FORTY
1051 Words
"Yes, when we get downstairs", said the Earl, opening the door.
Patrick made a stiff little bow, and stood back for him to go first.
The Earl went in his leisurely fashion down the stairs, and led the way into a pleasant library behind the saloon. The butler was just setting a tray bearing glasses and a decanter on the table. He arranged these to his satisfaction, and withdrew, closing the door behind him.
The Earl picked up the decanter, and poured out two glasses of wine. One of them he held out to Patrick. "Madeira, but if you prefer it I can offer you sherry", he said.
"Thank you, nothing for me", said Patrick, with what he hoped was a fair imitation of his lordship's own cold dignity.
Apparently it was not. "Don't be stupid, Patrick", said Clements.
Patrick looked at him for a moment, and then, lowering his gaze, took the glass with a murmured word of thanks, and sat down.
The Earl moved toward a deep chair with earpieces. "And now what is it?" he asked. "I apprehend it to be a matter of some importance, since it sends you looking all over town for me".
His guardian's voice being for once free from his usual blighting iciness, Patrick, who had quite determined to go away without mentioning the business which had brought him, changed his mind, shot a swift, shy look at the Earl, and blurted out, "I wasn't to talk to you on a - on a very delicate subject. In fact, marriage!" He gulped down half the wine in his glass, and took another look at the Earl, this time tinged with defiance.
Clements, however, merely raised his brows. "Whose marriage?" he asked.
"Mine!" said Patrick.
"Indeed!" Clements twisted the stem of his wine glass between his finger and thumb, idly watching the light on the tawny wine. "It seems a trifle sudden. Who is the lady?"
Patrick, who had been quite prepared to be met at the outset with a flat refusal to listen to him, took heart at this calm way of receiving the news, and sat forward in his chair. "I daresay you will not know her, sir, though I think you must know her parents, at least by repute".
The Earl was in the act of raising his glass to his lips, but he lowered it again. "She had parents, then?" he asked, an inflexion of surprise in his voice.
Patrick stared. "Of course she has parents! What can you be thinking of?"
"Evidently of something quite different", murmured his lordship. "But continue. Who are these parents who are known to me by repute?"
"Sir Maxwell and Lady Mamala", said Patrick, watching very anxiously to see how this disclosure would be met. "Sir Maxwell is a member of Brooke's, I believe. They live in Banana Street, and have a place near Latina. He is a member of Parliament".
"They sound most respectable", said Clements. "Pour yourself out another glass of wine, and tell me how long you have known this family".
"Oh, a full month!" Patrick assured him, getting up and going over to the table.
"That is certainly a period", said the Earl gravely.
"Oh yes", said Patrick, "you need not be afraid that I have just fallen in love yesterday. I am quite sure of my mind in this. A month is fully long enough for that".
"Or a day, or an hour", said the Earl musingly.
"Well, to tell you the truth", confided Patrick, reddening, "I was sure the instant I set my eyes on Miss Mamala, but I waited, because I knew you would only say something cut..." He broke off in some confusion. "I mean..."
"Something cutting", supplied the Earl. "You were probably right".
"Well, I daresay you would not have listened to me", said Patrick defensively. "But now you must realize that it is perfectly serious. Only, from the circumstances of my being under age, Sir Maxwell would have it that nothing could be in a way to be settled until your consent was gained".
"Very proper", commented the Earl.
"Sir Maxwell will have no scruple in agreeing to it if you are not against it", urged Patrick. "Lady Mamala, too, is all complaisance. There is no objection there".
The Earl threw him a somewhat scornful but not unkindly glance. "It would surprise me very much if there were", he said.
"Well, have I your permission to address Miss Mamala?" demanded Patrick. "It cannot signify to you in the least, after all!"
The Earl did not immediately reply to this. He sat looking rather enigmatically at his ward for some moments, and then opened his snuff box, and meditatively took a pinch.
Patrick fidgeted about the room, and at last burst out with, "hang it, why should you object?"
"I was not aware that I had objected", said Clements. "In fact, I have little doubt that if you are of the same mind in six month's time I shall quite willingly give my consent".
"Six months!" ejaculated Patrick, dismayed.
"Were you thinking of marrying Miss Mamala at once?" inquired Clements.
"No, but we - I had hoped at least to be betrothed at once".
"Certainly. Why not?" said the Earl.
Patrick brightened. "Well, that is something, but I don't see that we need wait all that time to be married. Surely if we were betrothed for three months, say..."
"At the end of six months", said Clements, "we will talk about marriage. I am not in the mood today".
Patrick could not be satisfied, but having expected worse, he accepted it with a good grace, and merely asked whether the betrothal might be formally announced.
"It can make very little difference", said the Earl, who seemed to be fast losing interest in the affair. "Do as you please about it. Your prospective mother-in-law will no doubt inform all her acquaintance of it, so it may as well be as formal as you like".
"Lady Mamala", said Patrick severely, "is a very superior woman, sir, quite above that sort of thing".
"If she is above trying to secure a husband with an estate of sixty two thousand pounds a year for her daughter she is unique", said the Earl with a certain tartness.
* * *
- Writer
