Prelude to Love Read Online Free PDF Page B

flapping. Only an inch had torn loose at the toe. "It will hold till we reach Ipswich," Gretch told her. "You won't be doing any walking."
    By the time they returned to the White Swan, her aunt was waiting in the lobby. "Ah, good, you are here. Did you get it fixed?"
    "No, it was closed. Pity."
    "I don't know why you wore those old slippers in the first place, when you have your new patent ones that look much better. It is no matter; no one will see us. I have hired a private parlor, but want your opinion on our chambers for the night. They do not have two adjoining. They have two a mile apart, or one large we might share. Which do you prefer?"
    Vanessa, unaccustomed to public inns, had no desire to be pitched all alone into a room for the night. Neither was she eager to share a room with her talkative aunt, for she had done so at a house party once, and been kept awake half the night with her chatter. "It would be more comfortable to be together, and safer," she added, but with little relish.
    "That was my thought. I took the larger room. It is at the far end of the hall, on the right. It's called the Three Cygnets, our room. Here, take the key and freshen yourself for dinner while I give them our order. We shan't change."
    Vanessa went above, carefully watching room signs to discover which was theirs. The White Swan had suites called after its name: the Great Swan, La Plume and such things. At the end of the hall, she slid the bulky brass key into the lock, turned if, but the door did not open. She turned it back again, and the door opened instantly.
    Elleri had gone away and left it open, she thought with a little spurt of annoyance. What if the letter had been there, in her valise? Anyone might have walked off with it. But as she entered, she saw their cases had not yet been brought up. She worried why Harrow had not done so. Surely there had been time. She took a step into the center of the room to survey it, and was felled from a swift, hard blow to the back of her head. She was immediately knocked unconscious, without even experiencing much pain. When she opened her eyes a few moments later, she found herself stretched out on the canopied bed, with her clothing all disarranged.
    "Oh, my God!" she exclaimed, sitting up and looking all around her, frightened. Her assailant was gone. There was a dull ache in her head, but she had already had a little headache when she alit from the carriage, and did not fear she had been permanently or seriously disabled. Looking down, she saw the neck of her gown was open, her skirts mussed. She felt certain she had been subjected to attack by a sexual maniac of some sort. But he had hardly had time to do more than look, she thought. She knew she had not been violated, and though she was frightened half to death, she was not in the state of hysteria the worse fate would have caused.
    The door was closed. Her next thought was to get out it, down to her aunt and safety. She leapt from the bed, fussing with her gown, then saw on the floor, at her feet, her reticule, its contents shaken onto the floor, the straw bag severed from its silken lining. She picked it up, stuffed the contents hurriedly into it and ran along the corridor quickly, feeling that every door was likely to send a pursuer after her.
    Her aunt was just issuing from a small room belowstairs, and smiled at her. "You look a perfect fright, pet. Come in and have a glass of wine. It will put some color back in your cheeks. I have ordered ..."
    "Elleri, I have been attacked!" Vanessa said.
    Without a word, her aunt grabbed her wrist and pulled her into the private parlor. "Never say it in public, Nessie. It would give people such an odd idea of your character. Attacked, you say? The villain! We'll not stay another minute in this place. We shall report it to the manager at once, and to the constable.... Only it is very vulgar. Oh, dear, and if they want you to be giving evidence, my dear, I would not dream of it. Word would be sure