraries were for little old ladies, for retired clerics and vegetarians.
“You do know how to read, I suppose?”
“Only in English, French, Latin, and Greek. My Italian is a little rusty.”
“You need not worry that the library shelves of Bath will hold a surfeit of Italian books.”
They entered, and Tess strolled along, checking out the novels while Revel walked determinedly to the section of foreign books and took out Boccaccio’s Decameron in the original, to show Tess there was at least one Italian book there.
Her fit of ill-humor evaporated when she found a new novel by Walter Scott, and they soon went back to Milsom Street, with Revel carrying the books.
“Shall we have a cup of tea at the Pump Room?”he suggested. “Not tea with cakes and sandwiches, but just a cup of tea to warm us?”
Revel admitted to himself, if not to Tess, that he had been behaving badly. He realized that he had enjoyed the little game of playing her suitor. It was unusual to be with a young lady who treated him so offhandedly. His flirts more usually hung on his every utterance. By helping her bring her parents together, however, he could still continue seeing her without the fear of raising marital expectations.
“About getting your parents together,”he said. “It would be helpful if your father knew your mama was seeing Cousin James tonight.”
She peered up from her cup. “Yes, but how will he find out? It is a private party.”
“Someone would have to tell him.”
“Mama does not let us call on him.”She looked hopefully to Revel. “He is staying at the Pelican.”
“Are you suggesting I—”
“Oh, no! No, indeed. It is just that there is no one else, Revel.”She peered at him expectantly. “And it would be so very helpful if he could know about it.”
“To drop in out of the blue and just announce my aunt is holding a party and he is not invited? Well, it would look odd. In fact, it would look demmed provocative.”
“Yes, you must be more subtle than that,”she agreed.
“I have not said I would go!”
“Oh, I thought when you spoke of the subtlety required, you were planning how to approach him. I am sure you could do it in a manner that did not
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