Lady Belling ham smiled understandingly.
"Never mind, my love! I am sure Lord Henry finds your dishevelment attractive rather than otherwise! That was always my experience of gentlemen! And I can see that he admires you exceedingly!"
Polly blushed bright red.
"Oh, Lady Belling ham, I think you must be mistaken. Lord Henry and I--" She broke off, quite unable to continue in the face of Lady Belling ham"s amused cynicism.
"Fustian, my dear! Stuff and nonsense!" Lady Bel- ling ham was busy pulling some enormous gowns out of the closet. Her voice was m.u.f.fled.
"You may pretend to be indifferent to each other, but you cannot cozen me!
I have known Henry March night for years and he has never truly cared for any young lady. But you ! Well!" She emerged with a huge lilac coloured dress over her arm. Polly held it up in front of her. It was going to look like a tent. If Lord Henry found her attractive in that then the only explanation could be that his wits must have gone a-begging.
Chapter Eleven.
QrysQ JVliss Dit ton certainly found the outfit rather diverting when she and the rest of Polly"s lost party were shepherded into the drawing-room an hour later.
"La, Lady Polly, you are all the crack! You must tell me where you buy your modes!"
"Miss Dit ton, I presume!" Lady Belling ham glided forward smoothly to greet her unwanted guests. Her smile was all that was gracious, but there was a look in those world-weary dark eyes that suggested that she had met Miss Dit ton"s type many times before and knew precisely how to deal with them.
She welcomed Miss Dit ton and her brother coolly, Hetty with more warmth and Peter with almost as much enthusiasm as she had shown Henry, who was now lounging before the fireplace watching with amus.e.m.e.nt. He looked considerably more elegant in his borrowed plumes than Polly did in hers.
Polly wondered where Lady Belling ham had got such stylish gentlemen"s clothes from. She could hardly imagine the lugubrious Gaston cutting a dash in the slim black pantaloons, black jacket and snowy white shirt.
Gaston had found Polly"s companions huddling in one of the cottages in Shingle Street. When the rain had started they had hurried to the carriages, intent on setting off back immediately until Peter had remembered Polly and had set out to look for her. This had delayed them sufficently for the road to become waterlogged, since it was scarcely more than a sandy track, and they had no choice but to inflict their presence on one of the glum village families until the rain stopped.
This was not quite how Miss Dit ton saw their predicament and she was loud in her condemnation of the noisome cottage and its smelly occupants.
"and do you know, my dear Lady Polly, they actually had the animals in there with them! " She shuddered.
"Apparently it helps them to keep warm!"
Polly caught Henry"s eye just as he tried to repress a smile.
"Doubtless your presence incommoded the poor pigs considerably," Lady Belling ham said, with a suspiciously straight face.
"They are not animals that take kindly to a disruption of their routine!"
The precise nature of Miss Dit ton"s difficulties now became clear. She could not snub Lady Belling ham, for she had no doubt that her ladyship was perfectly capable of turning her out into the rain if she chose.
On the other hand, the Dit tons had never acknowledged the former actress, even after the Sea graves had taken her up. Mr Dit ton cleared his throat noisily, settling himself on the sofa.
"Extraordinary customs these inbred country folk have! Why, I remember--" He broke off with a loud yelp.
"Good G.o.d, ma"am, that creature has bitten me!"
Lady Belling ham smiled fondly at Horace the cat, who was moving more swiftly than anyone had ever seen in his attempt to get away from under Mr Dit ton.
"Dear Horace," Lady Belling ham said sweetly. "Such a good judge of character! You are sitting in his place, I fear, Mr Dit ton. He will not be quick to forgive!"
Fortunately a loud thunderclap interrupted this exchange and the ladies all exclaimed in dismay. The rain was still tumbling from a leaden sky.
Lady Bel- ling ham prosaically ordered tea and Henry sensibly suggested that Tristan Dit ton and Peter join him in a game of billiards to while away the time.
The rain ceased for a while at about five, but Gas- ton gloomily reported that the road was still impa.s.sable by carriage. Henry suggested sending a messenger to Dilling ham, Fen church and Westwardine to explain that they were marooned for the night, and the Dit tons reluctantly agreed.
