Lady Incognita by Nina Coombs Pykare Read Free Book Online Page B

said he. “And here is my golden opportunity.”
    So saying, he handed Louisa his lemonade, bundled the kittens back in Aunt Caroline’s old shawl, delivered them to her, and strolled to the indicated window.
    “It doesn’t hurt, sir,” volunteered little Harry cheerfully. “She just feels the lumps and tells you what to Restrain.”
    This last word was uttered in such awesome tones that his lordship burst into a sudden fit of coughing.
    “Indeed, Harry,” said he when he could speak again. “I’m rather sure I shall have to Restrain.”
    “If you please. Viscount Atherton,” said Aunt Julia in most determined tones. “This science is not to be laughed at. With it we may detect the criminal and the weak and help them to improve.”
    “By Restraining no doubt,” observed his lordship very gravely, his dancing black eyes meeting Louisa’s.
    “There are four physical types,” said Aunt Julia, ignoring this unseemly levity. “Perhaps you have heard of them.”
    Atherton shook his black locks. “No, Miss Pickering. I have been sadly deficient in scientific learning. Please enlighten me.”
      If Aunt Julia suspected Atherton of flummery she gave no sign of it. Rather, she took his request at face value. “The first type is nervous, with a large brain, delicate health, and an emaciated figure.”
    “I take it I do not fit that category,” drawled his lordship.
    “No, you do not. Most people are mixtures of several types. I collect you are largely bilious - harsh features and firm muscles...”
    “Oh, he has bang-up muscles,” observed Harry.
    His aunt gave him a disdainful glance. “Yes, bilious with a touch of sanguine - large lung capacity, though there’s certainly no sign of plumpness, even moderate.”
    “And the fourth type?” inquired Atherton in suitably grave tones.
    “Lymphatic with a rounded form and heavy countenance. Not you.”
    “I now know the names of the four types, but I fail to understand what this has to do with the lumps on my head,” observed his lordship.
    “The mind,” recited Aunt Julia, much as she might repeat the articles of some religious doctrine, “is not unitary but is composed of some thirty-seven independent faculties. Each of these is localized in a different ‘organ’ or region of the brain. The development of each organ affects the size and contour of the cranium. A well-developed region indicates a well-developed faculty.’’
    “And this,” said his lordship with a dryness that was not lost on Louisa, “is a
    science.”
    “One of the newest and best,” declared Aunt Julia. “Mr. Gall and Mr. Spurzheim are great men of science. Why, I myself heard Mr. Spurzheim when he was here in London two springs ago. A great man - truly a great man.”
    Aunt Julia’s eyes shone with a fervor that Louisa found frightening. When Aunt, who suspected everything male, spoke in such tones of a man, it was bound to be disconcerting, to say the least.
    “And now to the bumps.” Aunt Julia began to move her fingers over Atherton’s skull.
    Louisa, in the throes of embarrassment, realized that she still held the viscount’s lemonade glass and set it hurriedly on a sidetable. Then she bent for her needlework and busied herself with it. What a queer lot he must think them all!
    No one spoke for some moments. The uneasy silence in the room was broken only by an occasional deep sigh from Aunt Julia. What those sighs portended Louisa did not dare to imagine. Oh why, she told herself, had she ever gone to the abbey in the first place?
    Finally Aunt Julia removed her hands and stepped back. “I am finished.”
    Atherton swung around to look at her. “The verdict. Miss Pickering. I must have the verdict. Am I a desperate character?”
    Aunt Julia obviously did not find this attempt at humor very funny. “Most of your faculties are well-developed,” she observed gloomily. “But several are so large as to give rise to apprehension.”
    The Viscount evidently did not