Crocodile on the Sandbank - Elizabeth Peters [28]
“Really, sir,” I said. “I am quite overwhelmed—”
“I know, I know.” Dropping my hand, the young gentleman burst into the jolliest peal of laughter imaginable. “I do overwhelm people. I can’t help it. Please sit down, ladies, so that I may do so; then we will have a pleasant talk.”
“Perhaps you might even consider introducing yourself,” I suggested, tenderly massaging my fingers.
“Forgive me, Amelia,” Evelyn exclaimed. “Let me present my cousin, Mr. Lucas Hayes.”
I will let you; whether he will be silent long enough to be presented, I don’t know.” I looked keenly at the young man, who was smiling broadly, undisturbed by my sharpness. “But I fancy it is no longer Mr. Hayes. Should I not say ‘your lordship?’”
A shadow clouded Evelyn’s face. The new earl leaned over and patted her hand
“You will say Lucas, I hope, Miss Peabody. I feel I know you so well! And it may be painful for Evelyn to be reminded of her loss. I see the news has reached you.”
“We only learned of it a few days ago,” Evelyn said. “I had tried to prepare myself, but… Please tell me about it, Lucas. I want to hear everything.”
“You are sure you wish to?”
“Oh, yes. I must hear every detail, even if it is painful to me; and although I know I should not, I cannot help hoping that he forgave me, at the end… that he had time for one kind word, one message… ”
She leaned forward, her hands clasped, her blue eyes misty with tears. She looked very pretty and appealing; the young earl’s face reflected his admiration.
“Evelyn, I am sure he felt kindness, even though… But I will tell you all. Only let me marshal my thoughts.”
While he marshaled them I had leisure to study him with a curiosity I made no attempt to conceal. He was a tall, broad-shouldered young chap, dressed with an elegance that verged on foppishness. His patent leather boots shone like glass; his waistcoat was embroidered with rosebuds. A huge diamond glittered in the midst of an immense expanse of snowy shirt front, and his trousers were so close-fitting that when he sat down I expected something to rip. The candid cheerfulness of his face was very English, but his swarthy complexion and large dark eyes betrayed his father’s nationality. I looked then at his hands. They were well shaped, if rather large and brown, and were as well tended as a woman’s. I always think hands are so expressive of character. I had noticed that Emerson’s were heavy with calluses and disfigured with the scars and scratches of manual labor.
There is no use trying to conceal from the reader that I found myself illogically prejudiced against my new acquaintance. I say illogically, because his manner thus far had been irreprochable, if ebullient. His subsequent speeches proved him to be a man of honor and of heart. Still, I did not like him.
Lucas began his explanation.
“You know, I imagine, that after your—your departure, our revered progenitor fell into such a rage that he suffered a stroke. We did not expect that he would recover from it, but the old gentleman had amazing powers of recuperation; I have noted that a vicious temper does seem to give its possessors unusual strength… Now, Evelyn, you mustn’t look at me so reproachfully. I had some affection for our grandfather, but I cannot overlook his treatment of you. You must allow me an occasional word of criticism.
“When I heard what had transpired, I went at once to Ellesmere Castle. I was not the only one to respond; you, who know our family, can imagine the scene of pandemonium I found on my arrival. Aunts and uncles and cousins of every degree had descended, like the scavengers they are—eating and drinking as hard as they could, and trying every despicable stratagem to get into the sickroom, where the sufferer lay like a man in a beleaguered fort. I couldn’t decide which of them was the worst. Our second cousin Wilfred tried to bribe the nurse; Aunt Marian sat in a chair outside the door and had to be pushed back whenever it was opened; young Peter Forbes, at his mother’s instigation, climbed the ivy outside the window of the sickroom and was only