Beguiled Read Online Free PDF Page A

under his left
eye. His little stammering caterpillar had emerged from her cocoon in the form
of a fiery butterfly. Her blood red lips taunted him to give chase. Down her
head would go, his hands pulling her hair, forcing those lips apart to take his
rigid manhood—
    “Captain Strachan, a penny for your
thoughts?”
    He blinked, rudely yanked from his reverie.
“Yes, my dear?”
    Trudy dimpled but her eyes were cold. “We
shall have none of your solitary brooding tonight. Do let us know what you have
been meditating on with such absorption? If you say it is our wedding, I shall
have to call you out. You have not shown a sliver of interest since our
engagement was announced.”
    He forced a smile to his lips and turned appealingly to his
hostess, Mrs. Brockville. “My lovely lady does not exaggerate. I’ve been
distracted of late by a recent business development. It has taken up a great
deal of my attention.”
    Colonel Brockville puffed out his chest and opened the lower
button of his uniform. “Come now, Strachan. Don’t be coy. I’ve heard you’re in
thick with Arthur Hamilton and our poor Mrs. Clara Hamilton has been whisked
away to a sanatorium in Berkshire. Tell us all about it, man.” The colonel
wheezed into his napkin. “Mrs. Brockville has been on tenterhooks all evening
waiting for you to bring it up. Do not keep us in suspense.”
    He shot an uneasy glance at Trudy to register her reaction
to this news. Brockville was like a bull in a china shop these days with his
bold questions. The old man had taken a shine to Clara and he seemed
inordinately concerned with her welfare much to Strachan’s irritation.
    “My part is very small. I assisted Arthur Hamilton with a
financial embarrassment and there is little else to it. However, my offer to
help was misconstrued by Clara. She flew into a rage and had to be restrained.
Arthur was given no choice but to send her away for treatment. I can testify
that his fears were legitimate. Clara was completely irrational.”
    “Oh my heavens!” Mrs. Brockville
exclaimed. “What could have brought on her collapse? Mrs. Hamilton was
perfectly calm and reasonable in our company, wasn’t she, Miss Delisle? Didn’t
you think so? I was exceedingly charmed by the young lady.”
    Trudy examined Strachan with a cool eye. “Mrs. Hamilton was
experiencing some marital troubles but her spirits and mind seemed sound. There
is obviously more to her story than she let on. Mr. Branson Hamilton’s outburst
at the Ball was rather over the top. You were at the centre of that storm,
Strachan. What happened between them?”
    Strachan seized the chance to deflect Trudy’s curiosity.
“That is how it began—the cause of Clara Hamilton’s collapse. She was forced to
admit to her father that Branson Hamilton was not her husband after all. The wedding was a sham. Branson was in a
fury about it; the marriage ruse was vital to his gaining control of Hamilton
Trading. Fortunately, the loan I made to Arthur Hamilton has cut the villain
off at the knees.”
    “My, you’ve taken an extraordinary interest in Clara
Hamilton’s affairs!” Trudy’s voice sparkled. “I’m just having trouble believing
a word of it! Do you, Mrs. Brockville?”
    “Oh, I quite agree with you, Miss Delisle. It is impossible!”
Mrs. Brockville had set her fork down, so flabbergasted was she by Strachan’s
announcement. “I cannot credit it. Not married ?
But they were living together under the same roof! What does her mother have to
say about it?”
    “Portia Hamilton keeps to her room. She has all but
abdicated her responsibilities to her husband.”
    Mrs. Brockville turned on her husband. “Colonel, you must
speak to Mr. Branson Hamilton without delay. Get him to see the error he has
made. I am confident he will do the right thing once the danger to Miss Clara
is made clear.”
    The colonel flung his napkin down. “Well, of course, my
dear! Were it not for the fact that the bride-to-be is in an insane