Patricia Veryan - [Sanguinet Saga 10] - Lanterns Read Online Free Page B

Mama's
jewels, the London house, and their horses and carriages, had gone to
Papa's creditors, but she'd been able to salvage a little that was
earning a tiny bit of interest in the bank. The hire of this house had
been unexpectedly affordable. Her beloved brother Eric had sacrificed
the Long Vacation to stay in Cambridge and tutor three young students,
thus helping with his tuition costs. The rather surprising amount of
income earned by "Madame Olympias" and her crystal ball—which she
referred to as her Mystical Window Through Time—went towards Arnold's
fees at Harrow. By practicing very strict economies the wolf had been
kept from the door, but for how long, Marietta dared not think.
    Not one to wallow in gloom, she straightened her shoulders.
Worrying would not give them back the carefree life they had known in
Town. And, after all, how many poor souls crowded into rotting, filthy
slums would think the Lanterns estate and the dower house an earthly
paradise?
    The sun was beginning its westward slide down the blue bowl of
the sky, and she had promised to spend some time with Arthur after his
nap. She avoided the side door and hurried around to the front. Aunty
Dova was sure to ask her to finish "Lady Leith," and she could not just
now, for she must go and seek out the witch's hat.
    She turned the corner of the house, and halted, staring
speechlessly at the eager-eyed young gallant who was tethering two
saddle horses at the foot of the terrace steps.
    Blake Coville, clad in a beautifully tailored riding coat and
buckskins, snatched off his hat and hurried to meet her, smiling
hopefully. "I know you've far more important things to do than go for a
ride with me, Miss Warrington. But it's such a lovely afternoon
and—won't you please take pity on a lonely man and let me persuade you?"
    Marietta's tell-tale heart began to pound unevenly. Horribly
conscious of her faded pink cotton work dress and crumpled apron, and
equally aware that she must look hot and untidy, she stammered, "Oh!
You are—very kind, but—but I'm afraid—"
    "You are too busy. How well I know it! Each time I come you
are working. It will do you good to escape for a half-hour. If you care
not for my own disappointment, consider the poor
mare. She's longing for a run."
    Marietta's eyes flashed to the 'poor mare.' What a splendid
creature, her chestnut coat sleek and shining in the sun. And, oh, how
she would love to go for a ride. She stifled a sigh and said firmly,
"In this house we all have to work, Mr. Coville. Our circumstances do
not allow for 'escapes.' "
    "Oh… of course," he said, looking crestfallen. "I was
thoughtless. But—I'd hoped you might spare me just a little of your
time. I'll bid you good day, ma'am."
    He smiled ruefully and turned away. And he was young and very
good to look at, and he had been so kind as to bring that beautiful
little mare. And the poor man must be so anxious about his step-mama;
it surely would be heartless to refuse if she could perhaps turn his
mind from that worry for a little while. Having thus cunningly
circumvented conscience, "Wait!" she cried.
    Luckily, her riding habit was still stylish and fit well,
although she noted that it was a trifle more tight across the bust.
"You are becoming positively buxom, my dear," she told her reflection
as she dusted a hare's foot across her nose. "A bucolic, rosy-cheeked
and bosomy country wench!" Without appearing to be devastated by this
assessment, she snatched up her neat hat and her riding crop, and
hurried down the stairs.
    Outside, Coville stood by the horses, chatting with Fanny, who
wore a simple and outmoded peach-coloured round gown, and had tied a
pink scarf over her thick black tresses. Marietta smiled to herself.
Little Fanny undoubtedly had given not a thought to her appearance, or,
if she had, supposed herself to be a proper dowd. She would have no
least notion that an old gown could not make her look anything less
than the very essence of glowing, vital