Emily Goes to Exeter by M. C. Beaton Read Free Book Online

the landlord. ‘Top o’ the stairs and turn right.’
    Hannah Pym thought she would die from curiosity. So many complications! But, like bad knitting, surely all that was needed was for them to be unravelled by an expert and made up again in the right way.

3
    I have heard with admiring submission the experience of the lady who declared that the sense of being well-dressed gives a feeling of inward tranquillity which religion is powerless to bestow.
    Ralph Waldo Emerson
    The Blue Room was comfortable and well appointed, with low rafters, chintz curtains at the window, and cheerful chintz hangings on the bed. A fire burnt brightly in the small hearth. There were two easy chairs in front of the fire, and it was into one of these chairs that Hannah thrust Emily. She then took off her cloak and hung it on a peg behind the door, along with her hat, before sitting down opposite the girl.
    ‘Now, what is all this about?’ said Hannah, trying to keep her vulgar gossipy eagerness in check. The girl was so very beautiful with those large violet eyes andauburn hair. Her face was a well-shaped oval with a small straight nose.
    ‘I think I should know to whom I am talking,’ said Emily with a pathetic attempt at hauteur.
    ‘I am Miss Hannah Pym, gentlewoman of Kensington,’ said Hannah firmly. Her servant days were behind her now, and she was determined not to stifle any confidences by revealing she had lately been in service.
    ‘And do you have relatives in Exeter, Miss Pym?’
    ‘No, I am simply travelling for the sake of travel.’
    Despite her distress, Emily gave a reluctant laugh. What an odd lady this Miss Pym was with her strange eyes and crooked nose. ‘I cannot possibly imagine anyone travelling on the stage for fun ,’ she said.
    ‘But I have already had a great many adventures,’ said Hannah, her eyes glowing gold in the firelight. ‘Just think. A real highwayman. A widow who is not the captain’s wife. And now you, not a boy but a pretty lady running away from a man who does not seem to want her after all.’
    ‘I do not believe him,’ said Emily. ‘It is a trick.’
    ‘Who is this Lord Harley?’
    ‘Lord Ranger Harley,’ said Emily in a clear voice, ‘is a rake and a libertine.’
    ‘How so?’
    ‘I happen to know, for my governess told me, that he has an opera dancer in keeping.’
    ‘Do you still have a governess?’ asked Miss Pym, momentarily diverted. ‘I would have thought you too old.’
    ‘I am eighteen,’ said Emily haughtily. ‘But Miss Cudlipp, that is my governess’s name, is dear to me. She stays as a sort of companion. She is very wise.’
    Hannah sniffed. She thought that Miss Cudlipp was downright disloyal to her employers to pour scandal about Emily’s intended into the girl’s ears. ‘But this business about the opera dancer,’ said Hannah. ‘That is merely gossip. She cannot know for sure.’
    ‘Miss Cudlipp knows everything,’ said Emily. ‘Oh, what am I to do? He will force me to go back with him and marry him.’
    ‘Really, Miss Freemantle, if you will forgive me, he did not look at all the sort of man who would have to force any woman to marry him. He is very handsome and he is a lord. Is he rich?’
    ‘Very,’ said Emily in a hollow voice.
    ‘Then there you are. He cannot possibly want to marry you.’
    ‘He does not like to be thwarted. Miss Cudlipp said so.’
    Hannah mentally sent Miss Cudlipp and all her sayings to the devil. ‘So who is Mr Peregrine Williams?’
    Emily turned a delicate shade of pink. ‘He is charming, so very fair and beautiful. He has hair like gold and the bluest eyes you have ever seen. He writes poetry to me which Miss Cudlipp says rivals Mr Wordsworth.’
    ‘And did your parents introduce you to this paragon?’
    ‘Oh, no. It transpires that they had set their hearts on my marrying Harley a long time ago. I have noteven made my come-out. I met Mr Williams when I was walking in the Park with Miss Cudlipp. I would not have