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  The Viscount at once closed with the offer, and proceeded to enlist the services of Mr Ringwood. Mr Ringwood, learning that his task was to escort his friend’s bride on a tour of the milliners’ and mantua-makers’ shops which graced the town, and to dissuade her from purchasing garments unsuited to her station, goggled at the Viscount in dismay. His expostulations went quite unheeded. The Viscount assured him that he would deal famously with Miss Wantage; and, after appointing a rendezvous with Lord Wrotham, bore him off in his phaeton to Grillon’s Hotel.

  Five

  MISS WANTAGE, IN SPITE OF HER NATURAL TERROR AT being left without support in such a formidable place as Grillon’s Hotel had passed a peaceful night, the unaccustomed excitement of the previous day having made her tired enough to sink into a sleep from which not all the strange noises of a London street had the power to rouse her. The Viscount had very kindly stayed to partake of dinner in her company before leaving the hotel for his own lodging; and since he had promised to visit her betimes next morning she was able to part from him with tolerable composure. But the high-bred stares of several dowagers sojourning in the hotel, coupled with the overt curiosity of the chambermaid who waited on her, made her feel very ill-at-ease, and it took all the comfort afforded by the knowledge of being dressed in a modish new gown to sustain her spirits until the arrival, at eleven o’clock, of the Viscount, with the shrinking Mr Ringwood in tow.

  Being blessed with the friendliest of natures, Miss Wantage accepted Mr Ringwood with perfect complaisance. Upon being told that Gil would take care of her while his lordship was otherwise engaged, she smiled confidingly at him, and said:‘Oh yes! Thank you! How kind it is in you! Will you take me to buy a hat for the wedding, please? Sherry made me buy this one I have on, because he told everyone I was going to school in Bath, but I will not wear it for my wedding!’

  ‘Well, you need not,’ replied Sherry. ‘But mind, Kitten, you are not to choose what Gil don’t like!’

  ‘Oh no, indeed I won’t!’

  The horrified Mr Ringwood made an inarticulate noise in his throat. It was not attended to. Sherry instructed him to be firm with Miss Wantage, and – in an under-voice – for God’s sake not to let her buy a hat more suited to a chère-amie than to a lady of Quality!

  Mr Ringwood, no lady’s man, was understood to say that really – no, really! – he knew nothing about such matters, but the Viscount summarily disposed of this objection and returned to the vexed question of abigails. Miss Wantage seemed surprised, but gratified, to learn that she was to have an abigail, but since she had no notion of how to set about acquiring one, she was unable to help his lordship. Mr Ringwood then had the brilliant idea of laying the matter before Chilham. This found instant favour with Sherry, who said that he would drive straight back to Stratton Street as soon as he had paid Miss Wantage’s reckoning.

  ‘And that reminds me!’ he said suddenly. ‘Where the deuce are we going to stay?’

  ‘Stay?’ repeated Mr Ringwood.

  ‘Dash it, Gil, we shall have to put up somewhere until I decide where we are to live!’

  ‘But – Are you meaning to stay in town, Sherry?’ asked Mr Ringwood, with ideas of honeymoons chasing one another through his head.

  ‘Of course we’re going to stay in town! Where the devil else should we stay? But I won’t stay at this place, and so I tell you! Of all the stuffy – Besides, we couldn’t stay here. They think Kitten’s on her way to school.’

  ‘Well, you’ve got a house, dear old boy – very fine house! Best part of the town – excellent address – Why not go there?’

  ‘I suppose it will come to that in the end,’ agreed Sherry, with a marked lack of enthusiasm. ‘But I can’t take possession of it before I’ve told my mother I want it. We shall have to put up at an hotel in the meantime. Only thing is, which hotel?’

  ‘There’s Limmer’s,’ suggested Mr Ringwood doubtfully.

  ‘Limmer’s!’ ejaculated the Viscount.‘With all the Pets of the Fancy for the chit to hob-nob with! As well take her to the Castle Tavern!’

  Mr Ringwood, much confused, begged pardon, and once more searched his brain. He bethought him of Ellis’s; and after the Viscount had spurned this hostelry with a loathing engendered by his having once dined there with his mother, rejected a suggestion that Graham’s was said to be comfortable, and, on the somewhat obscure grounds of having an aunt who used to stay there, refused to enter the portals of Symon’s, it was decided that the young couple should take up their temporary abode at Fenton’s, in St James’s Street.

