Fortune's Bride Read Online Free PDF

Suddenly
Esmeralda’s hands which had continued, no matter how clumsily, to twist the wool
she was spinning, became still. It was not true that she had always been
last. Twice, in India, several months apart, her ball card had been solicited
as soon as that of the reigning belle, and by the most handsome man any of the
women in that room had ever seen.
    Captain Robert Moreton. It was a name to be cherished in the
very depths of her soul, but that was all. Esmeralda had guessed what had drawn
Captain Moreton to her for the first dance of the evening. She was the worst
dressed and one of the plainest girls in the room. No one could really think he
favored her. He asked her to dance first both as an act of kindness and to make
clear that no invitation marked any serious intentions toward the partners he
chose. No girl could misconstrue a request to dance after he had invited the
unlikely Esmeralda Talbot.
    Perhaps some girls would have been angry at being used that
way. In fact, Esmeralda had been piqued at first and had nearly refused
to give him her card, but his smile was so sweet and the furious, envious
glances cast at her had been so amusing that she could not resist. Still, it
had not been Captain Moreton’s beautiful face or strong body that etched his
image indelibly in her mind. She had looked on those rather as one looks at an
exquisite portrait, a beautiful thing but with little human reality.
    It had been Captain Moreton’s kindness that fixed him in her
memory. He had used her, but not callously as some highborn young blood might
have done, showing his boredom and contempt while they danced. Captain Moreton
had done his best to prove that he enjoyed the company he had solicited and to
give her pleasure, too. He had talked to her and done his best to make her talk
also.
    Esmeralda sighed. It had not been possible for her to
respond as she knew she could. If her father had heard of lively conversation
and laughter—and he would have heard, for he kept close watch either by himself
or through others on what his daughter did—she might not have been allowed to
attend another social function for months. Henry had not wanted Esmeralda to
attract men. He had no intention of allowing her to marry, thereby losing his
confidential secretary-bookkeeper. In fact, Henry had disapproved violently of
any strong relationship for Esmeralda. Love or friendship might induce her to
speak of his affairs.
    Thus, it had been impossible for Esmeralda to offer anything
beyond the normal insipidities on the weather, the decoration of the ballroom,
and the food and drink provided for the delectation of the guests. Plainly, although
he struggled to hide the fact, Captain Moreton had been very bored before the
dance was over. Still, he had not “forgotten” that his name was on her card for
two other dances. He had been at her side as soon as the music began and each
time had lingered until the correct moment at which he was expected to seek his
new partner. That was truly kind and beyond what many of the young men in
Bombay were willing to do.
    “Ah, perhaps it is better that you sit and do nothing than
that you make such a tangle.”
    Esmeralda jumped as the voice of the elderly widow with whom
she was living broke into her thoughts. “I am so sorry,” she said, laughing in
response to the amused resignation of her hostess. “I’m afraid I’ve made a
worse mess than usual, Tia Maria. I was thinking…”
    The courtesy title of Tia , or “aunt”, had been
decided on as the safest. An orphaned niece could conceivably appear in a
village where no one had ever seen her before. If later it was discovered by
someone outside the village that she was not after all a relative, it would not
be the villagers’ fault that they had accepted her. Custom and charity would
have obliged them to do that, and there was no reason why they should suspect
any deception.
    “Of Pedro?” the old woman asked, her voice now neutral.
    “No!”