Sally James Read Free Page A

only one we could find!'
    'Where did you obtain it, and where have you been in it?' Sir Roderick, having recovered his breath, thundered.
    Georgiana turned to him, but Lord Fordington noted how she moved closer into the shelter of Isabella's protective arm.
    'Belinda. She lent it to me, it belongs to her sister!'
    'That hoyden! She is encouraging you in this wickedness is she? Well, my girl, you'll see no more of her! I'll take care of that, you can be sure!'
    'You cannot stop me for ever from doing what I choose!' Georgiana flung at her father, tossing her head defiantly and resisting Isabella's attempt to take her upstairs. 'You have refused to permit me to make my come-out this season, although I am scarce two months younger than Belinda, but you cannot imprison me for ever!'
    'Pray do not be so foolish!' Isabella interposed, but her words were drowned in the roar from Sir Roderick.
    'Imprison! You'd be better for a spell of confinement, Miss, aye, and a sound beating!'
    'Sir!'
    It was the young man, summoning up the courage to intervene when it appeared that Sir Roderick intended to carry out his threat immediately. The baronet swung round, suddenly made aware of him again.
    'You! Who the devil are you, sir! What have you been doing, stealing my daughter out of her house?'
    'C-Clement Reece, sir. I must p-protest. I did not steal your daughter. She-she did me the honour to permit me to escort her to the P-Pantheon. They have masked balls there,' he explained kindly as Sir Roderick, rendered momentarily speechless, stared disbelievingly at him.
    'The Pantheon! The hurly-burly place, amongst all the riffraff in town?' Sir Roderick exclaimed, and turned wrathfully towards his erring child. 'Have you no more sense than to let yourself be seen at such a place? You'll not have a shred of reputation left!'
    'I'll do as I please when I'm married, you'll not stop me then!' Georgiana declared.
    'Married? You'll not marry this young puppy! Who the devil is he, anyway? Where did you meet him?'
    Georgiana and the embarrassed young man blushed and did their best to avoid one another's eyes.
    'No-no such intention, I do assure you, sir! That is, I d-don't want to offend Miss Sharman, to be sure, but the thing is, you see, we've only just met, and I-I'm still under age!'
    'We met at Belinda's, Clement is a sort of cousin of hers,' Georgiana said hurriedly.
    'I doubt if any harm has been done, Cousin,' Isabella's cool tones cut across the incoherent mutterings Sir Roderick had been reduced to. 'After all no one who knows Georgiana was likely to have been there, and she was masked, and even the gown would not have been seen under the domino. I suggest we all retire to bed and discuss this when we have slept. Come, Georgiana.'
    'You'd be wise to disappear too,' Lord Fordington said in a soft voice to young Mr Reece.
    'I will not run away!' was the indignant reply.
    'Wellington was an adept at the art of judicious retreat and saving his attacks for the proper moment,' Lord Fordington remarked. 'Come back in the morning – late in the morning, I would advise – and offer an apology and explanation then. You'll only make it worse for the girl if you insist on arguing now! Go on, you young idiot, her father won't kill her! She's well enough protected, better than she would be by you!'
    Mr Reece, vaguely conscious that he was cutting no heroic figure, reluctantly permitted himself to be pushed out of the door. Lord Fordington, most reprehensibly, shut it to behind him and turned to listen to the tirade of abuse Sir Roderick was heaping indiscriminately on the heads of his daughter and her absent friend.
    'You are neither of you fit to be trusted!' he concluded.
    'It would not have happened if you had not broken your promise to allow me to be presented this year!'
    'I made no such promise!'
    'You did.'
    'You know full well, Georgiana, your father merely said he would consider it. I'm inclined to agree with him, you are both silly