Part 43 (2/2)
”That's it. I will marry and leave you all alone, Daddy.”
”Cannot we agree to share Miss Brent?” suggested the Duke, smiling at Patricia.
”Isn't he a dear?” enquired Lady Peggy of Patricia. ”When other men propose to me, and quite a lot have,” she added with almost childish simplicity, ”I always mentally compare them with Daddy, and then of course I know I don't want them.”
”That is my one reason, Peggy, for not proposing,” said Elton. ”I could never enter the lists with the Duke.”
”You're a pair of ridiculous children,” laughed the Duke.
In response to a murmur from Patricia that she must be going, Lady Peggy insisted that she should first come upstairs and see her den.
The ”den” was a room of orderly disorder, which seemed to possess the freshness and charm of its owner. Lady Peggy looked at Patricia, a new respect in her eyes.
”You must be frightfully clever,” she said with accustomed seriousness.
”I wish I were like that. You see I should be more of a companion to Daddy if I were.”
”I think you are an ideal companion for him you are,” said Patricia.
”Oh! he's so wonderful,” said Lady Peggy dreamily. ”You know I'm not always such a fool I appear,” she added quite seriously, ”and I do sometimes think of other things than frills and flounces and chocolates.” Then with a sudden change of mood she cried, ”Wasn't it clever of me capturing you to-day? As soon as you're alone Daddy will tell me what he thinks of you, and I shall feel so self-important.”
As Patricia looked about the room, charmed with its dainty freshness, her eyes lighted upon a large metal tea-tray. Lady Peggy following her gaze cried:
”Oh, the magic carpet!”
”The what?” enquired Patricia.
”That's the magic carpet. Come, I'll show you,” and seizing it she preceded Patricia to the top of the stairs. ”Now sit on it,” she cried, ”and toboggan down. It's priceless.”
”But I couldn't.”
”Yes you could. Everybody does,” cried Lady Peggy.
Not quite knowing what she was doing Patricia found herself forced down upon the tea-tray, and the next thing she knew was she was speeding down the stairs at a terrific rate.
Just as she arrived in the hall with flushed cheeks and a flurry of skirts, the door of the library opened and the Duke and Elton came out.
Patricia gathered herself together, and with flaming cheeks and downcast eyes stood like a child expecting rebuke, instead of which the Duke merely smiled. Turning to Elton he remarked:
”So Miss Brent has received her birth certificate.”
As he spoke the butler with sedate decorum picked up the tray and carried it into his pantry as if it were the most ordinary thing in the world for guests to toboggan down the front staircase.
”To ride on Peggy's 'magic carpet,' as she calls it,” said the Duke, ”is to be admitted to the household as a friend. Come again soon,” he added as he shook hands in parting. ”Any Sunday at lunch you are always sure to catch us. We never give special invitations to the friends we want, do we, Peggy? and I want to have some more talks with you.”
As Patricia and Elton walked towards the Park he explained that Lady Peggy's tea-tray had figured in many little comedies. Bishops, Cabinet Ministers, great generals and admirals had all descended the stairs in the way Patricia had.
”In fact,” he added, ”when the Duke was in the Cabinet, it was the youngest and brightest collection of Ministers in the history of the country. Every one of them was devoted to Peggy, and I think they would have made war or peace at her command.”
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