Part 12 (1/2)
”Be just like you. But a nice letter I've had from John Garstang about that mortgage. Never mind, though; once this is over I can snap my fingers at him. So be as civil as you can; and I suppose we must give him some of the best wine.”
”Yes, dear, and have out the china dinner service.”
”Of course. But I wish you'd put him into a damp bed.”
”Oh, James, dear! I couldn't do that.”
”Yes, you could; give him rheumatic fever and kill him. But I suppose you won't.”
”Indeed I will not, dear. There are many wicked things that I feel I could do, but put a Christian man into a damp bed--no!”
”Humph! Well, then, don't; but I hope that boy will be careful and not scare Kitty.”
”What, Claud? Oh, no, my dear, don't be afraid of that. My boy is too clever; and, besides, he's beginning to love the very ground she walks on. Really, it seems to me quite a Heaven-made matter.”
”Always is, my dear, when the lady has over a hundred thousand pounds,”
said Wilton, with a grim smile; ”but we shall see.”
CHAPTER EIGHT.
”I say, don't be in such a jolly hurry. You're all right here, you know. I want to talk to you.”
”You really must excuse me now, Claud; I have not been well, and I'm going back to my room.”
”Of course you haven't been well, Kitty--I say, I shall call you Kitty, you know--you can't expect to be well moping upstairs in your room.
I'll soon put you right, better than that solemn-looking Doctor. You want to be out in the woods and fields. I know the country about here splendidly. I say, you ride, don't you?”
”I? No.”
”Then I'll teach you. Get your old maid to make you a good long skirt-- that will do for a riding-habit at first--I'll clap the side-saddle on my cob, and soon show you how to ride like a plucky girl should. I say, Kitty, I'll hold you on at first--tight.”
The speaker smiled at her, and the girl shrank from him, but he did not see it.
”You'll soon ride, and then you and I will have the jolliest of times together. I'll make you ride so that by this time next year you'll follow the hounds, and top a hedge with the best of them.”
”Oh, no, I have no wish to ride, Claud.”
”Yes, you have. You think so now, because you're a bit down; but you wait till you're on the cob, and then you'll never want to come off. I don't. I say, you haven't seen me ride.”
”No, Claud; but I must go now.”
”You mustn't, coz. I'm going to rouse you up. I say, though, I don't want to brag, but I can ride--anything. I always get along with the first flight, and a little thing like you after I've been out with you a bit will astonish some of them. I shall keep my eye open, and the first pretty little t.i.t I see that I think will suit you, I shall make the guv'nor buy.”
”I beg that you will not, Claud.”
”That's right, do. Go down on your poor little knees and beg, and I'll get the mount for you all the same. I know what will do you good and bring the blood into your pretty cheeks. No, no, don't be in such a hurry. I won't let you go upstairs and mope like a bird with the pip.
You never handled a gun, I suppose?”