Read The Shocking Miss Anstey for Free Online

ladies, please--rep or demi.” Cream?’
    ‘Thanks.’ Grant accepted the jug and carefully poured cream over apple tart. ‘And what did you say?’
    ‘What the devil could I say? I just said, “Delighted, sir,” and then he looked at the ceiling and said he’d had it on the best authority that forty-eight hours was enough.’
    ‘For what?’
    ‘Yes--what?’ Wickham laughed softly again. ‘I’ve told you we had Lisbon leave in the Peninsula? Forty-eight hours was usual, and some fool sent in a complaint that this seemed
    a bit short. He got a neat little chit back--Peer’s own writing--that it was as long as any reasonable man would wish to stay in bed with the same woman.’
    ‘Oh ho! That’s a bit sharp. Still, I suppose the fellow asked for it, writing in like that?’
    ‘Of course he did. And it was the right answer, really. I mean, the Peer knew his officers. We all did it, you know. But going back to Barford, he knows too much. I told him I’d need a week in Town to make sure of his chariot, and he kept his face all straight and asked for news of the pretty horse-breakers. This port isn’t bad.’
    ‘Better than we used to get.’
    ‘Well, one thing about the Peninsula, the port was pretty good. We’ll have another bottle.’
    ‘Certainly. What do you mean by pretty horse-breakers?’
    ‘Oh, it’s a Cyprian who’s good with horses. Tools the ribbons well. Or so Barford says, and he ought to know. He was in the regiment himself once, till he found diplomacy suited him better--and whist. I suppose I’ll have to tell him of this Anstey creature. She’s certainly the talk.’ Again Wickham chuckled happily. ‘Have you seen her?’
    ‘Well--yes.’
    ‘More than I have, except across the Park. What’s she like?’
    ‘Very--er--charming. An original, I should say.’
    ‘She must be. Ah, here’s the port. Thank you, waiter. Is it true about that curricle? She drove it herself?’
    ‘Oh yes. Prime style, too.’
    ‘What a woman! Do you know Jack Critchley?’
    ‘Can’t say I do.’
    ‘Rifle Corps. Damn nice fellow. But you shouldn’t try to walk through his picquets at night. The Peer once tried it.’
    ‘And what hap---’
    ‘We’d better forget it. The point is, I met him last night-- Critchley, I mean, not the Peer--and he was telling me about her. It seems he was riding in the Park that day, and he was one of that view-halloo party that made a chase of it.’
    ‘Was he?’ For a moment Grant hesitated, and then he could not resist it. ‘As a matter of fact, I was in that affair myself.’
    ‘What! You mean---’ Wickham stared at him. ‘It wasn’t you that went cross-country and cut her off?’
    ‘Well, yes. More by luck, I’m afraid, than---’
    ‘What a man! Here, fill the glasses, and don’t talk about luck! Call it an eye for country. Tactical interception, if you like, and here’s to it, you and her!’
    ‘Thanks. But---’
    ‘What comes next? You’re following it up, I hope?’
    ‘I don’t know that I want to. And even if I did, she seems to be someone else’s prize.’
    ‘Hildersham? Yes, I hear he’s moved in--protecting arm and so on. But are you letting him?’
    ‘Well, she seems to have rounded under his lee, and Hildersham’s a three-decker at this sort of thing. I mean, he can give her what the rest of us obviously can’t.’
    ‘Oh, he has everything. I agree about that, of course.’ Wickham nodded slowly. ‘Yes, you might be right.’
    ‘Exactly. Let’s refill.’
    He reached for the bottle, charging the glasses again, and for a long moment they sat in silence. Then Wickham spoke more cheerfully.
    ‘Mind you,’ he said, ‘Hildersham’s a good fellow. He’ll treat her decently.’
    ‘You know him?’
    ‘Slightly. That’s to say---’ The other look came back to him as he stopped. You know he was on the Peer’s staff?’
    ‘At Waterloo?’ Grant nodded. ‘I was a shade surprised.’
    ‘You needn’t have been. As a matter of fact he