Lily and the Lion (12 page)

As Julian passed his forward coach, he glanced in at the window and saw Pleshy and Janet watching the arguing couple with shared amusement. Pleshy's dark, Gaelic head was bent close to Janet's fair one, and he was apparently saying something quite pithy, or, perhaps, tickling her ear with his warm breath, or, perhaps, both.

Julian stopped for a moment and frowned reprovingly at Pleshy. Pleshy at first looked startled and chagrined by Julian's unexpected appearance, then his keen valet's gaze dropped to his lordship's boots and back up to his lordship's face in an expression as eloquent of reproof as Julian's. Julian shrugged with aplomb in answer to his valet's silent reprimand for water-spotting his boots, shook his finger at him as a reminder of his own reprimand, and walked determinedly towards Miss Clarke.

That
lady was no longer standing demurely on the periphery of the quarrel. She was nodding her head understanding^ as the teary-eyed girl poured out her heart to her in language which Julian still could not translate into the King's English. The chit was very pretty, plump and rosy and dressed in a fustian round gown and a worn wool cape. Behind them stood the girl's burly companion, looking cross as crabs.

Julian had a rather sick feeling in the pit of his stomach. He'd a strong suspicion that his role as Good Samaritan was about to expand to alarming proportions. Either that, or he was about to have his cork drawn by a strapping farmer with forearms the size of milk jugs!

CHAPTER SIX

"
Y
OU'RE GOING TO HAVE TO
slow down and speak more clearly," Miss Clarke was saying to the near-hysterical girl. "I've plainly heard and understood only part of what you've told me so far, and I do so want to comprehend your situation completely!" Julian was relieved to know that he wasn't the only one who thought the young chit's speech resembled gibberish.

Judging by the youthful appearance of the duelling duo, Julian concluded that they were probably newly-wed and having their first spat. He folded his arms and stood silently watching while Miss Clarke attempted to calm the girl by placing a gentle hand on her arm, smiling pleasantly and speaking in a reassuring manner. Presently the girl did respond to these tactics. Her diatribe ceased, her shoulders sagged and she heaved a great sigh.

All the while her husband also watched, but his expression was venomous. Rather like being in the presence of a snake posed to strike, Julian felt that to avoid being attacked by the sturdy built lad, his best course of action was to take no action at all, and certainly make no sudden movements. He wasn't afraid of the outcome should he be compelled to defend himself, rather he was averse to the idea of wasting his time in a senseless rough and tumble and ruining his clothes in the snow.

After all, he'd nothing against the fellow. He didn't even know him. And they wouldn't be eyeing each other so circumspectly now if Miss Clarke hadn't decided to stick her nose in where it didn't belong. They were strangers and would have remained strangers had Miss Clarke minded her own business. And in Julian's opinion, keeping most of mankind at arm's length and in the safe category of "stranger" suited him just fine, thank you very much.

The man swung his shovel across his massive shoulder and stepped forward. Scowling lines of disapproval were carved in his broad forehead from right to left temple. He stood next to the woman and stared hard at Miss Clarke. "Don't put yerself t'trouble, miss, listenin' t'Belle's whinin'. There be nothin' wrong with her what a good dinner and a night's sleep won't cure. She's just a mite fidgeted by the mishap."

In response to this belittling description of her anguish, the young woman turned on her companion and exclaimed, "Brute!" after which she burst into tears and flung herself against Miss Clarke's bosom. Miss Clarke obligingly wrapped comforting arms about the strange girl and patted her back while she had a hearty cry.

Rather than falling into a rage over the unflattering name with which his companion had dubbed him, the lad's face drooped pathetically. He seemed genuinely disturbed by the girl's sobbing. This encouraged Julian sufficiently to take measures in bringing this Cheltenham Tragedy to a speedy conclusion. Naturally, to accomplish this task, he would deal with the less emotional of the couple.

"I'm Lord Ashton," said Julian, stepping forward with a friendly smile and extending his hand to the young man. "You may well rue the moment we discovered your accident on the road. Certainly another coach would have come along to assist you by and by.''

