“Oh, Gilly, how can you? You are no such thing!”
He laughed. “Ah, you should hear my cousin Gideon on that head!”
“You should hear Gaywood!” she retorted, gaining confidence. “He calls me a poor little dab of a creature!”
“Brothers! We shall not care a fig for them, or cousins either!” he said. He saw that she was looking less pale, and ventured to loss her cheek.
Lady Ampleforth came back into the room in time to witness this embrace. Her sharp eyes detected Harriet’s blush, and the way her hand went up as though to clasp the Duke’s coat collar. She said: “Well, I make no doubt you have settled it all between you! It is an unfortunate circumstance that we should be going out of town at this precise moment, but I shall look to see you at Ampleforth, Duke, next month. Harriet must go to Bath: there is no getting out of that, for old Lady Ampleforth expects her, and we must not cast her into one of her pets, you know.”
The young couple fell apart guiltily; constraint descended upon them again; and by the time her ladyship had discussed various convenient dates for the wedding-ceremony, and estimated the length of time it would take her to procure Harriet’s bride-clothes, the Duke was thankful to take his leave.
When he had been bowed out, Lord Ampleforth, who had been observing his daughter narrowly, said: “My dear Harriet, are you quite happy in this engagement? You must not hesitate to tell me if your mind has any misgiving!”
“No, Papa, I am quite happy,” she said.
“Good God, Ampleforth, what can you be thinking of?” exclaimed his wife. “Fray, what more could any girl desire I should like to know? To be Duchess of Sale! That is something indeed! Harriet, I wish you will come up to my dressing-room, for there is a great deal I want to say to you!”
She swept her daughter out of the room, saying as she closed the door: “Your papa has some odd fancies, but I trust I have brought you up to know your duty! It was an awkward business, his calling me out of the room as he did, but I returned to you as soon as I might. Sale looked to be in tolerably good health, I thought.”