Abandoned to the Prodigal - Mary Lancaster Page 0,22
flew out of the room, along the passage to the west stairs which led, conveniently, to one of the side doors. Emerging into the little-used part of the garden, she hurried off in the direction of the wood that bordered the left-hand side of the drive.
She found him at last, seated on a tree trunk within sight of the drive. He held a knife and was whittling away at a piece of wood, but he glanced up at her hurried approach and smiled.
He rose, dropping the knife and the wood into his slightly sagging pocket, and took off his hat to sweep her an elaborate bow. “Lady Juliet.”
“Mr. Stewart.” She curtsied in the same fashion but spoiled the effect by immediately bursting into a much less formal greeting. “Oh, Dan, I am so pleased to see you! How is your grandfather?”
“I’m not sure, to be honest. He was low yesterday, much lower than I thought he would be. But he seems less…faded today. I think I might be annoying him back to health.”
“A novel approach.”
“I’m surprised it works when I consider all his other annoyances. My relations are circling like vultures. I found two aunts and a cousin already taking root, and now I believe another cousin and an uncle are on their way.”
“Perhaps he summoned them as he did you?”
“Oh, he did, at least my aunts and Colin. It’s possible he has summoned Cousin Hugh, too, though I know for a fact, the old devil doesn’t like him. And I’m as sure I can be, he never summoned either of my uncles. Still, not my place to throw them out.”
As he spoke, his eyes had been searching her face, and almost without pause, he asked, “How was your homecoming?”
She wrinkled her nose. “Awful. Shall we walk through the woods? At least the rain has gone off.”
He fell into step beside her, listening to her tale of her father’s anger with the Alfords as well as with her, Kitty’s engagement, and her banishment from all outside company.
“Ah,” Dan said, holding an inconveniently trailing branch aside for her. “I wonder if that was why they wouldn’t let me in? I didn’t have a card, so I asked for you and was immediately told you were not at home. I should have asked for your mother.”
“She still wouldn’t have let me see you. There have been people in and out of the house all day, no doubt ferreting out the scandal. It’s very lowering to think I’ve known these people all my life.”
“Perhaps they came to offer their support,” Dan suggested.
“It’s possible,” she allowed, brightening. “I shouldn’t let Jeremy’s behavior sour my view of decent people. It just made me realize I don’t actually know who is decent.” She stopped, frowning suddenly. “Gun! Where is Gun?”
Dan grinned. “I left him guarding my family. It struck me he might hinder my attempts to get into your house. Wish I’d brought him now.”
She walked on. “You might as well have done so. This path leads around to the top of the woods, or that way down to the gate.”
“Or we could carry on to Myerly,” he suggested. “You could see Gun and meet my family. Since they won’t meet anyone else in the neighborhood, you might as well. And I’d bring you back again.”
She was tempted. “I would like to see Gun,” she said ruefully at last. “And I am definitely intrigued by your family, but I’m not supposed to leave the grounds. I should at least begin by being obedient.”
His eyes gleamed with amusement. “That doesn’t bode well for future conduct.”
“I will break out eventually,” she said with a sigh. “It’s pretty intolerable already, being excluded from everything and having nothing to do but brood on my own misfortunes and wonder who wrote that dreadful story in the paper. I won’t even be able to sneak out to meet you very often, or they will notice.” She brightened. “Unless you rise early?”
“Gun does. We could meet you in the same place at seven tomorrow.”
“Done,” she said promptly, and the day improved miraculously.
Chapter Six
Juliet was forbidden dinner with the family that night since Lawrence King was joining them. Although Juliet was able to accept her dismissal philosophically enough, Kitty cast her several anxious glances and followed her up to her bedchamber.
“I will bring him to meet you at some point,” Kitty assured her. “He will be happy to do so.”
“No, don’t,” Juliet said. “We shouldn’t give him anything to lie about. Merely pass on