“I should think I would!” asseverated Tom, dazed by the thought of the treats in store for him.
“Then ride back to Cheyney now, and tell them that I am coming out to dine there, and may be a little late, so that they will please to set dinner back. Don’t tell anyone of this adventure!” He saw a slightly chagrined look on Tom’s face, and smiled. “Well, only tell Captain Ware!” he amended. “You will find him there, you know.”
It was plain that the prospect of again meeting this heroic personage was a lure Tom found hard to withstand. But he set his jaw, and said staunchly: “No! I shall come with you, sir, in case the beau should have returned!”
The Duke laughed. “Thank you, Tom, but even if he has returned I don’t think I stand in need of protection!”
“Yes, but you don’t know, sir,” said Tom earnestly. “He is much bigger than you are, and in such a temper beside!”
“My dear Tom, I know him very well indeed, and I assure you I am not afraid of him! Indeed, you must go back to Cheyney, or your papa will be in what you call one of his fusses, and that might end painfully for you, you know! Be off with you, and don’t forget to tell them that I am coming to dine there!”
He succeeded in getting rid of his young friend, and having seen him mount, and ride off, turned to his waiting chaise, and directed the astonished postilions to drive him to the George inn, on the London road. They exchanged speaking glances, but it was not for them to question the eccentricities of the Quality, and if the Duke chose to be driven a distance of little more than a mile in a chaise-and-four no doubt he would grease their palms handsomely.
The Duke found Belinda waiting patiently in a small parlour at the George, her bandboxes at her feet. She was surprised to see him, but not in the least chagrined. She said: “Oh, sir, Lord Gaywood is such a very kind gentleman, and he is going to set me up in style in London, and give me that gown I saw in Milsom Street, and drive me in a chaise-and-four!”
“Lord Gaywood is deceiving you, Belinda,” he said. “He will do none of these things. You know, it is very bad of you to have run away with him. Didn’t I warn you that you must not go with strange gentlemen, however kind they may seem to be?”
“Oh, yes, sir, but indeed I thought of you, and how you told me it was a take-in!” Belinda explained. “And this time I did just what you would like, for I said I wouldn’t go to London if he did not give me that lovely purple dress first! And he has gone to Milsom Street to buy it, so you see that he is a kind gentleman, after all!”