“Oh, I trust not, sir! After all, Adrian is a most amiable young man, and I shall enjoy being his wife, and having a great deal of pin-money. I hope,” she added graciously, “that you will be one of our first guests at Mablethorpe. You will see then what a fine ladyship I mean to be.”
He vouchsafed no answer to this, so after a thoughtful pause she said airily: “Of course, there will be a good many changes to be made at Mablethorpe before I shall be ready to receive visitors. I collect that everything is shockingly old fashioned there. The London house too! But I have a great turn for furnishing houses, and I do not despair of achieving something very tolerable.”
The contemptuous curl of Mr Ravenscar’s mouth was all the sign he gave of having heard this speech.
“I mean to set up a faro-bank of my own,” pursued Miss Grantham. “It will be very select, of course: admission only by card. To make a success of that sort of thing, one must have a certain position in the world, and that Adrian can give me. I will wager that my card-parties become the rage within a twelvemonth!”
“If you think, ma’am, to force up the price by these disclosures, you are wasting your time!” said Ravenscar. “Your plans for the future come as no surprise to me.” He reined in his horses to a more sober pace, as the gates of the Park came into sight. “You have had the chance to enrich yourself, and you have seen fit to refuse it. My offer is no longer open to your acceptance.”
She was surprised, but took care not to let it appear. “Why, now you talk like a sensible man, sir!” she said. “You accept the inevitable, in fact.”
They passed through the gates, and turned eastwards, bowling along with a disregard for the convenience of all other traffic which drew curses from two porters, a hackney-coachman, and a portly old gentleman who was unwise enough to try to cross the street ahead of the curricle. “No,” said Ravenscar. “Once more you are out in your reckoning, Miss Grantham. You have chosen to cross swords with me, and you shall see how you like it. Let me tell you that it was with the greatest reluctance that I made my offer! It goes much against the grain with me to enrich harpies!” He glanced down at her as he spoke, and encountered such a blaze of anger in her eyes that he was momentarily taken aback. But even as his brows snapped together in quick suspicion, the long-lashed lids had veiled her eyes, and she was laughing.
The rest of the drive back to St James’s Square was accomplished in silence. When the curricle drew up outside her door, Miss Grantham put back the rug that covered her knees, and said with deceptive affability: “A most enjoyable drive, Mr Ravenscar. I must thank you for having given me the opportunity to make your better acquaintance. I fancy we have both of us learnt something this morning.”
“Can you get down without my assistance?” he asked brusquely. “I am unable to leave the horses.”
“Certainly,” she replied, nimbly descending from the high carriage. “Goodbye, sir—or should I say au revoir?”