The Shivering Sands by Victoria Holt Read Free Book Online Page B

shadow.”
    “I know how I felt when I first came here. I remember arriving in this hall and standing here terrified.” She shivered at the recollection.
    “And all turned out well, I suppose.”
    “I found…a place in this house…in time.” She shook herself slightly as though shaking off past memories. “Now, I think first to the schoolroom. I will have tea sent up there. I am sure you’re ready for it.”
    We had reached a gallery in which hung several portraits and I noticed some fine tapestries which I intended to examine later, for their subjects seemed most intriguing.
    She opened a door and said: “Mrs. Verlaine is here.”
    I followed her into a lofty room and there were the three girls. They made a charming picture, one of them on the window seat, another seated at a table and a third standing with her back to the fireplace on either side of which stood two great firedogs.
    The one in the window seat came toward me and I recognized her at once, because I had seen her coming down the aisle on the arm of her bridegroom. She looked so shy—she was uncertain as yet, I guessed, of her new dignity as mistress of the house; and indeed it was incongruous to think of her as such. She looked like a child.
    “How do you do, Mrs. Verlaine?” The words were spoken as though she had rehearsed them many times. She held out her hand and I took it. As it lay for those few seconds limply in mine I felt sorry for her and knew I wanted to protect her. “We are glad you have come,” she continued in that stilted way.
    Her hair was certainly her crowning glory. It was the color of corn in August, and little tendrils escaped to nestle on her low white forehead and at the nape of her neck. It was the only vital thing about her.
    I told her I was glad to be here, and was looking forward to my work.
    “I am looking forward to working with you,” she said, and her smile was sweet. “Allegra! Alice!”
    Allegra left the fireplace and came toward me. Her thick dark curly hair was tied back with a red ribbon; her eyes were black and bold, her skin inclined to be sallow.
    “So you’ve come to teach us music, Mrs. Verlaine,” she said.
    “I hope you’re eager to learn,” I replied, not without asperity for my association with pupils, as well as Mrs. Rendall’s warning, told me to expect trouble with this one.
    “Should I be?” Oh yes, she was going to be difficult.
    “If you want to learn to play the piano, yes.”
    “I don’t think I want to learn anything…at least things which teachers teach.”
    “Perhaps when you are older and wiser you will change your mind.” Oh dear, I thought, engaging in verbal battles so soon was a very bad sign.
    I turned from her to look at the third girl, who had been sitting at the table.
    “Come, Alice,” said Mrs. Lincroft.
    Alice stood before me and made a demure curtsy. I guessed her to be of the same age as Allegra—about twelve or thirteen—although being smaller she looked younger. She radiated neatness and wore a white frilled apron over her gray gabardine dress; her long light brown hair was held back from her rather severe little face by a blue velvet band.
    “Alice will be a good pupil,” said her mother tenderly.
    “I’ll try to be,” replied Alice with a shy smile. “But Edith…er Mrs. Stacy…is very good.”
    I smiled at Edith, who flushed a little and said: “I hope Mrs. Verlaine will think so.”
    Mrs. Lincroft said to Edith: “I asked for tea to be brought up here. I wonder if you will wish to stay and…”
    “Why yes,” said Edith. “I shall want to talk to Mrs. Verlaine.”
    I gathered that everyone was a little embarrassed by the new status Edith had acquired in the household since her marriage.
    When the tea arrived I saw it was of the kind we used to have in the schoolroom at home—big brown earthenware pot and the milk in a china toby jug. A cloth was put on the table and bread and butter and cakes laid out.
    “Perhaps you will be able to