Possession Read Online Free PDF Page A

that. I'd already
noticed his waistcoat was made of wool, not silk like his cousin's, and his
shoes were worn down at the heel. I suppose it was Mrs. Arbuthnot's way to
politely warn Lady Preston that her daughter shouldn't look at the handsome
nephew when her son, the far better prospect, was in the same room. Not that
Adelaide appeared to notice either man. She still stared at her lap.
    "I've
certainly managed to discover a great many things here in London,"
Theodore said. The winning smile had returned to his face, lighting it up,
inviting everyone to join in. It only made Mrs. Arbuthnot's frown deepen. "This
city hums all day and night with activity. There's so much to see and do. It's a
wonder you natives ever sleep!" His gaze swept between Lady Preston and
Adelaide then finally settled on me.
    I smiled and was
rewarded with a slight reddening of his cheeks. He quickly looked away, but the
blush deepened. My own face heated.
    "This call
is most unexpected, Lady Preston," Mrs. Arbuthnot said. "It is lovely
to have you here, and your daughter. Isn't Miss Beaufort looking exceptionally
well, Wallace?"
    "Oh
yes," Wallace said. "Very well indeed."
    Theodore glanced
at me and seemed surprised that I was looking at him. I was surprised myself. He
grinned. I grinned back.
    "Our call
isn't entirely social," Lady Preston said. "We have a rather unusual
question to ask you, Mr. Arbuthnot. It's regarding my son's...death." I
wanted to applaud her for her courage. A little more than a week ago she wouldn't
have admitted her son was dead and now she was even saying it out loud.
    Nothing can put
a dampener on a social call like a discussion about mortality. Mrs. Arbuthnot
shifted and resettled her bulk. Wallace tugged at his cuffs. Theodore gave her
his full sympathetic attention. "I see," Wallace said. He glanced at
Adelaide, but she hadn't removed her gaze from her lap. He breathed out and one
of his waistcoat buttons popped open. His stomach surged through the gap. "I
am happy to assist you in any way I can," he said, earnestly. "Has
there been any news from the investigators?"
    Lady Preston
paused before answering. "Some news has come to light, yes." She
indicated me. "Miss Chambers has some questions she'd like to ask you
regarding my son's Oxford days."
    Mrs. Arbuthnot, Wallace,
and Theodore all looked to me with renewed curiosity. "Miss Chambers is an
investigator?" Wallace asked.
    I quite liked the
sound of that, so I nodded.
    "Oh." Mrs.
Arbuthnot's mouth turned down and her nose wrinkled up. To her class, an
investigator was involved in a trade of the lowest kind, worse than a shopkeeper
or clerk. Whether investigators were above or below spirit mediums on the
social scale was anyone's guess.
    "I would
have thought you a little young to be an investigator, Miss Chambers," Wallace
said.
    "She's very
good," Lady Preston said quickly.
    "Oh no, I
did not mean to imply she wasn't." Poor Wallace colored to the roots of
his hair. "My sincere apologies, Miss Chambers. Now please, tell me how I can
help. I'm eager to do what I can to uncover the circumstances surrounding poor
old Jacob's demise. Good chap, he was." He turned wistful. "The
best."
    "Theodore,"
Mrs. Arbuthnot said, "be a dear boy and fetch Jenkins for tea."
    He rose just as Jacob
appeared behind the sofa where his mother and sister sat. Pleasure made me a
little dizzy. I needed him, not only to help question Wallace, but to tell me
if something had indeed taken over Adelaide's body. She seemed meek but for how
long?
    "Ask him
about Frederick," he said. No "How do you do?" or "Is
everything all right?" In fact, he didn't even look at me at all. He did,
however, notice Theodore leaving the room. "Who's he?"
    I couldn't
answer him of course. "We've managed to connect Jacob's death to a boy who
might have known him at Oxford," I said.
    "Good
grief!" Wallace sat forward and another waistcoat button slipped from its
moorings. "Who?"
    "A young
man named Frederick, but we don't