My Dearest Enemy by Connie Brockway Read Free Book Online Page B

will serve him well." Evelyn's brave face crumpled. "Oh, Lily. If he's not well we can keep him here, can't we?"
    "Of course," Lily assured her, feeling helpless. Horatio's myriad notes and the instruction left in the bank trustees' hands ruled the boy's life.
    "It will be good to have him here with us for the summer, won't it?" Evelyn asked, pathetically grateful for Lily's assurance.
    "Delightful," Francesca said. "One can't have too many men about."
    "Francesca!" Evelyn chided. "She simply can't talk this way in front of Bernard."
    "No, of course not. Do behave, Fran," Lily murmured distractedly. Her gaze had fallen on the final letter in the stack. It was from Avery Thorne and it was addressed to Miss Lillian Bede. Not She Who Must Be Obeyed, not the Emancipated Miss Bede, not Herself. A little tingle of trepidation raced through her; something was wrong. She tucked his letter away at the bottom of the stack to be read later.
    Fifteen minutes later she stood at the window of her office looking outside. Beneath her window the Michaelmas roses were blooming, their creamy petals bright as snow against the green foliage. She opened the letter.
    Adversary Mine,
    Karl Dhurmann died yesterday. We were dog-sledding across the Greenland snowfields. He wasn't far ahead. Twenty yards or so. One minute he was there, the next gone. He'd fallen into a crevasse that had been breached by a drift of snow. It took us the day to retrieve him.
    I thought you should know he died. He often stated his intention of marrying you. Your letters made him laugh and laughter was rare for Karl. He'd lost everything and
    died without country, home, or family. But you made him laugh.
    I think he would want you to know he'd died and I thought perhaps you would spare him a smile for his ridiculous intention of marrying you, for his appreciation of your letters, or for whatever reason you like. I am not a religious man and your smile is as close to a prayer as he
V
likely to come
.
    Avery Thorne
    Lily slowly folded the letter. For a long time she gazed outside her window and when she finally turned away, she did not leave the room. She wrote a letter.
----
Chapter Five

     
    The Dominican Islands April 1892
    @
    The childish, careful hand drew a smile from Avery.
     
    Dear Cousin,
    @
    I trust this letter finds you well. I have enjoyed indifferent health this year and shall go up early to Mill House this summer.
    Mother says we should take care to enjoy the manor while it's still a Happy Home. She says that Miss Bede means to sell Mill House if she comes into possession of it though I don't think that likely since the fields flooded and the entire crop of spring wheat was drowned.
    Poor Miss Bede was greatly upset. Mother wrote that she found her crying. Miss Bede is not a crying sort of female.
    I wish I could do something for her but it will be ten years before I can offer her my protection. Mother says Miss Bede wants to protect herself. Why would she even want to do such a thing do you suppose? Mother could offer no illumination. I believe Miss Bede is simply being brave.
    I therefore must point out that if you were a gentleman, you would offer her your protection. I'm sure you will do so on your return which I very greatly hope will be soon.
    I just read the serialization of your trip down the Amazon. Sensational! Miss Bede is impressed, too, and you are wrong about her thinking your trips are self-indulgent. When I quizzed her about this she immediately wrote back stating most emphatically that she could think of no man who belongs in a jungle more than you.
    Your cousin, Bernard Thorne
     
    "So, she intends to sell my home, does she?" Avery's slight smile faded. "And what the blazes does the boy mean,
if I
were a gentleman?"
    Absently he pulled Karl's gold timepiece from his pocket. The five years of his "hiatus" were nearly up and, as he'd expected, apparently Lily Bede was in desperate straits. Flooded out the spring crop, had she? It would be a