The Reluctant Widow Read Free Page B

foolish!” he replied, in much the same tone as she might herself have used in addressing a troublesome child. “You know very well that my senses are not in the least disordered. You will do well to sit down again while I procure you some refreshment.” His manner had the effect of soothing her exasperated nerves, and she could not but acknowledge that his offer of refreshment was welcome. She had not eaten since the morning. She went back to her chair, but said suspiciously, “I do not know how you may mean to provide for me, for I am certainly not going to marry your cousin!” “That is as you wish,” he returned, tugging at the bell-pull.
    “From what I have seen of your establishment,” remarked Miss Rochdale waspishly, “that bell is very likely broken.”
    “More than probable,” he agreed, walking toward the door. “But this is not my establishment.”
    Miss Rochdale put a hand to her brow. “I begin to think my own senses are becoming disordered!” she complained. “If this is neither your house nor Mrs. Macclesfield’s, whose, pray, is it?”
    “My cousin’s.”
    “Your cousin’s! But I cannot remain here!” she cried. “You cannot mean to keep me here, sir!”
    “Certainly not. It would be quite ineligible,” he said, and left the room.
    Wild ideas of precipitate flight crossed Miss Rochdale’s mind, but since she did not want for common sense, she rejected them. To be wandering about an unknown countryside all night would scarcely ameliorate her difficulties, and although her host’s behavior might be extraordinary, he did not appear to entertain any notion of constraining her against her will. She sat still, therefore, and waited for him to reappear.
    This he presently did, saying as he entered the room, “There seems to be nothing but cold meat in the house, but I have ordered them to do what they can.”
    “Some tea and bread and butter is all I require,” she assured him. “It will be here directly.”
    “Thank you.” She drew off her gloves and folded them. “I have been wondering what to do for the best. Is there any carriage or post chaise, perhaps, which I might hire to convey me to Five Mile Ash, sir?”
    “As to that, I would convey you in my own carriage, but you will hardly endear yourself to your future employer by arriving at midnight.”
    The truth of this observation struck her most forcibly. The image of the redoubtable Mrs. Macclesfield rose before her mind’s eye, and almost caused her to shudder. “There is a decent inn at Wisborough Green where you may put up for the night,” he said. “In the morning, if you are determined to stick to your purpose, I will have you driven to Five Mile Ash.”
    “I am very much obliged to you,” she faltered. “But what shall I say to Mrs. Macclesfield? The truth will not serve: she would think it fantastic!”
    “It will certainly be awkward. You had better tell her that you mistook the day, and have but this instant arrived in Sussex.”
    “I am much afraid that she will be justly angry, and perhaps turn me away.” “In that case, you may return to me.”
    “Yes! To be married to your odious cousin!” she said. “I thank you, I am not yet reduced to such straits!”
    “You are the best judge of that,” he replied imperturbably. “I am naturally not very conversant with the duties a governess is expected to perform, but from all I have heard I should have supposed that almost anything would be preferable.”
    There was so much truth in what he said that she was obliged to suppress a sigh. She said in a milder tone, “Yes, but not marriage to a drunkard, I assure you.”
    “He is not likely to live long,” he offered.
    She began to feel a good deal of curiosity now that her alarm had been allayed, and looked an inquiry.
    “His constitution has always been sickly,” he explained. “If he does not meet his death through violence, which is by no means improbable, the brandy will soon finish him.” “Oh!”