The Pursuit of Pleasure Read Online Free PDF Page B

bothered with all the trouble of eloping.”
    When he laughed, she frowned. “It will never do. I must tell you, I couldn’t stand all the silly fuss of an elopement, and besides, I can’t abide a closed carriage ride.”
    “Then you shall have your special license.” He handed it to her with a flourish. “Does my lady require anything else?”
    “Really?”
    He had astonished her. But only for a moment.
    “Well, yes. I find I would like to see the settlements. Papa will make all sorts of noise about taking them up, but I’d like to begin as I mean to go on. Independently.”
    He didn’t laugh, even at the image of a pampered pet like Lizzie imagining herself independent. While she had always been a self-sufficient little thing, there was a vast difference between her confident expectations and the demands of the world. But she was a clever girl—she would learn soon enough.
    “If you like.” He pulled out a folded piece of foolscap. “I’ve taken the liberty of drawing up a draft—time being of the essence. Once you’ve approved these amounts, all you’ll need to do is fill in the amount of your dowry, which, I might add, you’ll have control of immediately.”
    As if on cue at the mention of money, Squire Paxton puffed his way through the yew hedges and across the lawn. He was steaming like a Christmas pudding.
    He began before he’d reached them. “Elizabeth, there you are. Now, kindly explain the meaning of all this.” His tone was abrupt and the eye he bent on Marlowe sharp and demanding.
    “Congratulate me, Papa. I’m going to be married, as soon as can be arranged.”
    Instead of beaming out his approval, the squire’s bushy gray brow beetled. Clearly, he still didn’t approve.
    “Now, Elizabeth, I’ve had enough of your radical ideas and newfangled ways of doing things. This is something for your mother and I to decide. We hardly know the young man.” He nodded sharply in Marlowe’s direction.
    “Of course. I’m quite at your service, sir.”
    Lizzie’s curious cat eyes slid back and forth between them. Incredulity creased her ginger brows. “Goodness, Papa, you’ve known Jamie, and his family, all his life.”
    “Of course, we know his father, excellent man, the Reverend Doctor Marlowe,” the Squire insisted, “but things must be settled correctly, between gentlemen, without this unseemly haste. You needn’t concern yourself, my dear.”
    “Papa.” Her voice held a warning. “You know my feelings. I shall concern myself. It is my future we’re bartering here, and Jamie and I have already discussed the settlements. I should think you’d approve of our businesslike dealings—we’ve a draft right here.”
    “Absolutely not. It just isn’t done. Now, I’ll just have Captain Marlowe up to the house to have a talk. I insist.”
    At least he wasn’t foolish enough to forbid. Marlowe could only imagine how Lizzie would react to that. She appeared quite put out as it was.
    “I’m of age, Papa. You know I’ll want to approve those settlements myself, or I’ll not marry at all,” she replied steadily, though he could see the tension flattening the corners of her mouth. Then she gave her head a little shake and changed her tone. “But by all means let us go up to the house. We’ll need your secretary at any rate.”
    She kissed her father’s cheek and walked past, oblivious to the fact that the squire’s brow gathered like thunderclouds over the top of his spectacles.
    “And we’ll need to get down to the rectory as soon as may be,” she continued, “if we’re to be married today.”
    “Today?” The squire’s face colored like a stewed beet. “On no account can it be today.”
    “Papa, you must understand, Jamie leaves for the Antipodes directly.”
    Once Lizzie made up her mind about something, neither hell nor highly patronizing father would stop her. She sailedoff like a jib. Marlowe followed close in her wake, leaving the squire to trail behind, blowing like