JК
Sharpes Havoc :: Корнуэлл Бернард
Страница: 60 из 242Your dear mother wants only the best for you, but once she has come to know me she will surely recognize that I will care for you as no other.”
„I am sure she will,” Kate said warmly. She had never been quite certain why Colonel Christopher was so sure her mother would disapprove of him. He said it was because he was twenty-one years older than Kate, but he looked much less, and she was sure he loved her, and there were many men married to wives much younger, and Kate did not think her mother could possibly object on grounds of age, but Christopher also claimed to be a relatively poor man and that, he said, would most definitely offend her mother, and Kate thought that more than likely. But Christopher’s poverty did not offend her, indeed it only seemed to make their love more romantic, and now she would marry him.
He led her down the Quinta’s steps. „Is there a carriage here?”
„There’s an old gig in the stables.”
„Then we can walk to the village and Luis can fetch the gig for our return.”
„Now?”
„Yesterday,” Christopher said solemnly, „could not be too soon for me, my love.” He sent Luis to harness the gig, then laughed. „I almost came with inconvenient company!”
„Inconvenient?”
„Some damn fool engineer-forgive my soldier’s vocabulary-wanted to send a broken-down Rifle lieutenant to rescue you! Him and his ragamuffins. I had to order him away. Be gone, I said, and „stand not upon the order of your going.” Poor fellow.”
„Why poor?”
„Dear me! Thirty-something years old, and still a lieutenant? No money, no prospects and a chip on his shoulder as big as the Rock of Gibraltar.” He put her hand under his elbow and walked her beneath the avenue of wisteria. „Oddly enough I know the Rifle lieutenant by reputation. Have you ever heard of Lady Grace Hale? The widow of Lord William Hale?”
„I’ve never heard of either of them,” Kate said.
„What a sheltered life you do lead in Oporto,” Christopher said lightly. „Lord William was a very sound man. I worked closely with him in the Foreign Office for a time, but then he went to India on government business and had the misfortune to return on a naval ship that got tangled up in Trafalgar. He must have been an uncommonly brave fellow, for he died in the battle, but then there was an almighty scandal because his widow set up house with a Rifle officer and this is the very same man. Ye gods, what can Lady Grace have been thinking of?”
„He’s not a gentleman?”
„Certainly not born one!” Christopher said.
„I am sure she will,” Kate said warmly. She had never been quite certain why Colonel Christopher was so sure her mother would disapprove of him. He said it was because he was twenty-one years older than Kate, but he looked much less, and she was sure he loved her, and there were many men married to wives much younger, and Kate did not think her mother could possibly object on grounds of age, but Christopher also claimed to be a relatively poor man and that, he said, would most definitely offend her mother, and Kate thought that more than likely. But Christopher’s poverty did not offend her, indeed it only seemed to make their love more romantic, and now she would marry him.
He led her down the Quinta’s steps. „Is there a carriage here?”
„There’s an old gig in the stables.”
„Then we can walk to the village and Luis can fetch the gig for our return.”
„Now?”
„Yesterday,” Christopher said solemnly, „could not be too soon for me, my love.” He sent Luis to harness the gig, then laughed. „I almost came with inconvenient company!”
„Inconvenient?”
„Some damn fool engineer-forgive my soldier’s vocabulary-wanted to send a broken-down Rifle lieutenant to rescue you! Him and his ragamuffins. I had to order him away. Be gone, I said, and „stand not upon the order of your going.” Poor fellow.”
„Why poor?”
„Dear me! Thirty-something years old, and still a lieutenant? No money, no prospects and a chip on his shoulder as big as the Rock of Gibraltar.” He put her hand under his elbow and walked her beneath the avenue of wisteria. „Oddly enough I know the Rifle lieutenant by reputation. Have you ever heard of Lady Grace Hale? The widow of Lord William Hale?”
„I’ve never heard of either of them,” Kate said.
„What a sheltered life you do lead in Oporto,” Christopher said lightly. „Lord William was a very sound man. I worked closely with him in the Foreign Office for a time, but then he went to India on government business and had the misfortune to return on a naval ship that got tangled up in Trafalgar. He must have been an uncommonly brave fellow, for he died in the battle, but then there was an almighty scandal because his widow set up house with a Rifle officer and this is the very same man. Ye gods, what can Lady Grace have been thinking of?”
„He’s not a gentleman?”
„Certainly not born one!” Christopher said.