Once Again a Bride Read Online Free PDF Page B

the visitor. “You can’t tell me it all goes to this whey-faced chit of a girl? Mister Henry would never have done such a thing.” Lucy looked as if she might hit him.
    “You are dismissed, Holcombe,” Charlotte said through gritted teeth. “Pack your things and leave this house immediately.”
    Holcombe glared at her. “As if any of us would work for you. I told Mister Henry you were a mistake. From the moment I saw…”
    “Silence!” Sir Alexander’s voice was like a whiplash. “How dare you speak to Mrs. Wylde in this fashion?” Everyone stared; it was as if a different man had entered the room—a hard-faced, dangerous man.
    “She’s nothing but a…”
    “You heard what she said. You are dismissed. You have twenty minutes to vacate this house.”
    Holcombe gaped at him.
    “And should anything besides your personal possessions turn up missing when you’ve gone, you will find yourself before a magistrate before you can draw a breath.”
    Holcombe looked almost frightened. It seemed he might speak, but he thought better of it, raising a defensive shoulder and positively slinking from the room. Lucy waited a moment, her eyes bright, then followed.
    Charlotte was trembling. For so many months she had longed to see Holcombe set down, to have someone besides Lucy acknowledge his insolence. And now this stranger had demolished the man with a few words. It was overwhelming. No one in her life had ever stood up for her so fiercely. A wave of heat washed her skin; she was exultant and tearful and ashamed all at once.
    “That was…?”
    “H-henry’s valet.”
    “His valet?” Her visitor appeared astonished. “You know, you cannot let servants overstep…”
    Rage came flooding back. “Cannot? How am I to stop them when the master of the house encourages them to persecute…?” Charlotte bit off the word, battered by her conflicting emotions. He had intervened, but of course he didn’t really understand. How could he? And why would he want to? She couldn’t bear to expose the humiliations of her life to this… this Wylde. “Are there… documents I must have?”
    Sir Alexander drew papers from an inner pocket. “Will you be employing Mr. Seaton?”
    “No!” She wanted nothing to do with anyone associated with Henry. She practically tore the pages from his hand.
    “Then I would recommend Harold Wycliffe. He is the solicitor who reviewed the will for me. His card is there with the…”
    “All right!” She moved toward the door. “I need to think.”
    “Of course.” He retrieved his coat and hat. “If I can be of any…”
    “Lucy will show you out.” She hoped. He was probably thinking that her household was in complete disarray. And he would be right.
    Sir Alexander bowed and passed through the drawing room door. “Please do not hesitate…” She shut it in his face. She couldn’t help it.
    ***
    Now there was a proper gentleman, Lucy thought as she closed the front door behind their visitor. Silently, she went over his speech to Holcombe yet again in her mind. She’d been desperate for someone to squash that slimy bug for months and months, and this Sir Alexander had done it so thoroughly. The look on Holcombe’s face when he was threatened with a magistrate! Lucy hugged the memory to her. His defeat was so long overdue. It did her heart good. Maybe there was some hope for better things, after all.
    Suddenly, the strain of the past months descended on Lucy in one headlong rush. She had to put a hand to the wall to keep from sinking right down onto the floor. The carping, the frustration, the helplessness; it had been the worst year of her life, and no mistake.
    She swayed, and the movement flickered in the mirror on the opposite wall. There she was, reflected, a slender young woman in a dark gown and white apron. Lucy was always too busy checking Miss Charlotte’s hair or the drape of her gown to study herself in a mirror, but now she leaned forward and took stock. She’d never been