Part 87 (1/2)
Lady Belling ham smiled fondly at Horace the cat, who was moving more swiftly than anyone had ever seen in his attempt to get away from under Mr Dit ton.
”Dear Horace,” Lady Belling ham said sweetly. ”Such a good judge of character! You are sitting in his place, I fear, Mr Dit ton. He will not be quick to forgive!”
Fortunately a loud thunderclap interrupted this exchange and the ladies all exclaimed in dismay. The rain was still tumbling from a leaden sky.
Lady Bel- ling ham prosaically ordered tea and Henry sensibly suggested that Tristan Dit ton and Peter join him in a game of billiards to while away the time.
The rain ceased for a while at about five, but Gas- ton gloomily reported that the road was still impa.s.sable by carriage. Henry suggested sending a messenger to Dilling ham, Fen church and Westwardine to explain that they were marooned for the night, and the Dit tons reluctantly agreed.
”I suppose staying here for the night is preferable to being set upon in the forest in the dark,” Miss Dit- ton said discontentedly, staring out at the drenched garden.
”Preferable for you at least,” Henry agreed blandly, smiling at her.
Polly stifled a giggle. She had noticed how Henry's personality had undergone a subtle s.h.i.+ft again as soon as they had company. He was still perfectly pleasant but the incisive edge had gone. Once again, Polly puzzled over the curious insipidity he could apparently a.s.sume at will.
”Perhaps, Miss Dit ton, if you are very fortunate, Lady Belling ham will lend you one of her night dresses,” she said politely.
”Oh, my maid, Conchita, has just the thing for Miss Dit ton!” Lady Belling ham said cheerfully, ignoring Thalia Dit ton's look of horror at being obliged to wear a maid's night garments.
Lady Belling ham, revelling in her unexpected dinner party, did them proud with a meal of quail's eggs, honey-roasted duckling and strawberries with cream. Even Miss Dit ton could not find fault with the hospitality. In the nickering candlelight they looked a motley crowd. Peter had become soaked looking for Polly earlier and had borrowed one of the late Lord Belling ham's outfits. Unfortunately his lords.h.i.+p, like his spouse, had been built on ample lines and had also been several inches shorter than Peter. Polly felt like a small girl who had been rummaging in the dressing- up box and there was something distinctly raffish about Henry March night's appearance, with no neck cloth and his tumbled faif hair.
Polly thought he looked most attractive but rather as though he had spent a long night at the gaming tables.
It was, in fact, one of the most enjoyable aspects of the evening that Henry spent so much time in her company. The others played a few desultory hands of whist and Miss Dit ton insisted in entertaining them at the pianoforte, but Henry gently monopolised Polly's company and talked to her for most of the evening. Nor was it idle chitchat--they discovered and rediscovered their shared interests in music and the theatre, reading, walking and the countryside. Polly did not want the evening to end.
Miss Dit ton yawned loudly.
”Lud, how quiet it is out here in the middle of nowhere! I declare I would succ.u.mb to a fit of the meg rims if I were forced to spend any time here!
One could imagine all kinds of spectres and demons howling at the door!
” ”They do say that Rendlesham Forest is haunted, Miss Dit ton,” Lord Henry said idly, 'so it is fortunate you were not obliged to make your way back through the dark. A broken axle, a lost wheel, and you would be at the mercy of the spirits! They say that the black shuck, a huge black spectral dog, stalks its prey on stormy nights! ” Mr Dit ton gave his excitable, whinnying laugh.
”Or you would be at the mercy of more human predators! Is it true, dear Lady Belling ham, that there is a band of smugglers still at work in these parts, tapping on the window to signal the delivery of their goods, hiding brandy kegs in the churches...?”
Polly s.h.i.+vered as the shadows flickered. Out here, isolated on a stormy night, it was easy to believe almost anything. Hetty's eyes were huge and frightened as she clutched Peter's hand.
”I have never heard of it,” Lady Belling ham said comfortably, leaning forward to put another log on the fire and smiling at Henry as he took it from her to place in the grate.
”The smugglers are long gone from here, Mr Dit ton. But by all means let us frighten ourselves with stories if we wish to be Gothic!”
Tristan Dit ton looked put out by such determined common sense.
”Alternatively,” Lady Belling ham beamed, 'we could have crumpets and hot chocolate before we retire! Gaston! ” She rang the bell vigorously.
”Some refreshments, please!”
It was strange, Polly thought, how the room seemed to brighten and the atmosphere lift with Lady Bel- ling ham's words. Her ladys.h.i.+p was now telling an enthralled Hetty about some of her experiences at Drury Lane Theatre.
”You should have seen me in The Country Girl, my dear, one of my greatest triumphs! Why, it was an innocent version of that old Restoration romp.
The Country Wife, but to tell the truth I always preferred the bawdier version! I was perfect for the part, so natural and un spoilt, for I was a country girl myself, you see, and only nineteen years of age at the time!