April Lady Read Free Page B

don't cry! Has something dreadful happened?"
    "No, no! That is—I have been so wickedly extravagant!"
    "Is that all? I collect Giles has been giving you a scold. Don't regard it; he will come about? Was he very angry?"
    "Oh, no, but very much displeased, and indeed it was unpardonable of me!" Nell said, drying her eyes. "But that was not the worst! I was obliged—" She broke off, flushing, and added in a hurried tone: "I can't tell you! I shouldn't have said that—pray don't regard it! I have been sadly heedless, but I shall hope to go on better now. Did you wish to speak to me particularly?"
    "Oh, no! Only to ask you if I may wear your zephyr scarf this evening, if you shouldn't be needing it yourself—but if you are in a fit of the dismals I won't tease you," said Letty handsomely.
    "Oh, yes, do wear it! In fact, you may have it for your own, for I am sure I can never bear to wear it again!" said Nell tragically.
    "Never bear—Nell, don't be such a goose! Why, you went into transports when they showed it to you, and it cost you thirty guineas!"
    "I know it did, and he saw the bill for it, and never spoke one word of censure, which makes me feel ready to sink!"
    "For my part," said Letty candidly, "I should be excessively thankful for it! May I have it indeed? Thank you! It will be just the thing to wear with my French muslin. I had meant to try if I could persuade Giles to purchase one like it for me."
    "Oh, no, do not!" exclaimed Nell, aghast.
    "No, I shouldn't think of doing so now that he has taken one of his pets," agreed Letty. "I'm sure I never knew anyone so odious about being in debt! What shall you wear tonight? You haven't forgotten that Felix Hethersett is to escort us to Almack's, have you?"
    Nell sighed: "I wish we need not go!"
    "Well, there's not the least occasion for you to go if you don't choose," said Letty obligingly. "You may send a note round to Felix's lodging, and as for me, I daresay my aunt Thorne will be very willing to take me with her and my cousin."
    This airy speech had the effect of diverting Nell's mind from her own iniquities. Upon his marriage, the Earl had removed his young ward from the care of her maternal aunt, and had taken her to live in his own house. Mrs. Thorne was a good-natured woman, but he could not like the tone of her mind, or feel that she had either the desire or the power to control his flighty half-sister. He had been startled to discover how casual was the surveillance under which Letty had grown up, how improper many of the ideas she had imbibed; and he was still more startled when she disclosed to him that young as she was she had already formed what she assured him was an undying attachment. Jeremy Allandale was a perfectly respectable young man, but although well-connected he could not be thought an eligible husband for the Lady Letty Merion. He was employed at the Foreign Office, and although his prospects were thought to be good his present circumstances were straitened. His widowed mother was far from affluent, and he had several young brothers and sisters for whose education he considered himself to be largely responsible. The Earl thought this fortunate, for although the young man conducted himself with the strictest propriety he was plainly infatuated with Letty, and no dependence whatsoever (in her brother's opinion) could be placed on her discretion. Could she but gain control of her fortune she was capable of persuading her lover to elope with her. In the event, he was wholly unable to support her, so that that contingency seemed unlikely. Mr. Allandale received little encouragement to visit in Grosvenor Square, but, whether from wisdom or from a dislike of enacting the tyrant, the Earl had never forbidden his sister to hold ordinary social intercourse with him. She would incur no censure by standing up for two dances with Mr. Allandale; but Nell was well aware that under the careless chaperonage of her aunt she would not stop at that. She guessed from