"I suppose staying here for the night is preferable to being set upon in the forest in the dark," Miss Dit- ton said discontentedly, staring out at the drenched garden.
"Preferable for you at least," Henry agreed blandly, smiling at her.
Polly stifled a giggle. She had noticed how Henry"s personality had undergone a subtle shift again as soon as they had company. He was still perfectly pleasant but the incisive edge had gone. Once again, Polly puzzled over the curious insipidity he could apparently a.s.sume at will.
"Perhaps, Miss Dit ton, if you are very fortunate, Lady Belling ham will lend you one of her night dresses," she said politely.
"Oh, my maid, Conchita, has just the thing for Miss Dit ton!" Lady Belling ham said cheerfully, ignoring Thalia Dit ton"s look of horror at being obliged to wear a maid"s night garments.
Lady Belling ham, revelling in her unexpected dinner party, did them proud with a meal of quail"s eggs, honey-roasted duckling and strawberries with cream. Even Miss Dit ton could not find fault with the hospitality. In the nickering candlelight they looked a motley crowd. Peter had become soaked looking for Polly earlier and had borrowed one of the late Lord Belling ham"s outfits. Unfortunately his lordship, like his spouse, had been built on ample lines and had also been several inches shorter than Peter. Polly felt like a small girl who had been rummaging in the dressing- up box and there was something distinctly raffish about Henry March night"s appearance, with no neck cloth and his tumbled faif hair.
Polly thought he looked most attractive but rather as though he had spent a long night at the gaming tables.
It was, in fact, one of the most enjoyable aspects of the evening that Henry spent so much time in her company. The others played a few desultory hands of whist and Miss Dit ton insisted in entertaining them at the pianoforte, but Henry gently monopolised Polly"s company and talked to her for most of the evening. Nor was it idle chitchat--they discovered and rediscovered their shared interests in music and the theatre, reading, walking and the countryside. Polly did not want the evening to end.
Miss Dit ton yawned loudly.
"Lud, how quiet it is out here in the middle of nowhere! I declare I would succ.u.mb to a fit of the meg rims if I were forced to spend any time here!
One could imagine all kinds of spectres and demons howling at the door!
" "They do say that Rendlesham Forest is haunted, Miss Dit ton," Lord Henry said idly, "so it is fortunate you were not obliged to make your way back through the dark. A broken axle, a lost wheel, and you would be at the mercy of the spirits! They say that the black shuck, a huge black spectral dog, stalks its prey on stormy nights! " Mr Dit ton gave his excitable, whinnying laugh.
"Or you would be at the mercy of more human predators! Is it true, dear Lady Belling ham, that there is a band of smugglers still at work in these parts, tapping on the window to signal the delivery of their goods, hiding brandy kegs in the churches...?"
Polly shivered as the shadows flickered. Out here, isolated on a stormy night, it was easy to believe almost anything. Hetty"s eyes were huge and frightened as she clutched Peter"s hand.
"I have never heard of it," Lady Belling ham said comfortably, leaning forward to put another log on the fire and smiling at Henry as he took it from her to place in the grate.
"The smugglers are long gone from here, Mr Dit ton. But by all means let us frighten ourselves with stories if we wish to be Gothic!"
Tristan Dit ton looked put out by such determined common sense.
"Alternatively," Lady Belling ham beamed, "we could have crumpets and hot chocolate before we retire! Gaston! " She rang the bell vigorously.
"Some refreshments, please!"
It was strange, Polly thought, how the room seemed to brighten and the atmosphere lift with Lady Bel- ling ham"s words. Her ladyship was now telling an enthralled Hetty about some of her experiences at Drury Lane Theatre.
"You should have seen me in The Country Girl, my dear, one of my greatest triumphs! Why, it was an innocent version of that old Restoration romp.
The Country Wife, but to tell the truth I always preferred the bawdier version! I was perfect for the part, so natural and un spoilt, for I was a country girl myself, you see, and only nineteen years of age at the time!
Ah, what a time it was! " Arid she shook her head reminiscently.