A Gilded Grave by Shelley Freydont Read Free Book Online

everyone was taking a prurient interest in the maid’s death. She was, herself. And that made her uneasy. She hadn’t been able to take her eyes off that poor girl, her broken body draped over the rocks, her feet in her dark button-up shoes as small as a child’s.
The Death of Innocence.
    Adelaide was sitting in an alcove looking sick. Their mother was standing over her, a watchful eye on the other guests as if one of them might suddenly go berserk and kill them all.
    “There you are,” her mother said as soon as Deanna approached them. “Where have you been?”
    “Upstairs, refreshing myself.” Deanna was careful to hide the soiled toes of her shoes beneath her hem.
    “Ah, so you missed the, um, business on the lawn.”
    Deanna said nothing.
    “Good. I’ve told your father we are taking the carriage home. The whole evening has been a strain on Adelaide. I knew how it would be. Stifling rooms . . .”
    Deanna followed her mother’s voice out of the ballroom. They stood in the foyer while their carriage was called for. Deanna listened for the sounds of anything coming from the cliffs—police whistles, voices, anything—but the night was eerily quiet.
    And now that they were leaving, she was anxious to get hometo Elspeth. She decided right then and there that she wouldn’t breathe a word of Madeline’s surmises. Surely, she had been wrong. It had to have been a terrible accident.
    As soon as they were home, her mother whisked Adelaide upstairs. Deanna was tempted to wait for her father’s return to hear what the police had done, but first she needed to see Elspeth, who she knew would be waiting for her, ready to do her duty in spite of her grief. Deanna didn’t think that she herself would be so loyal.
    As soon as Deanna opened the door to her room, she heard muffled sobs coming from the dressing room. They cut off abruptly as Deanna entered the room. Elspeth appeared in the doorway, face blotched but composed.
    “Oh, Elspeth, I’m so sorry.” Deanna rushed to the young maid and put her arms around her. One sob escaped Elspeth, followed by a spasm of her shoulders, then she pushed away.
    “Let’s get you out of that dress, miss.” Elspeth began fumbling with the buttons on Deanna’s gloves.
    Deanna stood docilely. She felt selfish and useless making her maid worry about her clothing when Elspeth was grieving for her friend, who would likely have become her sister-in-law.
    But maybe doing the familiar would help her to cope with her feelings. It took a few torturous minutes to divest Deanna of her evening gloves, and by the time Elspeth rolled them down her arms, Deanna was ready to yank them off in frustration and be done.
    But she held still. She often forgot to “keep her distance” with Elspeth; she was “too familiar” with the help, her mother said. But other than Cassie, Elspeth was the closest friend Deanna had. It seemed like most of the girls she knew were more interested in competing than enjoying one another’scompany. Deanna knew that was expected of her, too. But she was a miserable failure at it.
    She turned for Elspeth to undo her gown.
    No wonder Joe didn’t want to marry her. No one would. Which was fine by her. She didn’t want to be like her mother, content to visit people whom she didn’t care for just because it was expected. To dine with people because of who they were and not because they were interesting.
    She didn’t want to spend half her life being fitted for dresses that would only be worn once and that cost more than most people made in a year. She didn’t want to change clothes seven or eight times a day. For what? To give Elspeth more work to do? It was stupid.
    Deanna stepped out of the dress and sat down at the dressing table while Elspeth carried it to the dressing room. Her dress had escaped the worst of the walk to the cliff, but when she stretched out her feet to look at her shoes, she felt a flutter of anxiety. They had been very expensive, and after