A Christmas Kiss Read Online Free PDF

the expenditure. The problem is solved, and you must now agree to come with us to Gyllford.”
    Evalyn couldn’t help but laugh at Jamie’s readiness to spend Lord Reginald’s money. Her laughter broke the strain and changed their moods completely. They refused to take seriously any one of the number of objections she tried to put forth. Their good spirits couldn’t help but affect her own. The deep dejection which her plight had put upon her seemed miraculously to evaporate. A Christmas holiday at Gyllford! The thought of it lightened her heart and lifted her hopes. It was too tempting a prospect to refuse.
    Still laughing, they swept her into the inn. Over her much-weakened objections, they looked for a girl to hire to be her abigail. The ridiculousness of the thought that she, a governess, would arrive at Gyllford with her own abigail made her laugh again. Within a very few minutes, the innkeeper’s red-cheeked, excited niece had been engaged and had run off to pack her belongings. Then Reggie, in his grandest manner, demanded a private dining room in which Miss Pennington was to wait for them while they returned to Carbery Hall to take their leave.
    Alone and breathless, Evalyn went to the window of the dining room. It overlooked the inn yard where, in the midst of much noisy bustle, the London stage was being readied for departure. The passengers were squeezing aboard, the luggage was being tied to the top, the ostlers were running about checking the horses. Evalyn felt a twinge of misgiving. If she had a proper sense of conduct and decorum, she would now be aboard that coach, crowded in among the passengers, heading for a bleak and unknown future. Instead, she was soon to be heading in quite another direction, in a private, luxurious coach, with her own abigail in attendance, and a full fortnight of holiday before her. Undoubtedly her character was not as strong as she had supposed. She was sadly wanting in rectitude. But her awareness of this weakness in her character did nothing to dispel a sense of happy anticipation such as she had never felt before. As she watched the London stage lumber off, there was not a glimmer of regret in her shining eyes.
    Jamie and Reg walked back to Carbery Hall to pack their belongings and make their farewells. They were quite satisfied with themselves; they had done a good deed, and they had succeeded in spite of some ticklish problems. “I think we sailed rather neatly over some rough waters,” Jamie boasted as they walked briskly down the lane toward Carbery Hall.
    â€œYeth,” agreed Reggie, “but I don’t think it will be clear thailing ahead.”
    â€œWhy not? My Aunt Clarissa will handle things from here on,” Jamie assured him airily.
    But Reggie shook his head. “Your father and your aunt are bound to wonder why you brought her,” he said thoughtfully. “Mith Pennington’th a mighty pretty thing. I’d wager anything you like that they’ll think you’re enamored of the girl.”
    Jamie hooted. “What? Me? You’re addlebrained. They know me better than that! If you’re making yourself uneasy over such nonsense, you’re crazy as a coot!”

Four
    A grandfather! the word had burst upon Philip with the effect of a gunshot. Now, two weeks later, back at home at Gyllford, it still had a way of jumping into his mind. He stood at his shaving mirror and stared at his reflection. The hair at his temples had already turned more grey than black. When had it happened? How was it possible he had not noticed it before? Those grey hairs had encroached upon his head as the years had encroached upon his youth, in stealthy stages, bit by bit. He remembered how he’d laughed at the first pale hair that had appeared among the dark, as if that grim reminder of the impending future were a joke of nature. The reality of aging had seemed so far in the future that the warning had appeared ludicrous. But