  ‘Well, now that we’ve settled that, I’d best be off to go with George to visit this curst Bishop of his,’ said his lordship. He added, not without a touch of disapproval: ‘Queer start, that: George being acquainted with a Bishop. Shouldn’t have thought it of him.’

  ‘No, I shouldn’t either,’ agreed Mr Ringwood.‘Of course you do get ’em in the family sometimes. Thing that might happen to anyone.’

  ‘Yes, but you don’t know ’em,’ Sherry pointed out.‘Besides, he didn’t say this one was a relation of his. Very odd fellow, George.’

  ‘You know what I think about George, Sherry?’ Mr Ringwood said, as one who had given much consideration to the subject. ‘It’s a pity he’s such a devil of a fellow with the pistols. Makes it deuced awkward, sometimes, being a friend of his, because there’s no knowing when he’ll take one of his pets, and then nothing will do for him but to call one out. At least, I don’t mean that, precisely, because it stands to reason no one’s going to go out with George, unless they can’t help themselves, but the thing is he ain’t happy. Pity!’

  ‘Oh, I don’t know!’ said Sherry.‘He was never as bad until the Incomparable came to town. Don’t pay much heed to him, myself. How long will it take me to fork this Bishop of his for that licence, do you suppose? I mean, where are we to meet?’

  Mr Ringwood having no ideas to advance on the probable length of time this delicate operation would need, it was decided, after a good deal of argument, that as soon as Miss Wantage had accomplished her shopping, she should be escorted to the Viscount’s lodging, where he engaged himself to meet her. The party then broke up; Sherry going off to pick up Lord Wrotham, who had returned home to change his Belcher handkerchief for a neckcloth more in keeping with the exalted company he was to seek; and Mr Ringwood sallying forth with Miss Wantage in the direction of Bond Street.

  Any idea he might have cherished of being able within an hour or two to relinquish his charge into her betrothed’s keeping was put an end to by the discovery, when they repaired to the Viscount’s lodging shortly after noon, that his lordship proposed to meet his Hero only at the Church door. He had left a hastily scribbled note for Mr Ringwood, informing that everything was in a way to being fixed right and tight; and that he relied upon his friend to bring the bride to St George’s, Hanover Square, not a moment later than half-past two o’clock.

  Mr Ringwood, who was by this time on very friendly terms with the most unexacting young lady he had so far encountered, communicated the contents of the note to her, and said: ‘Well, what would you care to do now, I wonder?’

  ‘I could wait here,’ offered Miss Wantage, in a tone which indicated that she would consider such a course pretty flat.

  ‘No, that won’t do,’ Mr Ringwood said, frowning. ‘I think I had best take you to eat a little luncheon. After that –’ He paused, eyeing her speculatively. Miss Wantage returned his gaze with one of pleasurable expectation.‘I know what you’d like!’ he said. ‘You’d like to see the wild beasts at the Royal Exchange!’

  Nothing could have appealed more strongly to Miss Wantage’s youthful taste, so as soon as she had changed the chip-straw hat for an Angoulème bonnet of white thread-net trimmed with lace, she sallied forth once more with Mr Ringwood, tripping beside him with all the assurance of one who knew herself to be dressed in the pink of fashion. The Angoulème bonnet most becomingly framed her face; she had taken great pains to comb her curls into modi
sh ringlets; and if the figured muslin gown was less dashing than a certain pomona green silk which Mr Ringwood had assured her, in some agitation, Sherry wouldn’t like at all, no fault could be found with her little blue kid shoes, or her expensive gloves and reticule, or with the sophisticated sun-shade which she carried to the imminent danger of the passers-by.

  They were a trifle late in arriving at the Church, owing to Mr Ringwood’s having made an unfortunate reference during the course of the afternoon to the Pantheon Bazaar. Miss Wantage had immediately demanded to be taken to this mart, and had enjoyed herself hugely there, dragging Mr Ringwood from shop to shop, and alarming him very much by developing a sudden desire to become the possessor of a canary in a gilded cage, which happened to catch her eye. Mr Ringwood was as wax in her hands, but he had a very fair notion of what his friend’s feelings would be on being met at the Church door by a bride carrying a bird in a cage, and he said desperately that Sherry wouldn’t like it. He had very little hope of being attended to, but to his surprise he found that these simple words acted like a talisman on his volatile companion. So although the hackney which conveyed them from the Bazaar to Hanover Square might be rather full of packages and bandboxes, at least it contained no livestock, a circumstance upon which Mr Ringwood considered he had reason to congratulate himself.

