Free Belinda Goes to Bath by M. C. Beaton Page B

toast and tea.
    ‘You must make ready to accompany me downstairs,’ said Penelope, cross because both were still in their undress. ‘That Earle female is like to snatch the prize from me.’
    ‘Hardly likely,’ said Sir Henry. ‘She is nothing out of the common way and a man as high in the instep as Frenton would not prefer the charms of some female from the stage-coach to yourself.’
    ‘I am persuaded she is clever and cunning. I have just seen him carrying her across the courtyard. She must have pretended to have hurt her ankle again. Rally to me! There is no time to be lost.’
        
    Hannah made her way back to the sitting-room she shared with Belinda and found that young lady sitting in an armchair while the doctor examined her ankle. ‘Another bad wrench,’ said the doctor. ‘I shad strap it more tightly, but you must now lie in your bed with the ankle raised on a cushion.’
    ‘It is much better now,’ pleaded Belinda. ‘I shall be so very bored if I have to stay confined to my bedchamber.’
    ‘Lord Frenton,’ said the doctor, strapping Belinda’s ankle, ‘must be anxious for you all to recommence your journey. You should oblige your host by recovering as quickly as possible.’
    Hannah noticed a shadow of disappointment fall over Belinda’s expressive eyes.
    She waited impatiently until the doctor had taken his leave, and then asked eagerly, ‘What happened? Did you really sprain that ankle again?’
    ‘Of course I did,’ said Belinda. ‘He took me to the top of the tower to look at the view and I trod on a pebble and wrenched it again. He kindly offered to carry me, nay, insisted on it.’ Her eyes began to shine.
    ‘And …?’ prompted Hannah.
    ‘He … he … kissed me.’
    ‘The deuce!’ Hannah looked alarmed. ‘That was very fast and forward of his lordship. Your companion is laid up and your relatives are not here to protect you. Would you like me to ask him his intentions?’
    ‘No!’ said Belinda. ‘I can handle my own life, Miss Pym. He seems much taken by me and even said I enchanted him.’
    ‘Fine words don’t butter any parsnips,’ said Hannah crossly. ‘An experienced man of the world can say anything he likes. Hark you, Miss Earle, the servants tell me that he is as good as engaged to Miss Jordan.’
    ‘Well, that’s as may be,’ said Belinda doubtfully, ‘but could it not be that I have struck him all of a heap?’
    ‘Marquesses with every female in the land after ’em don’t get struck that easily,’ said Hannah cynically.‘Hey, what’s happened to that young lady who didn’t want to marry?’
    ‘Oh, I don’t know ,’ said Belinda wretchedly. ‘I wish I had never told you. Now it all seems soiled.’
    ‘Are you in love?’
    ‘How can I tell? I have only met the man.’
    ‘I tell you what I will do,’ said Hannah. ‘I will observe his behaviour towards you and let you know whether his intentions are indecent or honourable in my opinion. Would you like that?’
    ‘No! Well, maybe yes. But I don’t have to promise to listen to you.’
    ‘Now,’ said Hannah, ‘I suggest you get to bed and spend the rest of the day there and I’ll get two footmen to carry you down to dinner. What else did he talk about?’
    ‘He told me about the castle and how a room in Robert’s Tower was haunted by the ghost of a governess. He offered to show me the torture chamber but I said such things did not interest me, that the days of chivalry were in fact very cruel, and he said surely this age was cruel and commanded me to observe the bodies on the gibbet.’
    ‘How eccentric!’ said Hannah. ‘He cannot have been trying to endear himself to you. Besides, these modern times are very humane, no racking or crushing or gouging or pouring boiling oil on people. He must have been teasing you.’
    After Hannah had left, Belinda lay looking at the bed-hangings, seeing mocking faces in the patterns made by the brocade. All her elation had gone. Hehad only been