The Aim of a Lady Read Free Page A

uncertainly. “I do not like to leave him here alone with you, Diana, but I have begun to feel rather...anxious to speak with Alonna.”
    “Are there others paying court to her?” she asked curiously.
    “Yes, and I do not like to leave her in doubt of my intentions any longer than is strictly necessary.”
    “Lord Alma will not like it, but I fear you must go. I shall keep him entertained until he’s ready to depart.” She rose to leave him and placed a hand affectionately on his arm. “I wish you well, George.”
    “Thank you. I would stay a few days, but I had a letter today from Cranmer...well, I shall speak with Ellis.”
    * * * *
    Lord Alma was aghast. “You do not intend to leave me here with your sister? No, that’s too much, George. Who will play propriety for her? Or do you intend to trap me into marrying her?” he asked bitterly, a hand creeping gingerly toward his aching bottom.
    George gave a snort of laughter. “I assure you, Ellis, that my sister does not concern herself overmuch with such matters as propriety, but I will have Mrs. Lewis from the village come in to stay if it will calm your overwrought nerves. I really must go to town.” His troubled frown was not ignored by his friend.
    “Oh, never mind me. I’m wallowing in self-pity just now because you have not as yet had my dinner sent up,” Alma reminded him with a grin.
    George lifted a brow in query. “Someone must have come and found you asleep.” He rang and gave instructions for his friend’s meal. “I know it is rude of me to desert you, and I had no intention of doing so, but Cranmer’s letter indicated that Lord Vallert is buzzing about Alonna rather seriously, and I should kick myself if I missed my chance.”
    “There will be other ladies,” Alma retorted philosophically.
    George shook his head slowly. “If so, I wonder that I have met no one in the last fifteen years that I considered marrying.”
    “Oh, go to London, you gudgeon,” Alma said gruffly. “I shall manage very well here, I have no doubt. How long do you suppose it will be before I can ride?”
    “Several weeks, I should think, before it’s comfortable. Diana offered to teach you to shoot a bow and arrow.”
    “Has she no tact, either?” asked his exasperated friend.
    “Enough, I should think. She fences, too.”
    Alma regarded him perplexedly. “Do you fence with her?”
    “Yes, but not very often. She’s a beginner and would not provide much sport for you, but she’s eager to develop the skill.”
    “George, I thought you told me she was not unfeminine."
    George smiled benignly down at him. “When you see her in her fencing outfit...well, forget it. Perhaps it is well that you will not.” The invalid’s meal arrived then, and there was some debate as to the easiest manner in which for him to eat it. Chagrined, he eventually did so while standing up.
    George rang for a deck of cards and the two men played an awkward game of piquet after Alma finished his meal. The wounded man lay on his stomach on his bed, wrong way about, and the cards were placed on the counterpane. The inconvenience of his posture began to tell on Alma’s nerves after a while and he pushed the cards away from him with annoyance.
    “I think I had best return to Stillings tomorrow, George.”
    “I understand how you feel, old man,” his friend agreed sympathetically, “but it really cannot be done— even in a carriage. Diana will keep you amused. And if you think of her as a younger brother you will not feel so blue-devilled. It was a mistake to bring you here,” he sighed, “and I would not have done so, except that when it actually came to my considering marriage I thought perhaps Diana would be comfortably settled first. But she has had sufficient opportunities and I should have left well enough alone. She tells me she intends to move into the Dower House if I marry, and it does not appear to trouble her in the least. In fact, she seemed genuinely pleased that I