The Saint and the Sinner by Barbara Cartland Read Free Book Online Page B

asked.
    “That Your Lordship’s life-style and the friends with whom you associate are alien to anything she has ever known or imagined.”
    “What do you know about my life-style and my friends?” the Earl asked.
    He spoke mildly, almost pleasantly.
    “I know,” Prosper Witheridge replied, raising his voice, “that it stinks in the nostrils of those who are godly! That what takes place here in this ancestral house is under the aegis of Satan himself.”
    He roared the last words, and as he finished the Earl threw back his head and laughed.
    “Very effective!” he said. “How much the spinsters of Lindchester must enjoy the fire and brimstone of Hell that you envisage for such sinners as myself! Well, Mr. Parson, let me make it quite clear, I am not impressed by your blusterings, and as I am just about to take my cousin into dinner, I suggest you return to those who appreciate your eloquence.”
    The Earl spoke scathingly, but he did not raise his voice.
    “If I leave I am taking Miss Stratton with me,” Prosper Witheridge roared.
    The Earl was just about to reply when there was the patter of feet across the hall and Kitty and Caro appeared behind the Earl in the doorway.
    “I thought we were to meet in the Sal… ” Kitty began, then saw Prosper Witheridge and exclaimed,
    “Oh, who is this?”
    “This gentleman,” the Earl replied, “is a messenger from the Lord to tell us that we will burn in the fires of Hell, and he is not prepared to offer us so much as a drop of cold water.”
    “Cold water?” Caro cried. “Who wants that? I am dying – just dying – for a glass of champagne!”
    She linked her arm through the Earl’s as if she intended to drag him away to find it for her.
    Pandora glanced at Prosper Witheridge’s face and almost laughed aloud. There was no doubt that he was shocked at Kitty and Caro’s appearance, and it was in fact not surprising.
    Pandora had never seen women wearing gowns which were cut so low and were so revealing.
    There seemed to be a boundless expanse of white chest ornamented with jewelled necklaces, and the curves of their breasts could be seen clearly as the ribbons of their high-waisted gowns began only halfway down the valley between them.
    Their faces were painted with what seemed almost white masks and their eye-lashes were mascara-ed in a way which made their eyes look enormous, especially as they were outlined in black as if they were on the stage.
    Their hair was dressed with jewels and the glittering bracelets on their wrists only seemed to accentuate the nakedness of their arms.
    Pandora thought that even to her father’s eyes they would have seemed fantastic, but to Prosper Witheridge they were representative of everything he denounced so fervently about the Play-Houses and the temptations in the way of those who attended them.
    “Our guests will be arriving at any moment,” Kitty said. “Are you going to ask him to join us – he’ll give us a laugh, if nothing else!”
    She jerked her thumb at Prosper Witheridge as she spoke, and the Earl replied,
    “What a good idea! Do stay for dinner, Witheridge, and beguile us with your intimate knowledge of Satan’s ways. I am sure that even such ardent adherents of the Devil as ourselves will learn something new.”
    Prosper Witheridge drew himself up.
    He had gone pale with anger and disgust as he realised that to answer would merely make him a laughing-stock.
    “I have nothing more to say, My Lord,” he said. “I will leave this house and this unfortunate girl, who has no idea of the depths of the cesspool in which she is preparing to drown herself.”
    He took a step forward as he spoke, and the Earl made way for him.
    “Do not let us keep you, Mr. Witheridge,” he said.
    Prosper Witheridge turned to Pandora.
    “You will regret this day!” he thundered. “You will remember for the rest of your life that the choice was yours to go upwards to the God who made you, or downwards to the Devil who has