106. Love's Dream in Peril by Barbara Cartland

smiled, as from Adella’s previous letters, she gathered that Uncle Edgar, although very generous with his money, was not quite the kindly old gentleman they had both pictured before Adella left.
    But his reserve and his occasional bouts of rudeness did not seem to have dampened Adella’s spirits at all.
    She began to read the next paragraph and her heart skipped a beat.
    “ You will not believe this, but guess who has been calling on me since I last wrote to you ? Lord Ranulph Fowles ! I met him a few days ago while out driving in the Park. He was riding that tall black horse of his. Do you remember him, Jane ?”
    How could she possibly forget him?
    Jane had tried so hard to put Lord Ranulph’s strong handsome face from her mind, but his look of disdainful astonishment when he met her in the street, shepherding the schoolgirls along, was imprinted on her heart for ever.
    “ I am not quite sure what to make of him, Jane. He is so serious and I really don’t know what to say to him. I try to make polite conversation and then he leaps to his feet and kisses my hand in the most alarming way and says he has to leave .
    I wish Uncle Edgar was more sociable as then he would join us and I should not feel so awkward. But I expect his Lordship will soon grow tired of my very dull company, I hope, and stop calling.
    Jane, what are you doing at this very moment? I miss you so much. Write soon, I love your letters.
    Your most affectionate friend.
    Adella .”
    “Miss Hartley! I am pouring out the lemonade? Would you like some?” Margaret was calling.
    “Yes, I should like that very much,” Jane forced a smile on to her face.
    The way Adella described Lord Ranulph brought him back to her vividly. He did seem awkward and that was just how he had been with her in the teashop. But then surely that was just shyness?
    Jane shook herself and rose to her feet. She must put him right out of her mind.
    Now that her gown had come, Adella would soon be going to her first ball. No doubt Lord Ranulph would be there too and he would ask her to dance with him.
    ‘I must, must not think about him anymore,’ Jane whispered to herself, as she folded up the letter. ‘But it will be so hard, when every time Adella writes to me, I see his name.’
    She went over to the picnic tablecloth and accepted a glass of homemade lemonade and its cool refreshing taste was very pleasant in the heat of the afternoon.
    And the girls were so excited and happy to be away from the school.
    Jane set her mind to organising games for them to play after they had eaten and in a little while the pain in her heart began to lessen.
    ‘I can do it. I will not let myself think about him,’ she told herself.
    *
    Uncle Edgar was peering at a pile of cards through the little glasses on the end of his nose. He asked Adella to join him after breakfast in the study to go through all the invitations she had received over the last few days.
    “What about this?” he asked, pulling out one of the largest cards, grandly printed in gold lettering and signed with an extravagant swooping signature.
    Lady Ireton
    At Home
    Friday, 18th August
    At the Royal Hotel (Ballroom Entrance)
    RSVP Ireton House, Mayfair Dancing 10.30
    He passed it to Adella and her heart gave a little jump as she remembered the sharp-faced woman who had laughed at Sugar and Spice.
    “I don’t think so, Uncle Edgar. It’s very soon, just a few days away. I am not sure that I – ”
    “Your gown is ready, Adella. There is no reason to delay. The ballroom at the Royal Hotel is one of the finest in London, so I am told.”
    “Please, I would rather not go, Uncle Edgar.”
    “Nonsense! Of course you must attend this ball.”
    “But, I really don’t want to. Not this one.”
    Adella was saved from having to explain herself further by the tinkling sound of the doorbell.
    Uncle Edgar pushed his glasses back up onto the bridge of his nose and looked at Adella.
    “Would you go to the door, please?”
    She was a