Elizabeth Kidd Read Online Free PDF

frequently, every day being the goal of the aunts, if the bane of the male members of the family. Antonia did her best to keep her husband in his aunt’s good graces by anticipating every summons and avoiding it by regular visits, however brief.
    “Miss Julia is in the drawing room,” Webster informed her, whereupon Antonia said she would announce herself and left him standing in the hall as she opened the first door to her left. She found Julia Wilmot sitting in a chintz-covered chair, a teacup in one hand and her half-glasses on her nose, reading the Morning Post by the sunlight coming in the window that looked out onto the square.
    Julia always looked elegant, in a way that Antonia hoped she might grow into at that age. Today, she was dressed in her customary gray, but it was a light shade, trimmed with narrow blue ribbons at the hem and sleeves, and she wore over her shoulders a fringed gray shawl which gave her an almost dashing appearance. Her complexion, nearly unlined, was that of a woman thirty years her junior, and her eyes were clear and sharp with interest in the world. Antonia knew that rheumatism kept Julia from going about in society as much as choice did, but to see her sitting gracefully in her own parlor, eager to receive visitors, one would not know she labored under any restrictions.
    “Good morning, dear,” Julia said, lifting her cheek to be kissed. “Have a cup of tea with me. Were you at the Drummonds’ reception last night?”
    “Good heavens! Never tell me it was written up in the Post ,” Antonia exclaimed, seating herself and picking up the teapot and one of the extra cups Julia kept at hand for the convenience of family visitors.
    “Certainly not, foolish child. Hester told me that you and Duncan had been invited. Was Elgin there?”
    “No, but a great many other people were, and I shall tell you all about it presently. But I have more important news—Carey is engaged to be married!”
    “Tosh. That is not news. Who is it this time?”
    Secretly pleased to be beforehand with this wonderful story, for Julia always seemed to know everything that went on in town before anyone else did, despite her self-imposed seclusion, Antonia delayed the tantalizing particulars as long as possible.
    “This time I believe he has found precisely the right girl for him. She is neither insipid nor stupid—although not so clever that she feels obliged to flaunt her learning—and while yet young, she is not your typical beauty.”
    “Good gracious, not that horsey Manderville girl?”
    “No, Aunt Julia, how can you insult Carey’s tastes so? He never looked at Sybil Manderville.”
    “She has enough money to make her a diamond of the first water in some eyes. Does this new girl possess any fortune at all? What’s her name?”
    “I believe she is in possession of a modest fortune, but Carey need not look for an heiress. He is not extravagant.”
    “Perhaps not—although one would not guess it from that coat he had on when he called here last. And that estate of yours is not yet reaping sufficient profit to keep him in waistcoats, much less coats by Weston. Why isn’t he home tending to his tenants, by the by?”
    Antonia could see that Julia had changed her tack. Knowing that criticism of her brother, however mild, never failed to raise Antonia’s defensive bristles, she would keep it up if Antonia continued to be coy about the name of Carey’s intended bride. She decided to waste no more time in roundaboutation.
    “She is Elena Melville.”
    This gave even Julia pause, although Antonia did not suppose that the brief silence which greeted her announcement betokened that Julia did not recognize the name.
    “Well,” she said after a moment. “This is unexpected.”
    Antonia smiled. “So you see why I say this time is different. I do believe Carey sincerely loves her, and I should not be surprised if she turned out to be precisely the right wife for him, despite the—er, unusual appearance of