The Clue by Carolyn Wells Read Free Book Online

kill herself,” reiterated Kitty. “I stick to that ,but if she did, I know why.”
    This feminine absence of logic was unremarked by her hearers, who both said, “Why?”
    Because Schuyler didn’t love her enough,” said Kitty earnestly. “She just worshipped him, and he used to care more for her, but lately he hasn’t.”
    â€œHow do you know?” asked Molly.
    â€œOh, Madeleine didn’t tell me,” returned Kitty. “I just gathered it. I’ve been here most a week—you know I came several days before you did, Molly—and I’ve noticed her a lot. Oh, I don’t mean I spied on her, or anything horrid. Only, I couldn’t help seeing that she wished Mr. Carleton would be more attentive.”
    â€œWhy, I thought he was awfully attentive,” said Molly.
    â€œOh, attentive, yes. I don’t exactly mean that. But there was something lacking,—don’t you think so, Mrs. Markham?”
    â€œYes, Kitty, I do think so. In fact, I know that Mr. Carleton didn’t give Madeleine the heartwhole affection that she gave him. But I hoped it would all turn out right, and I surely never dreamed it was such a serious matter as to bring Madeleine to this. But she was a reserved, proud nature, and if she thought Mr. Carleton had ceased to love her, I know she would far rather die than marry him.”
    â€œBut she could have refused to marry him,” cried Molly. “She didn’t have to kill herself to get rid of him.”
    â€œShe didn’t kill herself,” stubbornly repeated Kitty, but Mrs. Markham said:
    â€œYou don’t understand Maddy’s nature, Molly; she must have had some sudden and positive proof of Mr. Carleton’s lack of true affection for her to drive her to this step. But once convinced that he did not care for her, I know her absolute despair would impel her to the desperate deed.”
    â€œWhy didn’t he love her?” said Molly, who could see no reason why any man shouldn’t love the magnificent Madeleine.
    â€œI think,” said Kitty slowly, “there was somebody else.”
    â€œHow did you know that?” exclaimed Mrs. Markham sharply, as if she had detected Kitty in some wrongdoing.
    â€œI don’t know it, but I can’t help thinking so. Madeleine has sometimes asked me if I didn’t think most men preferred gentle, timid dispositions to a strong, capable nature like her own. Of course she didn’t express it just like that, but she hinted at it so wistfully, that I told her no, she was the splendidest, most adorable woman in the whole world. I meant it, too, but at the same time I do think men most always love the soft, tractable kind of girls, that are not so imperious and awe-inspiring as Maddy was.”
    Surely Kitty ought to know, for she was the most delicious type of soft, tractable femininity.
    Her round, dimpled face was positively peachy, and her curling tendrils of goldy hair clustered round a low white brow, above appealing violet eyes. A man might admire the haughty Madeleine, but he would caressingly love bewitching little Kitty, and would involuntarily feel a sense of protection toward her, because of the shy trustfulness in her glance.
    This was not entirely ingenuous, for wise little Kitty quite understood her own charm, but it was natural, and in no way forced; and she was quite content that her lines had fallen in her own pleasant places, and she left the magnificent Madeleines of the world to pursue their own roles. But she had admired and loved Maddy Van Norman, and just because of their differing natures, had understood why Schuyler Carleton’s affection was tempered with a certain sense of inferiority.
    â€œYou know,” she went on, as if thinking aloud, “everybody was a little afraid of magnificent Maddy. She was so superb, so regal. You couldn’t imagine yourself cuddling her!”
    â€œI should say not!” exclaimed