“You, I am persuaded, do not enjoy such an Assembly as this!”
“You are mistaken: my enjoyment depends on the company in which I find myself.”
“That,” said Arabella naively, having thought it over, “is quite the prettiest thing that has been said to me tonight!”
“Then I can only suppose, Miss Tallant, that Fleetwood and Warkworth were unable to find words to express their appreciation of the exquisite picture you present. Strange! I formed the opinion that they were paying you all manner of compliments.”
She laughed out at that. “Yes, but it was nonsense! I did not believe a word they said!”
“I hope you believe what I say,however, for I am very much in earnest.”
The light tone he used seemed to belie his words. Arabella found him baffling, and directed another of her speculative glances at him. She decided that he must be answered in kind, and said daringly: “Are you being so obliging as to bring me into fashion, Mr. Beaumaris?”
He let his eyes travel round the crowded room, his brows a little raised. “You do not appear to me to stand in any need of my assistance, ma’am.” He perceived that Lord Fleetwood was edging his way past a knot of people, a glass in his hand, and waited for him to reach the sofa. “Thank you, Charles,” he said coolly, taking the glass from his lordship, and presenting it to Arabella.
“You,” said Lord Fleetwood, with deep feeling, “will receive a message from me in the morning, Robert! This is the most barefaced piracy I ever beheld in my life! Miss Tallant, I wish you will send this fellow about his business: his effrontery goes beyond what is allowable!”
“You must learn not to act on impulse,” said Mr. Beaumaris kindly. “A moment’s reflection, the least touch of adroitness, and it would have been I who fetched the lemonade and you who had the privilege of sitting beside Miss Tallant on this sofa!”