Elizabeth Mansfield Read Online Free PDF

not spend some time together.
    Each woman had one child, Lady Phyllis first with Tris, and three years later Lady Branscome with Juliet. Both ladies were widowed a few years later. Each declared with perfect sincerity that she could not have borne her loss without the support of the other. Through all the vicissitudes of their lives, they had remained fast friends. They could not have been closer if they’d been sisters.
    But having similar tastes does not imply having similar characters. Not at all. Phyllis was as different from Madge as sugar from pepper. In the rains of life, one would dissolve in tears and the other explode in temper. This evening’s conversation was a perfect example. In the matter of the betrothal between Tris and Julie, Phyllis was quite ready to surrender to fate, but Madge Branscombe was made of sterner stuff. “I shall never say die. I’ll not give up,” she said loudly.
    “Shush!” Phyllis hissed. “You’ll wake the girl.”
    “What if I do? Honestly, Phyllis, you mollycoddle her too much. Not that I blame you. Delicate flower that she is, she sometimes seems more your daughter than mine.”
    Phyllis sighed. “I hoped she would be my daughter. What did you mean when you said you won’t give up? I don’t wish to give up either, but I don’t see what we can do.”
    “We can go to London,” Madge declared with sudden decision. “We can take Julie and go down for the season. We didn’t believe a come-out was necessary for a girl who was already betrothed, but since matters are not proceeding as planned, we’ll give her one.”
    Phyllis blinked her misted eyes. “But, Madge, I don’t quite see—”
    “Don’t you? It’s simple. Giving her a season in town will make it possible to thrust the girl in Tris’s path. Just leave it to me. He’ll find her in his line of vision everywhere he goes.”
    “Yes! Oh, yes!” Phyllis clasped her hands to her breast, causing her handkerchief to flutter through the air like a pennant. Hope, that beam of sunshine, dissipated the clouds that had shrouded her eyes. “Madge, you’re a genius! What a positively wonderful idea! When Tris comes upon her in those surroundings—in those London ballrooms, dressed in the most beautiful town finery we can contrive, prettier than any of those London chits and being pursued by hordes of swains—why, he’ll see our Julie in a whole new light!”
    Madge threw her a look of scorn. “I wouldn’t count on hordes of swains, my dear. Julie hasn’t any of that flirtatiousness necessary to attract hordes. But I certainly hope the rest of what you envisioned will come to pass.”
    The words had scarcely passed her lips when the carriage drew up at Enders Hall. Lady Phyllis glanced at the sleeping girl. “Tell her good night for me,” she whispered to her friend before climbing down. “I’ll see you tomorrow, and we shall make our plans.”
    But Julie was not asleep. She’d heard every word. She knew that eavesdropping was a wicked misdeed, but since she herself had been the subject of the conversation, she hadn’t been able to resist listening. She soon discovered that the maxim eavesdroppers never hear good of themselves was quite true. Everything she’d heard during the endless ride had filled her with disgust.
    The most troubling part was her mother’s plan to take her off to London. She’d never wished to have a London come-out. She had no love for the whirlwind that constituted the “season” in town. Too shy to enjoy the noisy routs and fetes and balls of London’s social life, she knew that the experience of a London debut would be nothing but torture to her. Furthermore, her mother’s timing could not have been worse. When an interesting gentleman had finally moved into the Amberford environs and offered the promise of some excitement, that was the time when her mother decided on London! What an irony!
    As if all this was not bad enough, there was Tris to consider. He was in love! How