Her Heart's Captain by Elizabeth Mansfield Page B

never before condescended to pay us a visit—that is, not since he was a boy, and that, of course, was before I was born.”
    â€œCaptain Allenby ? Your cousin Tris is Robbie’s Captain Allenby?”
    â€œYes, truly ! Captain Tristram Allenby of His Majesty’s Ship Providential . Papa has been speaking of nothing else all morning.”
    â€œWell, really, Andrea,” Jenny said with a small sigh of annoyance, “you could have warned me before. Why didn’t you inform me, when I first told you I’d discovered his identity, that he was your cousin?”
    â€œI didn’t realize it until today. I’ve never met my cousin, you know, and Aunt Dulcie uses her title—Lady Rowcliffe. I forgot about her surname. My uncle, Lord Rowcliffe, was Arthur Allenby, but he died years ago. His eldest son, Viscount Rowcliffe, lives in Scotland, and no one ever sees him . I’ve met Aunt Dulcie once or twice—when we’ve gone to visit at their Derbyshire estates—but the family is really almost unknown to me and never on my mind. When Papa proses on about them, I never pay attention. So when you first discovered your mysterious gentleman’s identity, the name didn’t sound familiar. It just didn’t occur to me that your Captain Allenby and my Cousin Tris were one and the same.”
    â€œPlease, Andrea, I wish you would stop calling him my Captain Allenby. I’ve only met him once in my life, and that was for no more than half-an-hour. He probably doesn’t even remember me.” She rose from the sofa and began to pace about the room uneasily. “It is the most amazing coincidence. And you say he’s to stay with you for a whole month?”
    â€œSo it seems. Aunt Dulcie wrote that he’s bored with London, in spite of the fact that she’s arranged all sorts of amusements for him, and to her surprise he seemed receptive to her suggestion that they rusticate here at Wyndham for a few weeks. So they’re coming for a prolonged stay. Papa is overjoyed at the prospect of having a man about the house—especially one with whom he can discuss military matters and politics and trade and such things. And Mama is beside herself with excitement, for Aunt Dulcie is a veritable doyen of the most fashionable circle in London and has never before deigned to spend more than two nights under our roof. Mama is planning all sorts of dinners and routs and balls.” She jumped up, grasped Jenny round the waist and spun her around. “Oh, Jenny, isn’t it the most thrilling happenstance?”
    â€œThrilling?” Jenny echoed in repugnance, withdrawing from her friend’s embrace. “It can’t be so to me. Think how awkward it will be if we meet—”
    â€œ If you meet? Of course you’ll meet. Mama is already writing an invitation to your mother for the welcoming dinner.”
    â€œYour mother is most kind, but really, Andrea, you haven’t permitted her to believe we’d come !”
    â€œBut you must come. Why shouldn’t you?”
    Jenny stared at her friend in disbelief. “Haven’t you been listening to me for all these months? Your cousin, my dear, has been the terror of our lives. Mama and I have had nightmares about him. Robbie has lived under his tyrannical domination for half a year. Surely you don’t expect us to sit at the same table with him as if nothing had happened?”
    â€œWell, I did think, at first, that you wouldn’t like it, but when I mentioned it to Papa, he only laughed. He says all seamen say their captains are monstrous. It’s the way of sailors to complain about discipline at sea. He says Robbie will be glad to have this opportunity to gain greater intimacy with his captain.”
    â€œI hope, Andrea, that you’re not implying that my brother is a scheming toady, eager to butter up his captain—”
    â€œI’m not implying that at all,” Andrea