A Good Woman Read Online Free PDF Page B

Josiah said, beginning to know Annabelle better. She was a most remarkable young woman, in many ways.
    “Yes, it is,” Annabelle said proudly. “I did it just like the book told me. It was very interesting. I wish I could dissect a real person. A corpse, you know, like in medical school.”
    “Oh my God,” Hortie said, looking woozy, and Josiah looked shocked but amused.
    “You two had better go swimming,” he said, and shooed them off as he went up to the porch to say good-bye to Consuelo.
    “What were the three of you talking about?” she asked him with interest.
    “Oh the usual, parties, debuts, engagements, weddings,” he said, covering for Annabelle, knowing that her mother would faint if she thought that Annabelle wished she could dissect a cadaver. He was still laughing to himself as he walked back to his own cottage. Annabelle Worthington was certainly an interesting young woman, and not the usual nineteen-year-old girl at all.
    As he got back to his own place, his college roommate was just returning from lunch, and Josiah waved as he saw him. Henry Orson was one of his oldest friends, and he enjoyed the time they spent together every summer. They had been valued friends to each other since their college days, and Henry was a man of substance, whom everyone admired.
    “How was lunch?” Josiah asked him. They were both good-looking men, and had always been able to have all the women they wanted, but were responsible about it. They never led women on nor took advantage of them. Henry had been engaged two years before and had been seriously disappointed when his fiancée fell in love with a younger man, a boy her own age. And he had had no serious involvements since, which made all the Newport mothers hopeful, as they were about Josiah.
    “Boring,” Henry said honestly. “How was yours?” Henry found many social gatherings tedious and preferred discussing business with other serious men to flirting with young girls.
    “I had a picnic with a young lady who wants to dissect a human cadaver,” Josiah said, grinning, and Henry laughed out loud.
    “Jesus,” Henry said, looking amused and impressed, and pretending to be frightened. “She sounds dangerous. Stay away from her!”
    “Don’t worry,” Josiah said, laughing, as they walked into the house together, “I will.”
    The two men played cards for the rest of the afternoon, while discussing the state of the financial world, which was Henry’s passion. It was a subject that made him tedious to women but interesting to men, since he was extremely knowledgeable and had an intelligent perspective, and Josiah was always happy to talk to him. He had gotten Henry a job at Annabelle’s father’s bank several years before, and he was extremely respected by his colleagues and superiors. Although less sociable than Josiah, he had done very well at the bank too. Henry had never met Annabelle or Consuelo, but Josiah promised to introduce him to them during his stay in Newport, as Henry shook his head, while frowning at his cards.
    “Not if she’s going to chop me up like a cadaver,” Henry said ominously, and then smiled as he put down a winning hand.
    “Damn,” Josiah said, folding, and smiled at him. “Don’t worry. She’s just a child.”

Chapter 4
    J osiah visited the Worthingtons often during July and August, as did Hortie and James, and a number of other friends. Josiah introduced Henry to them, as promised, who extended his condolences to Consuelo, and taught Annabelle several new games of cards, which delighted her no end, particularly when she beat him several times. She was enjoying the company of the good friends they saw in Newport, and although they were removed from the social whirl that summer, she felt far less isolated than she did in the city. Life seemed almost normal again here, despite the absence of her father and brother, who had often stayed in the city to work anyway.
    By the time they left Newport at the end of August, she