Elizabeth would have liked to be married quietly at Winwood, but her Mama, having no notion of allowing her triumph in getting two daughters respectably married within three months to pass unnoticed, arose tottering from her couch and announced that never should it be said that she had Failed in her Duty towards her loved ones.
The wedding was naturally not so brilliant an affair as Horatia’s, but it passed off very well, and if the bride appeared pale she was allowed to be in great beauty for all that. The bridegroom looked extremely handsome in his Regimentals, and the ceremony was graced by the presence of the Earl and Countess of Rule, the Countess wearing for the occasion a gown that made every other lady blink with envy.
Elizabeth, in all the bustle of hurried preparation, had had few opportunities of being private with Horatia, and on the only occasion when she found herself alone with her sister she had realized with a sinking heart that Horatia was on her guard against too intimate a conversation. She could only hope to have more opportunity later in the year, when Horatia promised to come to Bath, which watering-place Captain Heron was to make his headquarters.
Chapter Six
“Well, if you wish to know what I think,” said Lady Louisa stringently—“though I make not the smallest doubt that you don’t—you’re a fool, Rule!”
The Earl, who was still glancing over some papers brought to him by Mr Gisborne a few moments before his sister’s arrival, said absently: “I know. But you must not let it distress you, my dear.”
“What,” demanded her ladyship, disregarding this flippancy, “are those papers? You need not put yourself to the trouble of telling me. I know the look of a bill, trust me!”
The Earl put them into his pocket. “If only more people understood me so well!” he sighed. “And respected my—er—constitutional dislike of answering questions.”
“The chit will ruin you,” said his sister. “And you do nothing—nothing to avert calamity!”
“Believe me,” said Rule, “I hope to have enough energy to avert that particular calamity, Louisa.”