The Phantom Lover (23 page)

“Are you
sure
you're quite up to snuff today?” Nell asked in some amusement. “You do seem to be in an odd humor.”

“There's nothing at all wrong with my humor,” Harry growled irritably, “except for the fact that I don't enjoy an inquisition at the breakfast table.”

“An
inquisition
!” Nell repeated, half astounded and half offended. “Really, Harry, of all the unjust remarks! I was only showing a mild concern—”

“I don't need your concern, thank you,” he muttered, feeling very foolish.

“Very well, then, I shall not question you further. I certainly didn't intend to cause you to take a pet for no reason.” And they lapsed into silence.

As soon as Harry felt he could take his leave without seeming abrupt, he rose from the table. Nell looked up from her teacup. “I was wondering, Harry, if you and Miss Manning plan to attend the Caldicott masquerade this evening?”

“We most certainly do
not,
” he answered curtly. “Why do you ask?”

The fact of the matter was that Sybil had importuned Nell to accompany her to the affair, but Nell had been reluctant to agree. Henrietta Caldicott's reputation was unsavory, and her parties always seemed more than a little disreputable. If she could have enlisted the company of Harry and Miss Manning, however, Nell felt that she could, in good conscience, make an appearance; otherwise, she intended to refuse. In answer to Harry's question, she launched into an explanation. “Sybil has asked me to accompany her, and I was wondering—”

But Harry, irritable and impatient to be gone, did not let her finish. “You needn't have wondered. Anyone with sense should realize that a masquerade at the Caldicott
ménage
is bound to become a boisterous rout. But why do you bother to ask me? Surely you have no need for my permission. If you and my aunt are determined to amuse yourselves at such unsavory gatherings, it is not my place to prevent you. I will only add that, if you were hoping for Miss Manning's and my company to add a touch of respectability to your outing, you were fair and far off! It's the very
last
place I would dream of taking a lady of her refinement!” And with that he slammed out of the room.

Nell stared at the door openmouthed. She had no idea what she'd said or done to cause such a violent reaction from him. The blood rushed to her cheeks as his last words echoed in her ears. Miss Manning was a lady of refinement, he'd seemed to say, and
she
was
not
! How
dared
he speak so to her! The more she reviewed his words, the more furious she became. As if she needed
his
presence to achieve respectability! She'd had no desire to attend the masquerade, but now her feelings changed. She sprang up from her chair with her eyes blazing and stormed into Sybil's room to inform that surprised lady that she would be delighted to join her that evening and to ask for assistance in contriving to find a suitable costume for the occasion.

A costume could not be devised in time, and Nell appeared at Mrs. Caldicott's party in a simple hooded domino. To her chagrin, she could recognize not one of her acquaintance among the roisterers who thronged the rooms. Lady Sybil had left her side almost immediately upon entering, and Nell felt a bit frightened and quite alone. The dancing was already in full swing, and the attitudes of the dancers—their too intimate closeness and their raucous laughter—gave ample evidence that Harry had been right in his assessment of the quality of the evening. She pulled her hood as far over her face as she could and retired into a corner where she hoped she would be unnoticed until Sybil was ready to return home.

Harry was spending the evening in the very opposite kind of company. The Mannings were giving a dinner to present him to an elderly aunt and several other relations. The conversation was at best insipid, but because the aunt was somewhat deaf, almost every remark had to be repeated into her ear trumpet. Insipid remarks, when repeated, become inane, and Harry was feeling very bored indeed. His mind began to wander, and he found himself remembering with disturbing clarity his diatribe of the morning. He could see Nell's face looking up at him in pained astonishment as he berated her for her plans. That he had grossly overreacted was apparent. He didn't like the idea of her attending such a party, but he needn't have spoken so rudely. He began to itch to make amends.

It didn't occur to him that Nell would attend the Caldicott masquerade in spite of his objections, and he hoped that he would return home early enough to see her before she retired for the night. He was therefore taken by surprise when, after leaving the Mannings so early that some eyebrows were raised, he learned from Beckwith that Miss Belden had indeed accompanied Lady Sybil to the masquerade. The news caused his temper to flare again, and he stormed out of the house and into his carriage with his fists clenched and his mood chaotic.

