Part 12 (1/2)
”And to keep household accounts,” Lady Catherine added, eager to display yet one more talent. ”Mama says they must be constantly checked or the servants and tradesmen will cheat without a second thought.”
”I expect you know the price of flour, then.”
”I know that it is a shocking price.”
”Have you ever wondered why it is a shocking price, or how the poor pay that shocking price?”
”The poor are lazy good-for-nothings, or they would not be poor,” p.r.o.nounced Lady Catherine. ”They can always go to the workhouses and be fed at public expense.”
Adam caught Sarah's reproving glance, shrugged his shoulders and allowed Mary to change the subject. After dinner, when the gentlemen joined the ladies, he went straight to Sarah's side.
”That was cruel,” she chided, ”to lead the poor girl on to make a cake of herself.”
”It would have been cruel had Lady Catherine experienced the least chagrin,” he corrected. ”She did not. She was simply expressing her opinions.”
”But if she had guessed how you despise her opinions!”
”I knew she would not. She is incapable of understanding compa.s.sion, and therefore cannot understand that a reasonable man might differ from her views.”
”Does she know about your charities?”
”She has never mentioned them, though I am sure Mary must have told her. She probably regards my work as one of those inexplicable whims gentlemen are p.r.o.ne to, which must be excused in an otherwise eligible husband.”
Sarah laughed. Before she could speak, Louise interrupted their tete-a-tete.
”Adam, we are arranging transport for tomorrow. Do you mean to drive yourself?”
”Yes, I shall take my curricle and stop at the vicarage to pick up Sarah. We shall soon catch up with the rest of you, so there will be no need to block the village street with our cavalcade while you wait.”
Five annoyed pairs of eyes turned on Sarah. She suppressed a sigh as she realized that Adam was once again using her as a buffer. When Mr. Swanson begged her to indulge him in a game of chess, she went with him gladly.
”I cannot think why you want to play with me,” she said as they set up the pieces. ”You beat me with greater ease every time we play. Surely my game ought to improve with practice?”
”Does,” said Lord James, pulling up a chair to watch. ”Just that Swan's gets better faster.”
”So you are just using me for practice!” Sarah pretended indignation.
”Kerry, you wretch, you have given away my secret. Shall you refuse to play with me now, ma'am?”
”No, for if Lord James is telling the truth, at least my game is improving a little.”
”a.s.sure you, ma'am, wouldn't dream of lying to a lady!”
”And you need not fear that he was paying Spanish coin. Kerry wouldn't know a compliment if it bit him.” The game proceeded with much laughter and Sarah forgot her annoyance with Adam.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN.
Adam had warned Sarah to expect him half an hour after the announced time the next morning, for with seven ladies to coordinate there was no hope of punctuality. She was ready when he pulled up in front of the vicarage, and she hurried out before he climbed down. He reached down to help her up.
”My strictures on the unpunctuality of females were not intended to include you,” he observed as he gave his team the office.
”I am the exception that proves the rule? How flattering!”
”You are an exception to many rules, Sarah.”
”If that is a compliment, it is a sadly dubious one.” She wrinkled her nose at him. ”I can think of any number of rules I should not care to break.”
”Name one.”
”Oh, the one that says that wisdom comes with age, for instance.”
”It is I who must hope to conform to that rule. I have told you before that you are already wise despite your youth, have I not?”
”Yes, when I refrained from interfering between Jane and Lord Bradfield. That was common sense. Your horses are sweet-goers! Look, there are the other carriages already.”
”I could wish that you had kept me waiting,” said Adam as Swan and Kerry reined in their mounts and fell in on either side of the curricle.
They had company all the way to Amesbury, but a mile beyond the town, Adam halted at a crossroad.
”We are going via the lanes,” he told his friends. ”Miss Meade has a fancy to take the ribbons, and the main road is too busy.”
”Splendid notion, we'll come, too,” said Mr. Swanson.
”No, you will distract her attention from the horses,” said the viscount firmly. ”You go on with the others-and we shall meet you at the King's Arms.” He swung the curricle down the right hand lane.
”I never expressed a wish to drive your team,” protested Sarah. ”I should not dare!”
”Tell me that you have no desire to try, and I shall turn around and apologize to Swan and Kerry for misleading them.”
”Of course I should like to try, if you think they are not too strong for me. But this is scarcely the best place. This road winds along the Avon.”
”The first part is straight enough. As for the horses, they have excellent manners and if you somehow succeed in making them bolt, I am here to stop them.”
”Wretch! I do not expect to make them bolt.”
”Take my gloves. Yours are too thin for driving.” The leather gloves still held the warmth of his hands.
Sarah made a determined effort to ignore the sense of intimacy which invaded her, and said with creditable lightness, ”They are far too large. If I handle the reins clumsily, I shall blame it on them.”
Concentrating on the horses, she forgot her momentary embarra.s.sment. They were a pleasure to drive, responding to the slightest touch, unlike Dapple who went his own pace no matter what he was told. She drove through the village of Great Durnford, then handed the reins, and the gloves, back to Adam when they reached the bends along the river.
It was a beautiful July day. The water meadows were lush and green, the hedgerows full of honeysuckle and travellers' joy. Sarah sat back, content to enjoy the peaceful scene, and a companionable silence fell between them.
The soaring spire of Salisbury Cathedral was already visible when they pa.s.sed a crossroad with a lane leading up the hill to their left.
”Have you ever been to Old Sarum?” Sarah asked. ”I have pa.s.sed the turn a hundred times and never gone up.”