Affair of Pretense

Thirty-eight

Surprising even himself to have been persuaded to a scheme as inauspicious as it was ill-conceived, Dr Neville Hearting had spent a great deal of time reflecting upon an impulse that would obviously bear nothing but dire consequences. When an imploring letter had reached him a couple of days ago, confiding vague details of an impending journey to Hastings, and appealing to him if he could be prevailed upon to escort Miss Devilliers, his first reaction was that of singular astonishment, followed by a great deal of disquietude. Since he could find no possible reason to precipitate so hasty a step other than (perhaps) her reluctance to accept Captain Mulfrey's offer of marriage, he was certainly at a loss. Young ladies were bound to fall into fits of melancholy when their hearts were torn, but if he knew Lord Dumbolton had been bullying his daughter into accepting the suit, Dr Hearting would have surely heard and stood in the way of it. But such was not the case and no word had reached them as yet that Captain Mulfrey had, at last, declared his intentions. The letter had been written in haste, promising that he would be furnished with the rest of the details upon their rendezvous. She had to be at Stanfield as soon as possible, and if he would not terribly mind it, she would be very much obliged to him and would remain yours, very truly.

Not unexpectedly, Dr Hearting wasn't so keen on the idea of jaunting about the countryside with an unmarried young lady in his charge. He was not lacking in compassion, however. More than once did he observe the gloomy abstraction which she would unconsciously fall into; and on a few occasions when she had been in a buoyant mood he was convinced that it was all for the sake of company than genuineness to her real feelings. Very perceptive to the little details around him, he was not one to overlook a doleful expression without experiencing the slightest pang of pity. The plain truth was that the poor girl was blue-deviled. He had already warned Lord Dumbolton upon the disadvantages of thrusting into the scene a distraction that was neither helpful nor necessary: it would only divert the damsel from her present woes, but not completely rid of them. Suppressed emotions, bottled up inside for so long would have fatally spurred a spirit of desperation, and he did not need to read the missive twice to grasp a hint of desperation in it.

The first sensible thing to be done was to dissuade her from so precarious a direction; he exactly had done so, and had indicated various issues that would arise if they were to embark on this journey. He had hoped that she would choose to explain her case to Lord Dumbolton instead. This solicited an unpromising response. She had written back to tell him that it would not do at all: she knew very well her papa would never consent to her returning to Stanfield, and she would have been constrained to defy him and make everything very awkward between them. With this Dr Hearting found himself entirely into a disagreement with her: Lord Dumbolton might cherish a twinge of animosity towards the Duke but he was by no means unreasonable as to forbid her anything of the sort. Moreover, should she decide to leave in this clandestine manner it would engender a great deal more than awkwardness to all parties concerned upon its discovery. The rest of her response did not augur well for the doctor, either: "Should you not countenance it, my dear sir, I have the least desire to prod you into a situation you are reluctant to put yourself. May I, however, only rely upon your discretion in the matter? For go, I must..."

Inexperienced to female coercions he was not sure if his mettle of immunity to these subtle maneuvers was being put to the test. He decided it was not, for there could scarcely be any bone of deviousness in Miss Devillers to warrant such suspicions. But any astute man would have easily recognized in these ominous words an ungovernable obstinacy and a signal of impending trouble. He had begged to call upon her; it had been refused. The lesser they saw each other, the little chance anyone would pick up hints of what was in the wind.

Bearing in mind the young lady's previous escapades he had soon acknowledged that it was futile to demand propriety of someone whose inclinations bore very little difference to that of a gamine. Flouting convention seemed to have been the hallmark of her existence. He was not a man easily given to agitation; having a blissfully equable disposition, Dr Hearting would sooner face adversity and employ his mind straight to the business of acquiring solutions rather than allowing himself to unnecessarily wrestle with troubling reflections. Thus, after some time of ruminating, he had finally agreed—not out of presumptions of gallantry, but of a simple discernment that Miss Devilliers, armed with nothing but sheer willfulness and misguided notions, would have inexorably gone off to Hastings, with or without his aid, and that would yield a more disastrous result.