The Colonel and His Daughter Read Online Free Page B

squealed. Potts leapt to his feet.
    “What the . . ?”
    “Roger, get off the chair and let the Colonel sit down,” Trudy scolded as Roger glared at the visitor.
    “Don’t trouble the old boy,” Potts said. “I’ll sit here, by the window.”
    He was about to lower himself into the chair when he spotted a small cluster of women standing outside Trudy’s gate. They were craning their necks unashamedly trying to look in.
    “What do they think?” Trudy muttered. “That you’re going to tear all my clothes off and make love to me on the rug?”
    She hadn’t meant to speak aloud and the Colonel pretended he hadn’t heard as he tried the small sofa, out of sight of the window and thoroughly checked for pets.
    However, her words stuck in his mind and now he was the one to blush.
    “Cup of tea, Colonel?”
    “Potts,” he said.
    “Yes, I’ll make a pot.”
    “No, you misunderstand. We agreed, you’d call me Potts.”
    “You were telling me about your new suit.”
    “Ah, yes. She fancies me in cream. Says I’ll look dignified, like a colonial Colonel. What colour will you be wearing, Mrs . . . Trudy?”
    “For what?”
    “Our engagement party of course.”
    “I won’t be wearing anything,” she said.
    “I say!”
    “I mean, we aren’t getting engaged. This is all a terrible misunderstanding and we have to tell Diana.”
    Potts drew his lips back and sucked air noisily through his teeth.
    “As we will,” he said. “But not until that bounder Chumley has left the village. I won’t leave you prey to his attentions. I’ve made some enquiries and I’ve heard he gets through women at the rate some chaps get through socks.”
    Trudy stared at him for a long time.
    “You’d really do all this for me? Even to the point of deceiving your own daughter?”
    “You saw how delighted she was,” he said. “I’ve tried telling her, but she keeps bursting into tears every five minutes for no apparent reason and I don’t want to upset her. Let’s let the dust settle a bit, get Julia’s wedding out of the way and see what happens.”
    “But what about this . . . this engagement party?”
    “We can still have a party,” he said. “But by then, everyone will know we’re not really engaged and it can just be a summer garden party. What do you think?”
    Trudy beamed. “All right,” she said. “Let’s just say, for argument’s sake, that I will wear emerald green for our party.”
    Potts beamed. Emerald green would go splendidly with her eyes.
    “But we mustn’t forget, Potts,” she said, finding it easier than she’d imagined to use his name. “Our mission is to find a husband for Diana.”
    “Well, Bill sent flowers. Must have a crush on her, but she doesn’t seem inclined to reciprocate.”
    Trudy plucked at some black fur on her skirt and sprinkled it on the floor. It landed in her pink fluffy slippers.
    “Would you have any objection to your daughter marrying a publican?”
    “None at all,” he said, sitting back and placing his hands on his knees. “Matter of fact, I like the fellow. Has the look of a proper man, not one of these namby pamby new men one hears so much about.”
    It was true. Bill White was a good-looking man. He looked the sort who in days of old would have had one hand on the hilt of his sword, ready to defend the honour of his lady.
    “Are you all right, Trudy?” Potts said. “You’ve gone rather pink and your eyes are glimmering.”
    “Just thinking,” she said. “So when is our party to be?”
    “Last Saturday in August,” Potts said.
    They’d decided before Diana’s untimely arrival, to throw a number of garden parties and barbecues throughout the summer and invite every eligible male in the district – and Diana too of course.
    They’d be like the King and Queen of fairy tales, sizing up prospective husbands for the beautiful princess. Funnily enough, Bill White hadn’t even been on their list of possibles, but as Diana seemed to know him and he