The lad eyed Julian suspiciously at first, then, perceiving that Julian was quizzing him in a good-natured sort of way, his frown relaxed a little. He, too, stepped forward, and after he'd wiped his palm on the rough fabric of his trousers, shook hands.

"Jasper Tupper. Me and my sister, here, is bound fer Kempe's Corner."

"Your sister, eh?" Julian glanced at Miss Clarke, who, not unexpectedly, smiled triumphantly back at him from over Miss Tupper's heaving shoulders. Apparently he
had
jumped to conclusions in supposing that the tiff was between a husband and wife, but, in Julian's estimation, there really wasn't much difference between a sibling quarrel and a marital one. Neither should be interfered with, unless of course there was violence involved. In this case, the only violence seemed to be in the intensity of Miss Tapper's unhap-piness.

"Aye. She's t'be married at week's end," Jasper replied bluntly and in a slightly belligerent tone. This statement, which was apparently heard by Miss Tupper despite her noisy sobbing, brought on an even louder outpouring of grief.

Julian raised a speculative brow. "Indeed! She does not seem, er,
happy
about the arrangement."

"She is very unhappy about it, my lord!" Miss Clarke spoke up. "That much, at least, I was able to gather from her conversation earlier. But I became confused when she began to speak of wooden teeth and rheumatism! I only supposed she was concerned about her father."

"Oh, I wish't that were true!" wailed MissTupper, momentarily lifting her teary face from off Miss Clarke's shoulder to clear up the misunderstanding. "Pa's dead, and our mum, too. Jasper takes care o' me now, but he's got some henwitted notion in 'is noggin that I ought to marry Old Man Grampton, the butcher of Kempe's Corner! It's my husband-to-be what's fallin' apart from old age!" Then she resumed her crying as before.

"Ah, a marriage of convenience," said Julian.

"And a disgusting business it is, if that's true!" exclaimed Miss Clarke, the familiar spark of righteous indignation igniting in her eyes. "No one should be made to marry where there is no love! And in this case, where there is a vast difference in ages, to force such a union would be criminal!" She turned to Jasper, who was cringing and miserable. "How can you do this to your sister? How can you be so heartless?"

Completely cowed, Jasper hung his head and did not respond.

"Well, Mr. Tupper?" prompted Miss Clarke. "Have you no defence for your actions?"

Julian took pity on the hapless Jasper and said, "Perhaps Mr. Tupper was simply looking out for the welfare of his sister by arranging a suitable marriage."

"No marriage is suitable if either of the parties in question do not hold the other in affection," Miss Clarke insisted. "There can be no excuse for coercing this girl into nuptials which are abhorrent to her!"

Jasper's head reared up. His countenance had reddened considerably. "I'm jest a poor tenant farmer, miss, tryin' t'make a livin'. Belle don't have no dowry ner settlements fixed on 'er, but Old Man Grampton didn't ask for nothin'. Belle'd have nice things if'n she married 'im—pretty gowns and such. Stayin' with me, she's got nothin' and won't never have nothin'!"

"Oh, don't blame Jasper!" exclaimed Miss Tupper, unexpectedly rushing to the defence of the brother whom she had moments earlier called a "brute." She pulled away from Miss Clarke and commenced an unproductive search through her pockets for a handkerchief. Miss Clarke threw Julian a beseeching look, and, after some mental debate, he plucked his own monogrammed handkerchief from his inner waistcoat pocket and handed it with a sigh to the groping Miss Tupper.

She dried her tears and calmed herself, saying, "Jasper can't help it! He's so determined that I won't go t'work at the inn nearby, ner at the squire's house! He says the men there are all
libertines!
And seeing as how I'm a well-looking girl," she confided with a blush, "they'd try t'have their way with me! He thinks the best thing for me is t'get shackled t'some well-blunted gent. So when Mr. Grampton made an offer fer me, Jasper leapt at it in a pig's whisker! But I'd rather work in the kitchen as the lowest scullery maid than marry that wrinkled, leerin' ol' butcher! He's got a stomach as big as a kettle and no hair on his head besides! Oh, I can't bear it!" Miss Tupper dissolved into tears and blindly staggered forward, till she collided with Miss Clarke and once again availed herself of a soft shoulder to cry upon.

