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  He paid no heed to this, but said: ‘The fair Olivia admitted you a little too deeply into her confidence, did she? I was afraid she would. Don’t trouble your pretty head for such a trifle as that, Kitty! You will own that I have borne with tolerable equanimity the news that she has fled to France with your enterprising cousin.’

  ‘No, no, it is not that! I can’t tell what it is, only that perhaps I have changed, or—or something of that nature!’ said Kitty. ‘And, indeed, Jack, I am excessively fond of you, and I daresay I shall always be, in spite of knowing that you are quite odiously selfish, but, if you will not be very much offended, I would much prefer not to be married to you!’

  He stood staring down into her perturbed face. The laugh had quite vanished from his eyes, and there was a white look round his mouth. Miss Charing had never before had experience of the temper Mr Westruther’s cousins knew well, and she was a little frightened.

  ‘So that’s it, is it?’ he said, quite softly. ‘George was right after all! Dolphinton was a little too much for you to swallow, but you had indeed set your heart on a title and a great position, and so you laid the cleverest trap for Freddy that I have ever been privileged to see! You cunning little jade!’

  It was at this point that Mr Standen, that most exquisite of Pinks, astounded the assembled company, himself included, by knocking him down.

  For this, two circumstances were largely responsible. He took Mr Westruther entirely unawares; and Mr Westruther, recoiling from the blow, tripped over a small footstool, lost his balance, and fell heavily.

  ‘Good God!’ said the Rector, forgetting his cloth. ‘Well done, Freddy! A nice, flush hit!’

  Lord Dolphinton, who had found the interchange between Kitty and his cousin rather beyond his power of comprehension and had allowed his attention to wander, now realized that a mill was in progress, which he was perfectly well able to understand. In high glee he called upon Miss Plymstock to observe that Freddy had floored Jack, and begged Freddy to do it again.

  Freddy himself, rather pale, stood waiting with his fists clenched while his cousin picked himself up. There was a very ugly look in Mr Westruther’s eyes, which caused Hugh, who had helped him to his feet, to maintain a grip upon his arm, and Kitty to say hurriedly: ‘Oh, Freddy, it was splendid of you, and I am so very much obliged to you, but pray do not do it again!’

  ‘No, no!’ said Freddy, conscience-stricken.

  The ugly looked faded. ‘At least admit you could not!’ said Mr Westruther.

  ‘No, I know I could not,’ replied Freddy, ‘but I dashed well don’t mind trying to!’

  Mr Westruther began to laugh. ‘Freddy, you dog, you took me off guard and off balance, and I have a good mind to knock you through that window! Oh, take your hand off my arm, Hugh! You can’t be fool enough to suppose I mean to have a turn-up with Freddy!’ He shook the Rector off as he spoke, and straightened his neckcloth. That done, he held out his hand imperatively to Kitty. ‘Come, cry friends with me!’ he said. ‘I will apologize for the whole, confess that I entirely misread a situation that is now perfectly plain to me, and remove myself immediately from your presence.’ He held her hand for a moment, grinning rather ruefully at her; then he lightly kissed her cheek, and said: ‘Accept my best wishes for your happiness, my dear, and believe that I shall do my utmost to cut you out with Uncle Matthew! My felicitations, Freddy. I’ll serve you trick-and-tie for that leveller one of these days. Oh, no, pray don’t accompany me, Hugh! Really, I have had more than enough of my family for one day!’

  A bow to Miss Plymstock, a wave of the hand, and he was gone. The front-door slammed behind him; they heard his tread going down the garden-path, the click of the gate-latch, and, in another moment or two, the sound of his horses’ hooves.

  Miss Plymstock rose, and shook out her skirt. ‘I’m bound to say I ain’t at all sorry to see the last of him,’ she remarked. ‘Nor I haven’t told you yet, Mr Standen, how very much obliged to you I am for bringing that licence.’

  But Mr Standen was not attending. He addressed himself to the Rector. ‘Oughtn’t to have done it, Hugh. Not the thing! He wasn’t expecting it.’

  ‘Very true,’ agreed the Rector. ‘It was, in a sense, improper, but since you could not, I fear, have landed him the smallest punch under any other circumstances, I cannot regret it. He came by his just deserts. The most deplorable feature of the business is that such a scene should have been enacted in this room, under the eyes of two ladies.’

  ‘Better have gone into the garden,’ nodded Lord Dolphinton. ‘Like watching a good mill.’

  ‘What you would have watched, my dear Foster, would not have been a mill, but a murder!’ said the Rector tartly.

  ‘Why, Hugh!’ exclaimed Kitty. ‘I do believe you are quite cross because it was Freddy who knocked him down, and not you!’

  ‘I would remind you, Kitty, that I am in Holy Orders,’ said the Rector austerely. ‘And let me tell you that if I had chosen to come to fisticuffs with Jack—However, we have said enough on this subject! The licence which Freddy has handed to me does indeed enable me to marry you to Miss Plymstock, Foster, but it in no way alters my reluctance to do so. Pray do not misunderstand me, ma’am! I do not wish to oppose the marriage. From what I have observed, I am inclined to think that Foster would derive considerable benefit from it.’

  ‘Well, for the lord’s sake, Hugh, stop prosing!’ recommended Freddy. ‘Dashed if you aren’t as bad as Kit’s French cousin!’

  The Rector cast him a withering look. ‘Have the goodness not to interrupt me, Freddy! While I am prepared to support Foster in his determination to marry Miss Plymstock, I cannot approve of his clandestine way of going about the business.’

  ‘What you mean, old fellow,’ said the irrepressible Mr Standen, ‘is that you don’t want to be mixed up in it. Scared of Aunt Dolphinton.’

  ‘I am not in the least scared of Aunt Dolphinton!’

  ‘Well, if you ain’t scared of her, you’re scared of what the rest of ’em will say. Don’t blame you: told Kit I’d as lief have nothing to do with it myself. However, shouldn’t be surprised if the family thought you’d done the right thing. I can tell you one who will, and that’s m’mother. What’s more, there’s two of us in it. I won’t hedge off.’

  The Rector hesitated. ‘That is all very well, but—’

  ‘I’ll tell you what it is, Hugh: no sense in refusing! Paltry thing to do, because if you won’t come up to scratch there’ll be nothing for it but for me to take ’em to the next parish first thing tomorrow morning, and hand ’em over to the parson there.’

  Miss Plymstock was moved to grasp him by the hand, saying warmly: ‘You’ve got a great deal of common-sense, Mr Standen, and I like you for it!’

  ‘You like Freddy too?’ said Lord Dolphinton, pleased. ‘I like Freddy! I like him—’

  ‘Now you’ve set him off again!’ said Freddy reproachfully.

  ‘That will do, Foster!’ said the Rector. ‘If you are determined on this course, I will perform the ceremony.’

  ‘Then that’s settled all right and tight,’ said Freddy. ‘They’ll have to stay here till the knot’s tied, but you won’t mind that. Going to drive Kit to Arnside now, but we’ll come over in the morning, and take ’em to Church.’

  Miss Charing, blinking at these competent plans, said: ‘Yes, but, Freddy, where are they to go when they are married? The thing is, you see, that it will take a little time for Hannah’s lawyer to settle everything with Dolph’s Mama, and until it is all quite safe she does not wish Lady Dolphinton to see Dolph, and also they will not have any money, which makes it particularly awkward for them.’

  ‘I shall be happy to offer you the hospitality of my house for as long as you wish to remain here, Miss Plymstock,’ said the Rector, untruthfully, but in a very Christian spirit.

  ‘No, that won’t do,’ said Freddy, considering