He arrived at Mrs. Caldicott's residence with his temper unreconciled. The fact that he didn't immediately see Nell infuriated him even more. Before he could begin his search for her, his presence was noted with jubilant enthusiasm by the hostess, who came rushing to his side. “My lord!” she cooed, “What an
honor
! I had no
idea
, when I sent you a card, that you would deign to attend. You have quite
made
my evening, I assure you! May I ask your indulgence for a few minutes and make you known to some of my friends?”

“Thank you, ma'am, but I've come merely to escort Lady Sybil and Miss Belden home. If you but tell me where I may find them, I shall not take up your time.”

Mrs. Caldicott, chewing her underlip in vexation, said that she hadn't seen Miss Belden, but she led the way to a side room where she thought his aunt might be taking a bite of supper. In the room was a long, well-laden table surrounded by noisy, gluttonous merrymakers. There he found his aunt, her mask dangling from one ear and her cheeks flushed with high color from an overabundance of wine. Controlling his voice with heroic effort, he said softly, “Good evening, Sybil. I've come to take you home. Where's Nell?”

She waved him off airily. “Don' wish to go home jus' yet, dear boy,” she said woozily. “Can't go home wi' you in any case—I've brought m' own carriage.”

Not trusting himself to say another word, he took her firmly by the arm and, ignoring her objections, propelled her firmly to the hallway. There he instructed a butler to call her carriage and see to it that she was conveyed home. Then he returned to the ballroom to continue his search for Nell.

To his dismay, he found her in a curtained alcove, struggling in the arms of a masked gallant in the costume of a Venetian gondolier. “Let me go!” she was crying breathlessly. “If I would not
dance
with you, you cannot expect me to permit
this
!”

The would-be beau did not answer. He suddenly found that both his arms were pinned behind his back in an iron grip. “I am quite tempted,” Harry muttered into the fellow's ear, “to tip you a settler you won't soon forget. But it's your good fortune that I've no wish to kick up a dust in this place. I advise you, however, to take yourself off before I change my mind.” He released the fellow, who took one quick look over his shoulder to evaluate the man who stood glowering over him, and ran quickly out.

“Oh, H-Harry,” Nell breathed, attempting awkwardly to compose her hair and adjust her mask, “how can I th-thank—?”

“Never mind!” he muttered tightly. “Just take my arm. We'll say goodnight to your hostess and leave.”

He uttered not another word until they were seated in his carriage and on their way home. Even then, it was she who broke the silence. She was eager to express to him her intense gratitude for his rescue, but before she opened her mouth to speak, she glanced covertly at his face. He appeared tight-lipped and strained, and she suddenly realized the extent of his anger. “I don't know why you should be so furious,” she said at last, looking down at her hands which were demurely folded in her lap. “I did not
ask
you to come to rescue me.”

He fixed her with a look of utter disdain. “And what would you have done if I hadn't come?” he sneered.

She lifted her chin. “I could have managed him,” she declared.

“No doubt you could have,” he said in scornful agreement. “Your behavior tonight convinces me that you've endured
many
such experiences.”

Nell's feelings of gratitude dissolved instantly. “Yes, I have!” she said belligerently. “
Most
women have. But you needn't look so shocked. I don't suppose your so-perfect Miss Manning has ever found herself in such a fix. She has too much
refinement
to be thus accosted.”

Harry turned away from her in disgust. “You are quite right. And she has better sense than to permit herself to be taken to a secluded alcove where such scenes are more likely to occur.”

Nell sputtered in indignation. “I did
n-not
permit myself to be
taken
there!” she cried in vehement denial. “I had gone there to
hide
from him. But the wretch followed me.”

