A Chance Encounter Read Free Page A

Rossiter, I see a very promising future for you. ‘His lordship’ cannot be a prince or a duke, but it is very possible that he is an earl. He surely could not be so unromantic as to neglect to fall in love with a gentlewoman turned governess and raise her to the exalted rank of countess—now, could he?”
    â€œHe would not be so rag-mannered,” Elizabeth agreed. “I shall lose all my faith in romance, sir, if I do not have him groveling at my feet within a sennight. Provided he is also handsome and wealthy, of course.”
    â€œDepend upon it, my dear,” Mrs. Rowe said soothingly. “If he is a member of the aristocracy, he will be handsome.”
    Mr. Rowe smiled with amused affection at his mate.

CHAPTER 2

    I t was Elizabeth Rossiter who saw the visitors arriving the following afternoon, all on horseback. One was a lady, she could see. Elizabeth had returned just half an hour before from a visit to the rectory. She had taken flowers from the garden to decorate the church while Cecily paid a call on Anne to divulge all the information she had learned at the dinner table the evening before. Now Elizabeth was sitting in the window seat of the drawing room, her embroidery in her lap. Mrs. Rowe and Cecily were looking through patterns, though the directions for the new dresses had been given to Miss Phillips days before.
    â€œI should warn you, ma’am, that I believe we are about to have visitors,” Elizabeth said calmly. She did not look through the window again for fear that the riders would look up and laugh at her curiosity.
    Mrs. Rowe shrieked. “Mr. Mainwaring?” she asked. “And I would put on this old lace cap after luncheon when something told me that I should wear the new.”
    â€œBeth,” Cecily cried, “is my gown creased? Have my ringlets lost their curl? That new bonnet will flatten my hair so.”
    â€œYou look your usual pretty self,” Elizabeth assured her. “And I am sorry now that I alarmed you both. The visitors must call upon Mr. Rowe first. It is just possible that they will not call upon you ladies at all today.”
    â€œOh, yes,” Mrs. Rowe agreed, “and it would be just like him to keep them all to himself in the library and never think of bringing them to the drawing room.”
    But five minutes later Mr. Rowe had ushered the three gentlemen and a lady into the drawing room and was performing the introductions. Mrs. Rowe and Cecily were on their feet. Everyone seemed to be moving and talking at once, as Mr. Mainwaring, Mr. and Mrs. Prosser, and the Marquess of Hetherington were introduced to the ladies of the house.
    Only Elizabeth was still seated, frozen into the shadows of the window seat where she had shrunk when the visitors first entered the room. Her eyes were fixed on the marquess; for the moment no one else existed in the room. My God, but he had not changed! She saw a man only a little above average height, but graceful and athletic in build. His fair hair was as shiny and as thick as it had been then, his face just as open and full of vitality. It was not exactly a handsome face, but the dancing blue eyes and the perfect white teeth made the beholder unaware of the fact.
    He was bowing now over Cecily’s hand, gazing into her face with frank admiration. Robert. Elizabeth had frequently wondered what it would be like to see him again. Well, now she knew, some dispassionate part of her brain told her. Numb. Totally and completely numb. But not for long.
    Mrs. Rowe turned with a magnanimous gesture to the employee that she insisted on treating like a lady. “I wish you to meet Cecily’s lady companion, Miss Elizabeth Rossiter,” she said, directing all eyes to the window seat.
    But Elizabeth was aware only of the slightly jerky movement made by Hetherington as he heard the name and turned in her direction. For a timeless, frozen moment their eyes met. Blank disbelief, sudden