The Glittering Lights (Bantam Series No. 12) by Barbara Cartland Read Free Book Online Page B

the wheels were saying. Cassandra had known it was crazy when she awoke in the morning and having dressed, had gone first to her mother to receive last minute instructions about taking good care of herself.
    “Buy the loveliest gowns you can find, darling,” her mother said. “I am sure Bond Street will be full of delectable confections!”
    “I will certainly try to find some dresses you will like,” Cassandra announced.
    “But come back as soon as you can,” Lady Alice admonished.
    “I promise I will do that,” Cassandra answered. “A little of Aunt Eleanor’s gossip goes a very long way!”
    Lady Alice laughed.
    “I should not tell her the Duke is coming to stay. You know she can never keep a secret.”
    “I never tell Aunt Eleanor anything that I do not wish to be known all around Mayfair within the next half an hour,” Cassandra laughed.
    On the door-step she put her arms around her father’s neck.
    “I wish you were coming with me, Papa,” she said. “But you know if you did I should never get anything done. Without you I shall concentrate on spending a large amount of your money.”
    “You have only to write a cheque on Coutts Bank and they will let you have everything you require,” Sir James said. “You have enough with you now?”
    “More than enough.”
    Cassandra kissed him again and got into the closed carriage where Hannah was already seated, stiff and still somewhat disagreeable about having to pack in such a hurry.
    The horses set off and Cassandra waved to her father until a turn of the drive took them out of sight of the house.
    Then she leaned back in the carriage.
    “Hannah,” she said, “we are off on a great adventure.”
    The maid looked at her suspiciously.
    “What do you mean by that, Miss Cassandra?”
    “You are going to help me to do something quite outrageous,” Cassandra answered.
    “I’m going to do nothing of the sort,” Hannah said stiffly. “If you’re up to any of your tricks, Miss Cassandra, I’m going back to Her Ladyship at this very moment.”
    Cassandra laughed.
    “Oh, Hannah, I love to tease you! You always rise to any bait I cast under your nose. What I am going to do will not be too shocking, but I need your help.”
    “I’m not doing anything of which Her Ladyship would not approve,” Hannah said stoutly.
    But Cassandra knew that she could rely on her to help her as she had always done in other escapades however reprehensible.
    It was a long, rather tiring journey to London, but Cassandra did not notice either the landscape speeding past them or that the hours seemed long drawn out.
    She was planning, scheming, working out every detail of what she intended to do.
    Her father had often said it was a pity she had not been a boy, and because he had no son he used to talk to her of his business schemes and developments.
    He often tried out on her new ideas before he put them to a Board of Directors, or sounded her to find out whether a new approach to a difficult problem would get the response he intended.
    Cassandra learned from him the importance of every tiny detail, when something new was to be put into operation.
    “It is always the weakest link in the chain which can prove disastrous,” was one of her father’s favourite remarks.
    Cassandra knew now that in her present scheming the weakest link in the chain would be the risk of exposure.
    Hannah thought she was very quiet but said nothing. She did, however, look anxiously at her young mistress. She had been used to her chatter and was finding this serious mood almost frightening.
    But Cassandra was smiling when finally they arrived at Sir James’s house in Park Lane, where the bow windows on the ground and first floors overlooked the green trees of Hyde Park.
    The residence was the acme of comfort, Sir James having even installed the new incandescent electric fight which was the last word in sensational novelty, and a telephone, the first Exchange having been opened in London in 1879.
    Lady