The Emperor Read Online Free

me,' Mr Brummell said gravely. 'My Irish ancestors have always been my affliction. One can discourage history in one's family, but one cannot entirely escape its geography.'
    ‘ Talking of geography,' Lord Tonbridge interposed at this point, 'don't I hear that the Dragoons are going down to Brighton Camp this summer?'
    ‘ Yes, and the Prince and Princess will be there too. Brighton will be the place to be this year.'
    ‘ Brighton will be well enough, when all the rebuilding is finished,' said Mr Brummell. ‘At the moment, the dust is intolerable.'
    ‘ But we have famous dinners, Lady Aylesbury, and the theatre is very pretty. I wonder you do not come to Brighton,' said Mr Wiske a little wistfully.
    ‘ Perhaps I may,' Lucy said carelessly. ‘I have recom mended Lady Chelmsford to try the sea-air for her health. Perhaps I may join her there for a little while.'
    ‘ Of course, you will drive yourself to Brighton,' Mr Brummell said mischievously. ‘In your curricle and four, you may even beat the Prince of Wales's time. You know that he drove down from London in '84 in less than five hours, and it has never been bettered.’
    Lord Tonbridge was looking alarmed, but Lucy's interest was already caught, as Danby Wiske said, 'It was four hours and fifty minutes, George, in a three-horse phaeton. A devilish difficult rig to choose, I always thought.'
    ‘ Four hours and fifty minutes does not seem so very fast,' Lucy said thoughtfully. ‘It cannot be more than sixty miles, I suppose? And perhaps the road may be better now.'
    ‘ Very true – and four horses, you know, must be faster than three, if the driver is as good,' said Mr Brummell seriously.
    ‘ He is teasing you,' Lord Tonbridge told Lucy anxiously. ‘Do not rise to his bait. You cannot possibly drive yourself to Brighton in a curricle and four. Think of the scandal!’
    Lucy's smile was calm and determined. ‘Of course I can, Tonbridge – and as for the scandal, I don't regard it. And I'll beat the Prince's time, you see if I don't. Only it must be made worth my while. What do you all say to a wager? I am sure enough of the result to put a hundred guineas on my own performance.’
    Lord Tonbridge looked more than ever distressed. 'This grows worse – to make a wager on it, too! I beg you, consider.'
    ‘ Don't be so gothic, Tonbridge – what is there in that? Ladies make wagers all the time. Look at your mother, playing whist, and what is that but a wager on her skill with cards?'
    ‘ It is not the same thing at all. What would your husband say?'
    ‘It seems exactly the same to me,' Lucy rejoined stoutly,
    ‘ and as for Chetwyn, don't trouble yourself about him. He will think it very good sport. He has always said that I am the best driver of my family, and I will be very surprised indeed if he doesn't put something on me too, when he hears.' She smiled round at the three men. 'It is just what I was wanting — something to amuse me. I was just beginning to feel bored with life. I am very grateful to you for suggesting it, Mr Brummell.’
    Mr Brummell smiled and bowed, and murmured, 'And I am grateful to you, dear Lady Aylesbury, for exactly the same reason.’
    He and Lucy looked as though they understood each other perfectly, and Danby Wiske was regarding her with an expression little short of adoration. Only Lord Tonbridge looked unhappy, and he was made even more so when Lucy told him that she hoped he would lend her his greys for the race.
    ‘ I shall need three changes, you see. My chestnuts for the last, and I'll send for Chetwyn's bays, which are eating their heads off at Wolvercote, and I'm sure Charles will let me use his team. But I must have one more, and yours would do. They are a neatish team, and fast, though their knees are weak. But there's nothing much to the first stage, except for the hill at Brixton, and I'll nurse them up that like babies, you may he sure, and send them back to you no worse than I took them.'
    ‘ There now, Lord