"Have no other men offered for your sister's hand, Mr. Tupper?" Julian enquired. "A
younger
man, perhaps?"

"Aye, they have," admitted Jasper. "But she don't favour none of 'em, and I thought if'n she was goin' t'marry someone she don't love, she might as well tie the knot with some cove what's warm in th' pocket, so t'speak."

"That's very true," Julian said agreeably. "But if she would rather make her way in the world, working somewhere, you know, I should not discourage it if I were you. She might be happier in an independent situation where she earns her own money, than married to a man she, er, dislikes, even though she might have all the wealth in the world at her disposal."

Jasper appeared to be considering this. "You
could
be right, milord. But hereabouts there's no place t'work what's safe fer a comely chit like Belle. I've seen as how the men from Collinwood House leer at 'er, and as fer that innkeep at The Pig and Thistle...! Well, I know
his
sort, milord! He can't be trusted as far as ye kin throw a horse!"

"I thought as much!" opined Miss Clarke. "Anyone who beats cats and throws them into the snow! Wicked, utterly wicked!"

At Jasper's puzzled look, Julian explained, "We put up there last night. Rescued a cat. Quite a lazy, useless fellow, but one of God's creatures, you know. But never mind that! What's to do about your sister?"

As soon as the words were uttered, Julian was ready to kick himself. It was an appalling thought, but it appeared that Miss Clarke's penchant for meddling was rubbing off on him! It was certainly no business of his how Jasper dealt with his little sister, but, still, it was rather too bad for the girl to be married off to a grizzled old man, and a butcher at that, when she could hold a nice position as a servant in a respectable household where good servants were valued.

At Ashton House, for example, the servants enjoyed a camaraderie amongst themselves that resembled the affectionate ties of a large family. And Belle's chances for marriage would increase, since there would be a whole new county full of young men for her to meet and perhaps be courted by. He wondered if Mrs. Strand, Ashton's housekeeper for some thirty years now, could use another chambermaid.

Suddenly he said, "Miss Clarke, do I look flushed?"

Miss Clarke blinked and answered, "No, my lord." She tilted her head to the side. "Though your nose is a little pinkish. The tip is quite cold, I daresay. Why do you ask if you're flushed? You're not falling ill, are you?" Did he imagine it, or did Miss Clarke's eyes register concern?

Julian rubbed the tip of his nose with his gloved hand and reminded himself that Miss Clarke felt a measure of concern for all of God's creatures. The worried look in her eyes just now when she enquired after his health could have been just as easily inspired by a dog with a thorn in its paw. "I'm suffering from deliriums, I'm afraid."

Jasper frowned, Belle lifted her teary face from off Miss Clarke's shoulder to stare curiously, and Miss Clarke looked as though she weren't sure whether to smile or scold. "Deliriums, my lord?"

"You know—confusion, disordered speech, hallucinations, that sort of thing."

The Tuppers looked alarmed, and Belle even went so far as to disengage herself from Miss Clarke's comforting arms to sidle closer to her brother. On the other hand, Miss Clarke appeared to be having difficulty in preserving her composure. By the indication of a persistent tug at the corners of her mouth, he wouldn't be surprised if Miss Clarke broke out in the giggles at any moment. "Please explain, my lord," she begged.

Julian bowed. "Certainly, Miss Clarke. My confusion is manifest by the odd notion I've conceived of wishing to meddle. Such behaviour is certainly uncharacteristic of me and, therefore, indicative of a confused mentality. My disordered speech is not presently apparent, perhaps, but will be when I ask Miss T\ipper if she'd consider a position at Ashton House as a chambermaid."

He ignored Belle's delighted gasp of surprise and Jasper's grunt of disbelief, watching instead for Miss Clarke's reaction. She no longer presented a picture of suppressed merriment. He had astounded her, which astonishment clearly implied that she had not thought him capable of such a magnanimous gesture.
She
could be no more astounded than
he
was, however. But it was so satisfying to shock her, then watch her look of surprise soften to one of delight and gratitude.