The Phantom Lover (28 page)

Harry and Roddy exchanged looks of complete perplexity. When Harry turned back to the table, he found himself face to face with a tall, angry dowager who had risen from her chair and now stared at him in frozen-faced disdain. “I am Lady Imogen Lewis,” she said awesomely, “and it seems to be my place to bring information to this household which, were this a house at all well run, you would have ascertained without my intervention. I regret to have to inform you, Lord Thorne, that your Miss Belden has terminated her betrothal to my son—and for the second time!”

Harry stared at the dowager in fascination. “Has she indeed?” he asked with admirable restraint, trying to ignore the choked sound emitted by Roddy.

“So I've said,” the dowager continued. “The wretched girl has jilted my son, ruined my social standing and made a shambles of the reputations of your family and mine. As head of this family, Lord Thorne, you must bear the brunt of the responsibility for what that heedless and heartless wretch has done.”

Harry, delighted beyond measure by the news, was hard pressed to keep from breaking into a wide grin. “I regret ma'am, that you should be put to any … er … inconvenience because of this rather precipitous conclusion to the relationship between Miss Belden and your son,” he said with elaborate formality. “You will, however, wish to hurry home to console your son in his disappointment, so we will not try to detain you.”

“
Henry
!” Sybil cried, dismayed.

Lady Imogen could scarcely believe her ears. “See here, young man, are you suggesting that my presence here is
de trop
?” she asked, her neck growing mottled with rage. “I have no intention of taking my leave until I am satisfied that this matter will be dealt with in proper fashion! And as for offering my son
consolation
, I'll have you know that I haven't the slightest reason to do so! He is rather to be congratulated! Yes,
congratulated
for having escaped so dire a fate as to be riveted to that—”

“In that case,” Harry interrupted smoothly, “we need not express any regrets at all.”

A choked sound of laughter came from Roddy, and Harry's lips twitched. Lady Imogen, realizing that she'd been bested in an exchange, became even more mottled. “Lord Thorne,” she said indignantly, “it seems to me that you cannot be fully aware of the extent of Miss Belden's iniquities. Not only did she jilt my son, and for the second time, but she did it in the most humiliating way. He told me that she
threw something at him
!”

Sybil groaned and clutched at her breast. “I shall certainly have a seizure!” she wailed.

Harry heard Roddy choke again, and he himself had great difficulty in keeping his countenance. “Did she in … indeed?” he managed to ask politely.

“She most certainly did! It is fortunate that Nigel was not
injured
!” Lady Imogen said dramatically. “He was quite overcome by the incident, I can assure you.”

“Quite overcome?” Harry murmured, enthralled. “How unfortunate. What was it she threw at him?”

“I couldn't say, my lord, for poor Nigel could barely speak coherently! It was all I could do to obtain the salient facts last evening. He had not emerged from his room this morning when I left the house.”

“'Twas a bunch of
flowers,
” Beckwith volunteered, grinning.

“
Beckwith
!” Sybil cried furiously “
Will you remove yourself from this room
?”

But Harry turned to Beckwith with an incredulous stare. “Flowers?” he asked choking.

Beckwith nodded. “Nothin' but a bunch of flowers. She dumped 'em on his head. I seen 'er do it!”

Sybil, with a helpless wail, dropped her head forward and covered her face with shaking hands. Roddy, no longer able to restrain himself, broke into a hearty laugh. Charles also guffawed. “Flowers? I say!” he chortled, slapping his knee gleefully. “The chit can't have inflicted much of an injury with a handful of
posies.
”

Lady Imogen, offended beyond words by the apparent lack of seriousness with which her news was being received, drew herself up proudly. “It was more than a handful of posies, Lord Charles,” she declared roundly. “It must have been the bouquet I bestowed upon her, and it was a
very large bouquet indeed
!”

