Charity Begins at Home by Alicia Rasley Read Free Book Online Page B

meadows? Full of daisies! Oh, you must see them! Kent is its loveliest in spring, you know, and that's very lovely! I'm so glad to be home when the flowers are blooming, aren't you? You really must come out to the garden, at least. Tomorrow."
    Good luck with that, Tristan thought, pressing his head wearily against the wall. But at least Anna wasn't sobbing, not that she'd had time to get a whimper in edgewise.
    "I'll pack a picnic lunch then. Alfresco meals were all the crack in London this season, so I've the most luscious menus. I'll tell you all about the Clayborne Mayday picnic at Ranelagh when all the London swells fell at my feet. I'd grabbed the last bottle of champagne, you understand!"
    As he expected, Anna made a demurring noise. But then the resourceful Charity changed tactics again. No longer the social director, she was regretful and a bit insulted. "Oh, I knew you wouldn't believe me. I told myself, Lady Haver is a true cosmopolitan. She'll never believe an ordinary girl had her day in the London sun. So I shan't even tell you." This haughtiness lasted exactly a second. "Although I was hoping you'd be the slightest bit intrigued. Even proud. For you were my model. Oh, not in appearance, of course. I hadn't a prayer of suddenly acquiring inky black waves and those flashing eyes of yours. But I'd truly applied myself these last years, ever since I first met you, to determine how you'd behave always so exquisitely. I was ever such a hoyden, but I was fortunate to have a pattern of a true lady to follow. So whenever I found myself in a precarious situation, I would ask, How would Lady Haver handle this? And I would do it just that way, and I fancy I always acted with a bit of your grace."
    To his surprise, Anna finally spoke. It was a little more than a squeak, and quickly faded, but her voice showed more animation than he had heard since he arrived. "Did you really think of me?"
    "Yes, I did. I never told any of the multitude who complimented me on my pretty behavior that it was all copied. I preferred they thought it was entirely natural, that I had grown up in some royal court and not a rough-and-tumble manor house. But I knew the flattery was really due you, even if the flatterers didn't."
    Painfully Anna asked, "Were they all talking about— about me in London?"
    "Well, I hope not!" came the gay reply. "They were all talking about me! Who is that mysterious Miss Calder? Oh, perhaps she looks as if she's just up from the country, but see how she pours tea. Exquisite, don't you think?" Her imitation of a London fop was note-perfect, and Tristan was hard-put not to announce his presence by laughing aloud.
    "I mean, were they all talking about the duel?"
    "Oh, the duel. Well, there was some talk in March, but the season was just beginning and the next thing we knew that German princess had eloped with her physician and everyone suspected he had been drugging her. So no one gave poor Kenny another thought." Ruefully she added, "Fame is ever fleeting in London, you know."
    "But here, here in Calder. Everyone's gossiping, I'm sure."
    "Gossiping? Come, dearest, this isn't London. People have better things to do than endlessly work over the latest scandal. Especially after the flood in April. And the Midsummer fair is coming up, and there's ever so much work to do. You know, I think your boys might like to help me with the preparations. Lawrence is quite the little Hercules. And they can go through their toys to donate a few to the jumble booth. You'll remember to ask them, won't you? They will love the fortune-teller, I know. Everyone will, except the vicar. He thinks it's paganism."
    She broke off her cheery monologue, and Tristan could hear his sister's now-familiar sobs. He almost went in, but then the heartbreaking sounds quieted, and he imagined Miss Calder's shoulder was getting soaked again.
    "There, there, darling. You know, this is all sad enough without you thinking yourself the center of gossip. For Kenny