Possession Read Online Free PDF

know his last name. We thought you might."
    "Me?"
    "We've
heard you were very popular at Oxford."
    He swelled and
the final button fell victim, causing his stomach to part the waistcoat like a
curtain. He didn't appear to notice. "I knew a great many people." He
frowned. "Let's see, I can think of a few Fredericks, but only two were in
our year."
    "Have any
of them died?"
    "Well, yes,
as a matter—"
    Adelaide
snorted, cutting off his answer. "Where'd the other one go?" She no
longer gazed at her lap but fixed a rather derisive glare on Wallace complete
with a curl of her top lip. "You'll have to do," she said in that
grating voice I suspected wasn't her own. A chill rippled down my spine.
    "Pardon?"
Wallace said.
    "Adelaide?"
Lady Preston touched her daughter's hand, but Adelaide shook her off and stood.
    Jacob and I
exchanged glances. "What's going on?" he said.
    "She's not
well," I said.
    "That's it,
of course," Lady Preston agreed. She must have thought I was offering an
excuse to our hosts.
    "Of
course," Mrs. Arbuthnot echoed unconvincingly.
    "Unwell? In
what way?" Jacob watched his sister stalk across the room. She paused in
front of Wallace, gripped his shoulder and squeezed.
    "Ow!" Wallace
jerked away and rose. "Miss Beaufort, I—"
    "Weak,"
she said, "but you'll do."
    "Emily."
The sharpness of Jacob's tone drew me to my feet. He strode toward Wallace and
Adelaide amidst protests and pleas from Lady Preston to her daughter. "Emily,
something's wrong," he said.
    "Adelaide,"
I said with false cheerfulness, "we must go now."
    She ignored me
as a rush of air whipped at her drab brown skirt and teased her hair. With a small
cry, she stumbled back. I steadied her and directed her to sit on the sofa
again. Jacob knelt in front of her, utter anguish imprinted on every feature.
    "Adelaide!"
Lady Preston cried. "Dear Lord, not you too. Addie!"
    "I'm all
right, Mother," Adelaide said weakly, sitting up straighter. "I
feel...better."
    "Same
here," said Wallace in a voice much coarser and deeper than his own. Oh
God, no. No, no, no. Whatever had been in Adelaide must have moved to him.
    "Were you
feeling unwell too?" Mrs. Arbuthnot asked her son. "You should have
said—"
    "Shut up,
you fat sow." That got everyone's attention. Mrs. Arbuthnot made a choking
noise and pressed a hand to her mouth. Adelaide, Lady Preston, Jacob, and I
simply stared at Wallace. He patted his round stomach, protruding from the
waistcoat, and belched. "No more bloody stays," he said. "Weaker
too. Easier."
    "Who are
you?" Jacob asked, approaching carefully. "Get out of my friend's
body."
    But Wallace made
no indication that he'd heard him or could see him. "Good fortune and good
health to you all, I'm off to have some fun." He grabbed a pretty blue and
white vase from a table near the door and tipped the flowers and water onto the
carpet. He tossed the vase from hand to hand then tucked it under his arm with
a satisfied nod.
    "Wallace Arbuthnot!"
his mother boomed. Her voice was so loud and so unlike her softly solicitous one
of earlier I worried something had taken over her body too, but then she
apologized profusely to her guests and I suspected she was merely upset at her
son's behavior. And with good reason. For a gentleman like Wallace to be so
rude in the presence of ladies was sheer madness.
    "I,
uh..." Lady Preston, still grasping Adelaide's hand, stared at the door.
    "I'd better
follow him," Jacob said. "Something is very wrong." He vanished.
    Theodore
returned, glancing over his shoulder. "Is my cousin all right?"
    "Ummmm..."
Mrs. Arbuthnot pressed a hand to her enormous bosom and stared after her son.
    "Aunt?"
    No one answered
him, so I said, "Mr. Arbuthnot is going for a walk. For fresh air."
    Theodore didn't
look like he believed me.
    "We'll
return at a more convenient time." I lowered my voice. "Mrs. Arbuthnot,
I'm sure you understand the need to keep the particulars of this visit quiet."
She turned to me, shock still evident in her wide eyes