This proved too much even for Harry's self-control, and he turned his face to the nearest wall, his shoulders heaving. Lady Imogen stared at his back icily. When at length he regained his breath, he turned back to face her, his expression appropriately calm except for the laughter that still danced in his eyes. “I beg your pardon, Lady Imogen,” he said with a slight tinge of breathlessness in his voice, “but I trust this discussion is now at an end.”

“Good!” said Amelia. “Now, perhaps, we can all have some tea.”

“Aaaah!” screamed Sybil, as if poor Amelia's remark were the last straw.

“Must you keep offering us tea, ma'am?” Lady Imogen asked in disgust. Then turning back to Harry, she said, still undaunted, “You have not yet informed me of what you intend to do to see that Miss Belden is taken properly to task for her outrageous and reprehensible behavior.”

“Our intentions in regard to Miss Belden are, Lady Imogen, entirely
our
affair. May I wish you a good day? Beckwith will show you to your carriage.”

When Lady Imogen had been led out of the room, Roddy ran up to Harry and the two men pounded each other joyfully on their backs, laughing and shouting at once. “She cried off! I
told
you she was an out-and-outer!” Roddy cheered.

“An armload of flowers!” Harry crowed. “Dumped 'em right on his head, by God! I wish I'd been there to see his face!”

“Have you both lost your
minds
?” Sybil cried. “How can you stand there laughing like loobies? We have invited
hundreds
of people to a
wedding!
What do you suggest we do about
them
?”

“Tell them not to come,” Harry said, grinning.

“And what about the things I've purchased for this affair? Do you realize that I've filled this house with dishes, glasses, gold plate, hundreds of bottles of champagne and I-don't-know-what?”

“Send it back,” Harry said promptly, still grinning at Roddy in intense relief. “Throw it out! Give it away to the poor!”

Sybil, pushed beyond endurance, rose from her chair and tottered over to them. She placed herself directly before her nephew and spoke in trembling wrath. “So, this is all an enormous
jest
, is it? We shall be made ridiculous before the entire world, we shall have to notify half of London that there will be no wedding, we have lost the opportunity to benefit from the Lewis' wealth, and we shall probably be left without a friend to stand by us in the ordeal! It is all most amusing! Very droll! Completely hilarious! Very well, my lord, read
this!
If you find it humorous, perhaps I'll be able to laugh with you.”

Harry, with a sudden frown, took the letter she thrust at him. “What
is
this?”

“It's a letter from the very same young lady whose antics you seem to find so entertaining. She's
run away! Now
let us hear you laugh!”

Chapter Twenty

H
ARRY HOBBLED ACROSS
to the window and, turning his back on the assemblage, eagerly read the letter.

Dear Sybil
, she had written.
By the time my dear Amelia delivers this letter to you, I shall be gone from this house for good. I know this will be a blow to you, and I am most unhappy to have to cause you pain. You and Charles made a home for me when I was left alone in the world, and for that you will always have my most sincere gratitude and devotion, but, in one matter, I cannot find the will to oblige you. You will have guessed that I am speaking of my betrothal. I realized tonight that I could never, under any circumstances, endure being wed to Nigel. We are completely unsuited. I appreciate deeply the effort you have made to give me a memorable wedding day, but even you will admit that one such day could not make bearable a lifetime of unhappiness, and unhappiness would be my future if I married him
.

The fact that I have run away will seem to you most cowardly. It is with deep regret that I leave you to face without me the chaos, the confusion and the gossip which will follow the cancellation of a wedding such as the one you have been planning. Please believe that I had no choice. I have strong personal reasons
—
having nothing to do with Nigel or the wedding—for my conviction that Thorne House is no longer the proper residence for me
.

Amelia will support me in my claim that I shall manage quite well in the new life to which I go. There is not the slightest need for you and Charles
—
nor
anyone else
in the family
—
to feel the least concern for my health and safety. I hope you don't mind that I'm taking Gwinnys with me
—
she refuses to stay behind. With the warmest good wishes for your future happiness, I am and will always remain, your loving Nell
.

