Joan Wolf by A London Season Page A

that spoke of an emotion that was intensely serious.
    Lord Rayleigh was an innately good-hearted man. He liked David. But he could not allow his niece, Lady Jane Fitzmaurice, well-born, beautiful, and an heiress, to become involved with a boy who worked in his stables. Jane, who, thank God, was clear as water, obviously had no inkling of David's feelings. The Marquis was profoundly grateful that David had had the sense not to say anything to her. He did not want to have to fire the boy. And he would get Jane away to London as quickly as possible. He made a great effort to banish from his mind the look he had seen on David's face.
    * * * *
    The union of Edward St. John Francis Stanton, Marquis of Rayleigh, to Miss Anne Bellerman of Bellerman Hall was celebrated at the end of October with all due pomp and circumstance. Jane was a bridesmaid and performed her part in the ceremony with suitable gravity. The wedding took place in the chapel at Bellerman Hall and was attended by large numbers of the bride's family. The groom's family consisted of his niece and numerous cousins and friends.
    Jane was delighted to see Lord Massingham, Mr. Firth, and Sir Henry Graham, all of whom she knew well. She hated strangers and immediately joined one or the other of them whenever she got a chance. For their part, Lord Rayleigh's friends, all confirmed bachelors, were pleased with her company. They were all horse-mad and consequently had always approved of Jane. Nor were they blind to her beauty. The four of them had a much better time at the wedding than they had expected to. Their enjoyment was not looked on kindly by Lady Bellerman, who disapproved of Jane's obvious intimacy with such famous Corinthians.
    After the wedding party had departed, Jane found herself the only guest at Bellerman Hall. John Bellerman, at the request of Lord Rayleigh, was shooting with friends in Scotland. The Marquis had no desire to encourage young Mr. Bellerman's unreciprocated infatuation. He had concluded that it would take a very different kind of man to attract Jane.
    Bellerman Hall was quiet, but Jane was not idle. She had brought two of her hunters with her and was out practically every day with the local pack. She soon became friendly with Sir Thomas Osborne, the local squire, who was fifty-five, bluff, vulgar, amiable, and hunting-mad. He had not been pleased to have Jane join his hunt, but after the first day he became her devoted slave. They spent hours in the office of Sir Thomas's stables, discussing various aspects of hunting and exchanging stories.
    Lady Bellerman was scandalized. Jane's riding outfit was her first sin. Instead of the full-skirted, floor-length habits women commonly wore, Jane appeared in an ankle-length divided skirt of heavy melton cloth with a tailored jacket and a man's hat. The dreadfulness of this apparel was almost forgotten, however, when Lady Bellerman learned that Jane rode astride. Jane's reassurances that her uncle perfectly approved did little to soothe Lady Bellerman's outraged feelings.
    Then Lady Bellerman learned that Jane was rapidly becoming the bosom friend of Sir Thomas Osborne. Lady Bellerman vehemently disapproved of the Squire. She thought him crude, rude, and boorish. When she pointed out all his faults to Jane, her maddening guest merely replied that Sir Thomas was a first-class hunting man. As if, Lady Bellerman thought in exasperation, that had anything to do with his suitability as a companion for a seventeen-year-old girl.
    All these disputes, however, were merely preliminary skirmishes. The real battle came after Jane had been two weeks at Bellerman Hall. On that memorable day she returned from the hunting field to be greeted by the butler, who requested her to attend Lady Bellerman in the blue saloon. Without bothering to change, Jane went down the hall, wondering what grave offense she was guilty of this time. Jane had been very polite to Lady Bellerman thus far. She had listened respectfully to all her