  Not only Sherry was awaiting them in the Church porch, but the Honourable Ferdy Fakenham as well, whom he had brought along to support him on this momentous occasion. Both gentlemen were very nattily attired in blue coats, pale pantaloons, gleaming Hessians, uncomfortably high shirt collars, and exquisitely arranged cravats, the Honourable Ferdy sporting, besides (for he was a very Tulip of Fashion), a long ebony cane, lavender gloves, and a most elegant buttonhole of clove-pinks. It was Ferdy who had procured a nosegay for the bride to carry, and the bow with which he presented it to her had made him famous in Polite Circles.

  ‘Hallo, Kitten, that’s a devilish fetching bonnet!’ said the Viscount, by way of greeting. ‘But what the deuce made you late? You had best pay off the hack, Gil: no saying how long we shall be here.’

  ‘No, Sherry. Keep the hack!’ said Mr Ringwood firmly.

  ‘Why? If we want a hack, we can call up another, can’t we?’

  ‘The thing is, Sherry, there are one or two packages in it,’ explained Mr Ringwood, a little guiltily.

  The Viscount stared at him, and then took a look inside the vehicle.‘One or two packages!’ he exclaimed.‘Good God! What the deuce possessed you to bring a lot of bandboxes to a wedding?’

  ‘Oh, Sherry, they are things I bought at the Pantheon Bazaar!’ said Miss Wantage. ‘And we had no time to take them to your lodging, and I am very sorry if you do not like it, but I didn’t buy the canary which I wanted!’

  ‘My God!’ said the Viscount, realising his narrow escape.

  ‘Told her you wouldn’t like a canary,’ explained Mr Ringwood, with a deprecatory cough.

  ‘I should think you might well!’ replied his lordship. ‘Oh, well, it can’t be helped: the hack had best wait for us! Lord, if I haven’t forgotten to present you, Ferdy! It’s Ferdy Fakenham, Kitten. He’s some sort of a cousin of mine, so you may as well call him Ferdy, like the rest of us. You’re bound to see a lot of him. George Wrotham would have come along too, but we couldn’t bring him up to scratch. Sent you his compliments, and wished us both happy, or some such flummery.’

  ‘Couldn’t face a wedding,’ Ferdy said, shaking his head. ‘Comes too near the bone. Shook him badly, poor old boy, the mere sight of the licence! Gone off in the dumps again.’

  Mr Ringwood fetched a sigh, but the Viscount was disinclined to dwell upon Lord Wrotham’s troubles, and proposed that they should stop dawdling about for all the fools of London to gape at, step into the Church, and settle the business. They all went in, therefore, and the business was, in fact, soon settled, without any other hitch than the discovery by the bridegroom, midway through the ceremony, that he had forgotten to purchase a ring. He rolled a frantically enquiring eye upon his cousin Ferdy, who merely gazed at him with dropped jaw, and the eyes of a startled fawn; and then, rendered resourceful through alarm, tugged off the signet ring on his own finger, and handed it over to the waiting cleric. It was much too large for Hero’s finger, but the glowing look she cast up at him seemed to indicate that she did not in the least resent his lack of foresight. It fell to Mr Ringwood’s lot to give the bride away, which he did with a somewhat self-conscious blush. Everyone signed the register; the Honourable Ferdy saluted the bride’s cheek with rare grace; Mr Ringwood kissed her hand; and the bridegroom confided in a relieved aside to his supporters that he thought they had brushed through it pretty well.

  Once outside the Church again, the Viscount handed his wife into the hackney, and turned to consult his friends on the best way in which to spend the evening. Mr Ringwood stared at him very hard, and even Ferdy, who was not much given to the process of reasoned thought, goggled a little at a suggestion that they should all foregather at Fenton’s for an early dinner, pay a visit to the theatre, and wind up an eventful day by partaking of a snug little supper at the Piazza.

  ‘But, Sherry, dear boy! Lady Sheringham – wedding night – won’t want a party!’ stammered Ferdy.

  ‘Fudge! What the devil should we do, pray? Can’t spend the whole evening looking at one another!’ said the Viscount. ‘Kitten, you’d like to go to the play with us, wouldn’t you?’

