Free Those Endearing Young Charms by Marion Chesney Page A

table!"
    To her horror, this was taken as a challenge; she was swept into the tap and a glass of wine thrust into her hand. She looked wildly about and prayed that Devenham would come to rescue her. How _could_ he desert her so?
    The Earl of Devenham had just finished buying a splendid-looking bay and was giving instructions to deliver it to his home when a stout farmer's wife tapped him on the shoulder with her umbrella. "Sir," she said. "Do you have anything to do with the pretty young miss with the yaller hair? Is it Your Honor's daughter perhaps?"
    "My wife," said the earl curtly. "What about her?"
    "Them ruffians has got her in the tap and the poor little lady's drinking something cruel. My Bill said he couldn't stand no more of it, and he sent me direct to..."
    But she spoke to the open air, for the earl was already off and running.
    Emily was in a state of euphoria. What jolly, splendid gentlemen they all were! And how missish she had been to be afraid of them. She drained another glass of burgundy in one long swallow and smiled mistily at the subsequent roar of applause.
    Then she blinked. Where had all the cheery gentlemen gone? One moment she had been surrounded by her cheering admirers, and the next, they had faded away. She swayed and clung to the back of the chair.
    "You are in no fit state to answer my questions at the moment, madam," grated the earl. "Come!"
    Emily let go of the back of the chair, took one step forward, and fell in a heap on the floor.
    He picked her up in his arms, and she smiled dizzily up at him laying her head against his shoulder.
    "We will go to my home, Maxton Court, on the morrow," he said, "but tonight you will learn to behave like a wife."
    The journey back came to Emily in flashes of consciousness before she dropped off into a drunken sleep.
    Then she felt him carrying her upstairs.
    She tried to struggle awake as she felt his fingers busy with the tapes of her gown. Cold air fanning down her body made her realize she was naked. She tried to scream in alarm, but only a mumble of protest came out.
    The Earl of Devenham stripped off his own clothes and then lay down beside his wife.
    He gathered her in his arms.
    "Now, madam," he said.
    _Snore... _
    Emily was fast asleep.
    He pushed her away and, climbing out of bed again, lifted her and covered her with the bedclothes.
    He got back in beside her and stared at the ceiling as Emily snored gently beside him.
    "I have married not only the wrong sister," he said, "but a drunkard as well!"
    --------
    *Chapter Six*
    Maxton Court loomed up dark and forbidding against a steel gray sky.
    "My grave," thought Emily with a shudder. "He is going to kill me."
    But the future murderer said in a normal voice, "This is our home. It once belonged to a family called Maxton, but they all died out."
    "It is very _black,_" ventured Emily uneasily. He did not reply. A rising wind rattled the trees lining the drive.
    Maxton Court had been built in the reign of James I. It had a moat and drawbridge, since the first Maxton had not quite believed that guns and cannon were here to stay, despite the fact that both had been around for some time before he had had the house built, and he believed strongly in moats, boiling oil, and armor for protection.
    The whole rambling building was smothered in ivy, which fluttered and moved restlessly in the wind, giving the building the odd effect of being in motion. The moat had been drained. When Emily looked down as the carriage rattled over the bridge, she could see a herd of deer grazing beside bales of hay on the cropped grass.
    The servants were all lined up in the vast draughty entrance hall to meet their new mistress. The earl was pleased to note that Emily behaved very prettily. The servants were amazed at the new Lady Devenham's youthful appearance, since they had all heard of the earl's youthful romance. Exactly how they had heard of his early love was hard to tell, since the earl had never spoken of it, but