A Chance Encounter Read Free

Humphrey threw her an astonished look. “My mistress? What put that maggoty notion into your brain? Miss Chadwick, I intend to marry you at Gretna Green!”

Chapter Two
     
    Upon Lord Humphrey’s announcement, Miss Chadwick, already considerably alarmed, felt that nothing could now rival the turmoil of her emotions. She rather wildly wondered if she shared the carriage with a madman.
    However, Miss Chadwick was made of resolute stuff and she did not shrink away from the gentleman now so bent on his driving. She cast a despairing look at the speeding horses and clung tighter to the seat and its rail. In a calm and rational tone she said, “My lord, you cannot have thought. You cannot possibly fly with me to Gretna Green.” Her breast swelled with indignation. “Why, we have just met. I have not the least notion of your character, although I can regrettably say that it is much the worse for strong drink. Nor do you have the least notion of who and what I am.”
    Lord Humphrey barked sardonic laughter. His eyes glittered in the fading light. “I already know that I like you better than Augusta Ratcliffe, and for me that is reason enough to marry you.”
    “Augusta Ratcliffe?” faltered Miss Chadwick, grasping in appalled comprehension the gist of his lordship’s reasoning. “Are you then engaged, my lord?”
    The viscount frowned heavily, his eyes still on the surging team. “No! At least, I suppose you could call it that, might one? It is the most deuced coil that ever I have been in.”
    Miss Chadwick saw that his lordship was fast sinking into a ruminative reverie. She said gently, prodding, “My lord, if you have promised yourself to this Miss Ratcliffe, then you certainly cannot elope with me. Surely you must see that?”
    “I have not promised myself to Miss Ratcliffe. I was never consulted in the least. Our parents did the thing while I stood staring at her in her cradle,” Lord Humphrey said bitterly.
    “Oh.” Miss Chadwick thought she understood the problem. The viscount was suffering from an overweening sense of honor, and instead of seeing that he must tackle the problem head-on, he was instead reaching desperately for straws and in his inebriated state he had latched on to the ludicrous notion of eloping with her.
    As she saw it, she had only to convey to the viscount that he was not obligated to marry the lady that he so obviously detested if he had not actually offered for her. He would naturally be very grateful to her and then no doubt he would sheepishly turn the carriage around and take her safely home. Accordingly, Miss Chadwick bent herself to the task of pointing out the realities to the viscount. “My lord, I gather that you have not actually offered for the lady in question yourself. Am I correct in that assumption?”
    The viscount shrugged a brusque assent.
    Miss Chadwick smiled as she let out a sigh of relief. “My lord, then you need not wed her. You have only to explain to your parents that you prefer to look about for a bride of your own choosing. I am certain that none but the most tyrannical of parents would actually expect you to make good on a foolish promise exchanged so many years ago. And as for Miss Ratcliffe, she might very well be grateful on her own count to be freed of such an onerous duty.”
    Lord Humphrey snorted derision. “You don’t know Augusta or you would not say anything by half so silly. Augusta has been thinking herself lady of the manor for all of ten years or more, ever since she got her figure. She has turned down scores of offers. She means to have me,” he said gloomily. “If I was to cry off as you suggest, the rarest dust-up would be kicked up, and not just by Augusta but also by my parents and my godparents as well.”
    Miss Chadwick was momentarily silenced. His lordship’s misery at the thought of his seemingly unavoidable future was obvious. She said sympathetically, “Oh dear, it is a pretty coil, isn’t it? One does hate to be the object