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En-g-lis-h-man, he lo-ved his dogs. She was al-so qu-ite lo-vely, with her
soft cur-ves and En-g-lish-ro-se com-p-le-xi-on. It was so-me ti-me af-ter the
in-c-re-dibly pro-per Miss Stan-ley had bro-ken the-ir en-ga-ge-ment that he'd
first re-ali-zed El-len wo-uld su-it him ad-mi-rably. Part of that de-ci-si-on
had be-en hel-ped by the know-led-ge that he wo-uldn't ha-ve to do an-y-t-hing
abo-ut it for se-ve-ral ye-ars. He was a man of strong opi-ni-ons, li-kes and
dis-li-kes, but pri-ded him-self on be-ing a to-le-rant man. Things ten-ded to
fall in-to pla-ce for him-he'd be-en bles-sed with a res-pec-tab-le for-tu-ne,
a mi-nor tit-le, lo-ving pa-rents, a form that wo-men ten-ded to find
ple-asing, and an abi-lity in mat-ters of ga-ming and sport that ma-de him
uni-ver-sal-ly ap-pre-ci-ated. If oc-ca-si-onal-ly he saw things a lit-tle too
cle-arly, he usu-al-ly ma-na-ged to ma-in-ta-in a po-li-te ve-ne-er. He
suf-fe-red fo-ols, not gladly, but of-ten. He was usu-al-ly just too
even-tem-pe-red to do ot-her-wi-se.
Ellen had al-most dis-rup-ted his well-la-id plans. He'd had eno-ugh town
bron-ze to know that she wo-uldn't ma-ke a splash du-ring her first se-ason.
He'd kept an eye on her prog-ress, re-ady to step in if so-me en-ter-p-ri-sing
yo-ung man ca-me up with an of-fer, but as he'd ex-pec-ted, the yo-ung men of
Lon-don didn't ha-ve the sup-re-me go-od tas-te to ap-pre-ci-ate a sub-t-le
be-a-uty li-ke El-len. Tony was a firm be-li-ever in mo-no-gamy, and he was
too fond of El-len to of-fer her an-y-t-hing less than a du-ti-ful hus-band.
His clo-se call with Miss Stan-ley had gi-ven him a pro-per ap-pre-ci-ati-on
for the joys of bac-he-lor-ho-od, and he simply hadn't be-en in any hurry to
dis-pen-se with its ple-asu-res in ex-c-han-ge for mo-no-gamy and duty.
The Re-ve-rend Al-vin Pur-ser had crept up be-hind his back when he wasn't
lo-oking. Just when he'd tho-ught he had plenty of ti-me, with El-len sa-fely
en-s-con-ced at Ain-s-ley Hall, Car-mic-ha-el had an-no-un-ced his sis-ter's
en-ga-ge-ment.
Tony had con-si-de-red dec-la-ring him-self at that po-int, then tho-ught
bet-ter of it. He pri-ded him-self on be-ing a de-cent man, and Car-mic-ha-el
as-su-red him that El-len was he-ad over he-els in lo-ve. If he'd had any
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no-ti-on that she wasn't qu-ite so ena-mo-red of her lit-tle mi-nis-ter, he
might ha-ve do-ne so-met-hing abo-ut it. But he to-ok his fri-end's word for
it and de-ci-ded to lo-ok el-sew-he-re for a bri-de. Un-for-tu-na-tely no one
had even co-me clo-se to El-len's qu-ali-fi-ca-ti-ons.
And when the idi-otic re-ve-rend had jil-ted her, she'd ta-ken off for the
con-ti-nent be-fo-re he had a chan-ce to ma-ke his mo-ve a few dan-ge-ro-us
we-eks in-to the al-re-ady du-bi-o-us Pe-ace of Ami-ens. When she re-tur-ned
she had her fri-end, the myste-ri-o-us fe-ma-le chef, in tow, and a new, wary
air to her.
He'd wor-ked dam-ned hard at get-ting her to re-lax on-ce mo-re aro-und him.
The re-ve-rend had do-ne mo-re da-ma-ge than Tony wo-uld ha-ve tho-ught
pos-sib-le, and it wo-uld ta-ke ti-me get-ting El-len to co-me to he-el on-ce
mo-re.
He had mo-re than eno-ugh ti-me, and so did she. Whi-le she was sa-fely on
the shelf, she was still only in her mid-twen-ti-es, ti-me and eno-ugh to
pro-vi-de him with a su-itab-le bro-od of chil-d-ren, in-c-lu-ding an he-ir.
If he had any sen-se at all he'd gi-ve it anot-her ye-ar or two.
The prob-lem was, he'd la-tely be-en gro-wing im-pa-ti-ent. Be-en
won-de-ring whet-her co-ha-bi-ting with a go-od wo-man might not be qu-ite as
bo-ring as he an-ti-ci-pa-ted, gi-ven that the go-od wo-man was El-len. He'd
be-en very wary at Chris-t-mas, af-ra-id the sen-ti-ment of the se-ason and
his own res-t-les-sness might push him in-to do-ing so-met-hing
un-c-ha-rac-te-ris-ti-cal-ly im-pul-si-ve. He'd kept away sin-ce then, trying
to ta-ke his ti-me.
But he'd be-en unab-le to ke-ep away any lon-ger. May-be it was past ti-me
to be-co-me just the slig-h-test bit im-pul-si-ve.
He shif-ted in his se-at aga-in, and El-len glan-ced at him. "You ha-te
this," she sa-id. "You sho-uldn't ha-ve in-sis-ted on ac-com-pan-ying me,
Tony. I'm mo-re than ca-pab-le of tra-ve-ling the dis-tan-ce bet-we-en my
brot-her's ho-use and mi-ne wit-ho-ut you. Bin-nie ke-eps me very go-od
com-pany, and Car-mic-ha-el em-p-loys only the most re-li-ab-le of
co-ac-h-men."
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