Free The Wicked and Wonderful Miss Merlin by Anne Herries Page B

still to be finished.’
    ‘Well, they may be sent on to us and if a little extra fitting is necessary we can summon a village dressmaker – or do it ourselves.  I think my girls are taught to sew as well as any seamstress?’
    ‘My stitching is good, Miss Lemon always said so,’ Eleanor said and sighed.  ‘I suppose I must accept it for Robert will not change his mind.’
    ‘I do not think he will,’ Samantha said.  ‘He was very set on taking you home – but it might have been much worse, dearest.  I thought at one time he meant to forbid you to wed – and it is no use in saying you would run away for now that he knows you are capable of such behaviour he would prevent you.’
    ‘Then I must try to please him,’ Eleanor said.  ‘I cannot bear the thought of parting from Toby when he is ill but I must.’
    ‘He is not so very ill now, my love,’ Samantha said.  ‘Last evening I do not think he had one dizzy turn.’
    ‘No, perhaps not,’ Eleanor smiled.  ‘You have been so very patient, dearest Samantha – and I think Robert was far more cross with you than with us.’
    ‘Yes, he blames me for the whole, and in a way he is correct.  I should have sent word when I discovered you at the inn.  I ought to have written when he left for London.  I might have saved him time and anxiety.’
    ‘Do you think he was truly worried about me?’
    ‘Yes, of course.  You might have chosen a rogue.  Had Toby not been an honourable gentleman you might have been ruined – and even as it was, you might have suffered a loss of reputation had the accident occurred near a busy inn that had more clients from your own class.’
    ‘Yes, I think we were lucky to get away with it.  I did see one gentleman leaving.  I was at the top of the stairs and he turned and looked at me, but Joan was with me and he did not seem to notice for he went off without another glance.’
    ‘How fortunate that Joan was with you the whole time.  No one can say that you were alone with Toby for days and nights on end – for no one else can know that you spent some time alone in his bedchamber, can they?’
    ‘No, of course not,’ Eleanor said but looked away.  It was possible that some ladies who had stopped for lunch might have heard her asking the landlord for a tray to take up to her cousin – but they could not have known her or the name of her cousin, could they?  Dismissing the anxious thought, she looked at Samantha.  ‘Shall we go down?  We do not want to keep my brother waiting.’
     
     
     
     
        
    Samantha looked at the house as she descended from the chaise.  She had not really known what to expect but the colonnade of Portland stone columns and the classic lines of what she thought was a very stylish house were really rather attractive.  The stone of the walls was a creamy buff and the roof slanting down was clad with bluish-grey tiles; there were many long windows on the ground floor, which must have cost a fortune in window tax at one time – and the formal gardens out front were immaculate.
    Eleanor had gone straight in, as if wanting to get away from her brother, whose company had been a little difficult for her throughout the journey.  Samantha took her time, looking at the house with interest.  She thought parts of it looked quite old – the east wing was definitely older than this main frontage.  The house had obviously been improved in the last half century, made more stylish and modern.  She would be very interested to see the inside.
    As she walked into the hall, she saw that it rose to a considerable height with what appeared to be a lantern tower of glass.  Some of the glass was coloured and the sun shining through it sent rays of dancing colour over the tiled floor.  Impressive, but a little too magnificent, she thought.
    However the warmth of the butler’s greeting for Eleanor and her could not be faulted.  They were shown into a very pretty parlour at the back of the house while