Lord Perfect Read Online Free Page B

about
such things.
    All would not go well unless they moved to a better
neighborhood very soon.

    AS ONE MIGHT expect, Lady Ordway lost not a minute in
spreading word of Bathsheba Wingate's appearance in Piccadilly.
    The subject was on everyone's lips when Benedict went to
his club later that afternoon.
    All the same, he was not at all prepared when it came up
at Hargate House that evening.
    He and Peregrine had joined Benedict's parents, his
brother Rupert, and Rupert's wife Daphne there for dinner.
    When the family adjourned to the library afterward,
Benedict was astonished to hear Peregrine ask Lord Hargate to look at
his drawings from the Egyptian Hall and judge whether or not they
were acceptable for one who intended to become an antiquarian.
    Benedict casually crossed the room,
picked up the latest Quarterly Review ,
and began leafing through its pages.
    Lord Hargate rarely wasted tact upon family members.
Since he, like the rest of the Carsingtons, regarded Peregrine as a
member of the family, he wasted no tact on the boy, either.
    "These are execrable," said his lordship.
"Rupert can draw better, and Rupert is an idiot."
    Rupert laughed.
    "He only pretends to be an
idiot," Daphne said. "It is a game with him. He deceives
everyone else, but I can hardly believe he has deceived you ,
my lord."
    "He does such a fine impression of an imbecile that
he might as well be one," said Lord Hargate. "Still, he can
draw as a gentleman ought. Even at Lisle's age, he could acquit
himself creditably." He looked across the room at Benedict.
"What have you been thinking of, Rathbourne, to let matters
reach such a pass? The boy needs a proper drawing master."
    "That's what she said," Peregrine said. "She said my drawings weren't any
good. But she's a girl, and how could I be sure she knew anything
about it?"
    " She ?"
said Lady Hargate. Her eyebrows went up as she turned her dark gaze
to Benedict.
    Rupert looked at him with the same expression, except
for the laughter in his eyes.
    He and Benedict bore a strong physical resemblance to
their mother and—from a distance—each other. The other
three sons—Geoffrey, Alistair, and Darius—had inherited
their father's golden brown hair and amber eyes.
    "A girl," Benedict said dismissively while his
heart pounded. "At the Egyptian Hall. She and Peregrine had a
difference of opinion." This ought to surprise no one. Peregrine
had differences of opinion with everybody.
    "She has the same color hair as Aunt Daphne and her
name is Olivia and her mother is an artist," Peregrine
volunteered. "She was silly, but her mother seemed a sensible
sort."
    "Ah, the mother was there," said Lady Hargate,
her gaze still on Benedict.
    "I don't suppose you happened to notice, Benedict,
whether the mama was pretty?" Rupert said, so very innocently.
    Benedict looked up from the Quarterly
Review , his face carefully blank, as
though his mind had been upon the contents of the journal. "Pretty?"
he said. "Rather more than that. I should say she was
beautiful." His gaze reverted to the periodical. "Lady
Ordway recognized her. Said the name was Winshaw. Or was it Winston?
Perhaps it was Willoughby."
    "The girl said it was Wingate," Peregrine
said.
    The name fell into the room the way a meteor might fall
through the roof.
    After a short, reverberating silence, Lord Hargate said,
"Wingate? A redheaded girl? But that must be Jack Wingate's
daughter."
    "She would be about eleven or twelve by now, I
believe," said Lady Hargate.
    "I am more interested in the mama," said
Rupert.
    "Why am I not surprised?" said Daphne.
    Rupert looked at her innocently. "But Bathsheba
Wingate is famous, love. She is like one of those irresistible
females Homer talks about who lure sailors onto the rocks."
    "Sirens," Peregrine said. "But they are
mythological creatures, like mermaids. Supposedly they lure men to
death through some sort of music, which is ridiculous. I do not
understand how music can lure one to anything, except to