Free 106. Love's Dream in Peril by Barbara Cartland

gallop along the Row.
    As the landau left Hyde Park and headed through the streets that led to Dorset Square, she turned to him.
    “My Uncle Edgar has made a mistake, I think,” she said with a little sigh. “He sometimes forgets that I have grown up and become a young lady and thinks of me still as a child.”
    “I am glad of that,” Lord Ranulph replied. “My eye was drawn to your delightful ponies and if that had not been the case, I should perhaps have missed your golden hair and let you pass by unnoticed.”
    He cleared his throat.
    “I wonder if I might call upon you, tomorrow, Miss May? I should very much like to see you again and also to meet your uncle.”
    Adella was surprised at this request. What answer should she give him?
    He was certainly a very handsome young man and she should be pleased that he was paying attention to her.
    But he was Digby’s friend. What if he spoke about him? She did not know if she could bear it.
    She felt so confused when she thought about Digby. One moment she could only feel bitterly hurt and angry that he had kissed her so boldly and then not troubled to write to her.
    Then she forgot about the broken promise and the pain of the message that never came and she felt again the warmth of his lips against hers, and the golden glow that seemed to fill her whole being as they stood together in the Botanical Gardens.
    If she sent Lord Ranulph away now, she might lose the chance of hearing news of Digby ever again.
    He was looking at her earnestly, waiting for her reply.
    “I am sure Uncle Edgar will not mind if you call at the house,” she replied.
    She was rewarded with a beaming smile that lit up Lord Ranulph’s face in a way she had not seen before.
    “Miss May, I shall live for tomorrow,” he said.
    She gave him the address of Dorset Square and he turned his tall black horse and loosened the reins, letting it race off back to Hyde Park.
    *
    “I can promise you nothing but hard work,” Judge Dryden said, pulling his heavy white wig off his head and tossing it onto his huge leather-topped desk.
    “I understand. Of course,” Digby murmured.
    The Judge was a striking man, very tall and lean, with short white hair that had once been as fair as Digby’s.
    “You will start at the bottom and run errands for all of us in Chambers. You will act as a clerk when where there is no one else to take notes in Court. For this I will pay you a modest wage and every spare moment you have you must devote to studying law.”
    Digby felt a little shiver run though his bones at the thought of it. But then he pictured his mother and his four sisters waving to him as he drove away from Duncombe Hall to begin his journey to London.
    He had to care for them now. He had to make sure they stayed at home and were happy and comfortable.
    “Can you do it? Are you a good student?” the Judge asked, his piercing grey eyes searching Digby’s face.
    There was nothing for it under that fierce gaze but to be completely honest.
    “I have not always been so,” Digby said, “but from now on, I will let nothing keep me from my studies.”
    “Good. If you do, then you will succeed and the rewards will be great, as I have proved in my own career. Where are you staying?”
    “I – er – ”
    Digby had made no plans beyond finding his way to the Judge’s Chambers at Lincoln’s Inn. He supposed that he must go to somewhere like Seven Dials with its narrow crowded streets and find cheap lodgings.
    The Judge looked thoughtful for a moment.
    “Why not join us for dinner tonight?” he said. “You are after all a cousin, albeit a distant one. If she likes the look of you, perhaps my wife may find a corner for you, somewhere among the servants’ garrets.”
    Digby nodded eagerly. That way he would be able to send every penny of the money he earned to Duncombe.
    “Come along then,” the Judge said, striding out of the room. “It’s a fair drive to Mayfair and the streets are thronged with carts and