The Tale of Chloe | Page 9

she transferred her slyness to speech.
'Beware the middle-aged!' he exclaimed.
She appealed to Chloe. 'And I'm sure they're the nicest.'
Chloe agreed that they were.
The duchess measured Chloe and the beau together, with a mind swift
in apprehending all that it hungered for.
She would have pursued the pleasing theme had she not been directed
to gaze below upon the towers and roofs of the Wells, shining sleepily
in a siesta of afternoon Summer sunlight.
With a spread of her silken robe, she touched the edifice of her hair,
murmuring to Chloe, 'I can't abide that powder. You shall see me walk
in a hoop. I can. I've done it to slow music till my duke clapped hands.
I'm nothing sitting to what I am on my feet. That's because I haven't got
fine language yet. I shall. It seems to come last. So, there 's the place.
And whereabouts do all the great people meet and prommy--?'
'They promenade where you see the trees, madam,' said Chloe.
'And where is it where the ladies sit and eat jam tarts with whipped
cream on 'em, while the gentlemen stand and pay compliments?'
Chloe said it was at a shop near the pump room.
Duchess Susan looked out over the house-tops, beyond the dusty
hedges.
'Oh, and that powder!' she cried. 'I hate to be out of the fashion and a
spectacle. But I do love my own hair, and I have such a lot, and I like
the colour, and so does my duke. Only, don't let me be fingered at. If

once I begin to blush before people, my courage is gone; my singing
inside me is choked; and I've a real lark going on in me all day long,
rain or sunshine--hush, all about love and amusement.'
Chloe smiled, and Duchess Susan said, 'Just like a bird, for I don't
know what it is.'
She looked for Chloe to say that she did.
At the moment a pair of mounted squires rode up, and the coach
stopped, while Beau Beamish gave orders for the church bells to be set
ringing, and the band to meet and precede his equipage at the head of
the bath avenue: 'in honour of the arrival of her Grace the Duchess of
Dewlap.'
He delivered these words loudly to his men, and turned an effulgent
gaze upon the duchess, so that for a minute she was fascinated and did
not consult her hearing; but presently she fell into an uneasiness; the
signs increased, she bit her lip, and after breathing short once or twice,
'Was it meaning me, Mr. Beamish?' she said.
'You, madam, are the person whom we 'delight to honour,' he replied.
'Duchess of what?' she screwed uneasy features to hear.
'Duchess of Dewlap,' said he.
'It's not my title, sir.'
'It is your title on my territory, madam.'
She made her pretty nose and upper lip ugly with a sneer of 'Dew--!
And enter that town before all those people as Duchess of . . . Oh, no, I
won't; I just won't! Call back those men now, please; now, if you please.
Pray, Mr. Beamish! You'll offend me, sir. I'm not going to be a mock.
You'll offend my duke, sir. He'd die rather than have my feelings hurt.
Here's all my pleasure spoilt. I won't and I sha'n't enter the town as
duchess of that stupid name, so call 'em back, call 'em back this instant.

I know who I am and what I am, and I know what's due to me, I do.'
Beau Beamish rejoined, 'I too. Chloe will tell you I am lord here.'
'Then I'll go home, I will. I won't be laughed at for a great lady ninny.
I'm a real lady of high rank, and such I'll appear. What 's a Duchess of
Dewlap? One might as well be Duchess of Cowstail, Duchess of
Mopsend. And those people! But I won't be that. I won't be played with.
I see them staring! No, I can make up my mind, and I beg you to call
back your men, or I'll go back home.' She muttered, 'Be made fun of
--made a fool of!'
'Your Grace's chariot is behind,' said the beau.
His despotic coolness provoked her to an outcry and weeping: she
repeated, 'Dewlap! Dewlap!' in sobs; she shook her shoulders and hid
her face.
'You are proud of your title, are you, madam?' said he.
'I am.' She came out of her hands to answer him proudly. 'That I am!'
she meant for a stronger affirmation.
'Then mark me,' he said impressively; 'I am your duke's friend, and you
are under my charge here. I am your guardian and you are my ward,
and you can enter the town only on