Hiding from Love Read Online Free PDF Page A

chair.
    â€œMr. Schilling, you are upsetting my mother,” she exclaimed, barely able to control the loathing in her voice.
    Her tone proved a check.  Mr. Schilling paused in his rant and his eyes seemed to burn in their sockets as he stared at his stepdaughter.
    â€œUpsetting her, am I?” he muttered at last.
    â€œWell, let her reflect on this.  If that withered old crone of an aunt of yours couldn’t be troubled to secure your futures, then why should I ?”
    With that he turned on his heels and slammed the door hard behind him.
    Leonora put her arm around her mother’s shoulder.  The two of them listened, as they could hear Mr. Schilling outside, yelling at Finny to saddle his horse.
    They stood barely breathing until at last the sound of hooves faded on the village road and then Leonora sank back down into her chair and looked at her mother.
    â€œPlease don’t say anything,” muttered Mama.  “I’ve made my bed and now I must lie in it – but how bitterly , oh, how bitterly!”
    â€œI – wasn’t going to say anything, Mama,” Leonora lied, seeing her mother’s distraught features.  “Except – to ask whether you had a pen and inkwell here.  I should write a letter of condolence.”
    With visible relief Mama produced the items that Leonora had requested.
    â€œYou are going to write to – er – Arthur?”
    â€œYes, Mama.”
    Arthur was the nephew who had been made the sole heir of Aunt Doris’s great fortune and as she had only ever mentioned him as ‘young Arthur, the son of my husband’s sister’, Mama and she did not know his full name.
    â€œYou are not too disappointed, Leonora – about not being remembered in your aunt’s will?”
    â€œI’m most grateful that she paid my school fees for as long as she did and I wish to express that gratitude to – to Arthur and to offer him our condolences.”
    â€œI’m not sure that he knew his aunt well.  I heard he lived abroad, but you are certainly doing the right thing.”
    When she finished the letter, Leonora read it aloud to Mama, who expressed satisfaction with its sentiments.
    Though Leonora had accepted the fact that she was not in her Aunt Doris’s will, she was nevertheless deeply saddened that she would not be able to return to Fenfold.
    However Mama soon reassured her.
    â€œSince I have remarried, I no longer need to use the income from your father’s small investment.  I can sell the bond and use the money to pay your fees.”
    â€œOh, Mama!”
    Leonora hugged her mother tightly.
    Life suddenly seemed promising again.
    The only shadow was the knowledge that she would be leaving her mother to the mercy of Mr. Schilling for the school terms.
    *
    The following day she had other matters to occupy her, as this was the date set for the ball.
    Finny drove Leonora over to Broughton Hall where they were shown round to the servants’ quarters.
    In the cavernous kitchen she was handed a starched apron and was then led to the antechamber of the ballroom by a haughty butler, who gestured towards a trestle table overlaid with a white cloth.
    Glasses and pitchers of lemonade stood ready.
    â€œThat’s your post, miss,” intoned the butler.
    Leonora looked around her.
    Two maids stood to attention nearby and catching Leonora’s glance, they bobbed a curtsy.
    â€œWe’re to fetch more lemonade when it’s needed, miss.  You just ring that bell there.”
    Leonora noticed a little handbell on the table.
    The antechamber, lit by low candlelight, was dim.  Through the open double doors opposite, however, she had an unobstructed view of the glittering ballroom with all its crystal chandeliers and its large vases of white flowers.
    The orchestra was now striking up, as the guests were now arriving and Leonora admired their lavish costumes and ingenious masks.
    One couple