Lady Hathaway's House Party Read Online Free PDF Page A

gowns with her.
    This cheered him at first. She could not have planned to stay long. But as he looked more closely, he observed that every single outfit she had had since her marriage remained behind. Similarly, she had left locked on her dressing table her jewelry box with all her regularly worn jewels. He had a duplicate key himself, and upon opening it he discovered that like the gowns, everything given by himself remained behind. She had left his house with exactly those items she had brought to it. Odd a lady would not want to show off to her friends and family some of the loot she had come into.
    But Belle was not a great one for getting herself decked out in finery. He often had to remind her to put on a necklace or ring when they were going out. Then too, she was increasing, and probably planned to spend a quiet time resting at home. It had all been made to seem plausible, till the letter from Mr. Edward Sangster of Amesbury had arrived, and then the truth was out. She had left him for good. Had sneaked out behind his back, taking nothing with her, and didn’t intend to return.
    His first reaction had been instinctive. He had had his curricle harnessed up and gone after her, sixteen miles an hour. Had actually got as far as Farnborough before the ineligibility of such a scheme occurred to him. She was reverting to her courtship days. Trying to make a maygame of him again, to show London she had him on a leash. He had turned his curricle around and decided to show her a lesson. If she thought to scare him with this letter, he would use a little scare of his own, and most cordially invite Mr. Sangster to come ahead and do his worst. He had called her bluff, and regretted it a hundred times since.
    Mr. Sangster had come with a sickening celerity, to lay before his lordship claims so modest as to infuriate him. There was no pretending now she was not serious; it couldn’t possibly be read into a scheme to get more from him. She would take nothing—no allowance was requested, no separate domicile would be accepted nor even considered. She would live with her father at Easthill as she had always done. She had left everything he gave her behind, with the single exception of her wedding ring. He wondered that hadn’t been the first thing given back to him. Not a mention of a reconciliation. A brusque essay along that line made by himself was summarily brushed aside. Her ladyship wished for no reconciliation. Period. Her ladyship wished nothing more than to be rid of her lawful husband at all costs, and in a state bordering on shock his grace acceded to it. He would not beg and grovel to Belle Anderson, nor to anyone, but he would let her hear what he thought of her.
    He had written off a scorching blast of a letter ranting on about injustice and ingratitude and duplicity, and sat waiting for a reply that never came. From the day she had sneaked out behind his back, he had not had a word from her. She had not returned to London, nor gone to Brighton, nor visited any of their mutual friends. She had been swallowed up at Easthill.
    A curt note to Mr. Sangster written in a weak moment under the pretext of inquiring whether he might be in the process of becoming a father received an equally curt reply. There was to be no issue from the marriage. Nothing more. The house of Avondale could dwindle to dust so far as her ladyship was concerned. But this injustice was not to be borne much longer. She must be made to come back, and his lordship was becoming highly impatient with the brief missives of Mr. Edward Sangster. If Belle had no intention of coming to London, then he must swallow his pride and go after her. Sooner or later this unfinished business must be terminated.
    The termination Avondale had in mind was not divorce—there had never been a divorce in the family. What he envisioned was not actually a termination but a new beginning. Long and solitary considerations of that brief marriage had given rise to a few sprouts of