Mrs Ravenscar said that she hoped he would be found to know what he was talking about, but that for her part she wished the child were safely married, so that she herself might retire to the peace of Bath. She then went upstairs, leaning heavily on the banister-rail, and, after swallowing some laudanum-drops, and soaking her handkerchief in lavender water, very soon fell asleep.
Miss Ravenscar, knocking softly on the door an hour later, was disconcerted at being admitted, not by her faithful abigail, as had been arranged, but by an exasperated half-brother. “Oh!” she exclaimed, letting fall her reticule. “W-what a start you gave me, Max, to be sure!”
“Who,” demanded Ravenscar, “is your cavalier?”
“He has gone,” said Arabella hastily, seeing that he was about to step out into the porch.
“Just as well for him!” said Ravenscar. “You are a cursed nuisance, Arabella! Where have you been?”
“Only to the masquerade at Ranelagh,” replied Arabella, in cajoling accents. “I did want so much to go, and Mama would not take me, and you said it was not good ton, so what was I to do?”
“Stay at home,” said Ravenscar uncompromisingly. “If you don’t take care, Belle, I’ll send you down to Chamfreys with a devilish strict governess to watch over you!”
“I’d run away,” responded Arabella, unperturbed by this threat, and slipping a small, coaxing hand in his arm. “Don’t be cross with me, dearest Max! It was such an adventure! And I did not once take off my mask, so no one will ever know.”
“Who took you there?”
“Well, I think I won’t tell you that, because ten to one you do not know him, and if you do you would say something disagreeable to him,” said Arabella. “But I will tell you one thing, Max!”