Here Comes a Candle Read Online Free PDF

and, she thought, sympathy for Kate. “ Well, your wagon ’ s all ready; your horse has been eating me out of house and home; you should be able to pick up the stage tomorrow, with luck. Lord, it ’ s good to see you, Jon. Do you know, I was worried about you. ”
    Janet Mason whisked Kate off to the surprising comfort of her upstairs bedroom. “ Hugh says there is no need to live like savages, just because we have come to the west, ” she explained. “ Of course, the first years, when we were still in the log cabin, were something else again. ” She watched as Kate took off her heavy blanket coat and combed out soft brown curls. “ So you ’ re going to have charge of poor Sarah .” And then, abruptly: “ What ’ s Jonathan told you about Arabella? ”
    “ Why, hardly anything. Do you know her? ”
    “ Gimini, yes. Hugh and Jonathan have been friends since Harvard. Jonathan met her then, you know, on a visit to Washington. He adored her for years, quite hopelessly, it seemed. She was a southern beauty, with the world at her feet, and poor Jon was almost penniless. ”
    “ Was he? ”
    “ Oh dear, yes. His father and grandfather lost everything between them, taking different sides in the War of Independence. Really, it was the most romantic thing. Jonathan went to sea, and made a fortune in the Western trade. They go around Cape Horn, and buy furs from the Indians way up in the northwest country, and then maybe a cargo of sandalwood from an island miles from anywhere, and so to China, for days of bargaining and a fortune in tea and willow pattern ware at the end of it. You must get Jon to tell you about it some time. Anyway, he was soon captaining his own ship, and then, fantastically rich. He got back from, I don ’ t remember, maybe his third trip, and went straight to Richmond, to Arabella. And there she was, beautiful as ever, proud as ever, and—single. That was a whirlwind courtship if ever there was one. He worships the ground she treads on. Well, you can see for yourself how impatient he is to get home. And that reminds me, I should be do w nstairs getting something for you to eat. Only—I thought I should tell you ...”
    “ Yes? ”
    “ Well, ” she hesitated. And then, in a rush: “ Of course, I ’ ve not seen her for years, but Arabella ’ s a beauty, the golden kind you have in England. She was the loveliest thing you ever saw when they were married . But— now—well, there it is: she ’ s not so young as she used to be. She must be all of twenty-eight . And from what I ’ ve heard she don ’ t much like competition. Just look at all the trouble they ’ ve had finding someone to look after that poor child. I ’ m sure that ’ s it partly. It ’ s lucky you ’ re small and dark. ”
    “ And plain. ” Kate rose from the glass, the flush in her cheeks suddenly making nonsense of her words. “ Thank you for telling me, Mrs. Mason. ”
    After Jonathan and Kate had dri v en off, Hugh Mason and his wife exchanged long, thoughtful glances. “ Well, ” he said at last, “ what do you think, love? ”
    “ She ’ s a plain little thing. ” She said it almost hopefully.
    “ That ’ s what I thought at first She ’ ll do, I thought. Nothing there that Arabella could possibly object to. But then she smiled at me ... Did you notice her smile? Something happens in those big brown eyes of hers. I tell you, something almost happened to me. I ’ d have taken on a dragon for her, if there ’ d been one handy. ”
    “ How lucky there wasn ’ t , ” said his wife. “ But I know just what you mean, Hugh. I felt the same, and I ’ m a woman. Oh well, let ’ s hope Arabella doesn ’ t notice, or Jonathan either. ”
    “ Jonathan won ’ t, ” said Hugh cheerfully. “ You know how he is about women. But I ’ m not so sure about Arabella. ”
    At first, Kate ’ s anxious thoughts circled around Arabella as they drove off down the narrow trail into the dark heart of the forest. But