“Kitty, how absurd you are!” Meg exclaimed, much entertained. “As though Freddy would not give you a present to commemorate your betrothal! It is such a pity that the circumstance of your not yet announcing it should make it ineligible for him to give you a ring! What do you mean to choose for her, Freddy? Diamonds, I suppose.”
“You must not! Indeed you must not!” Kitty said earnestly, her countenance becomingly flushed.
“No, really, Kit!” protested Mr. Standen, equally embarrassed. “The veriest trumpery! Assure you!”
He then turned to his sister, revolted by her suggestion that he was so lacking in taste as to choose an insipid diamond for a lady who should clearly be decked in rubies or emeralds. By the time the rival merits of these two stones had been argued out, Skelton had announced that dinner awaited her ladyship, and Kitty seized the opportunity afforded by Meg’s leading the way to the dining-room to whisper agitatedly into Freddy’s ear: “When it is at an end I shall give them back to you!”
“Good God, no!” Freddy said, shocked. “They ain’t heirlooms, Kit! Sort of things anyone might give you!”
She was unable to accept this, but there was no time to say more: they had reached the dining-room, and Meg, as she took her seat at the table, was explaining that she had invited no guests because she believed that the engaged couple would prefer to be alone.
“Eh?” said Freddy. “Oh! Just so! Got something to say, now I come to think of it. Important-.”
He was naturally pressed to continue, but he only shook his head, looking so portentous that Kitty was alarmed, imagining various disasters, from a recall to Arnside to the loss of that precious roll of bills. However, when they went back to the drawing-room, Freddy explained himself, saying apologetically: “No sense in puffing off the business to the servants. Looked in at Almack’s last night. Put me in mind of it. Can you dance, Kit?”
“Only country-dances,” Kitty replied anxiously. “Fish taught me the steps, but she does not know the waltz or the quadrille, of course.”
Freddy nodded at his sister. “Caper-merchant,” he said. “Thought as much!”