“Oh, I see,” Harry said, some of the wind taken out of his sails. “I beg your pardon. Nevertheless, you could have avoided the entire situation had you refrained from attending in the first place. After all, I
did
warn you—”

“I don't care to discuss this any further, my lord,” Nell said coldly. “Please accept my gratitude for coming to my rescue. I suppose you meant well. But I shall be a great deal
more
grateful if, in the future, you refrain from meddling in my affairs. I can handle them quite well without you.” With that, she turned to stare out the window, and they did not exchange another word.

When they entered the house, Nell, her head proudly erect, made straight for the stairway. Harry, standing at the foot, looked up at her retreating back and found that all his anger had melted away. “Nell—!” he called after her, not knowing quite what he wanted to say, but instinctively attempting to end the estrangement between them. But Nell did not turn, and he couldn't tell if she had not heard or she'd chosen not to answer.

Nell marched up the stairs without a backward glance and went straight to her room. Gwinnys was waiting up for her, but Nell, on the verge of tears, told her in a choked voice that she would not be needed and urged her to the door. “But won't 'ee need some help wi' your buttons?” Gwinnys asked, looking over her shoulder at her mistress' troubled face with sympathetic anxiety.

“I'll manage them myself. Goodnight, Gwinnys,” Nell told her and shut the door with finality.

Assured of her privacy, Nell sat down at her dressing table and opened her jewelry box. From a back corner she withdrew a little wooden box and opened it. There, resting on a bed of padded satin, was a long-shafted key on a silver chain. It was the key to the entrance of a secret passageway. Nell looked at it with a tremulous sigh. Not for the first time did she wish fervently that she had never discovered Harry's identity. If she had let matters rest, they might still be living happily in Cornwall, with Harry making nightly ghost-visits to her room.

She removed the key from the box and fondled it affectionately. Those early weeks in Cornwall had been the happiest time she had had since her childhood. Remembering the lighthearted, diverting, titillating relationship that had existed for a few weeks between a girl and a ghost, she felt a painful homesickness for a place which had been her home for less than two months. With the key clutched in her hand, she threw herself across the bed. Perhaps, with that talisman in her hand, she might return to that time and place in her dreams.

Chapter Sixteen

T
HE NELL WHO
appeared at breakfast late the next morning was a different girl from the one who had returned from Cornwall. When she'd come back, she had behaved instinctively in a manner which she felt would please Harry. She had been modest, sensible, restrained and mannerly. Now, her eyes sparkling militantly, she seemed to revert to the outrageous, discreditable girl she used to be. She embarked on a program of activity which seemed to be calculated to cause dissention and perplexity among the family.

First, she began to flirt outrageously with all the young men of her acquaintance, with the result that the door knocker was never still. Beaux of all descriptions came calling to escort her riding, to bring her messages or posies, to leave a card or to accompany her to one or another of the various festivities which, a few days before, she would have scorned to attend. Among the beaux she was evidently encouraging was one whom her guardians were delighted to see—Sir Nigel Lewis was among her most frequent escorts and had evidently been persuaded to resume his courtship.

Another change Nell instituted in her life was the abandonment of what her godmother had called her “Cornish prudery.” She took to wearing the most dashing costumes, especially a particularly shocking riding ensemble of a very military cut, with epaulets and brass buttons. The costume caused many respectable eyebrows to elevate when she appeared in the park, and the style was much copied by the younger, more daring ladies of the
ton
and a few of the demimonde. Nell wore her riding costume topped by a high-crowned hat with a curly brim and set off with an ostrich plume which was pinned to the side and fluttered excitingly behind as she rode. The hat was worn at a very rakish angle and looked quite fetching perched atop Nell's chestnut curls.

Harry, when he saw it for the first time, was torn between an impulse to laugh and a desire to tell her how charming she looked. He did neither, but when Edwina later whispered to him that the habit and its shocking hat made his young relation look rather fast, Harry changed his mind. Thinking to do Nell a service, he repeated Edwina's comment to her. Instead of being grateful, Nell turned on him furiously and declared that for one thing she did
not
relish being discussed behind her back, and that for another she was quite capable of evaluating her own apparel, thank you! From then on, Harry was aware that she flaunted the riding habit and its controversial hat before his eyes on many more occasions than seemed warranted.