“My regard for you at least was not false!” he said hoarsely. “That was so real, grew to be so—But it does not signify talking!”
“If you stood in such desperate need of money,” she said haltingly, “could you not have told us? We should have been so happy to have assisted you out of your difficulties!”
He winced at that, but the Earl said in his most damping tone: “Possibly, but it is conceivable that I might have had something to say to that, my ward. Nor do I imagine that with a fortune of twelve thousand pounds a year to tempt him Mr. Taverner would have been satisfied with becoming your pensioner. May I suggest that you leave this matter in my hands now, Miss Taverner? You have nothing further to fear from your cousin, and you cannot profitably continue this discussion. You will find that the chaise that is to convey you back to Brighton has arrived by now. I want you to go out to it, and to leave me to wind up this affair in my own way.”
She looked up at him doubtfully. “You are not going to come with me?” she asked.
“I must ask you to excuse me, Miss Taverner. I have still something to do here.”
She let him lead her to the door, but as he opened it, and would have bowed her out, she laid her hand on his arm, and said under her breath: “I don’t want him to be arrested!”
“You may safely leave everything to me, Miss Taverner. There will be no scandal.”
She cast a glance at her cousin, and looked up again at the Earl. “Very well. I—I will go. But I—I don’t want you to be hurt, Lord Worth!”
He smiled rather grimly. “You need not be alarmed, my child. I shan’t be.”
“But—”