The Island of Love (Camfield Series No. 15) Read Free Page A

that! I am not so foolish as not to be aware that Hunter’s affaires de coeur never last very long, and I doubt if any woman could hold him, once he is bored.”
    “I cannot imagine anybody being bored with you, Daisy!”
    Daisy gave a deep sigh.
    “Thank you, dearest. But while I am ecstatically happy to lie in the sun, I am well aware how quickly the weather can change.”
    “Then all I can say is,” her friend replied, “that I envy you more than I can express in words, and I hope that the sunshine continues for a very, very long time.”
    “So do I,” Daisy replied, “for I know that never again will I feel as I do now.”
    It was at that moment that the door of the room opened and the gentlemen joined the ladies.
    Lydia hastily moved away from behind the sofa.
    At the same time, she could not resist a little later looking for Daisy to find out who she was.
    She then recognised her as her father’s principal guest, the Duchess of Dorchester.
    She was beautiful, there was no mistaking that.
    Now looking back she remembered that she and her half-sister Heloise were not unalike, both having fair hair, blue eyes, and an exquisite complexion.
    She was sure then that that was the type of woman the Earl most admired.
    And yet she found it extraordinary, although she was too tactful to say so, that he should actually wish to marry Heloise.
    “I suppose he must be in love with her,” she told t herself.
    She thought however, although it might be unflattering to Heloise, that it was strange, when he had such a wide choice of other more sophisticated women.
    “I will receive the Earl in the Drawing-Room,” Heloise was saying, “and you had better arrange my hair a good deal better than you did last night.”
    “But you looked lovely last night!”
    “Yes, when I started,” Heloise agreed, “but halfway through the Ball it got loose and untidy. It was your fault for not making it more secure.”
    “If you danced the Lancers,” Lydia said, “no hairpins are strong enough to compete.”
    “Oh, do not argue!” Heloise said crossly. “I shall make certain that you do my hair properly for this afternoon, and I shall be wearing my new blue gown.”
    She paused before she said:
    “He said to me last night when we were dancing that my eyes were exactly the colour of the sky, and he had thought of me when he was out riding.”
    “What did you answer?” Lydia asked curiously. “I replied softly in the voice that always excites a man:
    “‘I am surprised that you should think of me, My Lord, but of course I am very, very flattered.’”
    She mimicked her own voice as she spoke, and Lydia thought as she had often done before that Heloise was an excellent actress.
    “What happened then?” she asked.
    “His arms tightened around my waist and he said: ‘You know how I feel about you?’
    “And I replied: ‘I have no idea, My Lord! You have never told me!’
    “ ‘Then I will tell you,’ he answered, ‘but not here. May I call on you tomorrow?’
    “‘I think that would be possible,’ I replied a little doubtfully.
    “ ‘Make it possible!’ he said. ‘I have something important to say to you!’”
    Heloise gave a little smile.
    “I knew what that was, but I was far too clever to let him guess that I knew. I looked puzzled, and stared up at him with my eyes very wide and my lips parted. Suddenly he said:
    “ ‘If you look at me like that I shall kiss you here and now in the middle of the Ball-Room!’
    “ ‘Oh no!’ I exclaimed, ‘that would cause a scandal and Papa would be very angry!’
    “ ‘Then I shall wait until I see you tomorrow.’”
    Lydia listened entranced. Then she said:
    “I think that was very clever of you, Heloise. I am sure any other woman would have consented far too quickly, and it would be a mistake to forget that the Earl is called ‘Hunter.’ ”
    “I think that is a stupid name,” Heloise remarked, “but I suppose it means that he likes to hunt.”
    “Yes, of