The Constant Companion Read Online Free PDF Page B

Limrighton,” and that Lady Eleanor was helping with the plot. He would put her in the library and send Lord Philip to her!
    Constance, who had been feeling miserable over the coldness of her reception, brightened considerably under Mr. Evans’s care. At least here was someone who seemed absolutely delighted to see her. He ushered her into the library, rang for a footman, and demanded that a selection of the
best
of the supper be brought in along with a bottle of champagne.
    “I shall leave you now, Miss Limrighton,” he said, bowing low, after he had seen all her wants attended to.
    Constance gave him a dazzling smile, and Mr. Evans went off to wait in the hall to waylay Lord Philip Cautry. Who would have thought old Ma Rider would have picked out such a lovely girl, thought Mr. Evans disrespectfully. At least Lord Philip would be pleased. Now, there was a man with an eye for a well-turned ankle.
    Left alone in front of the library fire, Constance ate an excellent supper, her appetite seeming still to be enormous. She looked doubtfully at the, as yet, untouched bottle of champagne. She had not taken any wine during her stay in London, remembering her aunt’s strictures about it stinging like the adder and biting like the serpent. But she suddenly felt a small spark of rebellion. No one was here to see her. It would be discourteous not to drink any. She would just take one glass. How amusing that Mr. Evans had called her Miss Limrighton! She wondered if he was in the habit of mistaking people’s names. The champagne tasted refreshingly innocuous.
    She looked around the library with a sudden pleasant feeling of well-being. A small pile of books with marbled covers lay on a table beside her. She idly picked one up and then let it drop. Novels! Constance had never read a novel—had never been allowed to read a novel. She drank another glass of champagne and warily picked it up. It was called
Cecilia
. She idly glanced at the first paragraph, looked closer, read—and then was lost in a dazzling world of fiction.
    Down below, Mr. Evans paced uneasily up and down the hallway. Lord Philip Cautry had not yet arrived and the
musicale
had begun, the high sexless voice of the male soprano echoing through the glittering rooms of the mansion.
    He was just about to give up hope—Lady Eleanor had already done so—when the door was opened and Lord Philip Cautry strolled in.
    “Evening, Evans,” he remarked to the hovering secretary as the butler relieved him of his cloak and chapeau-bras. “I have arrived at last, you see. Is my sister very angry?”
    “Well, yes,” smiled Mr. Evans. “She had decided that you were not going to come.”
    “Well, I am here at last and prepared to suffer the caterwauling. Lead the way.”
    Mr. Evans eyed him nervously. His lordship seemed in an unusually good humor. His normally harsh features were softened in a pleasant smile of unusual sweetness.
    Mr. Evans plucked up his courage. “There
is
a little problem, my lord. There is this young lady, a Miss Limrighton, in the library and Lady Eleanor
commanded
me to arrange that you should meet this lady.”
    “Oh, she did, did she?” drawled his lordship. “Well, I ain’t passing the evening with any Friday-faced, simpering miss of my sister’s choice. Odd’s life, Evans, you should know better than that.”
    “Just so,” pleaded poor Mr. Evans. “But I have been
commanded
, my lord.” He looked up into Lord Philip’s face like a whipped spaniel and his lordship sighed. Lord Philip could never bear to see anyone weak being bullied.
    “Very well,” he sighed. “I shall spend two seconds flat with her which means you will have fulfilled your part of the bargain.”
    “Thank you,” said Mr. Evans fervently. “Oh, thank you, thank you very much, th.…”
    “Are you going to stand there all night thanking me?” demanded his lordship testily. “Go on, man. Let’s get it over with!”
    Mr. Evans hurriedly led the way to the library