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“Then why pin your hair up at all?” he asked
She glanced at hi Thrusting the pins back any which way, she said, “Little girlslady who does so ail repeatedly tellsunder his sober grey gaze
He winced as though she had struck hiarding ht,” he said hurriedly “I should have realised—I should have tried to think first at least—it ht have been obvious to an imbecile—”
“That I was only de the use of a pistol to his lordship?” Delilah smiled in spite of her discomfort “Even I ”
“That hardly changes the fact that entlemanly, to say the least”
How unhappy he was! That rather took the sting out of her own embarrassment “Mine was unladylike,” she said “That ive each other—and ourselves?” She held out her hand
He hesitated a ered just an instant longer than pure sportsmanship required, but after the business with the hairpins this ht be accounted a minor triumph, and Miss Desmond had never been one to quibble over instants
“As long as you’ve given htly “Will you ith h we’d only now met in these sedate circumstances?”
“With pleasure,” said her coh he’d much prefer to run away
Though coood reason to avoid her, Miss Desmond had sufficient vanity to be piqued by this show of reluctance
“If you think it a pleasure, oughtn’t you san to walk “You look so griht herself up, struck with a disconcerting possibility “Or have I stepped wrong again? Was it forward of me to ask for your company?”
“Forward?” he asked, plainly bewildered
“Fast Bold Vulgar I don’t know Was it wrong?”
He considered for aoffence,” he said with a faint sh there were over two hundred of them at last count As to bold or forward or fast, I am the last man on earth who’d know There are some subtleties of social behavior that utterly elude me My friend Max always says any behaviour that’s pleasant can’t be correct If I employ hisand lighting up the clean, straight lines of his profile, “that it is incorrect”
He turned the smile full upon her then, and Miss Desh “Of course it don, but I assure you I mean to learn them In future I will not make such unseemly requests Lud, I hope I commit no faux pas at tea As it isv her ladyship seee I daresay she’s certain that Papa and I will swing from the draperies or slide down banisters or, heaven help us, treat the servants like hus”
“You had better not say ‘lud’ then, Miss Des a peal over my sister Gwendolyn on that account”
“Fast?”
“Vulgar”
“How tiresome”
“Then we shan’t speak of it,” said Mr Langdon, and immediately turned the subject “I understand you plan to visit your aunt?”
“My great aunt Lady Potterby”
Her companion started “Lady Millicent Potterby?”
“Yes Do you know her?” Delilah asked, wondering why he’d changed instantly from amiability to discomfiture Was there some dreadful scandal about Mama’s Aunt Mimsy as well?”
“I know her very well She is a near neighbour of my uncle The properties adjoin, actually What a small world it is,” he added uneasily “I was on my way to visit him”
They had reached the shrubbery, but instead of taking the narrow pathway between the tall hedges, he steered her along the outer border