Maggie MacKeever by Jessabelle Read Free Book Online Page A

ladies had inspected the wares of a dealer in hardware. Now their combined attention was caught by a display of fabrics, and several moments passed in discussion of the relative merits of damask-figured sarcenet at six shillings, and cambric muslins at one and eight the yard, and twilled ditto at four and six. Lady Dimity was impressed by a color called “London dust” and Jessabelle by “the flame of Mount Vesuvius”. Lady Emmeline was partial to neither, and it would have made no difference if she were, since they all three could not afford to purchase any of the above.
    Since Lady Emmeline aired this sentiment, her companion’s enthusiasm palled. Jessabelle dropped a copy of the Journal des Modes, in which were illustrated the models of the incomparable Leroy, as abruptly as if it had been a hot brick. “We have strayed from the subject, I fear,” said Em, with a pointed glance at her twin. “Vidal forbade you to see us. That was what decided you to do so, I collect.”
    “Sister!” protested Lady Dimity, little hands fluttering in distress. “How can you speak so to dear Jess? And after all these years! My dear, you must not pay any mind to Em’s plain-speaking. What she meant is that it is prodigious good of you to see us!”
    “I am very glad to see you both again,” Jess said gently. “I shall always be grateful to you for offering me your friendship when Vidal cast me off.”
    “Cast you off!” echoed Lady Dimity, forcibly stricken by this dramatic turn of speech. “Oh! Such a sad business that was.”
    “Cast me off,” Jessabelle repeated firmly, “like a worn-out old shoe, into the street with scarcely a penny to my name. Not that I fault him for it, or bear him a grudge! I’m sure I wish that Vidal may be very happy with his new bride.”
    Lady Emmeline was sure that Jessabelle wished nothing of the sort. She was equally certain that Jessabelle would not welcome a reminder that vengeance was more properly the Lord’s work. “And it was not at all good of me to see you,” concluded Jess. “It would have been far kinder had I not, and I wouldn’t have except that Vidal said I mustn’t, as you have guessed. And it is only fair to tell you that it is my ambition to put Vidal’s nose out of joint.”
    “It is?” Lady Dimity clasped her hands to her plump breast. “Oh, I knew he had left an arrow planted in your heart! Poor, poor Jess!”
    Did Lady Dimity imagine her wasting away from unrequited love? The sentiments Jess cherished toward Lord Pennymount were not so gentle. “Not an arrow planted in my heart, but a thorn in my side. What was it you meant earlier, when you said you’d let the cat out of the bag?”
    “Oh, that!” Under her sister’s fulminating glance, Dimmy squirmed. “Nothing, I do assure you! A mere figure of speech!”
    But Jessabelle had an excellent memory, which she now employed. “Why should you need to reassure anyone that I am not one of the frail and the fair?”
    Lady Dimity looked confused. “Because you are not, my dear! Of that I am certain, having met a few. One could not help be aware that Papa had dealings with such unfortunate females, try as he did to keep us well wrapped in lamb’s wool. Oh, not that kind of dealings!” she added, as her sister made a strangling noise. “He was only interested in the salvation of their souls, and to that I always held firm, no matter what the villagers whispered! Which excellently proves what I was saying about the present incumbent, because no one ever whispers anything about him!”
    If any constructive results were to come of this confrontation, her sister must be distracted, decided Em. She suggested that they inspect the menagerie that was one of the principal features of the ‘Change. Leaving her twin to gaze compassionately upon the huge lion known as Nero, she drew Jessabelle aside. “My dear,” she said bluntly. “This marriage of Vidal’s simply will not do. You would be performing a great act of