Free Cousin Kate by Georgette Heyer Page B

you! Knee-breeches, and chapeau-bras! Give you my word! Orders, too! Not that I have any, but don't it all go to show?'
    'Oh, Gurney!' remonstrated his sister. 'As though you hadn't worn precisely the same dress at Almack's!'
    'The only time I ever went to Almack's,' returned Mr Templecombe, 'was on the occasion of my own come-out, Dolly, and I'll be vastly obliged to you if you don't recall it to my memory!' He shuddered eloquently. 'The most insipid evening I ever spent in all my life!' he declared impressively. 'Nothing to drink but lemonade or weak orgeat, and I sank myself beneath reproach - oh, fathoms beneath reproach! - by inviting a girl in her first season to stand up with me for the waltz! You may imagine the looks that were cast at me!'
    'I can, of course,' admitted Kate, 'though I've never been to Almack's. I've never been presented either, so if you are thinking of asking my advice on the management of your hoop, I'm afraid you will miss the cushion!'
    'Oh, no! Mama will show me, just as she showed my sisters,' said Miss Templecombe simply. 'And they all three made good marriages!'
    Kate glanced apprehensively at Torquil, wondering how he would receive this naive remark. He did not appear to have paid the least heed to it: his eyes were ardently devouring Dorothea's exquisite countenance, and there was a smile on his lips. Kate could not forbear the thought that they were a singularly beautiful couple, and stole a look at Mr Templecombe's face. It told her nothing, but she had a feeling that he did not view the very obvious attachment with complaisance. As though to lend colour to this presentiment, he pulled out his watch, exclaiming: 'Dolly, if we don't make haste, Mama will be sending out a search-party! 'Servant, Miss Malvern! Yours, Torquil!'
    'Oh, we'll go along with you!' said Torquil, wheeling his horse. He said, over his shoulder, tossing the words at Kate: 'You've no objection, coz, have you?'
    'No, none. And much good it would do me if I had!' she added.
    Torquil did not hear her, but Gurney Templecombe did, and burst out laughing. Ranging alongside her, he remarked quizzically: 'Well said, ma'am!'
    'I'm afraid it was very ill said!' she confessed, 'It fell on the wrong ears! And I know, of course, that every allowance ought to be made for him. My aunt tells me that he is not at all robust, besides suffering from severe migraines, so that it's no wonder he should be a trifle spoilt.'
    'Mm, yes! Handsome boy, ain't he?' drawled Gurney, looking after the young couple with a frown in his sleepy eyes. 'Much better-looking than Philip, I suppose, though for my money—' He stopped, seeing that she was puzzled, and said: 'Are you acquainted with Philip Broome, ma'am?'
    'No, who is he?'
    Torquil's cousin. Friend of mine!' he answered. 'Beg pardon, but I don't perfectly understand! You can't be a Broome, surely? Well, what I mean is, never heard Philip speak of you!'
    'Oh, no, I'm not a Broome! Lady Broome was my father's half-sister,' she explained. 'But owing to a quarrel in the family I didn't meet her until last week, when she invited me to visit Staplewood.'
    'Invited you to—Did she, by Jove!' he said, surprised. 'I wonder why—' He broke off, reddening, and giving an embarrassed cough. 'Forgotten what I was going to say!'
    'You were going to say that you wonder why she did invite me,' she supplied. 'Torquil said the same, yesterday, and I wonder what you both mean! She invited me out of compassion, knowing me to be a destitute orphan - and I can never be sufficiently grateful to her!'
    He stammered: 'No, indeed! Just so! Shouldn't think you could! Well, what I mean is—Did you say destitute , ma'am?'
    'Forced to earn my bread!' she declared dramatically. She saw that he was quite horrified, and gave a gurgle of laughter.
    'You're shamming it!' he accused her.
    'I'm not, but you've no need to look aghast, I promise you! To be sure, I didn't precisely enjoy being a governess, but there are many worse