The Admiral's Daughter by Judith Harkness Page B

they should continue their acquaintance as soon as possible. The outriders and postillions were now arranged about the chaise, the coachman in his perch, and with a crack of the whip the carriage started off. Maggie had now as much time as she liked to contemplate her new acquaintance, and to recollect the story he had told her of her cousin’s marriage. The former she liked better the more she thought of him, and the latter, contemplated with some animation of feeling, served to prepare her for the meeting she had dreaded all day. If this new aspect of her cousin did little to make her comfortable, at least it lighted the way for her, and what had begun as uncertainty as to his character, was pretty well formed into a determination to dislike him by the time the chaise turned in to a long elm-lined drive bounded on one side by a vast deer park and on the other by a stretch of ornamental waterways and wooded land. If her vanity had been soothed a little by the luxury of the carriage and the great attentiveness of her cousin’s servants, her heart was more than ever set against the nobleman whose ancestors had devised this elegant pleasure ground.

Five
    DUSK WAS ALREADY well advanced by the time the Viscount’s chaise came into view of Ramblay Castle. Maggie’s first glimpse of the mansion, lit up by what seemed a thousand candles in as many windows, nearly took her breath away. The castle was a vast building, with two great wings stretching out from a central construction, which, from its darker color and crumbling walls, appeared to have been the original edifice, constructed in the time of King John. It lay at the end of a stately avenue, lined on both sides by ancient elms, their crimson leafy glory just touching over the center of the road. A huge portico at the front of the castle, with room for three carriages at once, was sustained by twelve immense columns, and the main entrance was guarded by a pair of marble lions. Through the gathering dusk, Maggie could descry great terraces and balustrades giving off the modern wings, and a variety of flower gardens and walkways leading into a deer park.
    She was amazed at first to see such a profusion of light, when she supposed only the immediate family was at home. Even in her first delight at seeing so much beauty, elegance, and symmetry of design, she could not help but be taken aback by such a display of wealth. It struck her as just the kind of display an arrogant peer might like, which might, in fact, serve to assuage his own pride more than any more practical need. She herself had never allowed a taper to burn where no one was using it—to see such a profligate waste of candlewax as this only served to remind her of her prejudice against the Viscount. She was not allowed much time to contemplate this idea, however, for the chaise had very soon drawn up before the mansion, and in the ensuing commotion of postillions dismounting, footmen running out to unload her baggageand carry it indoors, and the carriage doors being thrown open, every other concern but the immediate business of getting down and seeing that nothing was forgotten left her. She was not allowed to do much, for the servants were so numerous and so efficient that within the wink of an eye the carriage was empty and being driven toward the stables. Another moment saw the great front door swing open and the dignified figure of the butler appear. Her maid, who had been standing stock-still during all the foregoing business, evidently too amazed to budge, now grasped her arm in fright and whispered a question.
    â€œNever mind, Marie,” Maggie murmured back, with a reassuring pat, “you shall come with me, whatever they say.”
    And together the two women mounted the great marble stairway and passed the butler into the hall. Here was an even more extravagant array of luxury than the exterior of the building had promised. Gilt and crystal, silk and exotic marbles made up the whole;