Harry reread the letter several times, but the repetitions did not reveal any more than the first perusal. She was gone, and he knew why. The spirit of hilarity that her severed relationship with Sir Nigel had induced now evaporated completely. He looked up from the missive in his hand, his face tense and strained. “When did you get this?” he asked Sybil.

“Just before you came in. Amelia handed it to me.”

“Did you see her leave, Amelia? When did she go?”

“I saw her off very early this morning,” Amelia said calmly.

“Why did you permit her to do it, you noddy?” Sybil demanded. “Have you no sense of responsibility to this family?”

“She convinced me of the necessity of her action,” Amelia replied.

“The only necessity that I can see is that she wanted to escape from facing the repercussions of her inexcusable behavior,” Sybil declared.

“She says here,” Harry interfered firmly, “that she had pressing private reasons. I accept the truth of that statement, and so must you, Sybil.”

“And is that all you have to say?” Sybil asked incredulously. “Are you not going to find out where she's gone? Have you no concern for her welfare?”

Amelia snorted. “Do
you
have any concern? You sent her off to Cornwall last year and never made the least inquiry to learn if she'd arrived. You never even let the caretakers know she was coming! You never sent for her to return. You pushed her into a betrothal she didn't want simply to feather your own nest. How do you account for this sudden concern
now
?”

“I do not have to account to
you
, Amelia, for anything I do!” Sybil said furiously. “I'll thank you not to interfere in what is not your affair. Nell is my ward, and I
do
care for her, whatever you may think. And if you were truly as concerned as you pretend, you would tell us where she's gone—for obviously she's told you—so that Henry can follow her and bring her home.”

“She doesn't want to be followed. And she did
not
tell me where she went,” Amelia said, reaching for the teapot. “Does
anyone
want a cup of tea?”

Harry took the chair next to his great-aunt and smiled affectionately at her. “Are you sure she gave you no clue as to her destination, Amelia? I won't follow her, if she doesn't wish it, but you can understand that we must be assured that she has adequate means, proper surroundings and all that a young lady needs.”

“She left something for you, Henry, that she said will reassure you,” Amelia told him with an answering smile. From her sleeve she withdrew a small wooden box and handed it to him. Harry opened it eagerly. Inside, lying on its bed of padded satin was a long-shafted key on a silver chain.

“What's that?” Roddy asked curiously.

Harry held up the key, a strange half-smile on his face.

“A key? Does
that
reassure you?” Sybil asked curiously.

“Yes, it does,” Harry answered, keeping his eyes, which seemed to glitter with an unusual intensity, fixed on the key dangling from his fingers.

“Well, aren't you going to explain?” Sybil demanded.

“No.” he said shortly.

“
That
is the outside of enough!” she cried, jumping to her feet. “After all I've been through this morning, one would think you'd have the kindness to tell me what's going on!”

Charles, who'd been listening to the goings-on without much comprehension, nevertheless understood that his wife was prying. “Take a damper, Sybil,” he said firmly, his good breeding asserting itself in the purposeful way he rose from his chair. “It's time you went to your room for a bit of repose. We've had enough theatrics for one morning.” He helped her from her chair and drew her inexorably from the room.

Amelia rose to follow. “If no one wants tea, I think I shall go, too. See you later, dear boy,” she said, patting him affectionately on the shoulder as she passed.

Only Roddy was left in the room. His eyes were fixed on Harry, his brow wrinkled in puzzled concentration. “Does that key give you a clue to Nell's whereabouts?”

Harry swung the key idly. “Yes, it does.”

“And will you go after her and bring her back?”

“No,” Harry said thoughtfully. “At least … not yet.”

“Not yet? Oh, I
see
,” Roddy said with a dawning smile.

Harry cast him a quick glance. “
What
do you see, Roddy?”

“It's quite obvious—you're going to wait until you're free from
your
entanglements.”

Harry smiled wryly. “You seem to have been reading my mind. But the girl has left me with a knotty problem. How can a man of honor extricate himself from an entanglement like mine?”