The Burning

The Burning by R.L. Stine Read Free Book Online Page A

Book: The Burning by R.L. Stine Read Free Book Online
Authors: R.L. Stine
know the man is completely deaf! He cannot hear a word anyone says to him!”
    â€œThen that makes him the perfect dinner companion for you, my dear Julia,” Simon replied cruelly, frowning over his square spectacles. “You never utter a word at our dinner parties. You alwayssit in complete silence. So you and the mayor should be perfectly content!”
    â€œFather!” Julia uttered an exasperated cry.
    Simon studied his oldest daughter with some sadness. She had her mother’s beautiful black hair. But Julia’s face was plain, her jaw too wide, her nose too long, her tiny gray eyes set too close together.
    She was quiet, withdrawn, and shy, with little personality. A disappointment to Simon. He had hoped that moving to Shadyside Village, where the Fear family was the wealthiest and most prominent family, would help pull Julia from her shell. But she had become even more awkward and shy since the move.
    She is only happy at her potter’s wheel, Simon thought. Making vases and clay sculptures—that is the only time she smiles or shows any sign of enthusiasm.
    â€œFather, I think you are being unfair to my sister!” Hannah came bursting in from the back parlor. “Julia can have my seat next to Mr. Claybourne. I am sure that she and that charming old man will find plenty to chatter about, if that is what concerns you.”
    Simon set down his papers and climbed to his feet. His back ached as he stood. He realized he was getting older.
    He unfastened his stiff collar and pulled it off. “No, I am sorry. I want
you
to sit next to that windbag Claybourne,” he told Hannah. “I wantyou to charm him, Hannah, as only you can. I need Claybourne’s support for the library I wish to build.”
    With his eyes trained on Hannah, Simon didn’t see Julia’s hurt expression.
    â€œI am sure that Julia could handle Mr. Claybourne as well as I,” Hannah insisted, stepping behind her father’s desk to give him a playful hug.
    No, Julia could
not,
Simon thought. Hannah, he knew, was the charming sister. At sixteen she was tall, slender, and graceful, with wavy golden hair and lively brown eyes. She was as outgoing and lively as Julia was shy.
    Simon needed his younger daughter at his dinner parties. He relied on Hannah to charm and delight the guests and to keep the conversation lively.
    â€œThe table is already set,” he told the girls. He removed Hannah’s arms from around his waist and straightened the papers on the little desk. “There will be no more discussion of this matter.”
    â€œOh, Father!” Hannah complained with an exaggerated pout.
    â€œI do not understand why we have so many of these endless, boring dinner parties, anyway,” Julia said bitterly. “Can you not build all your libraries and museums and parks without so many dinner parties?”
    â€œWe have discussed this before,” Simon replied impatiently. “I need the support of the important citizens of Shadyside. Why must I say all this again, Julia?”
    Julia took a deep breath, struggling to keep back her tears. “Well, if you do not believe I have the personality to grace your table, if you really believe the only place for me is to be seated in the corner next to a deaf man, then perhaps I shall stay in my room tonight!” she cried.
    Simon opened his mouth to reply, but a sound in the doorway interrupted him. He and the girls turned to see Mrs. MacKenzie, the housekeeper, enter with a short, red-haired girl in a maid’s uniform.
    â€œI am so sorry to be interrupting, sir,” Mrs. MacKenzie said, rolling her white apron in her hands. “But I am training Lucy here on the procedure for dusting. Lucy is the new maid. She just started this week. She is helping us tidy up and get ready for the dinner party tonight.”
    Lucy blushed and lowered her eyes. She was a tiny girl, Simon saw. No more than eighteen. She had orangey red hair

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