Charity Girl by Georgette Heyer Read Free Book Online Page B

twitch or two, and was just about to go back into the ballroom when a feeling that he was not alone, as he had supposed himself to be, made him look up, and cast a swift glance round the hall. No one was in sight, but when he raised his eyes towards the upper floor he found that he was being watched by a pair of wondering, innocent eyes which were set in a charming little face, framed by the bannisters through which its owner was looking. He smiled, guessing that it belonged to one of the younger daughters of the house: possibly a member of the schoolroom-party, but more probably one of the nurserychildren, and said, as he saw that she was about to run away in evident alarm: 'Oh, don't run away! I promise I won't eat you – or tell tales of you to your mama!'
       The big eyes widened, in mingled fear and doubt. 'You couldn't!' said the lady. 'I haven't got a mama! She's been dead for years! I don't think I have a papa either, though that is by no means a certain thing! Oh, don't come up! Pray don' t come up, sir! They would be so vexed!'
       He had mounted half-way up the first flight of stairs, but he paused at this urgent entreaty, saying, between amusement and curiosity: 'No mama? But are you not one of Sir Thomas's daughters?'
       'Oh, no!' she replied, still in that hushed, scared voice. 'I'm not related to him, because being married to my aunt does no t make him a true uncle – does it?'
       'No, no!' he assured her. 'It makes him nothing more than an uncle-in-law. But even so I find it hard to believe that he would be cross with you for peeping through those bannisters at the ladies in their smart ball-dresses, and the gentlemen trying to straighten their neckcloths!'
       'It isn't him !' she said, with an apprehensive look over his head towards the drawing-room. 'It's Aunt Bugle, and Lucasta! Oh, pray, sir, go away, before anyone sees you on the stairs, and asks you what you are doing there! You would be obliged to say that you had been talking to me, and that would get me into trouble again!'
       His amusement grew, and also his curiosity. 'Well, no one is going to see me on the stairs, because I am coming up to further my acquaintance with you, you engaging elf ! Oh, don't look so scared! Recollect that I've promised I won't eat you! And talking of eating,' he added, remembering his own childhood, 'shall I bring you some of the tarts and jellies I've seen laid out for supper? I shall say I want them for my cousin, so you needn't be afraid that anyone will know you ate them!'
       She had seemed to be on the point of scrambling to her feet, and beating a hasty retreat, but these words checked her. She stared at him for a moment, and then gave a soft little chuckle, and said: 'No, thank you, sir! I had supper hours ago, with Oenone, and Corinna – and Miss Mudford, of course – and my aunt directed the cook to set aside some of the tarts and cakes for the schoolroom supper. So I am not at all hungry. In fact, I'm never hungry, because my aunt doesn't starve me ! But I am very much obliged to you for being so kind – which I thought you were, the instant you looked up, and smiled at me!'
       'Ah, so you are one of the schoolroom-girls, are you?' he said, mounting the rest of the stairs till he stood at the head of the first flight, on the upper hall. 'Then I owe you an apology, for I took you for one of the nursery-babies!' He broke off, for she was on her feet, and although the only light illuminating the scene came from the candles burning in the chandelier that hung in the hall below there was enough to show him that she was considerably older than he had supposed.
       She smiled shyly up at him, and said: 'People nearly always do. It is because I'm such a wretched little dab of a creature, and a severe mortification to me – particularly when I'm amongst my cousins, who are all so tall that I feel a mere squab beside them! At least Lucasta and Oenone and Corinna are tall, and Dianeme