He then had to swerve sharply again to prevent himself from trampling on the prostrate Giles—which manoeuvre almost had his own horse unshipping him! The happy Brandy, meanwhile, was bolting into the far distance.
Drusilla opened her eyes, which she had closed after Giles’s fall and Brandy’s near accident, to see that the new horseman had stopped, flung his reins to a drop-jawed Vobster, who had outpaced herself and Green, and was running towards Giles who was trying to sit up.
‘No, don’t,’ said the stranger sharply, falling on to his knees beside the dazed boy and beginning to feel his arms and legs to check whether any bones were broken.
He had just discovered Giles’s withered leg when Drusilla arrived—Green had gone to try to catch Hereward so that he might pursue Brandy, whilst Jackson was limping homewards.
‘Is he badly hurt?’ gasped Drusilla who had not run so far or so fast since she had been a hoydenish young girl.
The stranger looked up at her. ‘Apparently not—and no thanks to the fools who let him ride a half-broken horse. You were lucky that he didn’t kill himself.’
Drusilla could not help herself. She stared at him. He was the most handsome man she had ever seen. He resembled nothing so much as the statue of Apollo which Jeremy’s father had brought from Greece. His hair, cut short in the latest fashion, was golden, and slightly curling. His eyes were as blue as the sunlit sea and his mouth was long and shapely: but for all his classic beauty there was nothing feminine about him.
On the contrary, he gave off an aura of cold strength and assured masculinity which was reflected in a voice so hard and measured that it shocked Drusilla into silence.
Not so Giles. He struggled upright and said indignantly, ‘You go too fast, sir. And you’re not to talk to my sister like that. My accident wasn’t her fault, it was mine. I was stupidly disobedient and paid the price for it—and who the devil are you, anyway?’
The stranger laughed and rose. ‘You might say the devil himself if you wished. But I would prefer you to call me Devenish. I apologise to your sister—and in the name of all that is holy, who are you, anyway?’
Brother and sister both stared at him. Giles croaked, ‘Forgive me, m’lord, I had no notion that you were staying at Tresham, or I should not have been so short. I am Giles Stone, and this is my sister Drusilla Faulkner, the widow of the late owner of Lyford House.’
‘Are you, indeed! If you were my young brother and responsible for riding a horse you couldn’t control then I would think up a suitable punishment for you. I trust your sister will do the same.’
‘But you ain’t,’ retorted Giles, struggling to his feet, to be helped by Devenish when he saw the lad’s determination. ‘And it’s up to her to decide on my punishment, not you. Ain’t it, Dru?’
‘Ah, a youth of spirit,’ drawled Devenish. ‘How came you by that leg, anyway? Were you born with it?’
This matter-of-fact question, when most people they knew tip-toed apologetically round Giles’s disability, pleased both brother and sister.
Drusilla suddenly found her voice. So this was Henry, Earl Devenish, nicknamed ‘the Devil’. She could not allow the knowledge of his reputation to silence her. She answered him before Giles could.
‘A childhood illness, m’lord. He contracted a long and lingering fever, which had him bedridden and his leg withering. But that was the least of it, most of the children around here who were so afflicted at the time lost more than that. They lost their lives.’
‘Well, at least he kept his—and his impudence, too. Are you fit enough to walk to my horse, Master Giles, or would you prefer me to carry you? I can convey you to your home if your sister will lead the way.’
‘Oh, Green will do that when he returns,’ said Drusilla hastily. ‘No need to put yourself out.’
‘Oh, I never do that,’ riposted Devenish. ‘Very unwise. People would always be expecting it of me—most inconvenient. I needed amusement and entertainment this afternoon and you are providing it. I had not thought the countryside so full of incident.’
And that was that. There could be no gainsaying him. He helped Giles to hobble towards his horse, and with Vobster’s assistance they hoisted him on to it, and set off for Lyford House.
Well, he had wanted entertainment and now he had it! What was better still, he could not have hoped for an easier entry to the late Jeremy Faulkner’s home, together with an introduction to his widow. He had not known of the lively young cub’s existence and could not be sure whether the lad’s presence would make his task easier or harder.
As for Mrs Drusilla, she was a pretty young thing with, if he was not mistaken, a graceful figure beneath her Quakeress’s gown. Was she still in mourning for the late Jeremy? Its colour would suggest so. After two long years? Did one then infer an undying love?
Probably, on the evidence of their encounter so far, the lad had all the spirit in the family—and all the character, too. Yes, undying love it must be, of the sentimental sort, ignoring all the flaws which the late Jeremy must have undoubtedly possessed.
Devenish’s cynical musing was taking place whilst he talked nothings to the unworldly Miss Cordelia Faulkner. His hostess had insisted on seeing her brother to his room and sending for the doctor before she returned to take tea with them.
Drinking tea at an unfashionable hour held no attraction for him—he detested tea at any hour. Coffee was Devenish’s drink, but he was prepared to sacrifice himself for once.
‘Do you intend to stay long in this part of the world, m’lord?’ Miss Faulkner was asking him.
‘Oh, that depends,’ he answered, ‘on whether I find anything on which to fix an interest—or to entertain me. Now this afternoon I was provided with a great deal. To be nearly run down by a riderless horse, to avoid by inches trampling a lively youth to death, followed by meeting a charming widow—now that is a series of situations for a novel, do admit. Particularly since myself, horse, youth, and lady, are still alive and well.’
Miss Faulkner beamed at him. He was not in the least like his reputation. Such easy charm! Such grace! It was fortunate that mind-reading was not her game, for what Devenish was saying and what he was thinking bore no relationship to one another.
‘I believe that your adventures this afternoon resembled those in the novels of Miss Jane Austen rather than the Gothic delights of Mrs Radcliffe. No murders, no haunted abbeys, mysterious monks or dangerous crypts,’ she announced gaily.
Devenish forbore to point out to her that the former owner of Lyford House itself had been involved in one mysterious death. Tact must be used here, particularly since Mrs Faulkner, followed by the tea board, was now with them again.
He rose and bowed. Drusilla noted distractedly that his clothing was as perfect as his face and body. She had always assumed that a man nicknamed ‘the Devil’ must be dark and dour and dressed to match.
Nothing of the sort. The only thing about him which lived up to his name was his conversation, if the manner in which he had spoken to Giles was typical of it.
‘I trust that Master Giles is beginning to recover from his accident,’ he offered her.
‘Master Giles,’ returned Drusilla cheerfully, ‘is behaving as he always does—as though he hasn’t a care in the world. I am beginning to ask myself what would distress him.’
Devenish’s smile was almost a grin. ‘Better that way, surely, than a lad who always makes the worst of things.’
‘Oh, indeed. He was distressed, I must admit, by my husband’s death—but then he and Jeremy always dealt famously together. Not many men would have