  ‘Oh yes, do let us!’ cried Hero at once. ‘I would like it of all things!’

  ‘I knew you would. And you would like Gil and Ferdy to go along with us too, I dare say?’

  ‘Yes,’ agreed Hero, smiling warmly upon these gentlemen.

  ‘Then that’s settled,’ said the Viscount, getting into the hackney. ‘Fenton’s Hotel, coachman! Don’t be late, Gil!’

  The vehicle drove off, leaving the Honourable Ferdy and Mr Ringwood to look fixedly at each other.

  ‘Know what I think, Gil?’ Ferdy asked portentously.

  ‘No,’ replied Mr Ringwood.‘Damned if I know what I think!’

  ‘Just what I was going to say!’ said Ferdy.‘Damned if I know what to think!’

  Pleased to find themselves in such harmonious agreement, they linked arms in a friendly fashion, and proceeded down the road in the direction of Conduit Street.

  ‘Dear little soul, you know,’ presently remarked Mr Ringwood.‘Seems to think the devil of a lot of Sherry.’

  The slight uneasiness in his voice penetrated to Ferdy’s intelligence. He stopped suddenly and said: ‘I’ll tell you what, Gil!’

  ‘Well, what?’ asked Mr Ringwood.

  Ferdy considered the matter.‘I don’t know,’ he confessed.‘Better look in at Limmer’s, since we’re so close, and have a third of daffy!’

  The bridal couple, meanwhile, were rattling over the cobbles in the direction of St James’s Street. The groom put his arm round the bride’s waist and said: ‘Devilish sorry I forgot the ring, Kitten! Buy you one to-morrow.’

  ‘I like this one,’ Hero said, looking down at it. ‘I like to have it because it is your very own.’

  He laughed. ‘You wouldn’t keep it long! In fact, you’ll very likely lose it before the night’s out.’

  ‘Oh no! I shall hold my finger crooked, so that it can’t drop off. Sherry, when your cousin said “Lady Sheringham” – did he mean me?’

  ‘Of course he did. Though to tell you the truth, it sounded very odd to me too,’ admitted his lordship.

  Hero turned wide eyes upon him.‘Sherry, I know I am Lady Sheringham, but it doesn’t seem possible! I have the horridest feeling that I shall suddenly wake up and find that it has been all a dream!’

  ‘I know what you mean,’ nodded his lordship,‘though when I think of all the things I’ve had to do to-day it seems to me more like a nightmare.’ He encountered a dismayed look, and said hastily: ‘No, no, not being married! I didn’t mean that! I dare say I shall like that very tolerably once I’ve grown use
d to it. But that Bishop of George’s! Do you know, I had to swear an oath, or whatever they call it, that you had the consent of your guardians, Kitten?’

  ‘But, Sherry, I haven’t!’

  ‘No, I know that, but you wouldn’t have had me let a trifling circumstance like that stop me, would you? Besides, there’s no harm done: your precious Cousin Jane ain’t going to kick up a dust, you mark my words! She’ll be thankful to be so well rid of you, I dare say.’

  Hero agreed to it, but a little doubtfully. The Viscount said in a bracing tone that what they both needed was a bottle of something to set them up.

  They arrived presently at Fenton’s Hotel, to find that Bootle was already installed there, and had not only unpacked his master’s trunks, but had loftily instructed a chambermaid to perform the same office for my lady. As much to preserve his own dignity as Hero’s, he let drop, in the most casual way possible, the information that her ladyship’s maid had been smitten with jaundice, leaving her mistress temporarily unattended. His grand manners, the slightly contemptuous glance he cast round the best suite of apartments in the hotel, and the nicety of taste which led him to rearrange the ornaments on the mantelpiece of the sitting-room which separated my lord’s from my lady’s bedchamber, quite over-awed the chambermaid and the boots, and inspired them with a belief in the propriety of Lord and Lady Sheringham which only the appearance upon the scene of this erratic couple would dispel.

  His lordship’s first act, on his arrival, was to ring for a waiter to bring up a bottle of burgundy, and another of ratafia; his second was to produce from one pocket a small package, which he handed over to his bride, saying as he did so:‘Almost slipped my mind! There’s a wedding gift for you, brat: frippery things, but I’ll buy you better ones, once the blunt’s my own.’