The Country Gentleman Read Online Free PDF Page B

together, but Anne was at once urgently called to join a hot debate on the Alien Bill, while Maria faded quietly in the other direction. Anne entered the fray with a sense of relief, glad to think for a moment of something other than her own reverses, but even as she vigorously refuted SylvesterFrane’s contention that the Bill was poorly written, her eyes frantically scanned the swelling company for Ensley. She had sent a note round to his house already that afternoon, but he had never answered; she supposed he must have been working (he had gone from Sidmouth’s office to become an Undersecretary in Lord Liverpool’s, and the Prime Minister himself had recently, though subtly, suggested he might soon rise to Second Secretary). He did sometimes work straight through the evening; but Celia had said nothing of his sending his regrets, so Anne told herself he must arrive soon.
    He did arrive, though not particularly soon—the company was just on the point of going to the table—and with Lady Juliana Canesford so close upon his heels that Anne almost thought they had come in together. Lady Juliana, moreover, clung so maddeningly near to him that he could not avoid taking her in to dinner. He gave Anne a discreet glance of complicity and despair as he offered the silly girl his arm. Anne was left to go in with Tom Maitland, who was certain to drink himself into helpless idiocy before the second remove.
    And indeed, her dinner partner very shortly too foxed for conversation, Miss Guilfoyle found nothing better to interest her in the dining-room than a very excellent cold sole pie for which she had, alas, no appetite. Ensley was on the same side of the long table as herself, but at the other end, so that he might have been in France for all the good he did her. At last, after what seemed an eternity, the ladies withdrew. Anne was able, as she went past Ensley, to whisper into the ear Lady Juliana had finally been obliged to relinquish, “I must speak with you privately.”
    Ensley moved back a little from the table and smiled down upon her. He was as tall and as fair as on the nightthey had met at Almack’s, but in other ways the years that had gone by since could be seen in his face. His pale, crinkly hair had begun to creep up his forehead, and a fine net of reddish lines showed at the corners of his blue eyes. Still, it was an intelligent face, and a handsome, amiable one, and Miss Guilfoyle could not even tonight look upon it without a thrill of pride and fondness. Now Ensley put a hand lightly on her wrist and murmured, still smiling, “Mind-reader! I must speak with you. Excuse yourself in twenty minutes and go to Charles’ library. I’ll be there.”
    Anne turned and followed the other ladies to the drawing-room. Already she felt better. Even if Ensley had no brilliant solution to suggest, it would be such a relief to tell him, to hear his kind, sympathetic murmur and rest her head against his shoulder. When her mother had died he had been consolation itself. As she counted the minutes till she could quit the drawing-room and steal upstairs, she remembered to wonder what exactly it could be that he had to tell her. It must be about rising to Second Secretary. Perhaps he had been with Liverpool that afternoon. And her spirits lifted even higher as she thought of the figure he would cut, the speeches they would write together, the fine work he could do.
    She was thinking this as she crept into Grypphon’s library. Ensley had reached it ahead of her. The night being hardly cooler than the day, she discovered him standing by the open windows, his back to her, trying to get a breath of air, she supposed. She walked noiselessly halfway across the room before he knew she was there and turned round.
    “It’s Liverpool, isn’t it?” she demanded at once, glad to defer her bad news some few minutes longer. “Has he advanced you?”
    But to her surprise, Ensley looked first confused, then unhappy. He had not come away