The Emperor Read Free Page B

and neckties and such. As good a fellow as ever lived. True as turnips.’
    And Lucy, liking him both for his loyalty to his friend, and for the unexpectedly rustic simile, bestowed on Mr Wiske a smile that made him first blink, then blush.

    *
    In the drawing-room, Lady Tonbridge was soon wanting whist, and Horatio and Lady Barbara hastened to oblige her, for she was a notoriously bad player who nevertheless liked to play high, and Horatio was not so plump in the pocket as to be able to resist such easy prey.
    John Anstey and Charles retired to a table where the newspapers were spread, and discussed politics. Flora and Hannibal Harvey took possession of one sofa, and soon had their heads together in the old manner, while Mary good- naturedly took Louisa to another and let her talk about babies and confinements. This left Lucy to entertain the three unmarried gentlemen, and the division seemed natural enough, despite her being a married woman. She had been brought up with her brothers, and her weeks in the ward room of the Diamond had taught her how to converse with men on equal terms. Their group was the liveliest in the drawing room.
    They had been talking of hunting, and Lucy had noticed that Mr Brummell's face was fixed in an expression of ironic disapproval.
    ‘Do you not hunt, Mr Brummell?' she asked.
    ‘ I fear I am obliged to, your ladyship,' he sighed. 'When society is so misguided as to go out of Town in the middle of winter, one is obliged to follow, whatever the inconveni ence.'
    ‘ Do you mean you don't like the country? Why ever not?' Lucy asked in astonishment.
    He gave a delicate shudder. 'It is cold, Lady Aylesbury, and wet, and muddy. I am a hothouse creature, I cannot bear discomfort; and yet in a country house I am obliged to creep from one inadequate fire to another, across the seas of icy draught, and to spend a great part of each day in severe discomfort slaughtering birds and beasts to whom, really, I wish no harm at all. How could civilization have gone so far astray?'
    ‘ What would you consider a civilized occupation?' Lucy asked.
    ‘To spend my time in well-heated, well-lit rooms,' he said promptly, 'with elegant surroundings, beautiful women, and witty conversation.’
    Lucy glanced at Danby Wiske. 'He is so different from you, sir. How came you to be acquainted?’
    Mr Wiske entirely missed the implied insult, which made Mr Brummell smile, and replied, 'We were at Eton together, ma'am. George and his brother William and I all entered in
    ‘86, and lodged together at Dame Yonge's.'
    ‘ Such lodgings!' Mr Brummell exclaimed. ‘Forty boys with beds for twenty, food for fifteen, and coals for ten. Eton was such a perfectly barbarous place that I do not think I shall ever be able to forget it.'
    ‘Really, sir?' Lucy laughed.
    ‘ Really,' Mr Brummell affirmed. 'Not only were we starved, but we were beaten – flogged, my dear Lady Aylesbury, like dogs, upon the most frivolous of pretexts, positively in batches! I remember on one occasion, the headmaster gave ten strokes a-piece to seventy boys, after which he was confined to bed for upwards of a week, with such pains in his arm and shoulder he could scarcely sit upright.'
    ‘I wonder you survived it,' Lucy said, her eyes alight.
    it don't do to take him too seriously, ma'am,' said Mr Wiske. ‘Beatings were as common as blackberries at Eton, but I don't recall that George was flogged once the whole time we were there. He was such a favourite, you know, and though he was always playing tricks, he was never punished. The praepostor would come down upon him, arm raised, and George would just smile, and it would all be forgotten.'
    ‘ I was fortunate in my smile,' Mr Brummell admitted. ‘But it was only what was fair. God gave me my charming Irish smile to make up for my unfortunate Irish nose.'
    ‘ I think Mr Brummell is making game of us,' Lucy said to Danby Wiske.
    ‘He don't take anyone seriously,' said Mr Wiske.
    ‘ Indeed, you wrong