If Barbara missed Colonel Audley during the five days of his absence, she gave no sign of it. She seemed to plunge into a whirl of enjoyment; flitted from party to party; put in an appearance at the Opera; left before the end to attend a ball; danced into the small hours; rode out before breakfast with a party of younger officers; was off directly after to go to the races at Grammont; reappeared in Brussels in time to grace her sister-in-law's soiree; and enchanted the company by singing 0 Lady, twine no wreath for me, which had just been sent to her from London, along with a setting of Lord Byron's famous lyric, Farewell, Farewell!
"How can she do it?" marvelled the Lennox girls. "We should be dead with fatigue!"
On April 20th Brussels was fluttered by the arrival of a celebrated personage, none other than Madame Catalani, a cantatrice who had charmed all Europe with her trills and her quavers. Accompanied by her husband, M. de Valbreque, she descended upon Brussels for the purpose of consenting graciously (and for quite extortionate fees) to sing at a few select parties.
On the same evening Wellington drove into Brussels with his suite, and Colonel Audley, instead of ending a long day by drinking tea quietly at home and going to bed, arrayed himself in his dress uniform and went off to put in a tardy appearance at Sir Charles Stuart's evening party. He found his betrothed in an alcove, having each finger kissed by an adoring young Belgian, and waited perfectly patiently for this ceremony to come to an end. But Barbara saw him before her admirer had got beyond the fourth finger, and pulled her hands away, not in any confusion, but merely to hold them out to the Colonel. "Oh, Charles! You have come back!" she cried gladly.
The Belgian, very red in the face, and inwardly qwaking, stayed just enough for Colonel Audley to challenge him to a duel if he wished to, but when he found that the Colonel was really paying no attention to him, he discreetly withdrew, thanking his gods that the English were a phlegmatic race.
The Colonel took both Barbara's hands in his. Mischief gleamed in her eyes. She said: "Would you like to finish Rene's work, dear Charles?"
"No, not at all," he answered, drawing her closer.
She held up her face. "Very well! Oh, but I am glad to see you again!"
They sat down together on a small sofa. "You did not appear to be missing me very much!" said the Colonel.
"Don't be stupid! Tell me what you have been doing!"